GSBot

Tired of blaming GPS on petty mishaps like the destruction of cars, a demolition crew in Georgia has managed to accidentally destroy an entirely wrong house based on GPS coordinates. Oddly enough, it wasn't even the first time they'd been by: the man who cuts the grass noticed that the power box was missing from the home and holes were punched into the walls about a month ago -- it was suspected as vandalism, but it now seems that the stealthy, directionless demolition company was to blame. The demolition company says it had "paperwork" authorizing the destruction, complete with the coordinates and a description of the home, which the owner's father had built with his own hands "brick by brick."

[Thanks, Leonard]

GPS coordinates lead demolition crew to destroy wrong house originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 13 Jun 2009 15:38:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Azkar

apples!too

I could be wrong but I think I heard on the radio that car GPS's won't work properly starting 2010. Is it true? I am too lazy to google it

maroush

people putting technology before common sense.... Apples i've never heard about that,interesting... i'll google it and let you know

COLD_FIRE

google doesn't take this long to spit!!! So!!!

apples!too

^maroush is not your servant if she said she is gonna google it, she will. Why don't you google it yourself if you want the answer that quickly I said that GPS might not work in 2010, and she has until then to google it.

Arleitter

Goodness.......

maroush

I am busy person yaar... i am human... i'm not GS-Botni....

So, after reading a couple of online articles, it seems that the general consensus is that the accuracy of US GPS will significantly degrade after 2010. The systems, allegedly, will have issues with location locking, as the current 24 satellites are maintained by the US Air Force, and the military are expressing concern with regards to maintainance of the system; because they're already running a couple of years late, the probability of keeping a 24 satellite constellation running may drop below 95% in 2010 and as low as 80% in 2012..... so decline in accuracy of location lock.

So.....if the Air Force continues to fail to meet its goals for the next generation of satellites, then there's only a 10% chance of the system surviving to 2017....

Surprise surprise though, the Europeans (we rule ) are on hand and help is on the way for the US from the Europeans, Russians and Chinese, all of whom have their own satellite navigation systems in different states of readiness.

Europe's Galileo system is due to come online in 2013 and a 2004 agreement has meant that it will be able to interoperate with GPS in the future. It's a largely civilian system, so won't be subject to the US government's military whims.

Russia's GLONASS system was launched in 1995, but almost immediately fell into disrepair after economic problems in the country. The vast country has committed to restoring a full 24-satellite constellation by 2010, but it's not yet compatible with GPS or Galileo, even though talks are in progress.

Lastly, China's 24-satellite system is called Compass, though it's only in the planning stage. The country is threatening to use an encrypted signal which overlays the US government's M-Code GPS broadcast. That would mean that in wartime, the US wouldn't be able to block Chinese GPS without blocking its own GPS too.... mwahahaha

So evidently, there is little that the general US public can do in terms of making sure their satnavs keep going. However, the US military relies on GPS to target missiles and help soldiers navigate. You can bet that even though they might not care about your iPhone, they're most surely not going to let a situation arise where military tech stops working.....