I’ve always been a strong proponent of GPS (Global Positioning System) and satellite navigation. Based on a constellation of American satellites broadcasting accurate time signals, it means that anyone with a GPS receiver can plot their position on the planet with amazing accuracy.
Up until May 2000, the system was more in the realms of specialist interest, simply because the US military operated “Selective Availability”, the means to fudge the positioning signals for civilian receivers so they wouldn’t be as accurate as they could be. Then President Bill Clinton did the world a favour by ordering SA to be switched off. The rest, as they say, is history. The world-wide industry in GPS-related products is worth billions, and satellite navigation has become affordable for just about anyone that wants it.
Back in the early 1990s, I was one of the first journalists to get to try out a number of what were then unbelievably expensive GPS receivers, and for a while I was very nearly a voice in the wilderness amongst outdoors journalists, most of whom didn’t recognise its potential.
That’s not to say I ever thought people should rely on it entirely. As far as outdoors use is concerned, getting your head around a map and compass has always been my recommended means of learning navigation. Of course, you need to know how to read a map to make sense of what the GPS receiver tells you – though having said that, the increasing number of satnavs which display your position on high quality topographical mapping removes yet another step from the traditional skills.
I’ve no doubt that there are people venturing out into the hills armed with satnavs, but no clue as to what they’d do if suddenly GPS could no longer be relied upon. But that is the stark prospect over the next two or three years.
The system uses 24 satellites to provide the full one metre accuracy service. Currently there are 31, which means they have a reasonable level of redundancy, but many of the satellites are approaching the end of their planned lives. And while the US Air Force, which runs GPS, is spending huge amounts to launch the next generation of GPS satellites and bring the system back into prime condition, previous underfunding and mismanagement will almost certainly ensure that doesn’t happen before parts of the system start to fail. According to the US Government Accountability Office, that could happen as early as next year. Meantime, Galileo, the European equivalent, isn’t going to be operational until 2013.
It’s not likely that GPS will fall over in an instant – more likely that there will just be times and places where the accuracy won’t be as good – but it does point up one essential fact. Now it’s more important than ever that newcomers to the hills, or indeed anyone who has previously only relied on their satnav, should learn how to navigate the traditional way. And that’s something compass manufacturers should start plugging now!
