Archives for 2016

It looks like people are starting to get fed up with geographic information systems (GIS) including information that is no longer up to date. Consumers are so reliant on the information stored in their GPS device that they actually follow the directions into danger sometimes, an event referred to as “death by GPS” by some national park rangers.

“Maps are getting so good at tying point A and point B together that they (people) are blindly following this data down roads that barely exist, that were abandoned years ago,” Rick Hamilton, member of the Civil GPS Service Interface Committee commented. read more

GPS drone (UAS) with GoPro camera; Creative Commons image courtesy Don McCullough

Drones somehow feel a little bit like the future to me, and it’s crazy to think that they are actually delivering things now. As with all growing industries, there are going to have to be some regulations put into play. Drones, also known as unmanned aircraft systems (UAS), had a new rule go into effect at the end of August.

The Small UAS Rule (Part 107) took away some of the limitations associated with U.S. commercial drone flights. This will lead to a big boost in the growing drone industry, which depends on GPS for most of its successes. During 2015, more than a million drones were sold throughout the U.S., but that’s less than half of the 2.4 million drones that were sold during the first half of 2016. read more

GPS systems are actually pretty easily disrupted, whether it be by radio interference or weather outside of our control. For a while now, it has been a concern—especially with federal agencies—what would happen if GPS went down for some reason. While it might not seem like a big deal, GPS is used for many things more important than getting you to the closest Wal-Mart—including keeping time.

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and the U.S. Naval Observatory (USNO) have been performing tests alongside two companies, CenturyLink and Microsemi, to see if there is a practical back up to GPS systems already in place so that a disruption wouldn’t effect major systems like timekeeping. read more