March 23, 2004
Where Are You Exactly?... Let's take five with Moira Gunn. This is "Five Minutes."
When it comes to GPS technology, we're pretty much past the "gee whiz" stage and headed directly for "ubiquitous and invisible." Look around and the signs are everywhere. For one thing, we're doing routine maintenance.
The United States just launched its 50th Global Positioning Satellite, and there's nothing cutting edge about it. All it's doing is replacing one of the few dozen workhorse satellites up there already, and it all came off without a hitch.
On the ground, the applications are expanding in every direction. Transportation and emergency services have embraced GPS heartily, while there are individual uses of every sort. Anklet bracelets have been used for some time to keep people under house arrest, but now GPS can let them roam, restricting their presence from very specific locations. Add-on features provide for monitoring alcohol consumption, which can be detected on the surface of the skin just minutes after a person starts imbibing. People with a demonstrated inclination to drink and drive can expect a visit from the powers that be as their intoxication levels rise.
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It's also true that GPS is an opportunity for fun. Besides those nifty navigation systems I always find in the rental cars, there's a sport called "geocaching." The idea is to hide a cache of trinkets or tiny souvenirs in a container in a public place - in a bush, under a rock, behind a wall. The GPS gets you to within 25' and then you root around until you find it. You sign the enclosed log and take your trinket. Current figures estimate a half-million geocachers worldwide with tens of thousands of caches stashed in the U.S. alone.
And even this sport has developed a few twists, obliterating the romantic idea that we now all live in cyberspace. It certainly adds a level of intrigue to disparate friends trekking across Europe, something that used to mean being out of touch in a foreign land, but now means being in constant contact through international cell phones and email. You might only get the clue if you can get yourself to a specific spot on an exact date and precise hour.
Still and all, there are other far more significant indicators that GPS is maturing.
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Many people don't realize that the term "Global Positioning System" is the actually the proper name of the U.S. system, and that there are other systems out there, as well. Glonass is operated by the Russians, and a new system is being planned by the European Union. In fact, the EU has signed on China and Israel, and they're deep in negotiation with India. "Galileo," as it is called, is due to be operational in 2008, and with it comes the assurance that their global positioning information is no longer dependent on America.
You see, the constant availability of positioning data has become critical. Remove it, and it's the modern-day equivalent of blockading a seaport or imposing an embargo. This will be true henceforth with all global technologies. As they embed themselves in societal infrastructure, the societies begin to change around them, anchor to them, making them essential.
Do you want to know the next step?
At some point in the future, you'll be using a piece of equipment and become infuriated when it has no idea where it is on the face of the Earth. And then you'll know that the arc of this technology is complete. Ubiquitous, invisible and downright expected ... only noticed in its absence.
I'm Moira Gunn. This is Five Minutes.
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