A world without GPS? Following some alarming reports on rickety GPS satellites about to fall out of the sky, one cannot help but wonder what it would look like. This shouldn't be too hard for anyone over 30 years old, as we have all lived in such a world. However, if you think about it, it is everything but easy.

Some inventions, even if initially developed for military purposes, are just plainly great ideas. And some, after their initial launch, quickly gain momentum. Internet is a classic example of such an invention; it is really a very recent phenomenon, but who could image life without it?

The same goes for the US Global Positioning System or GPS. The system, which comprises third satellites in fixed positions above the planet, was only made operational in 1995, but has already become so omnipresent that we can no longer do without it. We are familiar with applications such as Sat Nav and our mobile phones, but there is much, much more.

Safety
It is, for example, useful but more importantly safe, to know where any airplane is exactly located at any given time. Exact information about altitude, speed, descent and climb rates is clearly conducive to air traffic safety. The expected continued growth in air transport will only be possible with GPS.

Climate
GPS also has applications in climate research. Possible changes in the currents of the world's oceans - think of El Niño, or even a change in the direction of the warm Gulf Stream - are being monitored by thousands of rubber ducks fitted with GPS receivers.
 

Australian sheep farmers, whose flocks are grazing pastures the size of entire Dutch provinces, can locate their animals by fitting them with GPS.

GPS means maps can be produced more quickly and accurately. Rescue operations in remote regions are nearly impossible without GPS.

The fertility of farmland can be determined very accurately by sticking sensors in the ground at ten-metre intervals; the sensors relay their data and location to the farmer via satellite. The farmer can then apply fertilizer exactly where it is needed or spray against disease without using even a gram more than is strictly necessary. A win-win situation for the environment and the economy.

Human errors
Obviously, the system is primarily intended for navigational purposes, and it might be tempting to think we could do without it in that field of activity. After all, humanity has done without for thousands of years; simply a matter of taking a sight with a sextant. However, major human errors were often made in navigation, and each ship and each plane needed to have a navigator on board at all times.
 

All in all, there is only one possible conclusion: we wouldn't want to live in a world without GPS anymore. And, fortunately, satellites don't simply fall out of the sky. There is some reserve capacity, and both Europe's Galileo system and the Russian-Indian Glonass system will be introduced soon.

However, we can only hope that Barack Obama will show some decisiveness when it comes to maintaining the 'NAVSTAR' - as GPS is still officially known - or the world will really lose its way.

* RNW translation (gsh)