GPS Navigation
It seems like every car now has the option of the built-in Global Positioning Systems or GPS. In Europe these gadgets are more aptly named Sat Nav systems, short for satellite navigation. Hundreds of miles above the Earth’s surface dozens of GPS satellites are in a perpetual orbital dance carefully orchestrated by the United States Air Force to ensure that every spot on the globe is continuously being irradiated with GPS signal. The device in your hand is monitoring these signals and listens for only the four closest satellites. By carefully measuring the time difference between the signals, your exact spot on the Earth (+/- 15 meters) is calculated easily with your basic MIT geometry. But the end result is just two numbers (both with a lot of decimal digits), a latitude and a longitude.
These coordinates need reference…or a map. Stored on the GPS device is a computerized map of all the roads you would ever need to drive on, and each section of road has an associated GPS coordinate. When you turn your GPS on, it first calculates your coordinates before feeding those numbers to the map. The map then decides which road you are on before displaying it on screen. (Note: your GPS does not receive map information from the satellites. If roads change or are newly built, you will not see them on your GPS screen unless you update the maps yourself.)
This is innovative technology. If you type in a destination your GPS can find not only a feasible route, but the quickest route (thanks to E. Dijkstra). Whether in downtown Manhattan or Hot Springs, AR you are only a fraction of a second away from a GPS satellite and directions to anywhere on Earth.
Use of this technology is approaching overkill though. Everyday I pull into my parking lot at work and I can spot someone fumbling with a suction-cupped GPS system and power cord. What if your boss spots you doing this. What message does this convey? “Good morning boss, found my way to work today…but with a little help. Aren’t you glad I’m part of the team!” I bet that 99.3% of all driving is on roads we know like the back of our hand. But there are those out there who need to fill some narcissistic void or satisfy a ridiculous tech fetish by being guided by a 7″ LCD screen narrating their every merge and turn in a British accent.
One of the latest innovations for GPS is to have access to real time traffic data. On the highway you may see random loops cut into the pavement. These are “loop detectors” and can count vehicles on the road whenever the metal from your car passes over them and influences the electrically charged wire under the road. Measure the same vehicle just a few yards apart and a computer can discern traffic speed before piping it to your on-board GPS device which can plot a detour. This sounds fantastic but I have never been in a car which has miraculously circumvented gridlock. Traffic happens and everyone is in the same boat during the rush hours. (Honestly, if there is anyone out there who has benefitted from real-time traffic data I would love to hear about it, and why you thought it saved time.)
A computer is only as smart is the user. I have a very self-effacing example. A friend and I were headed to The Middle of Nowhere, ME and had plugged the address into the onboard GPS system. Directions were calculated but were annoyingly not the best route (too many rural roads, not enough highway). After about seven minutes of fumbling through non-obvious menus, the correct route was finally displayed. We exited the Interstate and merged onto a state highway. A few minutes later we were commanded to turn onto a more residential looking road. With every passing mile the road condition gradually deteriorated. It felt like we were descending through Dante’s nine classes of rural roads. We had to stop when the path became an overgrown snowmobile trail. It wasn’t until this point that we even considered the GPS to be wrong. How could it be wrong, it’s a computer! We fumbled through the GPS menus and finally discovered our error, at some point it had accidentally been set to “shortest distance.” Looking to come away from the experience with something positive, we now knew that the GPS contains snowmobile trails…excellent.
This next bit is for the über-paranoid or fans of Science Fiction. In my opinion the prevailing intellectual trend in the world is for the general population to want to think less and less, while having computers do the mundane tasks (such as finding directions). And maybe someday the majority of cars will have built-in GPS systems. What if some IBM chess-playing super-duper-computer suddenly became ‘aware’, hacked into everyone’s GPS systems, then instructed everyone to drive off a cliff at the same time. When I imagine terrorist threats to the homeland this is what scares me the most. It will be known as “The Infamous Lemming Disaster of 2029.” You heard it here first at philosophyonwheels.com.
