GPS Declassified
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Some wonder if the changes in how we navigate are ruining our natural sense of direction or may cause unintended physiological or psychological side effects. As car navigation units became popular, contrarians noted that users were paying more attention to their gadgets than the scenery.112 Researchers at Cornell University studied drivers using GPS and found evidence of disengagement with the environment. Drivers became “immersed more in the virtual-technological environment ,” and some treated their GPS units like another occupant in the car, even giving them names. However, the researchers noted new opportunities for engagement, as drivers discovered landmarks otherwise invisible from the road but displayed in digital searches for particular points of interest, such as a type of restaurant.113
Brain research has established a connection between using spatial navigational skills and gray-matter density of the hippocampus, a seahorse-shaped region of the brain associated with memory and spatial orientation.114 Eleanor Maguire, a neuroscientist at University College London, found in a 2000 study that part of the hippocampus of London taxi drivers was larger than that of the general population, even bus drivers.115 She linked the physical change to the cabbies’ intimate knowledge of London’s twenty-five thousand streets built up over years, as a muscle grows with use. Follow-up studies with brain scanners showed increased hippocampus activity as taxi drivers neared their destinations (driving cars in video games) but also revealed that a driver who suffered brain damage from a viral infection lost his superior ability to navigate the city’s winding secondary streets.116
Muscles—and gray matter—atrophy with disuse, and the role of the hippocampus in memory and Alzheimer’s disease has researchers concerned about GPS. Véronique Bohbot, a professor of psychiatry at McGill University and Douglas Institute in Montreal, focuses her brain research on human spatial memory, navigation, and plasticity. She has found that different navigational strategies use different parts of the brain.117 People who use spatial memory to form mental maps—learning the relationships between environmental landmarks—have more gray matter in the hippocampus. Following turn-by-turn directions—like those used in GPS—uses a different part of the brain. This means everyone is subject to the “use it or lose it ” principle, not just taxi drivers.
Bohbot speculates that overreliance on GPS navigation could hasten normal age-related degeneration of the hippocampus and thereby increase the risk of dementia, previously associated with a reduction in volume in that part of the brain.118 She recommends that people use GPS to learn about the environment but not become dependent on it. “Use it on your way to a new place, and use your memory on the way back ,” she counsels. “If you know that you will be turning off your GPS, you will pay attention to the environment, giving yourself a healthy cognitive workout. ”119
Technology, however, will not wait on the answers to such questions, and the trends for mobile geolocation applications and location-based services discussed in the preceding chapter suggest scenarios as futuristic as cars with autopilot. Google plans to solve the problem of people stumbling as they walk around staring down at smartphones with an interactive heads-up display built into a device worn like eyeglasses.120 The company announced Project Glass in April 2012 and posted a concept video on YouTube demonstrating hands-free, voice-activated text messaging, video chat, pop-up maps, turn-by-turn directions, calendar reminders, music, check-in at locations via social networks, and photo taking—the majority of smartphone features.121 The announcement sparked inevitable comparisons to science fiction cyborg characters such as the Terminator, RoboCop, and Star Trek’s Geordi Laforge. While Google refines the concept’s implementation, it is working to enhance everyday appeal by teaming with fashion designer Diane von Furstenberg.122
Voice control has limitations, so some method of touch interaction seems probable. That could be a trackball on the device, a wirelessly connected smartphone, or a “smart glove ” that allows users to “touch ” the virtual screen projected in front of them to swipe an image or tap a keyboard.123 The company is targeting the rechristened Google Glass for consumer release in 2014 at a price around $1,500, but details are subject to change—competition in the augmented-reality eyewear sector is likely to be fierce.124 Apple has filed patents, and other companies pursing similar technology include video eyewear specialist Vuzix of Rochester, New York, multinational optical and imaging giant Olympus, the gaming software company Valve, and British-based TTP (The Technology Partnership).125 Bellevue, Washington-based Innovega has created augmented reality contact lenses.126 The company signed a contract in 2012 with DARPA to develop a system for warfighters with a heads-up display that superimposes battlefield data on the user’s normal field of vision.127
How these technologies will evolve over the long term is anyone’s guess. More than two hundred thousand people already have cochlear implants that transmit sounds from external microphones to their auditory nerves, and Boston neurosurgeons have wired an external lens directly to a blind man’s optic nerve, allowing him to see colors and read large-print text.128 Futuristic entertainment often presages real life, even when exaggerating dangers for dramatic effect. Warner Brothers in August 2012 released H+: The Digital Series, a collection of short-format dystopian science fiction episodes on YouTube. Humans in this near-future world have augmented reality neural implants, connecting them to the Internet 24/7 but also exposing them personally to computer viruses.129 It is impossible to predict whether pop-up geolocation data—whether displayed in glasses, superimposed on our retinas, or mainlined into our cerebral cortex—may eventually do to street signs what Internet search has done to the Yellow Pages, but it seems likely that GPS will remain integral to communication, navigation, and augmented reality devices, whatever form they assume.
Looking back over the past half century of technological change it is clear that some things people assumed were inevitable have not happened and others emerged unexpectedly. In the early 1960s The Jetsons made youngsters believe flying cars would be commonplace by now.130 In the late 1960s books like The Population Bomb, by Paul Ehrlich, made a case for imminent worldwide famine, but advances in food production derailed that prediction. Today GPS-enabled precision agriculture is leading another wave of productivity as its adoption spreads worldwide. During the early decades of development that led to global navigation satellite systems, many foresaw a new era of precision warfare. Some anticipated a spillover to civil aviation and ground transportation. A few envisioned worldwide-synchronized time and handheld devices for communication and navigation. Nobody predicted with clarity how putting GPS capability into the hands of individuals would spawn location-based services, enhanced social networks, or many other imaginative uses entrepreneurs have conceived.
As we approach the twentieth anniversary of GPS becoming operational, the pace of new application development, the diversity of uses, and the extent to which GPS-based technologies continue to revolutionize everyday activities suggest that human ingenuity is far from exhausting its potential benefits. However, we have no guidance system to chart where we will take the technology—or where GPS technology will take us.
Notes
Introduction
1. Except where noted, the entire account of this vehicle chase is drawn from Tom Krisher, “OnStar Shuts Down Visalia Carjacking in A Hurry ,” San Francisco Chronicle, October 20, 2009, http://articles.sfgate.com/2009-10-20/news/17186446_1_general-motors-co-s-onstar-onstar-service-high-speed-chase; Lewis Griswold, “OnStar Re-creates Visalia Rescue ,” Fresno Bee, November 19, 2009, http://www.fresnobee.com/columnists/griswold/story/1718168.html; General Motors, “OnStar Stolen Vehicle Slowdown Helps Recover Carjacked Vehicle, Prevents High-Speed Chase ,” news release, October 19, 2009, http://publish.media.gm.com/content/media/
us/en/news/news_detail.brand_gm.html/content/Pages/news/us/en
/2009/Oct/1019_OnStar_Slowdown; Jocelyn Allen, OnStar spokesperson, telephone conversation with Eric Frazier, February 4, 2010.
2. Genera
l Motors, “OnStar Stolen Vehicle Slowdown Helps Recover Carjacked Vehicle. ”
3. The Associated Press Stylebook and Briefing on Media Law, 2009 (Philadelphia PA: Basic Books, 2009), 122.
4. There is no consensus number for the total worldwide market due to differing methodologies used by market research companies. For example, one 2009 report forecast world sales crossing $75 billion (in U.S. dollars) by 2013, while a 2011 report forecast a world market worth $26.67 billion in 2016. Reuters, “High Growth Reported for the World GPS Market Forecast to 2013 ,” news release, April 23, 2009, http://www.reuters.com/article/2009/04/23/idus110111+23-Apr-2009+bw20090423.
5. PR Newswire, “MarketsandMarkets: Global GPS Market Worth $26.67 Billion by 2016 ,” news release, November 24, 2011, http://media.prnewswire.com/en/jsp/latest.jsp?resourceid=4850435&access=EH; Amy Gilroy, “OnStar Generates More than $1B: iSuppli ,” TWICE, April 29, 2009, http://www.twice.com/article/235776-OnStar_Generates_More_Than_1B_iSuppli.php?rssid=20315&q=GPS.
6. GM News, “Onstar Empowers Everyday Citizens to Help Others ,” news release, March 12, 2013, http://media.gm.com/media/us/en/onstar/
news.detail.html/content/Pages/news/us/en/2013/Mar/0312-good-samaritan.html; GM News, “OnStar RemoteLink Passes 14 Million Interactions ,” news release, May 23, 2012, http://media.gm.com/media/us/en/
gm/news.detail.print.html/content/Pages/news/us/en/2012/May/
0523_onstar.html.
7. Larry Copeland, “Technology May Halt Hot Pursuit; Many Hurt, Killed in Police Chases ,” USA Today, December 11, 2008, LexisNexis Academic.
8. General Motors, “OnStar Stolen Vehicle Slowdown Helps Recover Carjacked Vehicle. ”
9. Lou Prato, “Choppers Soar at Local News Operations ,” American Journalism Review, April 1997, http://www.ajr.org/Article.asp?id=347.
10. Copeland, “Technology May Halt Hot Pursuit. ”
11. Amy Gilroy, “Peering into the Future of the PND ,” TWICE, October 12, 2009, http://www.twice.com/article/print/357820-Peering_Into_The_Future_Of_The_PND.php.
12. CNN.com, “Transcript of Fareed Zakaria GPS, aired June 1, 2008, 13:00 ET ,” http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0806/01/fzgps.01.html (accessed February 16, 2010).
13. YouTube.com, “Jared Jewelry ,” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a69eC7ldAcI (accessed February 16, 2010).
14. YouTube.com, “TurboTax ,” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U7atn5Zj5hY (accessed February 16, 2010).
15. YouTube.com, “Fidelity—Turn Here ,” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U7atn5Zj5hY (accessed February 16, 2010).
16. Ki Mae Heussner, “The Top 10 Innovations of the Decade ,” ABCNews.com, http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/AheadoftheCurve/top-10-innovations-decade/story?id=9204931 (accessed December 15, 2009).
17. Rob Pegoraro, “A Tech Top 10 for the 2000s ,” Faster Forward (blog), WashingtonPost.com, December 14, 2009, http://voices.washingtonpost.com/fasterforward/
2009/12/a_tech_top_ten_for_the_2000s.html (accessed December 22, 2009).
18. Nam D. Pham, The Economic Benefits of Commercial GPS Use in the U.S. and the Costs of Potential Disruption (Washington DC: NDP Consulting Group, June 2011), 3, http://www.saveourgps.org/pdf/GPS-Report-June-22-2011.pdf.
19. comScore, “comScore Reports January 2013 U.S. Smartphone Subscriber Market Share ,” news release, March 6, 2013, http://www.comscore.com/Insights/
Press_Releases/2013/3/comScore_Reports_January_
2013_U.S._Smartphone_Subscriber_Market_Share.
20. Brian X. Chen, “Get Ready for 1 Billion Smartphones by 2016, Forrester Says ,” Bits (blog), New York Times, February 14, 2012, http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/02/13/get-ready-for-1-billion-smartphones-by-2016-forrester-says; Berg Insight, “Global PND Shipments Declined to 33 Million Units in 2012 ,” news release, totaltele.com, January 18, 2012, LexisNexis Academic.
21. Berg Insight, “Global PND Shipments Declined to 33 Million Units ”; Business Wire, “PND Vendors Shifting Strategies to Deal with Competitive Pressures from Mobile Apps, Says ABI Research ,” news release, March 8, 2012, LexisNexis Academic.
22. GPS.gov, “Applications: Timing ,” http://www.gps.gov/applications/timing (accessed August 5, 2012).
23. Pham, Economic Benefits of Commercial GPS Use, 1.
24. National Executive Committee for Space-Based PNT, “Charter ,” http://www.pnt.gov/charter (accessed August 5, 2012).
25. GPS.gov, “National Space Policy, June 28, 2010, Excerpt ,” http://www.gps.gov/policy/docs/2010 (accessed August 10, 2012).
26. Scott Pace, “PNT Evolution: Future Benefits and Policy Issues ,” presentation to National Space-Based PNT Advisory Board, November 5, 2009, Alexandria VA, http://pnt.gov/advisory/2009/11/pace.pdf.
1. New Moons Rising
1. YouTube.com, “Vanguard TV3 Failed Rocket Launch ,” March 10, 2010, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zVeFkakURXM.
2. Associated Press, “Launching Hour Nears for Satellite ,” Ocala (FL) Star-Banner, December 4, 1957, http://news.google.com/
newspapers?id=P_ojAAAAIBAJ&sjid=2QQ
EAAAAIBAJ&pg=4970,3889759&dq=december
+6+1957+vanguard&hl=en.
3. Matt Bille and Erika Lishock, The First Space Race: Launching the World’s First Satellites (College Station TX: Texas A&M University Press, 2004), ix.
4. Bille and Lishock, First Space Race, 123.
5. Martin Votaw, conversation with Eric Frazier, Hilton Alexandria Old Town, Alexandria VA, April 1, 2010.
6. Votaw, conversation with Eric Frazier.
7. Roger Easton, telephone conversation with Eric Frazier, March 14, 2010.
8. Roger Easton and Ruth Easton, conversation with Eric Frazier, Hilton Alexandria Old Town, Alexandria VA, April 1, 2010.
9. National Air and Space Museum, “50 Years of the Space Age: 1957: Vanguard TV3 Satellite ,” November 6, 2011, http://www.nasm.si.edu/collections/artifact.cfm?id=a19761857000.
10. Milton Bracker, “Vanguard Rocket Burns on Beach ,” New York Times, December 7, 1957, http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F50A13FC395E147B93C5A91789D95F438585F9.
11. “Vanguard’s Aftermath: Jeers and Tears ,” Time, December 16, 1957, http://timedemo.newscred.com/article/
8283732ce6e174a01ff40fb23be484e6.html/edit.
12. “Vanguard’s Aftermath: Jeers and Tears. ”
13. Bille and Lishock, First Space Race, 123.
14. Constance McLaughlin Green and Milton Lomask, “From Sputnik I to TV-3 ,” in Vanguard: A History (Washington DC: NASA, 1970), http://www.spacearium.com/filemgmt_data/files/
Vanguard_A_History.pdf.
15. Drew Pearson, “Ike Said to Prefer Dying with His Boots on Rather Than Resign ,” St. Petersburg (FL) Times, December 14, 1957.
16. Robert Dallek, Lyndon B. Johnson: Portrait of a President (New York: Oxford University Press, 2004), 110.
17. Pew Research Center for the People and the Press, Majority Says the Federal Government Threatens Their Personal Rights (Washington DC, January 31, 2013), 6, http://www.people-press.org/files/legacy-pdf/01-31-13%20Views%20of%20Government.pdf; Pew Research Center for the People and the Press, Distrust, Discontent, Anger and Partisan Rancor: The People and Their Government (Washington DC, April 18, 2010), 13, http://people-press.org/reports/pdf/606.pdf.
18. Nancy E. Bernhard, U.S. Television News and Cold War Propaganda, 1947–1960 (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1999), 47.
19. Bernhard, U.S. Television News and Cold War Propaganda, 47; U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census, “Table No. 46—Households, by Race of Head, with Population per Household ,” in Statistical Abstract of the United States, 1958 (Washington DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1958), 45.
20. Andrew J. Dunar, America in the Fifties (Syracuse NY: Syracuse University Press, 2006), 237.
21. Dunar, America in the Fifties, 248–49.
22. Dunar, America in the Fifties, 249.
23. “Satellite a Bust. Rocket Blows Up in First U.S. Try ,”
December 9, 1957, in Universal Newsreels collection, Internet Archive, http://www.archive.org/details/1957-12-09_Satellite_A_Bust.
24. Sandy Stiles, “As Impatience Mounts, Fidgety Scientists Fuss with Bride-Like Missile ,” St. Petersburg (FL) Times, December 5, 1957.
25. Sandy Stiles, “Press Corps Stands, Waits for Launching ,” St. Petersburg (FL) Times, December 5, 1957.
26. Stiles, “Press Corps Stands. ”
27. “Vanguard’s Aftermath: Jeers and Tears. ”
28. “The Press: Monday-Morning Missilemen ,” Time, December 23, 1957, www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,936782,00.html.
29. Associated Press, “Launching Hour Nears For Satellite. ”
30. Associated Press, “Launching Hour Nears For Satellite. ”
31. Project Vanguard Staff, Project Vanguard Report No. 1: Plans, Procedures, and Progress, NRL Report 4700 (Washington DC: Naval Research Laboratory, January 13, 1956), 28.
32. Project Vanguard Staff, Project Vanguard Report No. 1, 28.
33. Green and Lomask, “Early Test Firings ,” in Vanguard: A History.
34. Mike Gruntman, Blazing the Trail: The Early History of Spacecraft and Rocketry (Reston VA: American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, 2004), 373.
35. Paul Dickson, Sputnik: The Shock of the Century (New York: Walker Publishing, 2001), 76–77.
36. Dickson, Sputnik, 76–77.