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How GPS Is Killing Lighthouses
sakshale writes "Spiegel Online has an article about the impact of GPS systems on Lighthouses.
They claim that the popularity of the satellite-based global positioning system has led to the closure of lighthouses along the German coast." As the article says, "critics question whether the new system is reliable and safe enough to warrant the closure of these historical beacons of safety."
As such, the U.S. military can turn off the satelites or scramble their signal whenever it deems appropriate. So, before our friends the Germans decide to become overly dependant on U.S. technology, they ought to ensure that the world is a stable place otherwise they may find themselves hung out to dry on the reef.
I wonder if we can combine the old and new worlds... e.g., turn all the obsolete lighthouses into cell towers...
I'm a bloodsucking fiend! Look at my outfit!
Ocean Navigator carried an article a few years ago about how the number of people "lost at sea" reported by the US Coast Guard had *increased* since GPS was invented!
The typical response to was "the batteries went flat...". Hmmmm. Point taken re postage stamps and email but this is a lives-at-stake situation.
BTW, this is also why the US Navy still teaches celestial navigation and morse code.
Stevo
Forget the truth. Science is fact.
Lighthouses have been obsolete since radar came to be. GPS is hardly the starting point for this.
As a boater I can tell you that neither radar nor GPS makes lighthouses obsolete. Nor did LORAN before them.
Sure, if you've got it and its working you can tell where you are. Within a football field if selective-availability is on, much better if it's off.
And the big commercial ships have them and they're usually working.
And the small commercial ships in well-to-do countries (like fishing boats for instance) may have them and they may be working.
And the more well-to-do pleasure-boaters may have them and they may be working.
But there are a LOT of boats out there that DON'T have them. The BULK of them, if you're talking numbers.
Fishermen may not have them - and may have other things to deal with than watching a screen. Most pleasure boats are small fry, not millionaires' giant toys. (A small ocean-capable cruising sailboat, for instance, may be considerably less expensive than an RV of a similar size.)
Even if they have them, any bets whether they're working when you're coming in after a month at sea, two years after they were purchased? Salt spray is HELL on electronics, and gets into everything.
And even when they do have them, and they are operating, a boater may think he's far out to sea when he's actually almost onto a hidden hazard, and not be looking. (A lighted nav marker, among other things, is the idiot-light of boating.)
Saying GPS obsoletes lighthouses is like saying GPS-based navigation systems for cars obsolete stop signs, curve signs, and the blinking lights associated with them.
Bantam Dominique roosters crow a four-note song. Once you've heard it as "Happy BIRTHday" you can't NOT hear it that way
In fact the only lighthouse in the United States that is still manned and maintained by the government (the United States Coast Guard) is Boston Harbor Light. It was the first lighthouse in the nation, which is why the government has agreed to keep it manned while all the others maintained by the USCG are automated.
... or more relevant... pseudolites. These are pseudo GPS satellites that can be used to add more "satellites" to the GPS solution.
Engineering is the art of compromise.
Everyone here seems to get it wrong. We went through the same thing over the last few years on the west coast of Canada over closing up lighthouses, replacing them with automatic beacons. A lot of them are starting to be opened again and staffed by humans. Why?
Everyone thinks a lighthouse just sits there and looks bright in the darkness. The ones on the west coast here:
- radio in weather reports from their stations
- test the water for pollution and temperature
- test salinity of the water at high and low tides
- send in visibility reports
- assist passing boaters with information via radio.
- assist boaters who know where they are already (thanks to those GPSs) but also know they're in trouble.
Last week I saw a thing on TV on the daily schedule of a lighthouse up in northwest BC. Did you know the lighthouse keepers' day starts at 3AM with the first readings and goes until 10 PM? Which is usually why it's either a family or at least 2 people staffing them.
GPS units can help you avoid troubles just fine, but if you're already in a situation, it can't do more than tell you where you are. A lighthouse can coordinate assistance efforts on your behalf, and if you're close enough, may be able to either guide you in, or come get you in their launch.
I go through the commotion of getting my envelopes, figuring out postage, signing all the cards, and I make my own cards (you can print on Bristol board, heavy drawing paper or cardstock using a conventional inkjet) which can take a while. This occupies a significant portion of my Christmas vacation but I figure it's worth it. Printing an email and hanging it on the fridge just isn't the same.