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"I never thought I would spend my free time driving around looking for dollar store items hidden on top of mountains under a bunch of rocks." -Denny Ford of Tres Hombres
"In time, all caches will devolve and entropy will be achieved" -Steve Gross of Team Tierra Buena
A report is causing some concern that the GPS signal could become less accurate as soon as 2010.
The summary from the report reads:
It is uncertain whether the Air Force will be able to acquire new satellites in time to maintain current GPS service without interruption. If not, some military operations and some civilian users could be adversely affected. (1) In recent years, the Air Force has struggled to successfully build GPS satellites within cost and schedule goals; it encountered significant technical problems that still threaten its delivery schedule; and it struggled with a different contractor. As a result, the current IIF satellite program has overrun its original cost estimate by about $870 million and the launch of its first satellite has been delayed to November 2009--almost 3 years late. (2) Further, while the Air Force is structuring the new GPS IIIA program to prevent mistakes made on the IIF program, the Air Force is aiming to deploy the next generation of GPS satellites 3 years faster than the IIF satellites. GAO's analysis found that this schedule is optimistic, given the program's late start, past trends in space acquisitions, and challenges facing the new contractor. Of particular concern is leadership for GPS acquisition, as GAO and other studies have found the lack of a single point of authority for space programs and frequent turnover in program managers have hampered requirements setting, funding stability, and resource allocation. (3) If the Air Force does not meet its schedule goals for development of GPS IIIA satellites, there will be an increased likelihood that in 2010, as old satellites begin to fail, the overall GPS constellation will fall below the number of satellites required to provide the level of GPS service that the U.S. government commits to. Such a gap in capability could have wide-ranging impacts on all GPS users, though there are measures the Air Force and others can take to plan for and minimize these impacts. In addition to risks facing the acquisition of new GPS satellites, the Air Force has not been fully successful in synchronizing the acquisition and development of the next generation of GPS satellites with the ground control and user equipment, thereby delaying the ability of military users to fully utilize new GPS satellite capabilities. Diffuse leadership has been a contributing factor, given that there is no single authority responsible for synchronizing all procurements and fielding related to GPS, and funding has been diverted from ground programs to pay for problems in the space segment. DOD and others involved in ensuring GPS can serve communities beyond the military have taken prudent steps to manage requirements and coordinate among the many organizations involved with GPS. However, GAO identified challenges to ensuring civilian requirements and ensuring GPS compatibility with other new, potentially competing global space-based positioning, navigation, and timing systems.
MarkFleming, (GoNorthWest) has jest release a map set for garmin GPSr that cover the SW trails.
Quoted from the mailing list:
"This mapset is designed to transparently overlay any existing maps you have on your Garmin GPSr. With this mapset, you can see, and follow, and trails that are in your area. No longer do you need to download tracks or routes to your GPSr when all you want to do is have the trail. Assuming that your desired trail is in the current data set, you're covered! I would very much appreciate people at least checking out the web page and providing constructive feedback. This project is in it's infancy, and there is lots of work to be done. But, in my own field testing, it's proven to work pretty well so far. I intend to allow user contributions in the very near future, so you can send me new trails or corrections to current trails. Anything that makes it better!"
"A US Government Accountability Office report raises concerns about the Air Force's ability to modernize and maintain the constellation of satellites necessary to provide GPS services to military and civilian users. TidBITS looks at the situation and possible solutions."