Movin’ On Up
Australia is on the move, so much so that GPS coordinates are now off by about 1.5 meters (5 feet) and need to be corrected. Australia’s coordinate system hasn’t been updated since 1994, resulting in a margin of error that’s become noticeable.
Plate tectonics causes Australia to move north about 7 centimeters (2.8 inches) each year. Australia is on the Indo-Australian plate, which was formed about 43 million years ago when two smaller plates fused together into one. The fused plate is moving north, colliding with the Eurasian plate and giving rise to the Himalaya mountain range.
GPS coordinates are based on latitude and longitude, which currently must be manually updated. The plan is to overcorrect the problem on January 1, 2017 by shifting the coordinates 1.8 meters (6 feet) north. The extra 0.3 meters will buy time to create a new automatic correction system by 2020; the year Australia’s overcorrected local coordinates will sync with the global coordinate system.
Why is this so important? Because any device that uses GPS, from our smart phones to the growing number of self-driving cars, use GPS. 1.5 meters can easily be the difference between a driverless car arriving safely at a destination, or making a turn too soon and crashing.
Most people are unlikely to notice the January shift, unless it suddenly makes Pokemon Go easier to play, and then, given recent trends, it will probably be big news.
- RE
Photo Credit: NASA http://go.nasa.gov/1lIsXgq Keith Koper http://bit.ly/2auzM3Y
References: http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-36912700http://www.australianscience.com.au/news/breaking-plates/
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