A recent government report that questioned the viability of the U.S. global positioning system should not concern golf courses that have come to rely on GPS as a course management tool and a technology that enhances their customers’ golf experience, according to officials at GPS Industries.
The Government Accountability Office, a federal watchdog agency, recently warned of “significant challenges” to maintaining the satellite-based navigation system at full strength beginning as soon as 2010. The report cited technical problems and delays in a $5.8 billion plan to upgrade the system with next-generation satellites.
“If the government concludes that some banks are ‘too big to fail,’ we’re confident it also will decide that the GPS program is too important not to be maintained at the highest standard,” said Alex Doaga, executive vice president and chief technical officer for Sarasota, Fla.-based GPS Industries, an international developer of global positioning systems and Wi-Fi multimedia solutions for the golf industry.
Doaga called GPS a “strategic technology” that supports a wide range of government and commercial ventures. "We rely on GPS to guide missiles, ambulance drivers and golf cars to their destinations,” he said. “The government says it has the issue under control, and we can’t envision any disruption of service.”
The technology publication PC World also took a reassuring stance in reaction to the GAO report, saying there are two factors working in GPS’s favor: “One is its popularity with consumers. Second is its role in national security, making it imperative that a solution be found and raising the political pressure to do so.”
Golf courses utilize GPS to manage their golf car fleets, tracking their battery status and limiting their use in certain areas. Golfers also use the technology to determine distance and communicate with course personnel to place food and beverage orders, for example.
The GPS uses 32 satellites orbiting 12,000 miles high, each circling the globe every 12 hours. Officials at u-blox, the Swiss company that supplies GPS receivers for GPSI applications, notes that the current GPS constellation is augmented by three Wide Area Augmentation System (WAAS) satellites developed by the Federal Aviation Administration. WAAS satellites can be received in North America and are not affected by the GAO warning, effectively increasing the GPS constellation to 35 satellites.
The satellites broadcast radio signals to earth with information about their location and the exact time the signal was transmitted. By calculating the difference between the radio signals received, GPS receivers on the ground can accurately determine their own location. Currently there are more than 30 satellites in space; they are regularly replaced as they age and fail. The first replacement satellite is expected to be launched in November.