The Russian-made Soyuz rocket is carrying the first of two satellites for the European GPS Galileo system, which has been made to challenge the supremacy of the American GPS satellite network. We would never have imagined, even 25 years ago, that Russia and Western Europe would cooperate to do something like this. Welcome to the new globalised world. And in such a world, owning a GPS device has become a must.
Some years ago, when technological collaboration between both sides of the Iron Curtain (if you remember the Iron Curtain) was simply unthinkable, as GPS was secret, high-tech equipment reserved exclusively for armed forces and intelligence services. Nowadays, GPS has become a daily – and even mundane – part of our lives.
It is hardly surprising that the luxury of a disembodied voice in our car, telling us where to turn and where to stop, has become such a hit with drivers. GPS, apart from making our trips more comfortable, also saves us from those acrimonious discussions that used to arise with our co-pilots, hunched over paper maps, telling us to turn left after we have already gone sailing past the turn-off.
However, the dark side of GPS technology was also on display recently, when Apple introduced a new application for its new iPhone 4S, called 'Find My Friends'. This app allows iPhone users to see where the people in their contacts list are via the GPS chips in their phones.
Only a couple of days later, a man from New York posted on a popular social network site the following message: ''Divorcing wife. Thanks iPhone 4S and Find My Friends''.
Europe will be launching a whole bunch of satellites to build the Galileo GPS network; let’s hope it doesn’t make things even worse.
You have been warned!
Published in Catalonia Today magazine, november 2011
