Too many questions about GPS lately. Try this link for general info:

http://www.pobonline.com/

GPS from the surveyors angle mostly. New equipment guide for this year.

-- Paul Davis (davisp1953@yahoo.com), August 13, 1999

Answers

Here is the site maintained by the Coast Guard about GPS Rollover week:

http://www.navcen.uscg.mil/gps/geninfo/y2k/gpsweek.htm

Here is the site maintained by the Coast Gueard that lists manufacturers of GPS receivers:

http://www.navcen.uscg.mil/gps/geninfo/y2k/gpsmanufacturers/manufactur ers.html

I strongly advise you to take a few minutes and go to both these sites. Please note that the Coast Guard is providing this info as a public service, and that GPS end-users are advised to contact the manufacturers to ascertain the 'readiness' of any equipment.

Go to some of the manufacturer sites. See what they are manufacturing. See what they say (or don't say) about the rollover and their products.

If you have read that only 'old' GPS equipment will fail, go to the site for Corvallis Microtechnologies and read what they say about units that were shipped prior to January 1999. No, my fingers didn't slip. At least they have patches or upgrades available.

Last, but not least, think about how very little has been said about this. Ask around. See how many blank faces you can count. Then think about what we've all been learning about interconnectivity and the dangers of incorrect data.

Fun, ain't it?

-- Arewyn (isitthatlate@lready.com), August 13, 1999.

Another recent, informative article can be found here:

http://www.flatoday.com/space/today/080999a.htm

"Global Positioning System calendar faces rollover"

-- Linkmeister (link@librarian.edu), August 13, 1999.

Paul, thanks for bringing up the subject.

-- Carlos (riffraff1@cybertime.net), August 13, 1999.

Thanks for link,

Now that Nikoli has me glued to GPS rollover, I was grateful to find the info.

-- Moore Dinty moore (not@thistime.com), August 14, 1999.

I don't really expect that much in the way of trouble for large organizations or the military from the GPS rollover - but some small orgs or foreign concerns may have some problems. Depends on whether or not they have paid attention to the warnings to check their receivers.

The scary warnings on the mfrs sites, BTW, are meant to cut liability when someone uses a GPS receiver for something it REALLY isn't meant to be used for - like the crazy Korean airliner that landed in the US last year and was found to have flown all the way with only the pilots personal GPS hand-held for nav instruments. As for boats, some places you only have a safe channel a couple of hundred yards wide - and civilian quality GPS isn't safe in that narrow a channel. (And if you use military GPS and turn off the differential analyzer, and forget to tell the equipment you turned that part of it off - it is apt to tell you that you just landed in China or something.)

-- Paul Davis (davisp1953@yahoo.com), August 14, 1999.