Soon after the 9/11 attacks, U.S. Department of Defense and Department of Transportation collaborated on a plan to secure the nation's transportation infrastructure that relied on GPS. There was confined tracking when it came to airplanes and ships but the DOT was also in the process of tracking automobile and train movements at the time. Advantages with GPS is that they can tell you an exact longitude and latitude of what you're looking for, as a Navaid can only tell the point at which was last checked in. A disadvantage of this form of tracking is the obstacles that block the satellite signals to the GPS recievers and the fact that the system could be manipulated and intentionally jammed. One of the biggest altering factors with their new plan was to reduce the amount of ground-based radio navigation systems but they wouldn't phase them out completely until one system could prove it does its job. Until then the ground-based tracking remains as a back-up system to GPS units.
As if we weren't secure enough, a lot of the nation became alive with security after the 9/11 incidents. It is good that they are gradually converting from ground-based navaids to GPS because of the accuracy between the two. The GPS still has its disadvantages but there is many advantages to it, not to mention it is very versatile. You see it used with weather, military use, volcanic eruptions, movements of the Earth's plates and as I have learned in this article it has become a significant tool for the DOT and DOD. Although I am not to fond of the 900 satellites that the world has launched into orbit (half being the U.S's), I find that it has helped us significantly.
Bodamer, David. "Department of Transportation Keeps Backup Systems for GPS Tracking Technology." Civil Engineering 72.5 (2002): 32-. ABI/INFORM Complete. Web. 17 July 2012.
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