On walking into lamp posts

In one of their less well considered comments, The Economist said the following this week, when discussing the upcoming European Galileo Positioning System, which is to exist in parallel to America’s Global Positioning System (GPS):

GPS is accurate to within about 15 feet (5m); fine for navigating a car but too imprecise for pedestrians.

Thankfully, at least some pedestrians seem to have natural navigation systems that operate at such ranges with no satellite data whatsoever. It’s a trick even children seem capable of pulling off.

PS. Incidentally, the Galileo Positioning System seems like a pretty easy thing to implement:

Time – Galileo’s position

01:00:00 – Under the Church of Santo Croce, Florence (dead)
01:00:01 – Under the Church of Santo Croce, Florence (dead)
…

Author: Milan

In the spring of 2005, I graduated from the University of British Columbia with a degree in International Relations and a general focus in the area of environmental politics. Between 2005 and 2007 I completed an M.Phil in IR at Wadham College, Oxford. I worked for five years for the Canadian federal government, including completing the Accelerated Economist Training Program, and then completed a PhD in Political Science at the University of Toronto in 2023. View all posts by Milan