On This Day in 1978- Paper Maps Become Obsolete

I don’t know about you, but I was a GPS “holdout” for years.  I told myself that if I succumbed to using GPS to get to one place or another, that I’d lose my well-developed sense of direction and pretty good, kind of innate, navigational skills.

And I came by those skills honestly.  My dad knew which direction he was going without a compass (and certainly not GPS) and a had a legendary sense of direction and set of navigational skills.  Yes, he was a man and men have a reputation of not stopping to ask directions regardless of how lost they were.  That old joke is pretty much dead now with our ubiquitous use GPS, but dad never stopped to ask directions and neither did I.

I never stopped to ask directions because, well, I didn’t want to stop to ask (being a man, asking for directions shows a sign of weakness and men don’t like showing signs of weakness) and because, well, I didn’t need to stop ask for directions.  I always knew, within a few miles or so where I was.  Armed with a map and my well-developed and hereditarily-gifted sense of direction, I was able to maintain my (some might say “toxic”) manhood.

And I continued to insist that I would lose that natural sense of direction if I started using GPS, so I refrained.  When it was an option on cars (that I never had) or you had to buy a separate GPS unit to carry with you, it was easier to give GPS “the Heisman”.  Once it became available on cell phones it was impossible to ignore although I still tried ignoring it for a few years.

I still consult paper maps when planning a trip and use maps as a backup during trips.  I don’t trust GPS 100% of the time.  We’ve all heard the stories of people being GPS-directed to a place in the middle of the desert and running out of gas. 

Cartoon by Clive Goddard courtesy of https://www.cartoonstock.com/directory/m/men_don%E2%80%99t_ask_for_directions.asp?srsltid=AfmBOoqBs0imRM1u89mfQOREgBe3Kbm3re4FH9qASPJ0rU5ZQ4WDLuiy

But like everyone else and despite the studies like this one entitled Habitual use of GPS negatively impacts spatial memory during self-guided navigation (a recap available here: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-020-62877-0) showing that use of GPS can reduce our natural sense of direction and navigational skills, I have been beaten down by the omnipresent and pervasive availability of GPS (and my wife’s encouragement that I use it).  So now, but still a bit regretfully and hesitantly, I do use the technology.

My dad is rolling over in his grave.

On this date in 1978 and according to History.com downloaded today from https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/navstar-1-first-operational-gps-satellite-launches?cmpid=email-hist-tdih-2025-0222-02222025&om_rid=, “the U.S. Air Force launched Navstar 1, the world’s first operational GPS satellite, from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. GPS began as a military technology, but expanded to transform industries from aviation to communications.

Navstar1 Courtesy of USAF – http://www.astronautix.com/g/gpsblock1.html, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=56261687

“Global Positioning System (GPS) technology is an indispensable part of 21st-century life, powering everything from rideshare apps to fitness trackers to commercial aviation. The origins of GPS technology, however, lie in the early years of the Cold War space race.

“When the USSR launched its first satellite, Sputnik, into orbit in 1957, American scientists observed the Doppler effect: Sputnik’s radio signal frequency increased as it moved closer, and decreased as it moved farther away. These changes in radio signal frequency allowed scientists to track Sputnik’s movement across the sky. Inspired by this observation, DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency) launched the Transit program, which provided navigation largely to warships, submarines, freighters and private maritime users. The first Transit satellite entered orbit in 1960.

“Over the next few decades, the federal government funded several more satellite navigation projects (including 621B and Timation) in its quest to provide real-time, all-weather, high-accuracy navigation for all types of moving vehicles, around the clock. Developments in microprocessing, bandwidth, signal frequency and atomic clocks furthered the goal, enabling ever-greater miniaturization and accuracy.

“Enter the U.S. Air Force Navstar project, which consolidated these different programs in 1974, harnessing these advances. Navstar 1, its first operational GPS satellite, launched into space four years later. GPS satellites travel through medium earth orbit, 12,550 miles high, and circle the globe once every 12 hours. They work by emitting radio signals, which are picked up by receivers on the ground. The receivers then calculate location and time, based on comparing the signals from at least four different satellites. Modern GPS technology can accurately pinpoint a location anywhere on earth, within several meters, 95 percent of the time.

“GPS capabilities expanded throughout the 1980s—and beyond. The military has used it for everything from helping troops navigate trackless desert landscapes (think Desert Storm) to enabling ultra-precise missile guidance. After a Korean passenger jet strayed into Soviet air space and was shot down in September 1983, the U.S. declassifed GPS technology to help commercial airlines improve safety.

“The first portable GPS device for civilians, the Magellan Nav 1000, went on sale to the public in 1989. It cost $3,000, weighed a clunky 1.5 pounds, and only offered a few hours of battery life. The U.S. GPS satellite constellation became fully operational in 1995, with 24 satellites in orbit. Cellphones began to incorporate GPS receivers as the technology improved and costs dropped; the first GPS-enabled cellphone went on sale in 1999.

“In the 21st century, GPS has become ubiquitous. Today, the U.S. Space Force, created in 2019, oversees the GPS program. The Space Force aims to operate the ‘GPS satellite constellation as a global utility—always available to everyone, everywhere on Earth.’”

Onward and upward and to knowing where we’re going!

Sources:  History.com, Clive Goddard and CartoonStock.com, United States Air Force