GPS System Close to Breakdown?

[RogerinTPA]

Augmentation...not substitution.

Even the boys in my son's Cub Scout den know this (cause that's what I taught them)........

Exactly. Anyone venturing out should be an expert on the HHM (Hand Held Map), lensetic compass, coupled with the Mk-1 Eyeball.

[tracker722]

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[hatidua]

A GPS unit helped us find the restaurant for dinner tonight.....but I've entered more than one coastal inlet by boat when the GPS said we were going over land

[rat31465]

As long as our Military is so heavily invested in weapons systems reliant upon GPS technology...I don't forsee GPS going away anytime in the near future.
I use a GPS daily on my job and in participating in the game of GeoCaching and love it.
However if I am heading out into the deep dark woods, I will always carry a magnetic compass and at least a rudimentary map anything less would be irresponsible in my opinion.

[762xIan]

From the article:

"In recent years, the Air Force has struggled to successfully build GPS satellites within cost and schedule goals," said the report. "It encountered significant technical problems … [and] struggled with a different contractor."

The first replacement GPS satellite was due to launch at the beginning of 2007, but has been delayed several times and is now scheduled to go into orbit in November this year – almost three years late.

WTF? Of all the things that money gets spent on...this is just a little to important to screw up.

Either way, my son (he's 12) has had a good time learning orienteering with the scouts. He surprised me with how fast he learned how to read a map and use a compass.