Dana Goward, President of the Resilient Navigation and Timing Foundation, introducing Brad Parkinson and Matteo Luccio, GPS World EIC. (Image: GPS World staff)
On December 5, in Houston, Texas, at a gala event to celebrate the 50th anniversary of GPS hosted by the Resilient Navigation and Timing Foundation, Matteo Luccio, Editor-in-Chief of GPS World, interviewed Brad Parkinson. Here are two excerpts from the interview:
How does GPS today differ from the design that came out of the Lonely Halls meeting 50 years ago this past September?
Well, I’m very proud of what happened because, to my knowledge, there is no fundamental difference. Basically, that fundamental design has held up. … As a matter of fact, I still have one of the old Trimble handhelds, it’s called an EnsignGPS. It was one of those little devices that got shipped to the Iraq War. The other day, I pulled it out, batteries were kind of crummy, I got those squared away and went out, sure enough and navigated. I probably hadn’t pulled it out in at least 20 years. The point of the story is that evidently it still works.
What do you consider the most significant impact of GPS on society?
Well, the most significant impact is also probably the most perilous: kids today just take it for granted. They know where they are.
Watch the full interview below.