Mapping Hacks

It sometimes seems as if I’ve been reading the same Galileo article on the BBC News website for the last three years; only the delivery date changes each year. I missed this summer’s news of the collapse of the “consortium of consortiums” that was selected to build, launch and run the European-backed alternative to the GPS system. Now, I read that Transport Ministers representing each nation in the Council, have rushed through approval for Galileo’s build and launch to be funded outright by the European Union, e.g. taxpayers in the member states - moving 1.7bn euros from other, underused EU budgets.

Meanwhile, the US’s higher-accuracy GPS III without selective availability is planned for 2013; the Chinese space research agencies are building yet another global positioning system, and India and Japan are working on regional ones. There’s serious doubt as to whether the costs of Galileo will ever be covered by charging for privileged kinds of access (higher availability, guaranteed uptime) when there are so many alternative systems planned. I learnt all this from the terrific report into the background of this Galileo funding decision by the Transport Select Committee in the UK Parliament. It talks about how the techno-political context has changed since the Galileo project was begun in 1999 with a projected launch date of 2008. There’s too much detail to summarise, but I’d heartily recommend it as reading material to those who want to understand what’s happened, and likely will happen, with the project. The report’s language is emotive at times, perhaps with reason as the conclusions are saddening.

“We fear that Galileo’s status as a flagship grand projet is clouding the judgement of some in relation to its true, realistic and proven merits… No amount of vague and euphoric anticipation of enormous economic benefits can make up for rigourous and balanced analysis of costs and benefits.”

A network of regional systems, or a UN-led global agreement to build and maintain a shared global system, would seem to make sense for a positioning network; and I wonder why these efforts aren’t visibly happening.

Posted in planning, services |

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