They're relocating Australia, wait, what?

[Master Disaster]

Sorry the the click baity title, I could resist. 

 

Yes Australia is technically relocating but it's not how you think and there's a good reason for it too. You see Australia happens to lie on a very active tectonic plate that moves about 7cm each year and this is wreaking havoc with Aussie GPS. Because of this it's been decided to alter Australias global coordinates to compensate for this movement. 

Quote

Australia is to shift its longitude and latitude to address a gap between local co-ordinates and those from global navigation satellite systems (GNSS).

Local co-ordinates, used to produce maps and measurements, and global ones differ by more than 1m.

The body responsible for the change said it would help the development of self-driving cars, which need accurate location data to navigate.

Australia moves about 7cm north annually because of tectonic movements.

Modern satellite systems provide location data based on global lines of longitude and latitude, which do not move even if the continents on Earth shift.

However, many countries produce maps and measurements with the lines of longitude and latitude fixed to their local continent.

"If the lines are fixed, you can put a mark in the ground, measure its co-ordinate, and it will be the same co-ordinate in 20 years," explained Dan Jaksa of Geoscience Australia. "It's the classical way of doing it."

Because of the movement of the Earth's tectonic plates, these local co-ordinates drift apart from the Earth's global co-ordinates over time.

"If you want to start using driverless cars, accurate map information is fundamental," said Mr Jaksa.

"We have tractors in Australia starting to go around farms without a driver, and if the information about the farm doesn't line up with the co-ordinates coming out of the navigation system there will be problems."

The Geocentric Datum of Australia, the country's local co-ordinate system, was last updated in 1994. Since then, Australia has moved about 1.5 metres north.

From January 1st 2017 Australias Global Coordinates will be shifted by 1.8m to the north. 

Quote

So on 1 January 2017, the country's local co-ordinates will also be shifted further north - by 1.8m.

The over-correction means Australia's local co-ordinates and the Earth's global co-ordinates will align in 2020.

At that point a new system, which can take changes over time into account, will be implemented.

"We used the old plate fixed system to make life simple, but we don't want to do this adjustment every so often," said Mr Jaksa.

"Once we have a system that can deal with changes over time, then everybody in the world could be on that same system."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-36912700

 

I guess this is a necessary change if Australia want fully autonomous vehicles but couldn't they just alter the local map coordinates to compensate? 

[DocSwag]

I never thought that the movement of earths plates would ever actually affect us anytime in the near future.... I guess I was wrong  

 

And yes, I know earthquakes n stuff are caused my plate tectonics but I am referring to the plates actually moving around, not the things that the movements of plates cause.

[Notional]

Even Australia is trying to get away from its wildlife.

[TageLeo]

It's nice to see Australia moving up in the world... (sorry I had too) Pretty interesting though

[TetraSky]

6 minutes ago, Notional said:

Even Australia is trying to get away from its wildlife.

It cannot outrun it though.

[Notional]

Just now, TetraSky said:

It cannot outrun it though.

Meh, nothing a few good earth quakes can't handle.

[AlTech]

1 hour ago, Master Disaster said:

Sorry the the click baity title, I could resist. 

 

Yes Australia is technically relocating but it's not how you think and there's a good reason for it too. You see Australia happens to lie on a very active tectonic plate that moves about 7cm each year and this is wreaking havoc with Aussie GPS. Because of this it's been decided to alter Australias global coordinates to compensate for this movement. 

From January 1st 2017 Australias Global Coordinates will be shifted by 1.8m to the north. 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-36912700

 

I guess this is a necessary change if Australia want fully autonomous vehicles but couldn't they just alter the local map coordinates to compensate? 

Come on man. This crossed the line with the Clickbait.

[Nup]

That's fantastic.  

[Dabombinable]

7 hours ago, Notional said:

Meh, nothing a few good earth quakes can't handle.

Most of those are literally in the middle of no where though.....

[Notional]

Just now, Dabombinable said:

Most of those are literally in the middle of no where though.....

Just like Australia 

[BuckGup]

7 hours ago, DocSwag said:

I never thought that the movement of earths plates would ever actually affect us anytime in the near future.... I guess I was wrong  

 

And yes, I know earthquakes n stuff are caused my plate tectonics but I am referring to the plates actually moving around, not the things that the movements of plates cause.

Hawaii is going to hit the US in a couple hundred years

[PlayStation 2]

5 hours ago, AluminiumTech said:

Come on man. This crossed the line with the Clickbait.

points out your countless topics

[Nineshadow]

Spiders are not gonna be happy they got relocated.

 

Oh God...mutant kangaroos with spiders for asses. Why did I just remember this? God damn it Australia!

[DocSwag]

17 minutes ago, SamStrecker said:

Hawaii is going to hit the US in a couple hundred years

are you sure? Cuz I remember it taking millions of years to reach places like Japan and by then having already sunk back into the ocean...

[NumLock21]

So when did they find out it's actually moving 7cm or about 3 inches per year? Counting from the dino ages. I say Australia is moving in circles.

 

[BuckGup]

28 minutes ago, DocSwag said:

are you sure? Cuz I remember it taking millions of years to reach places like Japan and by then having already sunk back into the ocean...

Yeah it is on the same plate so it moves 7cm a year as well

[DocSwag]

1 hour ago, SamStrecker said:

Yeah it is on the same plate so it moves 7cm a year as well

Ok, now I'm just super confused  

[That Norwegian Guy]

Australian politicians are frustrated with the inaccuracy of Pokémon GO.

 

May not be far from the truth, a huge portion of the Norwegian central government play Pokémon GO. At work.

[PerfectTemplar]

11 hours ago, DocSwag said:

I never thought that the movement of earths plates would ever actually affect us anytime in the near future.... I guess I was wrong  

 

And yes, I know earthquakes n stuff are caused my plate tectonics but I am referring to the plates actually moving around, not the things that the movements of plates cause.

You can see this easily on Pokemon Go. We're always 1-2 metres off.

[Misanthrope]

9 hours ago, AluminiumTech said:

Come on man. This crossed the line with the Clickbait.

Nah it's not that bad.

 

Also coming next to this thread: 10 reasons why clickbait can be far worst! You'll laugh uncontrollably at #7!

[Bleedingyamato]

13 hours ago, TetraSky said:

It cannot outrun it though.

It can try.  lol

[Bleedingyamato]

I'm confused.  I understand that maps may be wrong because of the movement but shouldn't gps be unaffected?

 

GPS receivers determine your location based on where you are in relation to 3 or more satellites right?

 

So shouldn't gps satellites still provide accurate location info despite continental drift?  

 

Or am I getting mixed up about this?

[ADM-Ntek]

1 hour ago, Bleedingyamato said:

I'm confused.  I understand that maps may be wrong because of the movement but shouldn't gps be unaffected?

 

GPS receivers determine your location based on where you are in relation to 3 or more satellites right?

 

So shouldn't gps satellites still provide accurate location info despite continental drift?  

 

Or am I getting mixed up about this?

what happens is that the gps coordinates stay the same but the actual terrain has moved.

[Bleedingyamato]

4 minutes ago, ADM-Ntek said:

what happens is that the gps coordinates stay the same but the actual terrain has moved.

Oh.  So it still knows where you are but might show you as being on the wrong spot on a map?  

 

I had that happen to me once.  My silly gps tried to have me drive straight when the road I was on came to a T and my only choices were turn left or right.  Clearly it thought I was somewhere I wasn't.  lol

[ADM-Ntek]

33 minutes ago, Bleedingyamato said:

Oh.  So it still knows where you are but might show you as being on the wrong spot on a map?  

 

I had that happen to me once.  My silly gps tried to have me drive straight when the road I was on came to a T and my only choices were turn left or right.  Clearly it thought I was somewhere I wasn't.  lol

sort of look at it this way. lets say you place a flag and and note its GPS data 20 years later you go back to the flag but now it has different coordinates. the land and the flag moved but the satellites didn't. the satellites don´t care what happen on the ground.