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Australia Moved 1.5 Metres, Updating its Location for Self-Driving Cars

posted by n1 on Sunday July 31 2016, @12:34AM   
from the you-have-not-reached-your-destination dept.

"exec" writes:

[Australia] is shifting its longitude and latitude to fix a discrepancy with global satellite navigation systems. Government body Geoscience Australia is updating the Geocentric Datum of Australia, the country's national coordinate system, to bring it in line with international data.

The reason Australia is slightly out of whack with global systems is that the country moves about 7 centimetres (2.75 inches) per year due to the shifting of tectonic plates.

Since 1994, when the data was last recorded, that's added up to a misalignment of about a metre and a half.

Source: CNet

-- submitted from IRC

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Original Submission

• Re:Nice fix. Re:Nice fix. (Score: 2) by martyb on Sunday July 31 2016, @03:26AM

  by martyb (76) on Sunday July 31 2016, @03:26AM (#382151) Journal

  That marker better have a very fine point... back of the envelope calculations suggest the shift to be about 1 mm on a globe that is about 10 meters in diameter. Methinks your class action lawsuit would have a rather small class! =)

  --
  Wit is intellect, dancing.

  Parent

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• Re:Nice fix. Re:Nice fix. (Score: 2) by butthurt on Sunday July 31 2016, @03:55AM

  by butthurt (6141) on Sunday July 31 2016, @03:55AM (#382160) Journal

  I got 1.2 μm using a mean radius of 6371 km for the Earth. On my envelope: 1.5 m*10 m/(2*6378100 m)

  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earth [wikipedia.org]

  Parent

  • Re:Nice fix. (Score: 2) by butthurt on Sunday July 31 2016, @04:18AM

    by butthurt (6141) on Sunday July 31 2016, @04:18AM (#382163) Journal

    Er, 6371000 m not 6378100 m

    Parent