Image: Bloomsbury Publishing
What’s new: A review of the new book about the history and current state of GPS and GNSS by Katherine Dunn.
Why it’s important: The book is engaging and informative for everyone and should be of particular interest to those in the PNT community.
What else to know:
- It starts with some fascinating history from WWII. We had not read about that part before.
- Dunn interviewed and quotes a wide variety of GNSS and PNT experts in the book. You will see many names you will recognize and probably people you know.
- Yes, the headline in The Telegraph is a grabber and doesn’t completely represent what is a commentary-book review. Still, it is worth reading the review, though you need an easily-obtained free subscription to the paper.
- This book should be on everyone’s reading list and shelf (we have an advance copy). It is officially available Monday. You can order your copy now here.
Commentary:
We Trust GPS With Our Lives. It’s About To Collapse
By: Christopher Webb
The Telegraph
11 June 2026
[Excerpts]
Unlike more headline-grabbing tech subjects such as AI or robotics, GPS tends to, well, fly under the radar. It has practically become, as Katherine Dunn notes, a “background feature of our everyday world”. We use it to drive to work, to find a pub, to track our morning runs, to order takeaways and to co-ordinate plans with friends. We rely on it all day, every day, without thinking…
…it makes the invisible infrastructure of the modern world come alive and feel urgent. For one of the sharpest points made by Dunn is that the battle over GPS is, in fact, a fight over truth and certainty – and one of which most of us, going about our days, remain blithely unaware.
