Blogs / Discoblog

We’ve written about how GPS technology can make airports more efficient or help protect endangered elephants. Now, that same technology has turned up in a much more intimate place. In Brazil, a new line of lingerie features a built-in GPS device that allows anyone with a password to track the whereabouts of the wearer.

Lucia Lorio, the designer of the line, expects the lacey numbers to be a hit with “modern, techno-savvy woman.” It certainly would give a whole new meaning to “playing hard-to-get.” On the other hand, Lorio says the GPS-enabled lingerie could also provide a measure of protection for damsels in distress – presumably by sending for help when they’re alone and in danger. We’d like to note that similar devices already exist for pets and young children in distress.

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The shortest route between two points is a straight line. But if you manage to get on a flight these days, you’ll probably end up zigzagging across the skies. That’s because the radar-based navigation system used by airlines, developed more than 50 years ago, limits air traffic to a grid of narrow highways—meaning that planes have to wait in a single-file queue for their turn to take off. So it’s a good thing the FAA is proposing a new satellite-based GPS navigation system, called NextGen, that would let pilots fly shorter routes—and use less fuel.

NextGen would let pilots determine their own position and the position of other flights, potentially shifting flight patterns. The current radar system takes 10 seconds to scan an area, so planes have to be kept extra far apart. Supporters of NextGen say it would allow more planes in the air while reducing accidents and delays—while also saving 3.3 billion gallons or $10 billion per year in fuel costs.

Of course, there’s the matter of up front costs.

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Farmers near the Ol Pejeta conservancy in Kenya used to have to bang on pots and pans and wave burning sticks to keep elephants from destroying their crops. Now they rely on GPS and text messaging.

Kimani, a bull elephant who used to be a habitual farm raider, has been sporting a collar with GPS and a cell phone SIM card attached and maintained by the advocacy group Save the Elephants. Whenever he approaches the virtual “geofence” on the boundaries of the conservancy, a text message is sent to rangers who swiftly arrive to drive him back.

Using the text method, rangers have prevented potential human-elephant conflicts 15 times in the last two years, and Kimani now rarely approaches farms.

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