Global Positioning Systems are very useful. However, North Korea’s recent jamming of the GPS system in South Korea, while not known to have caused fatalities, demonstrates in the first place, that we need to remember how to find our way without the GPS, particularly in a crisis.

And in addition, we should consider, perhaps combinations of failures, such as:

• GPS system outages – by government order or by sabotage, while other systems are functioning properly;
• GPS system outage accompanied by communications system problems (such as overload – too many people using phones during a crisis or perceived crisis);
• GPS failure + power failure + communications systems failure; widespread power failures by themselves will, of course, degrade or disable both GPS access and most communications technologies.

In other words, the GPS won’t work; there’s no way to call and get directions; mass transit is likely to be about; traffic lights may or may not work; obtaining a map via the Internet is likely to be impossible.