'Shifting' Australia Isn't As 'Down Under' As In A Map

That map of Australia you have, it’s wrong. And the whole country is going to officially relocate to correct the error. The trouble is due to plate tectonics, the shifting of big chunks of the earth’s surface. Australia happens to be on one of the fastest moving pieces of all, and by geological standards it’s practically flying: about 2.7 inches northward a year, with a slight clockwise rotation as well. So Australia need to adjust its longitudes and latitudes so they line up with GPS coordinates. Four times in the last 50 years, Australia has reset the coordinated of everything in the country to make them more accurate, correcting for other sources of error as well as continental drift. The last adjustment, in 1994, was a dozzy: about 656 feet, enough to give the delivery driver an alibi for ringing your neighbour’s doorbell instead of yours.

Geoscience Australia, the agency that tracks coordinated, said intelligent transportation systems that rely on the finer accuracy will come with the next generation of GPS technology. The next adjustment, due at the end of the year, will be about 1.5 metres (4.9 feet) – not really enough of a discrepancy to throw off consumer-grade satellite navigation systems, which are accurate only to within 15 to 30 feet. But the next generation of GPS devices, using both satellites and ground stations, will be accurate to within an inch or less, and new technologies that depend on precise location will be important to Australia’s future.