GPS blamed for home demolition

Let’s be clear up front: A GPS is no home wrecker. That said, there’s a stunning report this week that a house in Carroll County, Georgia, was demolished by a wrecking crew misguided by a GPS device, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

In a report by WSBTV, homeowner Al Byrd relayed a conversation with the wrecking crew in which they indicated that the GPS coordinates led them to that address and the house matched the description they had. A terrible mistake resulted in a house that Byrd’s father built himself in 1950 and still held family heirlooms being completely leveled. (Photo here is merely representative.)

Specifics are still being sorted out, but there are certainly lessons to be learned here. Most obvious being the importance of double-checking your paperwork before knocking down a house. Like, does the house number match? Correct color? Is it full of furniture?

But the real takeaway is the reminder that as miraculous as GPS devices may be, their accuracy isn’t pinpoint -- as any geocacher will tell you. Some of us also bring old-fashioned maps (you know, the ones made out of paper) to get a broad view of where we are or where we’re going.

For hiking handhelds (see our handheld GPS buying advice and ratings), the ability for the device to get you within 20-30 feet of coordinates adds to the challenge for finding geocaches – treasure boxes hidden and logged on geocaching.com for others to find. (See our hiking GPS video.) There are times, admittedly, when more accuracy would be welcomed, but that is reserved for military applications.

In practice, portable GPS navigators prove accurate enough. When a car is moving at 35, 45, 55, or more mph, a 20-30 foot margin of error is negligible. And ultimately, most car-bound destinations have an address prominently displayed for easy confirmation as presumably did this 2,200-sq-ft Georgia home at 11 Byrd Rd. (Can’t tell from photos.) Notably, the street was named for this family.

As anyone who has heard a computerized voice utter “You have arrived” knows, portable GPS devices will get you close. Very close. The last few feet are up to you.

—Jeff Bartlett

Comments

[Steve]

Actually the accuracy of GPS is nearly pinpoint. The problem is with the database. The USAF drops bombs with them (I'm retired USAF), and yes, they get more accuracy than the person on the street; however, house addresses leave a lot to be desired. Look up a dozen or so on Google, and you will find errors there also.

[Ahmad]

hmm i agree with Steve, this is more to database problem rather than gps accuracy..

[Nick]

There is an inherent and CHANGING error in GPS receivers. It's not the data base. Stand in one place and you will see the reported 'location' drift about. I think the error on commercial units is under 100 yards. Ouch, thats the next block.

When I drive in the city I find them almost useless close up, and I need to actually look at the detailed map to orient myself.

[Simon]

To be honest I think they meant addresses when actually on the ground rather than through mapping software, you know when you get to a place you dont just say well this house with the big number 8 on the door must be number 10 that we are looking for because google maps says so.

[John Davis]

LOL, I guess someone is going to get sued. No shortage of blood sucking attorneys around to jump on that gravy train I bet!

RT

[Phillip]

Actually the accuracy of the military GPS is 1 meter. The accuracy of civilian GPS is 10 meters. Some civilian GPS systems can do better than this, but not as consistently as you'd like. If this house was right next to the one that was to be destroyed, it's very easy to see how ten meters could make all the difference.

[Robert]

Steve, I'm retired USAF Munitions System Specialist, aka - Ammo Troop. Actually, that 'pinpoint' accuracy is due to more than GPS since GPS, has a number of inherent limitations on accuracy. Not the least of which is how many GPS satellites it has radio line of sight on. Also, the unit in a GPS guidance system is a whole lot better and more expensive than any handheld civilian unit you will ever see.

To bring a few things into consideration, being in the USAF doesn't make anyone, not even pilots, an expert in munitions. A lot of pilots don't even know about all the explosives their plane is filled with just for the ejection system. I've even had pilots try to argue with me that when they 'drop' a bomb, it isn't pushed away from the plane with an explosive. (It is, it's called an impulse cartridge. It looks like a small metal can open on one end filled with a hard red translucent gel. Well, one type of impulse cart looks like that.)

[peter Richter]

Um, who cares about the GPS? If you can't find an address, you shouldn't be:

- Driving
- Using an electronic device
- Knocking down anything including buildings.

Why is the topic of this thread the accuracy of devices we know are flawed, and not that the workers of the wrecking company are complete morons?

[GPS]

This is a rather amazing incident I must say. I think they should be sued for this.

[CraigMapper]

This could well be both a GPS error, and data error.

As all GPS users should be aware, GPS accuracy depends on the number of satellites that the unit can "see". Trees, buildings, clouds, etc, can distort or block the signal, reducing accuracy. Its completely possible to get sub 1m accuracy (I get 30cm on my handheld on most days), its the interference that will change this.

Also, if the demolition operator just punched in a house address to get the location, the mapping software uses an approximate location based on geocoding done for that address. Like Steve said, try using Google maps on some addresses and you'll see geocoding in action.

GPS units with property line data could help solve this problem, but then again, you can't fix stupid.

[Aweo]

This is a rather amazing incident I must say. I think they should be sued for this..

[Not Even Sued]

The company that demolished this house should not even wait to be sued. 1 Million up front settlement, be it inclusive of a house being rebuilt for them or not. If it goes to court, then the demolishing company is going to get demolished.