Due to tectonic shifts, the entire continent of Australia has moved 1.5 meters north over the past 22 years, putting it out of sync with global positioning systems (GPS).To fix the problem, the government's announced that the country's latitude and longitude will officially be updated to reflect the continent's new position.The Australian plate is the fastest continental plate on the planet, moving northwards and slightly to the east by about 7 centimeters each year.
All that movement can build up tension that eventually releases in the form of an earthquake, but the most immediate result is that it drags the entire landmass of Australia closer to the equator year after year, which means the country isn't actually where we think it is anymore.Right now, digital maps know where a country is supposed to be based on detailed coordinates supplied by the government. So if you're looking at Google Maps, your phone has already been searching for a signal sent out by one of the many GPS satellites orbiting the planet.
And based on the positioning information that comes back, your phone is able to figure out your longitude and latitude, and place you on the map based on your country's official coordinates.But for Australia, those coordinates were last updated by the national body - the Geocentric Datum of Australia (GDA) - in 1994, and since then, the continent's moved more 1.5 meters.A 1.5-meter discrepancy isn't a huge issue for those of who just want to use Google Maps to figure out the fastest route home, because GPS technology on our smartphones is only accurate to within 5 to 10 meters anyway.the source
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