Becareful if you have an older GPS enabled device.

[Platapus]

If you have a GPS enabled device that is older than 10 years, and it is uses the week counter, you might have some issues.


This won't affect the vast majority of GPS systems, but those exercise logging systems, for example, that are linked to GPS might have a problem next month.


GPS systems made 10 years ago, stored the week in a 10 bit format. The GPS week started at 6 Jan 80. These GPS systems can “only” count up to about 19.7 years. So on 21 Aug 99, all the GPS systems flipped and reset their date clocks the same way that an odometer rolls over. When is the next time GPS flips? 6 April 2019.



The issue is that in 1999 there were a lot less consumer GPS products on the market, especially compared to 2019. I think my toaster is GPS enabled.


Not a lot of consumers were affected by the 1999 GPS rollover. But some consumers may be affected on 6 Apr 2019.


The US Naval Observatory is predicting that this flipping won’t affect navigation systems but can affect data systems, especially ones at the consumer level. This will most likely be another Y2K non event, but consumers should be aware of a possible glitch in some of their GPS systems, especially if they are older GPSs.

GPS systems made more recently than 10 years ago store the date in a new 13 bit format. This means that these new GPS systems will flip in the year 2137.