With GPS systems and other geographical technology being as sophisticated as it now is, do lighthouses still serve an integral purpose? Are they more now just in case the captain/crew lapses on the monitoring of navigation systems? Obviously lighthouses are more immediate and I guess tangible, but do they still fulfil a purpose beyond mitigating basic human error?
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I have a friend who is a captain with the Canadian coat Guard. He says that they are experimenting with virtual light buouys and lighthouses. Channel markers and such. Most if not all large vessels have computer navigation with so much redundancy that the lights aren’t needed. Part of his job is servicing the lights. Virtual ones will save a ton of money. Inshore small vessels still use them of course but less and less. My brother in law is a urchin diver. He has a small boat that spends a lot of time very close to shore but even he navigates with his laptop.
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