Well, it looks like the Russians have finally gotten their GLONASS satellites up and running (literally in both cases.)
Like the EU with their Gallileo system of satnavs, the Russians have been working on the lyrically named GLONASS system (always in all caps) that will be dedicated to just their needs. What you see pictured is one of the hand held units.
As an Italian, I see that as an affront to the very word aesthetic. When it comes to grievously bad design, to me, the three biggest offenders are:
1 - The forces of Sauron
2 - Klingons
3 - The Former Soviet Union
As a car guy, my next thought is, “Good God man, what must the in-car unit look like?!”
I went to school in The Former Soviet Union many moons ago. It’s a long story that we need not go into here.
Anyway, the main car that I interacted with was the taxi version of a Lada copy of a FIAT 124 sedan. For some reason, in the 1970s, FIAT thought it was a good idea to license Lada to build copies of their horrid little sedan that was light-weight to a fault. By the time the Russians got done with it, the poor thing weighed around 4000 pounds (according to a Road & Track test I read … if I’m remembering correctly).
4000.
In a car the size of a fricking Yaris!
You can imagine the implications of them trying to build a car version of a GLONASS hand unit.
On a related note, I used to work for a large airplane manufacturer, and there was a saying around there:
In America - Planes are designed by guys with Doctorates, flown by guys with Masters and maintained by guys with GEDs.
In Russia - Planes are designed by guys with Doctorates, flown by guys with Masters and maintained by an 18 year old Uzbek with a big rock and a pair of pliers.
That GPS unit is big and ugly, but I bet it works.
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