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GPS jamming, spoofing upends delivery work in Gulf countries
This article was originally published in Rest of World, which covers technology’s impact outside the West.
As war raged across the Persian Gulf in the first week of March, delivery driver Saeed Ahmed continued making deliveries in Dubai. Navigating down Al Asayel street, the 32-year-old driver for Lulu Hypermarket followed the blue navigation line on his phone as it guided him to a customer. Then, without warning, the route on his map shifted. The street he was on became invisible.
Ahmed pulled over and called the customer. The address was correct. The map was not.
As the conflict between the US, Israel, and Iran rages on for the second month, gig workers say these kinds of GPS-related disruptions have become routine. Military forces across the region are increasingly deploying electronic systems that interfere with Global Navigation Satellite System signals, including GPS, to defend against drones and missile attacks.
These systems can jam signals entirely or spoof them by feeding false location data to receivers. The interference often spills into civilian life, disrupting the lives of millions of people who rely on tools like maps. For delivery drivers, the breakdown is both immediate and disorienting.
The impact of GPS jamming extends beyond consumer-oriented mapping tools. Recent data by maritime intelligence firm Windward indicates that GPS jamming affected more than 1,650 ships in the Middle East on March 7, up 55% from the previous week. Vessels were incorrectly placed on land and at sea in Kuwait, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Oman, and the United Arab Emirates. Nearly 1,100 ships were impacted within 24 hours following US strikes on Iran on February 28.
“Any jamming and spoofing signals will affect any GNSS receiver within range,” Thomas Withington, an independent electronic warfare specialist, told Rest of World. “This includes smartphones and any device capable of receiving such signals.”
GPS blocking and jamming have become so common that drivers can no longer trust their maps, they told Rest of World. Ahmed said even routine trips have become unpredictable. “We found it very troublesome. Usually, we verify the building name because we know the roads. But in unfamiliar areas, we have to keep calling the customers. Deliveries get delayed, and customers get annoyed.”
Switching between navigation apps offers little relief. “I tried using other apps such as Waze and 2GIS, but it was the same,” he said. “In some areas like Dubai Marina and Downtown, it still doesn’t work properly.”
Veteran drivers rely on memory to navigate. Muhammad Asif, who has been driving in Dubai for more than 20 years, said that “sometimes the location shifts far away. A short trip suddenly looks much longer.” When that happens, he ignores the map and navigates manually. “The map shows 40 minutes, when I’m about to reach in five.”
Newer delivery drivers face the steepest learning curve. Vansh Gupta, who has been working for online shopping and delivery app Noon for just eight months, said he has had to adapt quickly. “I used to struggle a lot initially, but now I follow the full address and somehow reach based on that,” he said. “Most customers understand if deliveries are delayed.”
Muhammad Azam, who works for food delivery app Keeta, said disruptions have decreased since early March, but still persist. “It creates uncertainty on the road,” he said.
Rest of World reached out to Keeta and Noon for comment but did not receive a response.
“From a geospatial intelligence standpoint, this is clearly a persistent regional phenomenon,” Nidal H Saliba, an independent geospatial intelligence consultant, told Rest of World. “It is patterned and clustered.”
“High-powered interference often spills into civilian areas,” he said. On the ground, that translates into two main problems: instability and inaccuracy. Devices may freeze or lose signal entirely, or they may continue functioning while reporting incorrect positions, said Saliba.
GPS jamming and spoofing are not confined to one region. The International Telecommunication Union, together with the International Civil Aviation Organization and the International Maritime Organization, issued a joint statement expressing “grave concern” over the rising harmful interference. Such disruption is increasingly affecting satellite navigation systems used in aviation and maritime operations worldwide.
On logistics platforms, inaccurate location data can trigger a cascade of problems. Delivery drivers may appear in the wrong place, leading to incorrect order assignments. Pickup and delivery times become harder to predict. Automated systems that depend on precise positioning begin to misfire.
“Core logistics systems are highly dependent on accurate real-time location data,” Raman Pathak, CEO and co-founder of UAE-based logistics company Jeebly, told Rest of World. “During GPS interference incidents, we’ve seen significant operational impact.”
“Auto-assignment logic gets disrupted,” he said.
Operations teams often have to intervene manually, increasing coordination efforts and slowing down workflows. In some cases, companies shift away from automated processes altogether, relying instead on human oversight to manage deliveries.
The disruptions highlight how deeply modern logistics systems depend on GPS, and how vulnerable that dependence can be.
“GPS signals originate from satellites roughly 20,000 kilometres above Earth. By the time they [signals] reach the ground, they are extremely weak, making them relatively easy to interfere with,” Jim Stroup, head of growth at SandboxAQ’s navigation system, AQNav, told Rest of World.
“It doesn’t take much to override that signal,” he said. “A stronger ground-based signal can make a receiver believe it’s somewhere else entirely.”
In the meantime, workers on the ground are coping as best as they can. “Before, we followed the map,” said Ahmed. “Now, we follow the roads we remember.”
Divsha Bhat covers technology in the Middle East.
This article was originally published in Rest of World, which covers technology’s impact outside the West.
Source: Scroll
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