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Street names change, even house numbers on houses on streets can change over time. But GPS coordinates are static.
By cross mapping GPS coordinates to streets and houses, records can be updated FAR faster, and maintained far more quickly, accurately, and ultimately cheaply.
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+1. The other reason is that the census can be checked by overlaying the GPS coordinates on georeferenced aerial photographs. This is easily done with readily available GIS software. An auditor could readily check whether any areas were undercounted or overcounted by simply looking at which houses are marked on the photo.
GPS also makes it a lot harder for a dishonest census taker to sit on their couch and fill out bogus census forms while watching "Law & Order SVU" reruns and sipping Miller Lite.
If he or she has to hike to each house and log the GPS coordinates, it makes it a
lot less tempting to commit fraud.
If this seems ominous, keep in mind that many large cities and urban property tax appraisal agencies already have GIS systems with a lot more data in them than what the census bureau will have. Welcome to the 21st century.
