Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Satellite Navigation a Real Crackpot!

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the asking-for-directions dept.

debest writes "What happens when your satellite navigation system in your car gives you bad advice on which road you should take? In Britain, these systems have been directing drivers down a road near the (aptly named) town of Crackpot that is strewn with boulders and has an unprotected 100ft dropoff on one side! The locals are worried someone's going to go off the edge."

16 of 230 comments (clear)

  1. Cooter by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    ""What happens when your satellite navigation system in your car gives you bad advice on which road you should take?"

    Not much different than that gas station attendant five miles back.

  2. They really have 2 options: by temojen · · Score: 5, Insightful

    1) Put up a sign reading "Don't go down this road, even if your GPS tells you to; Dangerous conditions ahead".

    2) Stabilize the slope above and install a guard rail.

  3. Too obvious to be a solution by PacoHernandez · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Is there a reason that they haven't put a railing on the "unprotected 100ft dropoff" edge?

    1. Re:Too obvious to be a solution by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

      Yes there is a reason - it's a rock-strewn farm track rather than a surfaced road and it isn't suitable for motor vehicles, and certainly isn't a through road. The error in question isn't the quality of the road or the lack of a guard rail, but the fact that the GPS systems are flagging it as a through route when it isn't.

      I've holidayed in the area regularly and once you go off the A (main) and B (narrow, usually single-lane) roads, you're on moorland, bogland and are pretty much on your own. While I can't be 100% sure whether I've been down the specific track they're talking about, I have mountain-biked down a few pretty hairy tracks near Crackpot that I know I wouldn't take a car down, specifically the ones that end in a drop, rather than have one at the side...

  4. best action to take... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    ...put up a sign "Toll Road Ahead".

  5. Wow by abscissa · · Score: 5, Funny

    If a computer tells you to jump off a cliff, would you do it?

    1. Re:Wow by JustOK · · Score: 5, Funny

      What type of computer? Running what OS? Is it an open source program?

      --
      rewriting history since 2109
  6. Re:Happens all the time by CRCulver · · Score: 5, Funny

    I had a similar problem recently while driving through Pennsylvania. I had set my car's GPS computer to lead me to Intercourse, but no matter what I pushed it I could only reach Bird in Hand.

    I used to live in that general part of Pennsylvania and always chuckled looking at the map. Intercourse, Bird-in-Hand, and Mt. Joy, towns all innocuous on their own but when placed together highly sexually suggestive.

  7. Re:Strange progress of technology by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny
    linking to Wikipedia makes me feel ill
    First comment from a Britannica employee I've seen on Slashdot. How does it feel to be downsized?

    Here's a much more informative talking car link.

  8. Re:Strange progress of technology by HTL2001 · · Score: 5, Funny

    Why does linking to Wikipedia make you feel ill ?

    Scary thing is, only one of those is a redlink...

    --
    By reading this, you have given me brief control of your mind.
  9. Set untarmaced roads to 1mph by cootuk · · Score: 5, Informative

    This is fairly local to me. This is out in the wilds where the decent A road takes the long way round. The problem seems to be that untarmaced roads are set to about 10mph average spped by default in a lot of routing software, and most people select 'fastest route'. Simply by setting untarmaced roads to 1mph you can avoid some of this silly routing. Plus using a bit of common sense.

  10. Re:Happens all the time by MustardMan · · Score: 5, Funny

    There are a lot more than that... near Intercourse, you have Paradise (naturally), as well as Leacock, Reamstown, East Petersburg, Mountville, Climax, Beaver, and of course the ever-present Blue Ball. You don't know how frustrating it is to drive out to the country, and figure you'll stop for a quick visit to Intercourse, get lost and end up in Blue Ball. and wind up ending your night with Bird in Hand.

  11. I'm goin for it... by XdevXnull · · Score: 5, Funny

    In Soviet Crackpot, GPS drives you!

    --
    "I'm a Laver, not a Phyto[plankton]"
  12. Map by Ambient+Sheep · · Score: 5, Informative
    Here's a map of the place. Check out those contour lines (in metres), and the chevrons on the roads, which indicate steep gradients (for those not versed in British OS map symbols).

    I guess it's that pale-white track on the bottom left, just below the "Summer Lodge [Farm]" that was mentioned in the article, in which case no GPS system should take you down one of those - white on British OS maps (as opposed to yellow) means no tarmac. And the dotted edges of the road indeed mean "unfenced". Lovely stuff. It's even debatable whether the narrow yellow roads on that map (which mean single-track with passing places) should be used by a GPS as through routes, let alone the white ones!

    Still, it reinforces the stupidity of the drivers, as there's obviously a point there, just past the farm, where the character of the road changes, and they blindly believe the GPS rather than turn back and let it find another route.

  13. Re:Happens all the time by Your+Pal+Dave · · Score: 5, Funny
    is that anywhere near Mianus ?


    Nope, 'taint.
  14. Re:Crackpot not a "town" by norfolkboy · · Score: 5, Funny

    Hawes... yes, I remember staying there on a fieldtrip at high school!

    Not only is Hawes pronoused Whores, but there is also a dairy there called "Hawes Creamery". http://archive.thisisthenortheast.co.uk/2001/4/27/ 172568.html