Slashdot Mirror
Drivers Need To Forget Their GPS
HughPickens.com writes: Greg Milner writes in the NYT that an American tourist in Iceland directed the GPS unit in his rental car to guide him from Keflavik International Airport to a hotel in nearby Reykjavik, and ended up 250 icy miles away in Siglufjordur, a fishing village on the outskirts of the Arctic Circle. Mr. Santillan apparently explained that he was very tired after his flight and had "put his faith in the GPS." In another incident, a woman in Belgium asked GPS to take her to a destination less than two hours away and two days later, she turned up in Croatia. Finally disastrous incidents involving drivers following disused roads and disappearing into remote areas of Death Valley in California have became so common that park rangers gave them a name: "death by GPS." "If we're being honest, it's not that hard to imagine doing something similar ourselves" says Milner. "Most of us use GPS as a crutch while driving through unfamiliar terrain, tuning out and letting that soothing voice do the dirty work of navigating."
Could society's embrace of GPS be eroding our cognitive maps? Julia Frankenstein, a psychologist at the University of Freiburg's Center for Cognitive Science, says the danger of GPS is that "we are not forced to remember or process the information — as it is permanently 'at hand,' we need not think or decide for ourselves." "Next time you're in a new place, forget the GPS device. Study a map to get your bearings, then try to focus on your memory of it to find your way around. City maps do not tell you each step, but they provide a wealth of abstract survey knowledge. Fill in these memories with your own navigational experience, and give your brain the chance to live up to its abilities."
Could society's embrace of GPS be eroding our cognitive maps? Julia Frankenstein, a psychologist at the University of Freiburg's Center for Cognitive Science, says the danger of GPS is that "we are not forced to remember or process the information — as it is permanently 'at hand,' we need not think or decide for ourselves." "Next time you're in a new place, forget the GPS device. Study a map to get your bearings, then try to focus on your memory of it to find your way around. City maps do not tell you each step, but they provide a wealth of abstract survey knowledge. Fill in these memories with your own navigational experience, and give your brain the chance to live up to its abilities."
No. This is silly. You're better off having GPS than not having it - just don't shut off your common sense at the same time.
#DeleteChrome
I'm old enough to have learned how to navigate without GPS or even maps. I use GPS nowadays, but only as an aid (ETA is fairly accurate). I've seen it make enough mistakes to not ever trust it 100%.
Learn the basics: the "sun rises in the east and sets in the west" type of stuff. Learn how roads are numbered: north/south are generally odd numbered, etc.. Learn which way the mountains in your area are oriented. Buy a map and get acquainted with the area and which way the main roads are laid out.
It ain't that hard to find your way around. I've spent nearly forty years going to places I've never been to before and I haven't been lost once.
The problem isn't that the GPS is wrong, the problem is that the user is in error. In the Iceland case, the driver made a typo and wound up going to a similarly-named road 250 miles away. Had he entered the correct street name, he would likely have made it to his destination without a problem. I'm guessing the Belgium-Croatia case is similar.
Some of the GPS units I've used just start giving you street directions right away after you enter a destination. The better ones I've used (including Google Maps) start with an overhead view of your entire route, then zoom in to the street-by-street view. That makes it rather simple to spot silly errors like driving from San Francisco to Springfield, Missouri, instead of Springfield, California.
These people are doomed to failure from the beginning. After learning how to operate a vehicle safely (note this apply's to almost any vehicle: car, bike, plane, boat, etc.) your second goal is to properly navigate that vehicle in the public domain. Most countries by now have implemented at least a basic form of navigation for at least a few forms of transport.
For example, in a few weeks I will be driving from Reno to Las Vegas, NV. I have 100% confidence that I will not get lost at any point during this journey, with or without GPS. I already know the route I wish to take, which roads I will be using, which towns I will be passing through, and about how long it is between each town. I even know where I will probably stop for gas and lunch in Tonopah. I have a printed map, and know that for the most part I will be on US-95. The state has kindly marked these roads with signs that I can follow. If these people can't figure out that they should be going mostly East instead of mostly Southwest, and do so for days, even hours, GPS isn't the problem.
So what is the other side of the statistic? How many times has a GPS unit sent someone in the correct direction, when a human would have driven the wrong way without the GPS?
It is navigation. /. summary.
Navigation software working with the navigation mapping software which is the problem described in fine
GPS is the fancy clocks floating about in space.
.
It has to do with people who are cognitively damaged/incompetent and are unable to comprehend that "this shouldn't be".
People have been wandering and getting lost long before GPS navigation was a consumer product. Ever since we've had an interstate system, people have been getting on the southbound ramp instead of northbound and winding up in Florida 2 days after they started the hour trip to visit the grandkids. Before that, they'd just wander into the wilderness and get eaten by a bear.
If somebody enters a destination in their GPS and it says the estimated travel time is 3 hours and they know it's a 5 mile trip, it's not the GPS' fault if they shrug and start driving.
Probably a form of mental illness.
If some driver getting themselves lost is a news story, then GPS must be incredibly good at giving correct directions.