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."

Comments

Uh... let me think about it

[93 Escort Wagon]

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.

Re:Uh... let me think about it

[eumoria]

Yes, the woman who drove for two days to a destination 2 hours away has nothing to do with the GPS. That has everything to do with stupid.

Re:Uh... let me think about it

[Chris Mattern]

You're better off having GPS than not having it

Depends on how you're defining it. Following word-by-word directions as seems to be so popular today--you're better off without that. Having a map, on which GPS will show you where you are, that's great. You know where you are and what's around you. But following directions blindly--and you don't have any choice but to follow directions blindly if you don't have a map--you're not better off with that.

Re:Uh... let me think about it

[Xolotl]

Agreed, I almost always have my GPS muted, just using it as a moving map with live traffic information (Google Maps FTW) and ETA. And I look at the ETA and journey time before I start to see if it looks reasonable.

That said, the Belgian woman was lying and using "GPS made me do it" as cover. No one is that stupid, for one thing you can't drive for two days straight without breaks and rest, which would be a dead give-away to anyone with enough cognitive function to actually be able to drive. Not to mention signposts in several different languages along the way

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Re:Uh... let me think about it

[paulpach]

You're better off having GPS than not having it

Depends on how you're defining it. Following word-by-word directions as seems to be so popular today--you're better off without that. Having a map, on which GPS will show you where you are, that's great. You know where you are and what's around you. But following directions blindly--and you don't have any choice but to follow directions blindly if you don't have a map--you're not better off with that.

So, you are saying we are better off taking the eyes off the road to look down on a map while doing 70 mph?

Have some people died because the GPS took them to the wrong place? sure, I have no trouble believing it.
But how many deaths have been prevented by GPS because drivers were not distracted trying to figure out where to go?

GPS is just an aid

[reboot246]

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.

User interface flaw

[Solandri]

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.

Vs. What Other Statistic?

[JD-1027]

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?

for christs sake...

[hottoh]

It is navigation.
Navigation software working with the navigation mapping software which is the problem described in fine /. summary.

GPS is the fancy clocks floating about in space.

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Getting lost is news? Then GPS must be good.

[fizzup]

If some driver getting themselves lost is a news story, then GPS must be incredibly good at giving correct directions.