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Drivers Need To Forget Their GPS

Posted by yaelk on from the getting-places dept.

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."

23 of 622 comments (clear)

  1. Uh... let me think about it by 93+Escort+Wagon · · Score: 5, Insightful

    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
    1. Re:Uh... let me think about it by eumoria · · Score: 5, Insightful

      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.

    2. Re:Uh... let me think about it by Chris+Mattern · · Score: 4, Insightful

      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.

    3. Re:Uh... let me think about it by lgw · · Score: 5, Interesting

      TFS said

      Could society's embrace of GPS be eroding our cognitive maps?

      I delivered pizza for a few years, before GPS, and a few hours of taking orders will disabuse you of this naive notion that most people have "cognitive maps". Most people do not know where they live! They can't tell you the nearest major intersection. What they know is a sequence of steps to follow to get to their house.

      "Turn left at the big tree. Turn right where the church was before it burned down. Turn left where Johnny was hit by that drunk drive last year. Look for the red house."

      I'm only slightly exaggerating. I really do encourage everyone to use maps, to learn to change your "pathing" dynamically when conditions change, to know where you are not just the steps you took to get there. To quote the REM song: "Stand in the place where you work. Now face north. Think about direction; wonder why you haven't before ". Can you do it without looking anything up?

      --
      Socialism: a lie told by totalitarians and believed by fools.
    4. Re:Uh... let me think about it by Xolotl · · Score: 4, Insightful

      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

      .

    5. Re:Uh... let me think about it by peragrin · · Score: 4, Interesting

      She drove from Belgium to Croatia. She had to cross into 4 countries. With 5 different languages.

      Just how far out of it do you have to be?

      --
      i thought once I was found, but it was only a dream.
    6. Re:Uh... let me think about it by paulpach · · Score: 4, Insightful

      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?

    7. Re:Uh... let me think about it by ShanghaiBill · · Score: 5, Interesting

      My guess is that she drove to Croatia to hookup with someone she met online, and then she made up the story about the defective GPS as a cover story. Since everyone believed the story, maybe she isn't as dumb as you think.

    8. Re:Uh... let me think about it by Grishnakh · · Score: 4, Interesting

      It depends. The GPS is only as good as the data it's been given. So I've found that for long trips, it's generally good, but it can make some really bad calls sometimes. For instance, I frequently drive about an hour north from my house to DC. My car's GPS (using HERE maps) gives me a completely sensible route, which I follow. Google Maps, however, wants me to take an early left turn onto some windy little single-lane country road, probably because it might technically be 100 feet shorter in absolute distance that way. But it's a much slower route: I tried it once or twice and got stuck behind very slow drivers. I never went that way again because the slightly longer route is along main roads and doesn't have this problem.

      Also, very close to your destination, GPS can make errors. I'm thinking of one restaurant I used to frequent, where Google Maps would tell me to turn before the restaurant and go an extra half-mile in a big circle, all because it didn't think I could take a left turn into the restaurant's parking lot, when in fact there's a turn lane there for that very purpose.

      Basically, with GPS, you need to zoom out and look at the route it's chosen for you, and make sure it isn't doing anything really stupid. And if you're not familiar with an area, you need to be extra cautious because it'll happily guide you onto small residential streets or other stupid routes. It also helps to have multiple GPS units running at once. My car's system works pretty well and of course is well-integrated, but it doesn't have traffic updates or show alternate routes in real-time (it's based on stored maps). Google Maps does those things, but more frequently makes poor choices for routes (tiny country roads like I mentioned above). Having two different systems in parallel can help you cross check them against each other. The bottom line: never fully trust a GPS system.

      I really should install Waze and try that out to see how it compares to Google Maps.

    9. Re:Uh... let me think about it by Calydor · · Score: 4, Informative

      There ARE still big signs saying "Now leaving Country X and entering Country Y!" followed by a quick list of the rules of the road in that country - city speed, highway speed, must have lights on during daytime or not ... It really is hard to miss, ESPECIALLY when all the city names become hard to pronounce!

      --
      -=This sig has nothing to do with my comment. Move along now=-
    10. Re:Uh... let me think about it by cayenne8 · · Score: 4, Funny

      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.

      And yet, these SAME women will bitch and moan at us for not asking directions.

      Geez, first we gave them the vote, and then drivers licenses, and the world has gone downhill ever since then....

      ;)

      --
      Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.........
  2. GPS is just an aid by reboot246 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    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.

    1. Re:GPS is just an aid by Wonko · · Score: 4, Funny

      I'm old enough to have learned how to navigate without GPS or even maps. I use GPS nowadays

      Jesus Christ Potatoes! How old ARE you?! They had already invented maps long before I was old enough to drive!

    2. Re:GPS is just an aid by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      You navigated before maps? Moses, is that you?

    3. Re:GPS is just an aid by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      Moses used God Positioning Service, and he was lost in the desert for 40 years. And it even drove him into a sea!
      He died just after hearing "You have arrived at your destination".

  3. User interface flaw by Solandri · · Score: 4, Insightful

    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.

  4. Re:Common Sense...Use It. by sycodon · · Score: 4, Funny

    Well, fucked THAT post up.

    The Office

    --
    When Fascism comes to America, it will call itself Anti-Fascism, and tell you to give up your guns.
  5. Vs. What Other Statistic? by JD-1027 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    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?

  6. for christs sake... by hottoh · · Score: 5, Insightful

    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.

    .

  7. Getting lost is news? Then GPS must be good. by fizzup · · Score: 5, Insightful

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

  8. Re:So, now is it finally legal to... by cayenne8 · · Score: 5, Funny

    I keep telling my wife that this is why I want to install a really loud air horn in my car, think semi truck loud, but she says no.

    I'm sorry...why the fuck are you asking your wife about what you want to do with YOUR car...?

    Even with that...why would you listen..it is your car, enjoy man.

    Grow a pair and do what you want on your own car....

    --
    Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.........
  9. Re:So, now is it finally legal to... by KGIII · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Every year, without fail, I get at least one whole bus of Canadians coming up my driveway. On GPS, and many years ago it was one, it appears to be a road. It looks like a nice little shortcut up and over the mountain that brings you back in on another road that brings you back to the main road. The bus is full of Canadians looking at foliage. We'll get back to that...

    So, sure enough, they drive up and I suppose that there was a time, in the distant past, where you could have driven up my driveway and gone to this other road. However, that other road has stuff like mud holes and ruts big enough to make me think a bus might not be a good idea. I mean, yeah, I've driven on it but I'm retarded and have appropriate vehicles. Then, there's the driveway part. Yes, at some point, this was a road - it was a logging road. I've been told that it is still a road by an unhappy bus driver. I pointed out the many, many trees that go where the driveway is pointing and the lack of any road. Fortunately, my driveway is now paved so I've yet to have a stuck bus in my driveway.

    Now, back to the foliage. I mean really close - but north of it. In the winter, I can take a snowmobile to Canada quicker than I can get there in a car. It's maybe 40 minutes away from Canada by car IF I count going through the border checkpoint. The snowmobile trail doesn't even really have a border checkpoint most of the time - you just cross. Yes, I must speed like a bastard to do it faster on a snowmobile but I know it can be done. It's also a good idea to point out that there are the same damned trees and same damned mountains over there.

    I have yet to figure out why, exactly, they are driving up my driveway to look at foliage but I do know that they're following their GPS and I can confirm that every GPS device I've ever used, and checked, indicates my driveway is a road. As far as I know, they have done this every single year that I've been there. The first year it was not paved, that had some potential to be amusing. I guess I don't mind but it is a little shocking the first time you see a big ol' bus that says "CHARTER" on the front come plodding up your driveway and it's full of old people taking pictures.

    I have no idea how to get the GPS map data changed. The Rand atlas thingy has it on there but it's indicated as dirt and stops just about where it should stop. Google and Bing both show(ed) it as a road, actually a "stub" of a road (for lack of a better word) - but not connected to the other one. I don't really mind the company but it's still a bit odd to see a bus full of old people. More than once, they've clamored out of the bus along with the driver, like it's a giant amusement park or something, to find out what's going on. Someone, somewhere, is showing their grandkids pictures of their foliage trip to Maine (that looks just like Canada) and in their deck of slides is a picture of my driveway.

    --
    "So long and thanks for all the fish."
  10. Re:So, now is it finally legal to... by arglebargle_xiv · · Score: 4, Funny

    Single again are you? I wonder why...

    No...I have plenty of girlfriends and those I can and do date as I please.

    Your left and right hand don't, strictly speaking, count as girlfriends.