Death by GPS

[knowschad]

I often override the nuvi. My wife gets annoyed when she hears "recalculating" for like the fifth or sixth time. "Why did you buy that thing if you aren't gonna listen to it?"

 

I muted the Nuvi within a month. Driving is a lot less stressful without that thing yelling at me when I decide the route it says is not great. I always try to look at the overhead view to see what it's doing. Mine usually does something weird at the end.

 

I probably shouldn't admit this but I once drove the opposite way at every turn just to make her say it. Hey, I'm comfortable in my insanity.

No. Don't admit that.

 

By the way, what's with the new avatar?

[+kpanko]

You cannot find this waypoint with GPS. Because it is wrong.

[+vitmnD.]

i've visited Death Valley twice. the first time was around memorial weekend (May). this was pre-crowd days (90's). i know what it feels like at 117 high and low was 90. they ran out of ice at the market. Wild rose area (higher elevation was cool). the valley was as they put it hell. i had to keep my tent wet and that dried instantly. i guzzled liquids like it was nothing. and i was on the main roads. And i didn't have a gps then, just the good old map and compass. second time was a bit wiser, October. And as article said gps gives you the option (shortest does not alway mean the quickest). preferably take the quickest by freeway.

Edited January 31, 2011 by vitmnD.

[+mountainman38]

Death by GPS? Let's call it what it is: Death by misadventure. Death by poor planning. Death by stupidity.

 

Death Valley didn't get its name because tourists started flocking there in recent years with easy access to GPS. And for every ill-prepared, unwise person who has lost their way because they misread or naively trusted a GPS, I'd wager there have been many, many more trips enhanced and lives SAVED by the correct use of a GPS. In Death Valley and elsewhere.

 

Absolutely. I've loved exploring Death Valley for years, without GPS. I've used GPS a lot in the last few years, but I still go prepared.

[+NYPaddleCacher]

I'm just waiting for a GPS that comes out using Google map data. That will be a disaster. I've found dozens of errors near where I live. Powerline cuts, hiking trails and dirt roads that haven't seen vehicular traffic in 50 years being listed as roads. Often these Google "roads" provide connections between major real roads, or at least appear to.

 

I see a lot of those around here, too. The funny thing is, that if you look at the county GIS system, you see those same "roads." I think that's where Google is getting their data, since it would also be the source for property lines that show on the Google maps. They appear to be rights-of-way for roads that were never actually built.

 

I've found the OpenStreetMaps data to be pretty good. I'd like to see a GPS receiver that used open source software and open street maps for it's map data.

 

BTW, shouldn't the tag line under your avatar say "This space intentionally left black?"

[GOF and Bacall]

I often override the nuvi. My wife gets annoyed when she hears "recalculating" for like the fifth or sixth time. "Why did you buy that thing if you aren't gonna listen to it?"

 

I muted the Nuvi within a month. Driving is a lot less stressful without that thing yelling at me when I decide the route it says is not great. I always try to look at the overhead view to see what it's doing. Mine usually does something weird at the end.

 

I probably shouldn't admit this but I once drove the opposite way at every turn just to make her say it. Hey, I'm comfortable in my insanity.

No. Don't admit that.

 

By the way, what's with the new avatar?

A friend of mine has been getting them for me.

[uperdooper]

[knowschad]

 

You gonna be posting that in every thread, just in case?

[uperdooper]

[+Sol seaker]

Yeah, searching Google Images for "your gps is wrong" returns interesting results...

 

Yeah, I especially like the picture of the dinosaur riding on the top of the tank.

[+Sol seaker]

 

 

Well someone's got to stay on topic.

Edited February 1, 2011 by Sol seaker

[+popokiiti]

My auto GPS had a wobbly when we were in Vancouver BC recently. We took a new bridge and it thought we were going into the Fraser River! It got its own back on our return journey...we were going to go on one road to the airport hotel...simple. Not for MapLady. She took us over bridge after bridge after bridge. 6 or 7 was the final tally. My route had us on the road north of the river..no bridges. We were laughing so hard we had to pull over...and then we heard thst word..."Recalculating..........." and I shut 'er off.

[knowschad]

Still... you really have to have awe and respect for everything that a GPS like that is doing. What it is doing when it "recalculates" is the equivalent to playing an entire chess game in seconds. And it does it while you are moving (changing your location) at 70 mph. There was a time, and not all that long ago, when that sort of computing power was the dominion of computers like those that Cray built.