Another near death by GPS story

anybody that regularly reads these GPS threads
knows i only use one occasionally to see where i'm at
NOT to give me directions, but in this case i can't blame the GPS with out more info

also we have no idea, what maps or preparations they may have had or what 'gear'
father and son survived and was found safe, either by accident or because somebody was alerted, it took another 8 hours following her trail to find her
this was a judgment call, she left the car to go find help
help found the car, father , son, then had to go find her

1320Fastback wrote:
Years ago in a Japan there was a GPS glitch that led cars down a boat ramp into the water.
It was not a rare occurrence as I remember.

it is a little nerve wracking when there is a new bridge installed and your gps shows you driving out on water. :) Kerr lake, va
bumpy

I find GPS great for the last mile! It can also be help full taking the correct exit midway, but one time trying to avoid I5 north from Salem, tried shortest route. Once on familiar roads laughed at the fact it would direct us through a residential neighborhood to save maybe 100 yards!!

I have also driven "Off Road" when maps were not up to date!

I guess they "MISSED" the road closed in Winter.. SIGN.

I seen several when I was out there on the motorcycle..

so snow storm approaching . not knowing area, not reading road signs. not being prepared. no extra food or water. having a child along and not ready for anything going WRONG.

lucky they lived...

Every drive off the main roads in Winter as the potential of turning into a survival ordeal.
Living with 4-5 months of Winter we always have a 'Survival Kit' in the car. A trip to Grandma's can be deadly at -20 with blowing snow.

I think of GPS data as gossip. Like... "There's RUMORED to be a road here. And fireside one night, many moons ago, I heard an old prospector state that this road was the correct way."

GPS gives you only a few things. Your location (Lat/Long/Alt), Time of day, And that is all. Your GPS receiver then computers velocity (Direction and speed) vectors. and feeds the above to a mapping program

This program may be part of your GPS device but it has very little to do with GPS other than reading the lat and long from the GPS. (And direction of travel).

The map software is often faulty

Though GPS itself can be mistaken as to your location under some conditions, they use of multiple satellites reduces this chance rather a lot.

coolmom42 wrote:
IMHO a GPS is good for alerting you to which lane to get in on a highway, and thus somewhat helpful in an unfamiliar city.

They suck in rural and/or remote areas.

Even in a city I take a look at a map and get a general idea of the route beforehand.

Good points on rural areas.
On the wifes and my 40th one of our old close friends that lived about 70+ miles away in a big city, came using instructions and a map we supplied everyone.
Well 10 years later they came to our 50th...but used their GPS which sent them 13 miles north on a dead end county road and not a house anywhere. They called and knowing where they were I talked them back to our place on county roads. Others GPS lead them to our house and others GPS didn't but they had sense enough to follow my map.

Quite often you will see statements on state & national park website to the effect of "Do not follow GPS directions to us. HERE are the directions."

Ours sent us right as we came over golden gate bridge. Oops. Try pulling a 28ft 5th wheel up and down the "streets of San Francisco" we saw more of the city in 30 mins than most see in a month.