Paper maps vs GPS

wnjj wrote:
Following a GPS without knowing where you are going can land you in places you didn't want to be in. So can using a paper map. This was 8 1/2 years ago here in Oregon.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Kim

Instead of returning to the exit, they consulted a highway map and picked a secondary route that skirted the Wild Rogue Wilderness, a remote area of southwestern Oregon.

Is that the the best you can do?

Now days folks ARE "relying" on technology more and more each day and less on their grey matter between the ears.. It is easy to punch a few numbers and letters into a machine and it spits out a "route"..

A quick search netted me thousands of results on GPS errors and mistakes made by folks relying on GPS directions..

Here is a few..

LINK to GPS dangers

GPS Dangers and Accidents

­Remember that parental standby, "If your friends jumped off a cliff, would you?" As it turns out, this is good advice to heed when you use a GPS device: If your GPS tells you to drive off a cliff, would you?

Since GPS navigation systems are now common, a contributing link between the devices and accidents has been identified. While the reasons are varied, it often boils down to humans being human.

One of the most common human errors when it comes to using a GPS device is overconfidence in how smart that navigation system is or isn't. Why plan when your GPS will tell you where to go? Well, GPS devices are fallible; they're made so by satellite communication errors and outdated or inaccurate maps. Even when maps are current, some mapping and navigation information doesn't take into account road types. With this type of software error, the road that may look like the shortest distance between Point A and Point B might actually be an unpaved private drive. If your GPS device doesn't recognize it as such, it could add the road to your route. See link for more reading..

GPS MISHAPS

GOOGLE MAPS ACCIDENTS

DESERT GPS ACCIDENTS

In this information age, many of us rely on GPS navigation systems in our cars. Global Positioning Systems (GPS) such as Tom Toms, Garmans, Magellans, Earthmates and smart phones can help us with “turn by turn” directions to our destinations. These systems are a great help, but they can also get us into situations that get us lost, or even killed.

How can these digital maps that look so good, lead us to make such foolish mistakes? Almost every week someone pulls into the dirt road that leads to my house thinking they’re on the road to some location a mile away. (The road has been closed for 20 years.) The road is marked "Private" and "No Exit," but they don’t believe the signs. Sometimes they will try driving past the end of the road and straight into the brush, just because their GPS says the road is there.

Take a place like Death Valley, which got its name when a wagon train from the east tried to find a shorter route to California and got lost in 1849. Each summer in Death Valley, a quarter-million tourists in air-conditioned cars venture into 120-degree heat to take pictures and enjoy the desert. They come from all over the world, but many have the same traveling companion – a GPS navigation system to help them find the shortest and fastest routes.

In Death Valley, and many other areas, dozens of abandoned or closed dirt roads may lie between you and your destination, so things can get tricky. When you’ve finished exploring an area and then proceed to ask the GPS for the shortest route back home, the GPS will respond, “please proceed to the highlighted route”. In an area like Death Valley, GPS systems may be relying on old topographical maps and roads that have long been closed.

Your GPS navigation system may say something like, “You are in a area where no turn by turn information is available. Follow the route on a map.” This is where it gets interesting. The GPS knows where you are, and you tell it where you want to go. So it gives you the shortest route.

Remember, in the desert, the standard GPS may not know where the open roads are, or even if there are any roads. If you follow its route, you may be taken off the road that you’re on, and be directed to follow a road that you can't see. If you are in a 4-wheel drive vehicle, you may even be able to do that for a while. Death Valley Ranger Charlie Callagan says some visitors who've relied on GPS have gotten seriously lost. It happens a couple times a year now, and more and more visitors have GPS devices. If they are found, they say, “I was just doing what the GPS told me.”

When you come to a big drop off, do you continue, if the GPS tells you to go right over it? See link above for more..

MORE GPS ACCIDENTS

GPS also adds another possible hazard.. DISTRACTED DRIVING..

DISTRACTED BY GPS DRIVING

The consequences of distracted driving

Despite these laws and warnings that the use of electronic devices while driving can lead to crashes, injuries and even death, a recent survey by the NHTSA found 660,000 drivers are using cellphones while driving at any given daylight moment in America. In 2011, more than 3,000 people were killed and 387,000 were injured in crashes involving a distracted driver, according to the NHTSA.

The use of cellphones while driving impairs reaction times and nearly quadruples the risk of crashing, according to the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety. AAA recommends motorists turn off their phones before driving or pull over to a safe place to talk, send texts or email. When using the GPS function on their phones, AAA recommends people program the GPS while parked to automatically give them audible, turn-by-turn directions so they don't have to look at the phone while driving. AAA is involved in a campaign in those states that do not have texting bans to promote passage of laws banning text messaging while driving.

Marie Montgomery, spokeswoman for the Automobile Club of Southern California, says her organization recommends that people shouldn't use their cellphones at all while driving.

"Anything that takes your eyes off the road for more than two seconds will double your risk of a crash," Montgomery says. see link above for more..

COURT RULING USING GPS IS DISTRACTED DRIVING

LOS ANGELES (KTLA) — Drivers in California are already banned from talking or texting on cellphones, but now you could get busted for using your GPS as well.

phone-mapSpecifically, just looking at a map on your smartphone could get you a ticket for distracted driving.

A man in Fresno was using his smartphone navigation app to try to get around a traffic jam.

He had his phone in his hand, and the CHP gave him a $160 ticket. He contested the ticket in court and lost. see link above for more..