The GPS is always right??

[bvibert]

Apparently not...

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_stranded_motorists

I guess common sense is over-ridden by GPS systems??

 

[Trekchick]

True story:
There is a major bridge out just north of us, on the way to Boyne Mt. Instead of taking the detour which takes people waaaaay out of the way, they are relying on the GPS' (being local, I know a gazillion ways around the detour).

A friend of mine is a tow truck driver and he's been getting calls from people stuck in a swamp at the end of a two track because "the GPS told them to drive there"

The first time he got the call it took him a while to find them but now he knows and just heads out there.
I told him he should have a sign near the swamp hole with his number on it.

 

[ctenidae]

Smart enough to be prepared for winter driving, not smart enough to avoind FS roads int eh middle of winter.

Starry Bush-Rhoads? Really?

 

[bvibert]

Smart enough to be prepared for winter driving, not smart enough to avoind FS roads int eh middle of winter.

Starry Bush-Rhoads? Really?

I saw an interview with the couple this morning. Apparently they didn't realize there was a problem until about 30 miles into the road the snow started getting deep. They got stuck once, dug out, and continued on. It was only after getting stuck a second time that they thought maybe they should turn around, which they were unable to do. I guess they tried to keep going because they thought they were almost to the end...

 

[Glenn]

We see it in VT all the time. Our road turns into a class IV about 1/8th of a mile from our place. I've taken the Jeep up and down it a number of times. It would be really really dicey in car...if passable at all. We see a lot of cars go past the house...up the hill...then a minute later, head back down.

The way it was explained to me was the town stopped taking care of that part of the road once they changed things for 911 service. Google maps still shows the road as going all the way through.

 

[ski_resort_observer]

Save your life, get a road map. Never failed me in 40 years of driving all over the place.

 

[gmcunni]

i've had a few interesting rides based on my gps. one in particularly was to Sugarbush @ night when i went from no snow on the road to 6+ inches in a matter of minutes on some mountain road.

no snows on my saab made it "fun"

 

[noski]

We see it in VT all the time.

We see that in the MRV with people trying to come over Lincoln Gap in Warren in winter. GPS doesn't know the season....

 

[severine]

:lol: Having finally stepped into the current century with the receipt of a GPS this Christmas, this could be interesting. Though I have to say that planning routes ahead of time with Google Maps can also be interesting.

 

[billski]

I dislike using auto GPS for navigation, by just listening to the directions, I lose all sense of north and relationships to other roads. I need a real map. Just goes to show, GPS routing is still in it's adolescence; not a mature technology, and vulnerable to a lag in information flow.

Couple Follows Their GPS Into Remote Snowbound Road
On Friday, Christmas Day, John Rhoads, 65, and his wife Starry, 67, were enroute from Portland, Oregon to Reno, Nevada, when they followed the 'shortest route' recommendation on their automobile gps as it directed them onto Forest Service Road 28, near the small town of Silver lake in the remote Winema-Fremont National Forest. The couple followed their receiver for 35 miles before finally sticking their 4WD Toyota Sequoia in 16-inch deep snow on an uncleared, summer-only track.

The pair remained stuck for three days, but fortunately were prepared enough to carry food, water and warm clothes. When weather cleared on Monday they got a weak cell phone signal and called emergency numbers. Sheriff's deputies followed the phone's gps coordinates and towed them out with a winch. The moral? Don't blindly follow technology. It's amazing how many people do, while being unable to balance that information with things like...the view out their car window. Automobile GPS receivers are extremely accurate (they saved my heinie driving in Wales. U.K., even in roundabouts), but they can't incorporate info like current weather and road conditions into each routing.

Over the past decade, at least five similar events have occurred with winter drivers getting stuck in extremely remote locations like Utah's Smoky Mountain Road, remote BLM roads in the Jarbidge wilderness of Northern Nevada, and western Oregon's Bear Camp Road, where two winter strandings resulted in fatalities. One of those, in 2006 was the widely known James Kim incident, where a CNET tech blogger followed his GPS for miles up an unplowed Forest Service road, then died while trying to get help for his wife and infant son after six stranded days. Winter drivers should always carry emergency supplies, and if the road's snowy, turn around while you still can.
Source

 

[deadheadskier]

my verizon gps on my phone sucks in Boston. It's a damn miracle if I get instructed to turn prior to the actual turn. "recalculating route" is pretty much all I ever hear out of the damn thing.

 

[mondeo]

vulnerable to a lag in information flow.

So is a 5 year old road atlas...

The only thing a "real" map has on GPS is size. It's easier to figure out a route when you're not confined to a 3.5" screen. But all GPS is is an incredibly complete map with a location finder and computer to calculate a route, and so on. That basic map functionality is still there. The problem is that people can be over reliant on the calculated route; I've used mine as a pure map before, just a little tedious on that screen.

 

[ctenidae]

I dislike using auto GPS for navigation, by just listening to the directions, I lose all sense of north and relationships to other roads. I need a real map. Just goes to show, GPS routing is still in it's adolescence; not a mature technology, and vulnerable to a lag in information flow.

I turn off the voice prompts as soon as the route is calculated. I then just read the map as I go. I also find the nav display in my instrument cluster to be helpful, in so far as it tells me the distance to the next maneuver, so I know whether or not I have time to get around the minivan driving 40 mph before getting to my next exit.

Best uses of teh nav are when stuck in traffic,and when looking for a parking spot. In traffic you can find a way around (sometimes), and when looking for a parking spot in Boston you can see where teh smaller roads that might have an open space are.

 

[billski]

So is a 5 year old road atlas...

The only thing a "real" map has on GPS is size. It's easier to figure out a route when you're not confined to a 3.5" screen. But all GPS is is an incredibly complete map with a location finder and computer to calculate a route, and so on. That basic map functionality is still there. The problem is that people can be over reliant on the calculated route; I've used mine as a pure map before, just a little tedious on that screen.

Not in my experience. I get fresh maps every year from AAA. Printed maps have a lot more detail, including road types/grades/annual closing status, buildings, urban area shading, topo features, mountain names and shading, inclines, rest areas, town/village/city sizes.

Size too as you say - am a big picture person. I find most GPS features to be very city-oriented.

They also can bail you out of a traffic jam. Let the GPS re-route you and everyone does the same and we all create a new jam. I can screw around with the GPS for 15 minutes rerouting me and avoiding - I've literally been run in circles by GPS. Pull out a map, looking at it, you can see at a much higher vantage ways to get to your destination.

 

[billski]

my verizon gps on my phone sucks in Boston. It's a damn miracle if I get instructed to turn prior to the actual turn. "recalculating route" is pretty much all I ever hear out of the damn thing.

I had Verizon navigator for three years and only used it in traffic jams and to find a chain restaurant. I used it once to find a residence deeply buried within one-way streets of Cambridge. My wife finally convinced me it would be cheaper to cancel the subscription and just buy another gadget.

 

[hammer]

Tried to use my GPS to get to Ragged a few weeks back...kept prompting me to go down some snow-covered back roads off of Route 4. Fortunately I've been there a few times and knew the actual road to take.

 

[gmcunni]

Tried to use my GPS to get to Ragged a few weeks back...kept prompting me to go down some snow-covered back roads off of Route 4. Fortunately I've been there a few times and knew the actual road to take.

i've seen a few web sites , on their "directions" page, warn people not to follow GPS directions when going to the mountain.

 

[billski]

i've seen a few web sites , on their "directions" page, warn people not to follow GPS directions when going to the mountain.

Ditto for Mapquest and Google Maps, which I presume use the same methodology. I find the value of a GPS diminishes precipitously when you are in the country.

 

[St. Bear]

Not in my experience. I get fresh maps every year from AAA. Printed maps have a lot more detail, including road types/grades/annual closing status, buildings, urban area shading, topo features, mountain names and shading, inclines, rest areas, town/village/city sizes.

Size too as you say - am a big picture person. I find most GPS features to be very city-oriented.

They also can bail you out of a traffic jam. Let the GPS re-route you and everyone does the same and we all create a new jam. I can screw around with the GPS for 15 minutes rerouting me and avoiding - I've literally been run in circles by GPS. Pull out a map, looking at it, you can see at a much higher vantage ways to get to your destination.

Tried to use my GPS to get to Ragged a few weeks back...kept prompting me to go down some snow-covered back roads off of Route 4. Fortunately I've been there a few times and knew the actual road to take.

A few things that will solve 80% of people's problems with GPS units:

1) If you're not in the middle of a city, zoom out. If you're driving 65 mph on a highway, or even 40 mph on a back road, you don't need to be zoomed in all the way. You'll never see the roads coming up ahead before it's too late. Zoom out a couple screens, and you'll get that "big picture" that you're looking for.

2) Use the detour button. I have a Garmin, but I assume all models have this feature. If it keeps trying to send you some back way that you know is wrong, hit the Detour button, and it will recalculate a different route, usually the one you're looking for.

3) Use the look ahead feature. If you have a general idea of where to go, but are not confident enough to fly solo, plug in the address, and look ahead to see if the GPS is bringing you the way you want to go. You can also zoom out and look at the future route, GoogleMaps style. I've avoided many headaches doing this.

 

[Geoff]

I use the Google Maps application on my Blackberry. It's really useful on business trips. It's really useful for avoiding traffic jams. It is, of course, totally useless if I don't have cell phone signal.