http://www.autoblog.com/2008/02/24/english-trucker-blindly-follows-gps-down-the-wrong-path/ Autoblog Comments for http://www.autoblog.com/media/feedlogo.gif http://www.autoblog.com en-us Copyright 2008 Weblogs, Inc. The contents of this feed are available for non-commercial use only. Blogsmith http://www.blogsmith.com/http://www.autoblog.com/2008/02/24/english-trucker-blindly-follows-gps-down-the-wrong-path/http://www.autoblog.com/2008/02/24/english-trucker-blindly-follows-gps-down-the-wrong-path/Feb 24th 2008 5:04PMhttp://www.autoblog.com/2008/02/24/english-trucker-blindly-follows-gps-down-the-wrong-path/http://www.autoblog.com/2008/02/24/english-trucker-blindly-follows-gps-down-the-wrong-path/Feb 24th 2008 5:26PMhttp://www.autoblog.com/2008/02/24/english-trucker-blindly-follows-gps-down-the-wrong-path/http://www.autoblog.com/2008/02/24/english-trucker-blindly-follows-gps-down-the-wrong-path/Feb 24th 2008 5:27PMhttp://www.autoblog.com/2008/02/24/english-trucker-blindly-follows-gps-down-the-wrong-path/http://www.autoblog.com/2008/02/24/english-trucker-blindly-follows-gps-down-the-wrong-path/Feb 24th 2008 5:47PMhttp://www.autoblog.com/2008/02/24/english-trucker-blindly-follows-gps-down-the-wrong-path/http://www.autoblog.com/2008/02/24/english-trucker-blindly-follows-gps-down-the-wrong-path/Feb 24th 2008 6:09PMhttp://www.autoblog.com/2008/02/24/english-trucker-blindly-follows-gps-down-the-wrong-path/http://www.autoblog.com/2008/02/24/english-trucker-blindly-follows-gps-down-the-wrong-path/Feb 24th 2008 8:02PMhttp://www.autoblog.com/2008/02/24/english-trucker-blindly-follows-gps-down-the-wrong-path/http://www.autoblog.com/2008/02/24/english-trucker-blindly-follows-gps-down-the-wrong-path/Feb 24th 2008 11:42PMhttp://www.autoblog.com/2008/02/24/english-trucker-blindly-follows-gps-down-the-wrong-path/http://www.autoblog.com/2008/02/24/english-trucker-blindly-follows-gps-down-the-wrong-path/
should have

gotta love our school systems]]>Feb 25th 2008 9:01AMhttp://www.autoblog.com/2008/02/24/english-trucker-blindly-follows-gps-down-the-wrong-path/http://www.autoblog.com/2008/02/24/english-trucker-blindly-follows-gps-down-the-wrong-path/
Like my high school teacher always said when working with calculators "the machine is only as smart as the person using it" and that goes double for GPS units.

Learn to use your machines or get off the road.]]>Feb 25th 2008 12:11AMhttp://www.autoblog.com/2008/02/24/english-trucker-blindly-follows-gps-down-the-wrong-path/http://www.autoblog.com/2008/02/24/english-trucker-blindly-follows-gps-down-the-wrong-path/Feb 25th 2008 12:52AMhttp://www.autoblog.com/2008/02/24/english-trucker-blindly-follows-gps-down-the-wrong-path/http://www.autoblog.com/2008/02/24/english-trucker-blindly-follows-gps-down-the-wrong-path/Mar 7th 2008 8:38PMhttp://www.autoblog.com/2008/02/24/english-trucker-blindly-follows-gps-down-the-wrong-path/http://www.autoblog.com/2008/02/24/english-trucker-blindly-follows-gps-down-the-wrong-path/
one friend in particular was amazed that I use no navigation system, just carefully planned directions to each destination.

he was rather insistant that I was "missing something" by not having a navigation system, and he wanted to bring his along, to show me how great it was. I just smiled.

I followed my planned Fred Flintsone style, old written directions, and he used his much-touted, state-of-the-art navigation.

my first stop was outside of Tulsa, Oklahoma. I exited the Turner Turnpike, and continued on a county road. I looked at my friend; he had a blank look on his face. his navigation screen was completely blank and white, with an "X" in the middle. I suspect the "X" was our intended destination, with absolutely no way to get there.

this same thing was repeated in Illinois and Pennsylvania. the Pennsylvania one was ever funnier, as we didn't even get the "X" in the middle; the screen was just blank.

perhaps these systems will one day be a supplement to a good map (with the emphasis on "supplement"), but I'm not holding my breath. at this point, they seem like the eight track tape player for the new milenium; very quickly outdated.

I'll keep my atlas.

AZMike]]>Feb 25th 2008 9:40AMhttp://www.autoblog.com/2008/02/24/english-trucker-blindly-follows-gps-down-the-wrong-path/http://www.autoblog.com/2008/02/24/english-trucker-blindly-follows-gps-down-the-wrong-path/otherwise, how can you judge its effectiveness?]]>Feb 25th 2008 12:33PMhttp://www.autoblog.com/2008/02/24/english-trucker-blindly-follows-gps-down-the-wrong-path/http://www.autoblog.com/2008/02/24/english-trucker-blindly-follows-gps-down-the-wrong-path/
Good for you, and certainly I have no issue with you going "old school" - to each his own I say. But as I read your post, I couldn't stop myself from thinking about that people used to say about computers 10 years ago. It sounded a lot like this.

It sucks for your buddy that he wound up wasting bread on a cheapo crapbox pretending to be a GPS, but my unit has yet to return astronomically stupid inaccuracies like that. It's been all up and down the east coast with very little issue, so it's really matter of you get what you pay for, same as anything else.

To be fair, consumer GPS systems have a few bugs to work out, as my experiences have not been flawless. On a couple of occasions, the GPS recommended a turn that was impossible to execute because the map was out of date. Haven't these people learned yet that any decent GPS device worth a damn automatically calculates a new route when you miss a turn? If you can't take a suggestion, the device will find another way to get you to your destination, and yet people are just dumbfounded to learn these devices are engineered to be this way. Blows my mind every time I read a story about some idiot like this. The maps are only as accurate as what government and municipalities provide, and even then, the company digitizing said maps can still screw it up here and there. As with any technology, future solutions will address current limitations - it's only a matter of time and research. There's already development of wirelessly connected GPS systems that can keep maps current at all times, so there's hope yet.

The problem is that people are relying on these GPS devices entirely as gospel rather than using it as it was intended: as a tool to *assist* with the job. But whatever.. that's the mentality of people, especially behind the wheel; everyone wants everything done for them. You know you're in trouble when there are people out there who are too lazy to think for themselves, and I think your post did a good job of pointing that out.]]>Feb 25th 2008 5:55PMhttp://www.autoblog.com/2008/02/24/english-trucker-blindly-follows-gps-down-the-wrong-path/http://www.autoblog.com/2008/02/24/english-trucker-blindly-follows-gps-down-the-wrong-path/Feb 25th 2008 10:56PMhttp://www.autoblog.com/2008/02/24/english-trucker-blindly-follows-gps-down-the-wrong-path/http://www.autoblog.com/2008/02/24/english-trucker-blindly-follows-gps-down-the-wrong-path/Mar 30th 2008 11:24AM