Internet maps/GPS: Help or Hinderance?

[sparrow]

We own a business that is located on a highway, but the mailing address is a road. For some reason, GPS and Mapquest each have a problem with the address. Google Maps is fine. I had two instances yesterday where people eschewed what their brain was telling them and listened to technical devices instead. I had folks that were lost, miles away on country roads, calling because they "had a feeling" they should have turned left at the sign that said "your town" left, but since GPS/Mapquest told them to turn right, that's what they did!

 

I've been guilty of thoughts like that myself, but so far, I've overridden them with common sense and decent navigational skills. We don't have a GPS, but I print directions from Google Maps whenever we go somewhere. I just don't trust those printed directions without question :001_smile:.

 

Whaddya think? Are the internet mapping programs and GPS helping or impairing our ability use common sense navigating from point A to B?

Edited July 3, 2011 by sparrow

[Lily_Grace]

Where I live a GPS is very helpful. There's no standard street plan for towns and many streets are one-way - not to mention the towns are so tiny that even after living here a year I don't know all the ones in my district area. I like being able to plug in the address and just go.

 

But just like anything else there are drawbacks. Our street has a sister road on the other side of the field and plugging in our address will send guests there, not here. We've been "off the road" on the GPS and have come upon dead ends that it swears is a through street. It boils down to common sense - use it when you can and trust the map when you're feeling hopelessly lost! :lol:

[Ellyndria]

Impairing. There's not much figure-it-out-yourself-from-a-map left.

 

I tend to keep a map in my head though. If I look something up on Mapquest or whatever, I look at the map to make sure the ending point actually looks like it matches up with the address. I may or may not follow the suggested route. I just remember the main places I need to turn...just like I would with any map. I know people who can't survive without their GPS though. I always wonder what they would do if they were out and it stopped working though. I do like to figure out where I am going first, before I go there. I don't like the feeling of just driving and following directions and not have a picture of the route in my head. So, I don't use a GPS. I don't really need it. DH uses one though. He doesn't have a map in his head.

[Wheres Toto]

We don't have a GPS so rely on Google Maps and old fashioned paper maps. I see a lot of problems with GPS and if people stop learning how to actually read a map, I can see bigger problems coming. People think GPS is the final word so they ignore common sense and street signs.

 

There's a street in the town I used to live in that is very short, ends at a guardrail and beyond the guardrail is a dirt path into the woods. GPS systems constantly send people down this road that doesn't actually exist.

 

We had to travel up to Cape Cod a few years ago for one of Dd's dance competitions. Everyone who used GPS missed a key turn and got lost. We were the only ones who arrived on time - using a regular map.

[sparrow]

Impairing. There's not much figure-it-out-yourself-from-a-map left.

 

I tend to keep a map in my head though. If I look something up on Mapquest or whatever, I look at the map to make sure the ending point actually looks like it matches up with the address. I may or may not follow the suggested route. I just remember the main places I need to turn...just like I would with any map. I know people who can't survive without their GPS though. I always wonder what they would do if they were out and it stopped working though. I do like to figure out where I am going first, before I go there. I don't like the feeling of just driving and following directions and not have a picture of the route in my head. So, I don't use a GPS. I don't really need it. DH uses one though. He doesn't have a map in his head.

 

:lol: I had to laugh at the bolded. I also have a map in my head, but my dh definitely does NOT!

[Liz CA]

I am the navigationally challenged one in our family.

I still rather look at a map before the trip and always question what the "voice" says and how accurate it is.

Nothing replaces the human brain! :D

[bettyandbob]

I picked dd up from camp in Truly the Middle of Nowhere yesterday. google and mapquest both had the same wrong directions. DH did the drive up last week and stopped at a convenience store and before he could ask a question the clerk said "are you looking for Camp Truly the Middle of Nowhere ?"

 

My GPS had it correct. Problem was GPS battery ran out on the way home after we'd left Truly the Middle of Nowhere but before we got out just plain "middle of Nowhere" I have a charger that plugs in the car, but when the GPS is charging it won't give directions. It is an older Garmin. Dd and I did find our way to a highway I knew and we got ourselves home. I need to figure out the battery situation. I was tired after 5.5 hours of driving and still had a long ways to go. The situation would have been easier if most of the driving had been on the highway, but we had hours of off highway, turning at dinky little crossroads that all looked the same.

 

The problem with GPS I see is you really have to have faith. At one point the GPS looped me through a grocery store parking lot. It was weird-why am I going here?! But then I got to where I needed to be.

[JudyJudyJudy]

We don't have a GPS so rely on Google Maps and old fashioned paper maps.

Same here. I can't complain about dh in this area. If there's any such thing as being gifted with directions, he is. People who have GPSs call dh when they get lost!

[Margo out of lurking]

Whaddya think? Are the internet mapping programs and GPS helping or impairing our ability use common sense navigating from point A to B?

 

GPS are convenient, not necessarily helpful. I don't trust mine to get me where I'm going. If it's far, I have learned to ALWAYS print out a map.

 

I have a pretty good sense of direction, but only if I've been there before.

 

Internet mapping is usually pretty good, although it had my old street incorrectly marked. But people couldn't find it using a GPS either, they'd end up in a cow field, or on another road, or just lost. Fortunately, they had cell service. ;)

[LibraryLover]

HUGE help.

 

Recalculate all you want, darling. ;) She does seem to be airport challenged.

Edited July 4, 2011 by LibraryLover

[Mama Geek]

We own a business that is located on a highway, but the mailing address is a road. For some reason, GPS and Mapquest each have a problem with the address. Google Maps is fine. I had two instances yesterday where people eschewed what their brain was telling them and listened to technical devices instead. I had folks that were lost, miles away on country roads, calling because they "had a feeling" they should have turned left at the sign that said "your town" left, but since GPS/Mapquest told them to turn right, that's what they did!

 

I've been guilty of thoughts like that myself, but so far, I've overridden them with common sense and decent navigational skills. We don't have a GPS, but I print directions from Google Maps whenever we go somewhere. I just don't trust those printed directions without question :001_smile:.

 

Whaddya think? Are the internet mapping programs and GPS helping or impairing our ability use common sense navigating from point A to B?

 

I would say only for those whose common sense was already impaired:lol:

[elegantlion]

We always use the GPS. Some systems are better than others. Dh has a couple on his phone and he has a preference. We still use common sense and look at actual road signs however. We also understand that more rural roads may not be mapped as accurately.

 

I have extreme motion sickness. If we are traveling I can't even look down to read a map without getting nauseous.

 

If we're going on vacation (hahaha, like that has happened recently)....Okay, when we used to go on vacation, I always printed directions. MOstly because I'm the old fashioned paper junkie.

 

Dh rarely gets lost but never hesitates to call and ask the business for directions or pull in somewhere and ask.

[Ellie]

I have a Garmin GPS. I have Internet. And when I'm going somewhere I've never been before, I use the GPS *plus* MapQuest, Google Maps, and MapsOnUs, because each one of those has sent me the wrong way on different ocassions.:glare: Mr. Ellie spent a wretched 45 minutes looking for a business that our Internet maps said was *there* when it was really *here* (he had been trying to talk to an actual person at the company to tell him how to get there...long story...so he called me at home and I tried to map it for him. Ugh.).