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No, it's not unusual to be afraid of technology. My old man was, not uncommon in old people especially And when I started using GPS in 1999 (one of my first hand-held units), and traveled with it, my father and his brother (my uncle) who were then in their 70s couldn't or wouldn't really care about the concept. Fine with me, I navigated that way well enough and upgraded to various handhelds across the years up to and including the current Garmin on my motorcycle that can guide me anywhere in the CONUS and British Columbia.
Handhelds still have their uses, though this is being supplanted by Smartphones with ubitiquitous coverage or (far better) WiFi. When I'm in eastern WA or BC with no coverage, they come into their own thus there will probably always be that niche.
So, no: understood that people are afraid of that which they are incapable of understanding. I grew up navigating with maps and a compass, through college, and used 1:100,000 sheets and 1:62500 (7.5 minute) from USGS as a professional geologist for years. Seldom got lost, never seriously, because I don't allow fear of the unknown to rule my life. In later years I've hiked up some wild parts of the Cascades via a compass, my wits, basic paper map, and GPS watches that often refused to work under forest canopy (c. 10-15 years ago, before they got much better). I always take my Garmin 60CSx along these days if I really want to know where I am, though that's seldom needed per se anymore.
Since both my cars have GPS, and I have a Garmin watch with GPS I often wear, and the Nexus 6P Smartphone has it too, well...there you go.
Primary use, 90% of the time these days, is Waze or INRIX for traffic. That stuff works, and matters in a major metro like Seattle (and many others) to at least minimize the traffic disaster.
When I'm traveling for business, I like having printed out directions from the airport to the hotel, hotel to conference site, etc. Of course, GPS is helpful when you're in an unfamiliar area. My phone has GPS but the signal inevitably cuts out when you need it the most. If I'm going somewhere local, I try to remember landmarks and intersections along the route for next time. I like being able to tell someone directions off the top of my head if they ask.
I will say that because of gps it takes me probably twice as long to make a mental map of a location to the extent I can navigate anywhere in the region just from landmarks, street signs, etc.... The gps is a pretty huge crutch. I used it for about a year when I moved before I had a good mental layout of the area... whereas before just using physical maps it would have taken me about 6 months.
Of course it's not as convenient to stop the car, look at a map, figure out your route, etc...
However, sometimes the gps makes ridiculous choices... sending you through a neighborhood full of speed bumps because it thinks it's faster due to shaving 2/10ths of a mile off the route... when the actual route takes longer.
GPS has its place. I don't need it around my home town, but there are times I go to the big city and use it. It's much easier than fiddling with my phone. Both my car and my truck have 8 inch screens, so I have a pretty good size map. And when we drive down to America, it's really nice to have. I love how it zooms in at interchanges and puts arrows in the lane or lanes that I need to be in. It's also been a Godsend for pilots. Younger pilots probably don't know what it's like to fly without GPS, but I remember the days of dead reckoning and using a VOR. Navigating an airplane with GPS is so much easier.
I like to know where I am and where I am going. If I blindly follow GPS I find I end up not paying attention to where I went and if it does not work later (i.e. dead battery, storm blocks satellites, etc), I may have trouble getting back home.
On the other hand, Waze is very useful to identify traffic, police locations, and construction that you would not otherwise know about.
I use Waze/GPS, but I also study a map before I go someplace.
I also like them at night if I forgot my glasses. I cannot read the road signs at night, so unless I know landmarks, I have no idea where I am.
Last edited by Coldjensens; 08-29-2016 at 02:32 PM..
Maps. Compass. Well that's just weird. I think that you are just upset that your hard-earned mapping skills of which you are quite proud have been rendered largely useless in the modern world of online maps and routing.
You're misunderstanding me there. I never said I hated online maps. Heck, I opened a road atlas only once in the last 3 years. I like Google Maps, and use it plenty; directions too. (Well, until recently, Google didn't recognize non-standard addresses, like "32W 500 22nd Street" in some unincorporated areas in Chicago suburbs; but that's been fixed now.) If I'm uncertain I am, I do pull out a GPS map on my phone to check, look for familiar streets nearby, and use my compass to go in their general direction.
What I do refuse to use is turn-by-turn directions on most GPS's. In my experience, many of them are quite ridiculous: getting off a highway, only to get back on right away, taking three streets when one will do, and sending me through a construction zone. And what really grinds my gears is how people follow those voice prompts blindly, even when they're counterintuitive or downright hazardous. (Although I am aware that in completely unfamiliar areas, it's better than nothing.) That's the reason I don't like GPS's. People follow it without question and forget how to navigate without it. And like I said, I don't mind resorting to it when I'm completely lost; I just mute the voice prompts as soon as I get onto a street I recognize.
TL;DR version: I have no beef with GPS's in general, I just don't like the nutty turn-by-turn prompts they give.
Quote:
Originally Posted by AlaskaErik
It's also been a Godsend for pilots. Younger pilots probably don't know what it's like to fly without GPS, but I remember the days of dead reckoning and using a VOR. Navigating an airplane with GPS is so much easier.
I got a pilot analogy for you. Driving by blindly following GPS prompts is like IFR. My way of driving is more like VFR. I know because I took flying lessons, out of interest, curiosity, and intrigue factor. Since mine were beginner lessons, my instructor didn't teach me the onboard GPS. Just the magnetic compass, terrain navigation (following a highway on the ground), and the basic six instruments. And basic plane operations, obviously. I had so much fun. Makes for a good story, too.
Last edited by MillennialUrbanist; 08-29-2016 at 02:25 PM..
GPS is great for telling me how to get around unfamiliar cities,kinda useless when going Montreal to Tampa I-87 to NJTP to I-95 to I-4, very distracting to use while driving if looking for a point of interest (Pull over to fiddle with it).
I don't mind the GPS software that shows traffic/construction information, or my current location, which I compare against road signs as a precaution. It's the turn-by-turn directions part I can't stand. However, my friend's GPS software doesn't show traffic and construction, just the turns. I'm not sure what algorithm it uses to calculate a route, but it once sent us into the underbelly of a construction zone, with 2 closed lanes and a 5-mile gridlock, late at night. Perhaps there are better GPS versions, I don't know. As long as I can map my own route, rather than listen to the one it makes up for me, I'd even be willing to try it.
And in Chicago, construction is everywhere. Them road surfacing companies need the political grants, you know. Which means I can't trust a GPS to send me onto smooth traffic.
If I'm in a city with a grid I understand, then I don't worry about it.
I like GPS when I'm going somewhere new/unfamiliar. But if you told me that something was at 3600 Hennepin Ave S in Minneapolis, I wouldn't need a map or GPS.
I have a manager who hates GPS, either on a phone, in the car, or a dash mounted one. He still prints out mapquest directions.
I have a manager who hates GPS, either on a phone, in the car, or a dash mounted one. He still prints out mapquest directions.
He might like having me as an employee, lol. Provided that he lets me use Google instead of Mapquest. (In the past, I actually had to use Mapquest to get to places with non-standard addresses, which Google didn't recognize.)
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