Lost Couple Can't Blame GPS, Air Force Says
HIPAR
http://www.space.com/news/091230-airforce-gps.html
--- CHAS
Wayne R.
location is all the GPS system provides anyway.
I offer this list of what to blame, in descending order:
1. Themselves
a. Ignorance
b. Overconfidence
2. Their device's routing settings
a. Shortest route vs. fastest
3. Their device's routing database
a. Barely usable vs. highly reliable roads
4. The overall GPS system
a. Provides data for location computing only
5. Dumb luck, maybe
On Wed, 30 Dec 2009 12:12:43 -0800 (PST), HIPAR <capt...@verizon.net>
wrote (with clarity & insight):
KeesC
recommandation from the devices routing database (purchased from a different
vendor) and the GPS info (received from the satellites).
Kees.
"Wayne R." <wruf...@KomKast.net> schreef in bericht
news:3bfnj5la4emgodss6...@4ax.com...
Alan Browne
> A couple lost in the snow shouldn't blame GPS for their debacle.
>
> http://www.space.com/news/091230-airforce-gps.html
What I hate about small automobile GPS' (whether built in or after
market) is that they present a very poor, small overview of the route.
On a long route you can't see if it is keeping you on a highway or more
rural roads before you accept the plan. They are poor devices for planning.
More than once my TomTom has led me off a provincial highway and onto
some back road only to eventually bring me back to the highway (in one
case it was a dirt road for about 20 km). It once even routed me to
back roads while the main route was a freeway, and thence back onto
another freeway (rather than going to the intersection of the two).
This cost me at least 30 minutes. (It was set to quickest time mode).
None of these were life threatening situations, however, I'd feel better
with a larger view. That I get with MS Streets and Trips, at least,
even though it is a pretty clumsy setup for driving. With two people it
works better than using a dedicated system.
As to the devices, where the s/w may not be perfect, I would bet the
greatest source of error is in the database. The TomTom has presented
me with dozens of cases of not wanting to take a particular route
because it did not believe one street connected to another. That is
more likely the database than s/w.
MacArthur
> On Wed, 30 Dec 2009 12:12:43 -0800 (PST), HIPAR <capt...@verizon.net>
> wrote (with clarity & insight):
>
>>A couple lost in the snow shouldn't blame GPS for their debacle.
>>
>>http://www.space.com/news/091230-airforce-gps.html
>>
>>--- CHAS
>
Wayne R." <wruf...@KomKast.net> wrote in message
news:3bfnj5la4emgodss6...@4ax.com...
> Good point - blaming "GPS" is hardly specific enough, and surely their
> location is all the GPS system provides anyway.
>
> I offer this list of what to blame, in descending order:
>
> 1. Themselves
> a. Ignorance
> b. Overconfidence
> 2. Their device's routing settings
> a. Shortest route vs. fastest
> 3. Their device's routing database
> a. Barely usable vs. highly reliable roads
> 4. The overall GPS system
> a. Provides data for location computing only
> 5. Dumb luck, maybe
>
6. Their parents; first cousins should N O T get married!
--
Live strong and have a nice day, - "Nil carborundum illegitimi"!
Mac H E L P the planet - Don't I D L E ! ! !
Over 1600 Links at Http://MacArthur.Funknstyle.Com
Pictures at http://www.flickr.com/photos/macarthur
and http://www.flickr.com/photos/macarthur-ii/
J. J. Lodder
> >
> > On Wed, 30 Dec 2009 12:12:43 -0800 (PST), HIPAR <capt...@verizon.net>
> > wrote (with clarity & insight):
> >
> >>A couple lost in the snow shouldn't blame GPS for their debacle.
> >>
> >>http://www.space.com/news/091230-airforce-gps.html
> >>
> >>--- CHAS
> >
>
> Wayne R." <wruf...@KomKast.net> wrote in message
> news:3bfnj5la4emgodss6...@4ax.com...
> > Good point - blaming "GPS" is hardly specific enough, and surely their
> > location is all the GPS system provides anyway.
> >
> > I offer this list of what to blame, in descending order:
> >
> > 1. Themselves
> > a. Ignorance
> > b. Overconfidence
> > 2. Their device's routing settings
> > a. Shortest route vs. fastest
> > 3. Their device's routing database
> > a. Barely usable vs. highly reliable roads
> > 4. The overall GPS system
> > a. Provides data for location computing only
> > 5. Dumb luck, maybe
> >
>
> 6. Their parents; first cousins should N O T get married!
Except when they are called Darwin or Einstein of course,
Jan
Ed M.
http://www.rgj.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=200991228011
You can enter "silver lake or" in maps.google.com and see the turn.
Need to expand the scale a lot. The National Forest Road 28
designation doesn't show up until a few miles South of Silver Lake.
Turn South on Co. Hwy 4-12 to get to it.
Looks like just staying on Hwy 31 until it merges with US 395 is what
they intended. That's another 75 miles.
Got stuck in the snow with a 4WD Toyota.
Glad they survived.
Ed M.
Robert Boucher
Wayne R. <wruf...@KomKast.net> wrote:
where is George Bush on this list <g>
mi...@sushi.com
wrote:
The software should know the speed limit of the road. When you ask for
fastest route, it should pick a paved road if appropriate. However, in
general your criticism is accurate.
mi...@sushi.com
The built-in GPS in my SUV refuses to route me though 120 in the
Sierras unless I force it to do so. This road is generally unpassable
in the winter. There are people that live out there, and I often
wonder what they do when the roads are gated off. Most famous on this
route is the Tioga Pass that leads to Mono Lake. Some years it
doesn't even open until June.
http://www.nps.gov/yose/planyourvisit/tiogaopen.htm
As an aside, there are only gas stations by the lake, and it has to be
the most expensive gas in California due to the remoteness.
Rick
is foolish.
--
Rick
Fargo, ND
N 46�53'251"
W 096�48'279"
Remember the USS Liberty
http://www.ussliberty.org/
Mike Russell
> HIPAR wrote:
>> A couple lost in the snow shouldn't blame GPS for their debacle.
>>
>> http://www.space.com/news/091230-airforce-gps.html
>>
>> --- CHAS
> I guess they never heard of Maps and Compass. The sole reliance on GPS
> is foolish.
Another way to look at it is that cars, not GPS, were the culprit. They
would have been safe at home otherwise. IOW, internal combustion engine
got this unfortunate couple into the mess they were in, and then got them
out again. :)
--
Mike Russell - http://www.curvemeister.com
Mike Jr
> I would add: Their device's software. This what calculates the road
> recommandation from the devices routing database (purchased from a different
> vendor) and the GPS info (received from the satellites).
>
> Kees.
>
>
> > Good point - blaming "GPS" is hardly specific enough, and surely their
> > location is all the GPS system provides anyway.
>
> > I offer this list of what to blame, in descending order:
>
> > 1. Themselves
> > a. Ignorance
> > b. Overconfidence
> > 2. Their device's routing settings
> > a. Shortest route vs. fastest
> > 3. Their device's routing database
> > a. Barely usable vs. highly reliable roads
> > 4. The overall GPS system
> > a. Provides data for location computing only
> > 5. Dumb luck, maybe
>
> > wrote (with clarity & insight):
>
> >>A couple lost in the snow shouldn't blame GPS for their debacle.
>
> >>http://www.space.com/news/091230-airforce-gps.html
>
> >>--- CHAS
It's the device manufacturer abetted by uneducated consumers.
Once, on a trip back from Atlantic City, a friend's GPS kept asking us
to take a different route. As a lark, I suggested that we follow it.
The road went from divided to undivided, to narrow, to gravel, and
finally to a potholed goat path. Just when we were about to give up
and turn back, it dumped us back onto our chosen route. It had shaved
a good ten miles off our trip.
All I can say is caveat emptor. http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/caveat%20emptor
--Mike Jr
Mike Russell
[re GPS routing goose chases]
> It's the device manufacturer abetted by uneducated consumers.
>
> Once, on a trip back from Atlantic City, a friend's GPS kept asking us
> to take a different route. As a lark, I suggested that we follow it.
> The road went from divided to undivided, to narrow, to gravel, and
> finally to a potholed goat path. Just when we were about to give up
> and turn back, it dumped us back onto our chosen route. It had shaved
> a good ten miles off our trip.
This happened to us in Costa Rica - it would have saved a little distance,
but we were of little faith, in a two wheel drive, and turned back to the
main paved road. The experience - though not the precise location - was
something like that shown on this video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pNlka5pjjBI
Alan White
wrote:
>All I can say is caveat emptor. http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/caveat%20emptor
"A GPS has to be used in association with a brain", Woody, 07.04.2005.
--
Alan White
Mozilla Firefox and Forte Agent.
Twenty-eight miles NW of Glasgow, overlooking Lochs Long and Goil in Argyll, Scotland.
Webcam and weather:- http://windycroft.gt-britain.co.uk/weather
Wolfgang S. Rupprecht
Wayne R. <wruf...@KomKast.net> writes:
> Good point - blaming "GPS" is hardly specific enough, and surely their
> location is all the GPS system provides anyway.
>
> I offer this list of what to blame, in descending order:
>
> 1. Themselves
> a. Ignorance
> b. Overconfidence
> 2. Their device's routing settings
> a. Shortest route vs. fastest
> 3. Their device's routing database
> a. Barely usable vs. highly reliable roads
> 4. The overall GPS system
> a. Provides data for location computing only
> 5. Dumb luck, maybe
6. A bad match between their expectations of what the GPS could do and
what the GPS actually could do.
People seem to regularly overestimate the capabilities of electronic
devices and then are suprised to learn that they are still expected to
exercise common sense.
-wolfgang
--
Wolfgang S. Rupprecht
If the airwaves belong to the public why does the public only get 3
non-overlapping WIFI channels?
Mike Jr
I think that I saw an actual goat on the goat path! Cool video. :-)