Every so often, you read a story about drivers following their GPS system off a cliff, onto rail tracks, down a dead end, etc. The rest of the Internet know-it-alls then start saying that GPS stinks, you should never use it, compasses only - and that's if they ignore the colour of the driver's hair.
As this CTV report notes - the problem is not with the hardware, it's accurate to within 5 meters when you have clear skies. The two major issues are the maps that are supplied to the GPS makers, by definition they are always a bit out of date. Roads change and businesses move or close. It's also the people who ignore everything else around them - dead end signs, low bridge alerts, bad roads, as well as little things like, say, the Pacific Ocean.
I have three systems that allow GPS navigation, and I like them all. My car's Nüvi gets me to all my client appointments in Regina even when I've never been to that particular house. The directions are easy to follow (especially with an Australian accent), accurate, and usually quite quick. Whenever I fly out to other cities for work, I bring it with me so that I can navigate along strange cities like a native, always knowing which lane to be in well before the turn off. It allows me to drive in Toronto - that's saying something. When my wife and I went to Los Angeles, we drove the rental car around LAX, San Diego, Anaheim, and back to LAX without having any problems (well she drove, I hate driving, and she hates navigating so it worked out well).
My iPhone also has GPS, and although I can't use it when driving, it works well for the newer areas that the Nüvi doesn't have in its system since I haven't bothered buying new maps for it. I can put in an address, have it show up, and I then generally know where to go. It eats battery time though, so I don't use it often.
Finally my Garmin Oregon 400, while not used for navigating my car has allowed me to find all sorts of geocaches in 5 different countries - it is accurate to within 3 meters. At that point, my eyes and mind take over to find those hidden treasures.
Why don't I have problems with my GPS navigation? Because I don't turn off my brain - it's a lesson I learned the first time I drove in Toronto with it. I told the GPS to take me to the Toronto Airport, and it was doing a good job. Then as I approached an exit - labelled with the Airport symbol, my GPS told me to keep going straight - ignore the exit. I trusted the GPS. I ended up at the cargo entrance and had to ask for directions at a nearby gas station. I got to the proper spot eventually, but I learned my lesson - highway signs take priority over the Australian girl on the GPS. The next time I was in Toronto, I followed the sign, and after a quick "RECALCULATING" the GPS did take me to the airport.
It's like that with any technology. In an inter-group discussion in class we talked about how people are unable to do simple calculations without a calculator. While I don't expect someone to do 3.54 g / 40.08 g/mol to get 0.0883 mol in a Chemistry lab, you should still be able to do $50 * 1.10 = $55.00 including the tax when at the store. Planning on going hiking in the woods with a GPS? That's fine, but bring extra batteries, and take a course on how to read topo maps and use a compass. Those don't require batteries - in an emergency, you need to be prepared to rescue yourself and do it without batteries.
In other words, don't be this guy....
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