GPS Failures

[JohnHuth]

So, first off...this isn't an anti-GPS rant, and I will immediately cede to Leon that GPS devices can be incredibly helpful and powerful gadgets.

I've been forced into a bit of a corner by my new book, and I'm getting people asking me about GPS failures. There's one case where some college students spoofed a GPS of a guy on a yacht (with his permission I might add). I had one where my receiver failed. I'm pretty sure we'd all agree that a backup, at least, is a wise idea, or perhaps using the GPS itself as a backup, is wise. But, I'm getting a lot of questions about issues with GPS'es, and I was wondering if you folks had any personal stories about problems with them.

[MPARSONS]

Unrelated to kayaking, several years ago I tried to use a GPS to get to Edaville Railroad in Carver, MA. Following the GPS directions led me to an empty parking lot that had a cardboard sign saying "YOUR GPS IS WRONG. THIS IS NOT EDAVILLE RAILROAD." Of course, I had been blindly following the GPS directions so I had no idea where I actually was, making it that much harder to find my way out with a road map.

That is probably completely irrelevant for your purposes, but after I finished being really mad I started to think it was pretty funny so I thought I'd share it.

[Phil Allen]

Maybe not much use as I can't find the source, but there was a story of Ambulance driver's in the UK following their GPS from one side of the country to the other. Think they'd typo'd the name of their destination.

best

Phil

[EEL]

In the Lakes Region of NH there are many, many tales of how using a GPS for driving directions has lead people seriously astray.

More to point, somewhat, last weekend I had a discussion with someone during a paddle as to the identity of an island. Their GPS was telling them it was X, but it was Y. I tried to explain that if you look at chart and look at overall "picture", then it had to be Y. It seemed very hard for the person to accept the GPS mapping software was in error. Of course these are not examples of the basic GPS functions being in error, only the mapping software. Two distinct things, but perhaps the distinction is blurred for many.

Ed Lawson

[Gcosloy]

"The map is not the territory" L. Wittgenstein GPS is not even a map. Oh yes, the GPS has a map but unless you review it beforehand you're only vouchsafed turn by turn directions one at a time. This is why it's so easy to get lost if the GPS map is wrong. "Where are we going?" Trust me, just turn left, then right at the next light! It's as if we're taken hostage by the GPS who sits next to us ordering turns and we have lost the map of where we're going. First we lost touch with the territory-our surroundings, then we lose our view of a map, finally we are lost ourselves. The sad part is not when GPS fails us but the 90% of the time it succeeds in getting us from point A to B. What is lost is any experience or knowledge of anything we pass through from A to B.

Edited August 9, 2013 by GCosloy

[bob budd]

GPS is subject to many failure mechanism from visibility to a minimum number of satellites to slow acquisition and so on. Whenever I rent Hertz I refuse their (N)everlost tool. On one occassion it could not find Reading, Pa but did know of Reading, Ma. On another it suggested restaurants in Wyoming and Colorado which was a long way from Florida, where I was driving at the time. During the worst event it could not recover between exits to correct directions and "recalculated" continuously without providing a single suggestion. As for GPS, I haven't used one on the water except when I paddled to the Graves with a school bus tracking node. The mapping software drew a wonderful map of the trip with the school bus icon we used. There was initially a bit of bewilderment why one of the many nodes we had in service had somehow gone digitally astray reporting such a trip.

[ccarlson]

When I carry a GPS on my kayak, it's always just a backup to map and compass. Electronic devices, especially in a hostile environment, are subject to failure for a multitude of reasons. That's enough for me not to trust my life to them. I do sometimes use one as a trip computer to track my miles, speed, time paddled, etc. It's a simple wrist-mounted one with no maps. It will, however, give me coordinates which, should I find myself lost, confused, or in thick fog, will enable me to find my location on a chart and then plot my desired course. In terms of personal experience, I did have a previous wrist-mounted unit fail due to water intrusion into the battery compartment. My current one has run out of battery power (rechargeable). My vehicle GPS has been very reliable in terms of the hardware. But, as others have pointed out, navigation is often not optimized and is sometimes grossly incorrect. Knowing where one is going and how to get there is still essential though the GPS is, indeed, a worthy and valuable backup/assistant.

[gyork]

"The map is not the territory" L. Wittgenstein GPS is not even a map. Oh yes, the GPS has a map but unless you review it beforehand you're only vouchsafed turn by turn directions one at a time. This is why it's so easy to get lost if the GPS map is wrong. "Where are we going?" Trust me, just turn left, then right at the next light! It's as if we're taken hostage by the GPS who sits next to us ordering turns and we have lost the map of where we're going. First we lost touch with the territory-our surroundings, then we lose our view of a map, finally we are lost ourselves. The sad part is not when GPS fails us but the 90% of the time it succeeds in getting us from point A to B. What is lost is any experience or knowledge of anything we pass through from A to B.

Gene, you've hit the nail on the head. Orienteerers, more so than most navigators, have a very acute recognition of their surroundings, as any missteps or strays from the course cost valuable seconds in these timed, competitive events. Trails, trail junctions, boulders, re-entrants, streams, dense foliage, etc. are the dry-land aids to navigation for these racers. Like a nautical chart, an orienteering map is very detailed, and runners are constantly orienting themselves to their surroundings, often using a digit as a"placeholder" on their maps. These competitors are master practitoners of the maxim "The secret of not getting lost is STAYING FOUND!"

As to John's inquiry: I use my entry-level GPS as back-up only, and have never had to employ it for that use (knock on wood). I have experienced no SNAFUS when used for geocaching or experimental mode.

Edited August 10, 2013 by gyork

[leong]

John,

Other than some routing problems with my automobile navigation GPS and finding that some purported features of my marine GPS don’t work, I haven’t had any hardware failures to complain about with either type of GPS.

Today, while driving through Manhattan on the way to NJ via the Lincoln Tunnel my GPS almost drove me nuts more than a few times. For instance, it would say turn right in about 0.5 miles and before I got to the turn it would go back to “Recalculating!” and then would generate a completely different route. Not sure, but perhaps it was losing satellite reception intermittently (I was located between the tall NYC buildings).

But here’s another take on the disadvantage of depending on a GPS too much (similar to what Gene said). First an analogy:

I started using TurboTax to prepare my State and Federal taxes many years ago. I consider the main advantage over manual filing is the easy correction of input errors found late in the game. Using tax preparation software to fix errors is trivial because the entire tax return is recalculated after correcting any input error (late discovered errors in manual preparation might require a complete restart of the preparation process). However, there is a downside. Little by little you lose your knowledge of the details and intricacies of the tax code. I’m so out of touch today that I barely recognize the Schedule D form when it prints out.

Similarly, I think that there is a loss of navigation skills when depending too much on electronic navigation gadgets. You soon lose some ability to plot a course with compass and how to read a nautical chart.

I’ve discussed the accuracy and some little known advantages of using a GPS on these threads. I hope that readers realize that I appreciate the enjoyment and safety of being able to navigate with a compass and chart; to use my understanding of ranges, tidal currents, tide heights, ferry angles, etc., to plan kayaking trips. This is similar to the do it yourself mind set of sailors (long before I started sea kayaking I was an avid sailor). I still can’t understand how anyone would use a stinkpot over a sailboat for anything but making a living.

-Leon

[Paul Sylvester]

My kids vacationing in Colorado called me in NH from some mountain area where their GPS had died or was not working properly. How ironic after the talks I have had about land navigation with them. They like many are too gps dependent. I had my wifes gps put me on a dead end road (way off track) in RI one time.

[JohnHuth]

Thanks for all the stories. I tried an exercise - I went to google images and typed in the phrase "Your GPS is wrong" and there were a fairly large number of signs carrying this. Evidently it's pretty common.

In orienteering, there is a phrase, "bending the map" where people try to make observations align to what they think they should be seeing with what's on their map. This seems like one additional step. There's a sense where "this doesn't seem right" kicks in with a map, but perhaps the seeming definitiveness of the GPS instructions leads people to drop their intuition. (?)

Edited August 10, 2013 by JohnHuth

[gyork]

In orienteering, there is a phrase, "bending the map" where people try to make observations align to what they think they should be seeing with what's on their map.

These assumptions often made without consulting their reliable handheld compass!

[JohnHuth]

I was in an orienteering race in May, and, boy were these people on top of their game. I'd kind of plod along, taking compass readings...people would go whizzing by me. As it was, I made the mistake of using a military style lensatic compass that is a pain to get orientations off a map. The racers who were doing well didn't use a compass at all - they just were using features on a map. At the end of the day, the winner came in at about 40 minutes, I was 200 minutes.

[gyork]

The racers who were doing well didn't use a compass at all - they just were using features on a map.

True enough! They might use a compass as many of us would a GPS-as a back-up. They're probably using sun angles, other clues, as aids.

[eidsvolling]

The least serious I've encountered was a guy who returned a "defective" GPS. He'd been clicking wildly for a while and the screen went dark. It only needed an adjustment to the setting for the display. I then spent a few minutes getting him started on the quick reference card ...

Probably one of the most serious I've ever heard of arrived today in the news:

Truck driver has GPS jammer, accidentally jams Newark airport

An engineering firm worker in New Jersey has a GPS jammer so his bosses don't know where he is all the time. However, his route takes him close to Newark airport, and his jammer affects its satellite systems.

http://news.cnet.com/8301-17852_3-57597971-71/truck-driver-has-gps-jammer-accidentally-jams-newark-airport/

Edited August 13, 2013 by eidsvolling

[eidsvolling]

Unrelated to kayaking, several years ago I tried to use a GPS to get to Edaville Railroad in Carver, MA. Following the GPS directions led me to an empty parking lot that had a cardboard sign saying "YOUR GPS IS WRONG. THIS IS NOT EDAVILLE RAILROAD." Of course, I had been blindly following the GPS directions so I had no idea where I actually was, making it that much harder to find my way out with a road map.

That is probably completely irrelevant for your purposes, but after I finished being really mad I started to think it was pretty funny so I thought I'd share it.

One of my wife's favorite sports is to watch as people attempt to "navigate" their way along a road across a swamp where she walks her dogs. Extra points when it's a honking big Benz.

[jwhipple]

This in Sunday's Globe takes a different look at GPS, and includes a quote from John near the end:

http://www.bostonglobe.com/ideas/2013/08/17/our-brains-pay-price-for-gps/d2Tnvo4hiWjuybid5UhQVO/story.html

[djlewis]

This is all one reason I eschew "canned" GPS in favor of the visual mapping app on my phone, which gives a dynamic map and position, but otherwise makes (and helps) you grasp the lay of the land and actually figure out with the gadget between your ears how to go from A to B, via C, D and E.

The other advantage of a phone's map is that it integrates nicely with the address book, in both directions. Well, it was nice on the original google iPhone app, but google has "improved" it so much on IOS and Android that the address-book integration is now a lot weaker. Ah, progress.

But I must say, that the new google app on Android has decent voice turn-by-turn directions, for no extra $$, which is tempting. But it recently led me in a half-mile circle to re-enter an interstate after getting off for gas, and when I finally *looked* at the map, all I needed to do was make a left across traffic out of the gas station and a quick right.

[bob budd]

UPS generally eschews left hand turns as less safe and (fuel) efficient. Perhaps this is the strategy in your GPS tool.