I'm sure there were Polynesians who scoffed at the young navigators who borrowed European paper maps, rather than the lattice stick charts they used. All this tech has a place, of course but there seem to be two sets of problems:
People who trust it to the exclusion of other resources and their own senses.
The underlying map data is flawed -- the GPS itself is rarely at fault in the sense of not showing the correct location, but roads, trails etc. are often badly flawed, sometimes not even there, or inappropriately marked as to type (4WD, surfaced etc.)
My favorite is some guys a few years ago who decided the best route back to their car was following the GPS arrow pointing to their car: 3.5 miles! vs. about 12 trail miles. Of course, it took them down a gnarly canyon to a waterfall where they were stuck for the next 4 days. I asked them if, as the terrain got worse and worse, they considered turning back. "No, because the car showed as getting closer and closer."
Map est non tractus: The map is not the territory (Wagga, is that right??)
Moments ago I wrote ESRI and asked if there was an error reporting protocol. I noticed on the World Topo Basemap they use as an online resource, that Harrison Pass is marked as a regular trail. Not a great idea. It had showed up in the first USGS 7.5 minute drafts in the 80s, but we zapped it then. I see it reappear occasionally on guidebooks and now an ESRI map.
Their Commmunity Basemaps (World Topography layer) have very accurate, locally generated data for an increasing number of areas, but only when zoomed way in (1:12,000 or so). Yosemite and Sequoia are both providing data and error correction is in progress. Obviously all these map services need a clear error reporting protocol tied to regular updates.
g.
PS: Brent, yes. The best use I have for the GPS is in whiteouts, navigating back to a known point. I've tested this a few times (use Lithium batteries -- NiCads go bloop < 25 F or so) and they work really well for that.
Last edited by George; 02/04/11 10:34 AM.
