Imperturbable GPS Driving Bliss, I Think Not!

Greg Milner writes in the NYT that an American tourist in Iceland directed the GPS unit in his rental car to guide him from Keflavik International Airport to a hotel in nearby Reykjavik, and ended up 250 icy miles away in Siglufjordur, a fishing village on the outskirts of the Arctic Circle. 

Mr. Santillan apparently explained that he was very tired after his flight and had "put his faith in the GPS." 

In another incident, a woman in Belgium asked GPS to take her to a destination less than two hours away and two days later, she turned up in Croatia. 

Finally disastrous incidents involving drivers following disused roads and disappearing into remote areas of Death Valley in California have became so common that park rangers gave them a name: "death by GPS." \

"If we're being honest, it's not that hard to imagine doing something similar ourselves" says Milner. 

"Most of us use GPS as a crutch while driving through unfamiliar terrain, tuning out and letting that soothing voice do the dirty work of navigating."

Could society's embrace of GPS be eroding our cognitive maps? 

Julia Frankenstein, a psychologist at the University of Freiburg's Center for Cognitive Science, says the danger of GPS is that "we are not forced to remember or process the information — as it is permanently 'at hand,' we need not think or decide for ourselves." 

"Next time you're in a new place, forget the GPS device. Study a map to get your bearings, then try to focus on your memory of it to find your way around. 

City maps do not tell you each step, but they provide a wealth of abstract survey knowledge. 

Fill in these memories with your own navigational experience, and give your brain the chance to live up to its abilities."

And On Another Note:

 This morning, the United Launch Alliance (ULA) successfully launched a Boeing-built satellite into orbit as part of the U.S. Air Force's Global Positioning System (GPS). 

This $131 million satellite was the final addition to the Air Force's most recent 12-satellite GPS series, known as the Block IIF satellites. 

The GPS Block IIF satellites were launched to improve the accuracy of GPS. 

Before the Block IIF series, the accuracy of GPS could be off by 1 meter. 

With the new Block IIF satellites in place that error is down to 42 centimeters.