Also realize that a GPS does not look at anything except for distance between two points. There is no accounting for elevation etc. If your on one side of the mountain and you want to go to the town on the direct opposite side, the GPS says that it is only X miles away. When in reality it is XYZ miles away. There is still the human element which has to be used, meaning that you have to employ more brain cells than what is found in a gearshift knob. There is no accounting for a "stupid factor" whenever you put something in some bodies hands and they don't engage their brain in it's use. Greg Dunlap Santa Rosa, CA 38.28.40.80 N -122.45.16.25 W 157 feet above sea level blackey_at_sonic.net -----Original Message----- From: owner-paddlewise_at_paddlewise.net [mailto:owner-paddlewise_at_paddlewise.net]On Behalf Of William Jennings Sent: Friday, January 01, 2010 3:33 PM To: Paddlewise Subject: Re: [Paddlewise] GPS Navigation > I do not understand why the GPS units would recommend these people > leave the safety of standard major highway routes and turn off into > the National Forests on roads that aren't even maintained in winter. > What's going on here? You can plot a course with charts and compass that is the shortest linear distance. And a GPS could even recommend this sort of course. But that wouldn't account for tide, wind and weather...which could lead to difficult or tragic consequences. A GPS may recommend 'shortest' or 'quickest' route, but it should never be trusted to accurately account for all road types and current atmospheric conditions or local environmental issues that influence "distance made good". "Shortest" and "quickest" are based on 'regress to the mean' measure. I don't imagine those formulae include being stuck for 14 hours in a drift w/o reliable cell signal. It's as if the GPS units are channeling Richard Pryor's old routine...."Who you gonna believe, me, or your lyin' eyes?" -Will *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************Received on Fri Jan 01 2010 - 18:32:28 PST
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.4.0 : Thu Aug 21 2025 - 16:31:38 PDT