GPS no substitute for good judgment or detailed topo map

[Rain Man]

From Yahoo/AP news--

"Convoy rescued after GPS led them to Utah cliff"

GPS led group to a dead end.

Some excerpts--

"A GPS device led a convoy of tourists astray, finally stranding them on the edge of a sheer cliff.

"With little food or water, the group of 10 children and 16 adults from California had to spend a night in their cars deep inside the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument.

"They used a global positioning device to plot out a backcountry route Saturday from Bryce Canyon National Park to the Grand Canyon.

"But the device couldn't tell how rough the roads were. One vehicle got stuck in soft sand, two others ran low on fuel. And the device offered suggestions that led them onto the wrong dirt roads, which ended at a series of cliffs.

"The group was so lost it couldn't figure out how to backtrack and started to panic. Kids were crying, and one infant was sick with fever, according to a member of the party. ...

"Glover said a GPS device is no substitute for good judgment or detailed topographical maps. ...

"It took a lot of back-and-forth cell phone calls, but sheriff's deputies were able to find the group Sunday and lead them back out to Cannonville.

"It wasn't the first time Staircase visitors have wandered into near oblivion. Dozens have been stranded since the monument was created in 1996, often with the false encouragement of a GPS device, said Bureau of Land Management spokesman Larry Crutchfield."

Lesson? Carry and know how to use a compass and topo maps! And if you do use GPS as a crutch, ... know how to use, and not use, it too.

RainMan

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[Mags]

It is WILDERNESS in that part of Utah.

They are lucky.

Beautiful terrain, but not terrain for the ill-prepared.

[ChinMusic]

I'm guessing that if they can't read a map on a GPS that they can't read a map on paper either.

This reads as "user error" to me, with the blame being placed on the tool.

[wilconow]

I am in no way advocating having a car GPS and no map, but in a driving adventure on unpaved roads through a holler near the northern part of the Smokies, I was quite impressed with the accuracy of my TomTom

[Skidsteer]

Good thing they had a cell signal.

[gravityman]

It's one thing when you are on foot in a fairly normal terrain and you can hike more or less point to point. However, when you are in a vehicle and relying on roads that aren't on the GPS unit, how do you expect to know how to get out other than backtrack.

They should have backtracked LONG before.

You always carry extra gas and 2 spare tires in that kind of backcountry. It's for real in Utah! Even if you are in a car.

[ed bell]

I'm guessing that if they can't read a map on a GPS that they can't read a map on paper either.

This reads as "user error" to me, with the blame being placed on the tool.

Good thing they had a cell signal.

Both of these observations are right on. Although I'll wager that the GPS gave them confidence that got them in trouble. Anybody that has used a vehicle GPS knows that they can be pretty handy while traveling in unknown areas. Problem is that once the pavement runs out, there are no guarantees of road quality or continuity, especially in the wilderness in canyon country.

[whitefoot_hp]

this incident says nothing for GPS technology. the gps did its job. just as any fool looking a map can assume he is equipped to get from point a to point b, some fool can look at a gps and assume that it shows him a route that his car can take.

the issue here is information literacy. the GPS provides a certain amount of information. it tells you a road is here. does it tell you if your vehicle can make it? no. it takes not being an ignorant fool to decipher that one. a map nor a gps can take care of that for you.

[fiddlehead]

Well, I'm using a GPS to help me try designing a trail.

Without it, I don't know if i could do it.
There are no maps available here (Phuket) with any detail that would show any of the small roads, steep mtns, that i am coming across. Google Earth and my GPS are the only ways.

Of course, it these people would've had Google Earth and knew how to use it, they wouldn't have had these problems.

Sometimes there is no substitute for a GPS.

[Rain Man]

I have read lots of reports of GPS sending big trucks down tiny roads and dead-ends, especially in England, and generally causing problems.

I agree that the problems are dummies relying on the technology to substitute for good judgment and actual knowledge.

RainMan

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[Sly]

I suspect dummies would have trouble reading a map too.

[ed bell]

<snip>

I agree that the problems are dummies relying on the technology to substitute for good judgment and actual knowledge.

RainMan

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A map and compass ain't fixing that.

[Bob S]

It sounds like these people were stupid; a map would not have given them any more brain cells.

The gene pool need a little chlorine.

[Marta]

...Sitting outside at Standing Bear Farm as car after car comes down the gravel road asking, "Is this the way to Gatlinburg?"

I think that was MapQuest, though.

[Catnip]

I have a hand-held GPS, Garmin 60CSx, not primarily for in-car use, but I told it to take me to the local YMCA just to see how it would do. It had me jumping off a bridge from a limited-access highway to get to a local road, didn't realize there was no interchange there, LOL! So I know better than to trust the turn-by-turn directions while driving (though it works great for my intended backpacking and geocaching uses).

[take-a-knee]

A few people in this thread have opined that there was nothing wrong with these folks GPS, that it was user error on their part. Their first and biggest mistake was not having a paper map and a magnetic compass. Any GPS unit, and this includes those with digital maps (with their nearly useless tiny little screens) is no substitute for a map/compass and the skill to use them.

I own and use a Garmin Etrex, I'm not foolhardy enough to carry it sans map. A GPS cannot impress into your brain a 3D perspective of the terrain you are surrounded by, only a map and map skills can do that. The GPS can only locate your location on said map, if it works and if you have a map.

Western hunters use the term getting "cliffed out" to refer to what happened to these folks.

[Two Speed]

Western hunters use the term getting "cliffed out" to refer to what happened to these folks.

Never heard that phrase, but it makes sense and must suck in a big way. Got that "I am such a stinkin' dim bulb" problem attached to it if you do it to yourself more than once.

[Sly]

Western hunters use the term getting "cliffed out" to refer to what happened to these folks.

Western hikers too.

[take-a-knee]

Never heard that phrase, but it makes sense and must suck in a big way. Got that "I am such a stinkin' dim bulb" problem attached to it if you do it to yourself more than once.

To prove I'm not anti-GPS, the track-back function on a GPS will prevent getting cliffed-out from happening to you during a period of limited visibility, enabling you to retrace your steps. A GPS unit is a valuable tool, but it is only part of the tool kit.

[mudhead]

No shame in having to backtrack.

My opinion.