Stupid Phone GPS Use

There's an old disused (but gazetted) cobb and co/timber route through the state forest from Conondale over to Crow's nest in QLD that catches out plenty of weekend warriors. The local dairy farmer has put up a sign there are so many. You even see 'ignore GPS directions' signs being put up at roadworks these days - really?

If people take it seriously and get an app that uses say Open Street Maps a phone GPS can work quite well. There are other decent mapsets available too.

Murray

IMHO, nothing beats an up to date good paper map for overall route planning, particularly for the more uninhabited parts of the country [which includes the Vic HC].

However, the problems you outlined re the use of phone map apps are not confined to just these apps. Many of the well known GPS navigation systems are just as likely to give people a bum steer if they have, knowingly or unknowingly, the wrong settings.

In addition, many [most?] of the maps have errors and if you know a particular area well, it is not hard to find them. For example, there are quite a few locations in SE SA that are up to 20kms from their actual position and neither Google Maps nor Garmin are in the slightest bit interested! You would think that a quick glance at Google Maps would help them get it right.

On top of all this is the addition problem of overseas visitors not knowing of the hugely variable conditions here and having no experience of remote travel. Their phone nav apps may well work very well in their own more densely developed country and they would have no reason to suspect they would not work here. Mind you, such naivety is not confined to o/s visitors :-)

Cheers
Andrew

Nearly as bad as the tourists who drove into the tide because their GPS indicated they could drive to Stradbroke Island from the mainland, Faced with the ocean what would you do Naive or Stupid Your pick

It is the way people are being conditioned to think.

Smart phones and Apps are dumbing people into thinking all you need to do is ask and you’ll get the answer you are looking for – whether it is the correct one or the one you need is another matter altogether.

One needs to be ever vigilant not to fall into the trap…

Cheers, Baz – The Landy

Gday Murray
Its a lot to do with home work as well, asking people that might know what the roads are like , even asking on EO forum, how embarrasing would that be.

Like this.....

http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/headlines/2012/03/gps-tracking-disaster-japanese-tourists-drive-straight-into-the-pacific/

One of the best trips I have had as far as seeing things that I would never have other wise seen.
I was in Gundagai and set a route to Stanthorpe on my trusty old Navman, the shortest route, dirt roads allowed.

I travelled down the highway about 50k's and it (Navman) said turn right, I looked at where it wanted me to go and it was just 2 wheel tracks down a fence line.

The Hilux had a full tank of juice (140l) 40 litres of water and enough tucker for a few days, plus we had time to kill, so I thought why not.

After about 10k's I hit a half decent dirt road, it said turn left, from then on I just went where it told me to go, we were out in the boondocks and driving thru some of the best scenery I had seen.

It took me down a lot of less than desirable roads and some good ones as well that led to lovely little towns off the beaten track that one would never detour to see, had you been traveling down the highway.

Doubt you would find some of them on a paper map.

The wife had her Ipad with the Hema 4wd maps on her lap as well, so we knew exactly where we were at any given time, and would have been capable to navigate us back to the highway or a major road if necessary.

I sometimes do this just for the fun of it, I call it "an adventure to the unknown", where as others may call it "stupidity" to venture into the unknown without all the relevant planning.

I do carry paper maps with me but rarely use them.

But back to what the OP originally stated, it sometimes can be dangerous for unsuspecting people to rely solely on digital mapping, that may not be prepared for what is to come or, do not have the right vehicle for the suggested trip.

Cheers

Murray
Maps aren't much use if they are in a language you can understand.
Not sure about this instance and how many of that party of international tourists could read a paper map in English.
GPS proved a godsend to me when travelling and driving in the UK, let alone in a non English speaking country. Perhaps you need to look at things from their perspective?
For the record I love paper maps for long distance trip planning or fire trails, I only bought a 1:25k topo map yesterday of some country 150km NE of where I live.
Mark

GPS maps are based on paper maps. They are no worse than the map they are based on. Just because a road/track or whatever shows on your whizbang paper map doesn't mean it is actually a road. It may have been gazetted long ago and then never developed. It may have been resumed as farmland legally or not legally. The issue is not so much what shows on your GPS or map but the attitude of it says go this way or it shows a route going there and I will blindly blunder along following it.

They were lucky Murray , and thanks to you.

We were up there just after boxing day and as we headed north past Blue Rag turn off towards Hotham we entered heavy cloud and rain , conditions on this popular dirt road got so that I had to go 4wd , visibility went to near zero , but my gps helped a lot because we had to drive sections using my own preloaded track file. At least one car slid into ditch and when we got to Hotham it even hailed.

Google maps are now showing private roads/tracks on private property. I noticed this recently when I was planning a route from home. We have 20 acres and the house is at the rear of the block and out track/road in was marked on the map. So I looked a bit further and yes a lot of properties have roads marked and also buildings.

I'm sure that this will cause confusion and probably unauthorised access because it "is marked on the map". This is just one example, I looked at a few farms that I know and they all had their roads marked

A screen shot of google maps.

In navigational terms the Dargo High Plains road can almost be done with your eyes shut.

The wrinkle is the road surface, and when paper maps where the only kind around many small-scale versions didn't indicate the nature of the surface either.

Nobody should be entirely dependent and trusting of GPS navigation of any form ..... the marine navigation systems often pop a disclaimer to that effect every power up.

When the work is on, I travel distances long and short every day ........ some of the things my GPS tells me I know are not efficient or ill advised.

A couple of things that amuse me.

When set to shortest route, the GPS will often direct me to exit and re enter the highway, because the service road is marginally shorter than the highway.

Also when set to shortest route, it will direct me to go thru convoluted detours rather than the main road which would have been quicker.

One of the things I have learned is to look at the route offered near main roads ...... the GPS will often direct a route via some small side street, that is almost impossible to get out of when there is a traffic light controlled intersection 2 streets up.

Several times I have been directed into dead end streets, where a street of the same name has been divided or has yet to be completed as a thru road.

and all this is around or within 1 hour of the GPO....... get out a bit further and you realy have to mind yourself ...... a wrong direction on some highway sections and you could find yourself traveling a hour out of your way before you can turn around.

GPS is a great thing ....... but you certainly can not trust it.

cheers

Had a similar how far is it to as well.

Bloke came up behind me rather quickly so i pulled over north of Mt gould lockup and before Landor to let him through. Except he kept driving alongside me, so stopped let window down once dust had buggered off - can you tell me where we are and how far to Mt Augustus was the query

Looked at him rather quizzical after he explained was using his mobile phone as guidance, so using both Oziexplorer and 4wd atlas estimated 120-150 kms to go yep thanks and took off in another cloud of dust never to be seen again

as a experiment I turned on the get lost device to find out where i was and sure enough stated " location unknown road not present" or words to that effect

Give me a map any day of week and if i want to have a current location yes GPS helps but only as good as you are with a map

If a person hits their thumb with a hammer because they can't use it properly is it the hammer's faulty design?

If a person cuts their finger off when using a saw is the saw faulty?

Sure - maps have errors, and all instruments have errors.

The problem is not the GPS, it is the idiots that use them in blind faith.

Regrettably something like 3 - 5% of the population are complete fools, but nearly everyone uses a GPS. So those GPS fail stories will be common when the 3% use a GPS.

When you click "I agree on those google or Apple maps, you confirm that you know how to use the map responsibly and acknowledge that there may be errors. No one reads that stuff though, then blame the GPS when they get into a difficult situation.

When these people get lost in remote locations in the cold, it's just nature taking it's course. ( That's a Joke Joyce)

I had decided to drive from Singleton to Wisemans Ferry down the Paynes Crossing Road. When I got to the wooden bridge crossing the river, I found a fully loaded fuel truck sitting at the crossing with the driver worried about the weight the bridge would handle. I asked him where he was going - he told me Sydney. I asked what was he doing coming down this road instead of the main highway. His reply was that his GPS had sent him here.
I stressed to him that while useful, a GPS should never be taken at it's word, and a familiarity with where he was going gleaned from a paper map was imperative.
He replied that he had only been here a week, just started the job, and was from New Zealand. I don't think he had a SOH when I told him "That's OK, we can teach you how to read a map"
True story