Eric S. Sande escribió:
..A friend of mine was on his way to Tierra del Fuego from Fairfax
County, VA. On a motorcycle with a GPS. He got lost in the
Atacama Desert, which isn't exactly good. He said later, "I knew
exactly where I was, but I didn't know which way to go."
Hence the map and compass. My GPS does have a mapping
function, which is as accurate as its map is. Which is pretty
accurate, for CONUS. But I don't trust it implicitly, all maps contain
errrors. Google maps are good, but not realtime.
But a basic knowledge of astronomy, an accurate timepiece and
a compass are all that is really required for navigation. Maps are nice,
GPS is nice. But these are just in the "nice things to have" category...
I/we travel in some pretty obscure places. I trust my Finnish compass
more than a GPS. Unless you need to get to an
appointment/meeting/client/customer in a hurry, a GPS is just an
expensive toy. I can navigate with a map, compass, by stars as well as
most people can use a GPS. No batteries needed. I have too many toys and
am getting rid of most, except for my favorites.
Now, if there were a way for my husband to learn how to read a map [he
can] and give me good directions while I'm driving [he doesn't], that
would be the only reason to get him a GPS. I'd rather read a map while
I'm driving. ;-D Maybe I'll send him to the local forest ranger to
learn orienteering.
FWIW, Google [and most other] maps have lots of errors. [Any photos of
your lost friend in Atacama or Tierra del Fuego?]
Betty
*************************************************************************
** List info, subscription management, list rules, archives, privacy **
** policy, calmness, a member map, and more at http://www.cguys.org/ **
*************************************************************************
