GPS and Spelling - Why It Is Important...

[Corki]

An amusing article from the BBC about the hazards of GPS systems.

 

LINK: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/8173308.stm

 

Swedes miss Capri after GPS gaffe

 

A Swedish couple in search of the isle of Capri drove to Carpi, an industrial town in northern Italy, because they misspelt the name in their car's GPS.

 

Italian officials say the couple asked at Carpi's tourist office where they could find Capri's famous Blue Grotto.

 

The car's sat nav system had sent them 650km (400 miles) off course to Carpi.

 

"Capri is an island. They did not even wonder why they didn't cross any bridge or take any boat," said a bemused tourism official in Carpi.

 

Once they realised their mistake, the couple got back in their car and headed south, the official added.

[Krakalakachkn]

I was in a caravan that was following the directions of a GPS when it told us a "shortcut" on some country roads.  My dad, being distracted enough to not realize how shady the road he was taking was, followed the GPS directions.  About 45 minutes later we arrive in a little town in the middle of nowhere and the GPS goes absolutely blank.  It has no earthly idea where we are and has no advice to give on how to get anywhere.  Quoting the best movie of all time, "What a piece of junk!"

[Corki]

I dislike Sat Navs and GPS systems etc. I suspect I am slightly biased, as my parents are cartographers and run their own business drawing maps. Nothing beats a map.

[el Nynaeve]

I maintain that I can read a map better than the GPS, and if we get lost, I can get us not lost much faster.

[Toy and Minion]

Nothing beats a map.

 

*beats up on a map*

 

But seriously, those GPS things are always having glitches.  Knowing how to spell does help though. :P

[Samuraiflip05]

Yeah, I'd say spelling it right is foremost.  I haven't used GPS too much, but it does seem to take odd routes sometimes.  :-\

[el Nynaeve]

I've heard of them send articulated lorries down country roads too often and of course the poor driver can't turn around and gets stuck.

[Barmacral]

When Raena came to Canada my dad lent me his GPS, and we made full use of it, we named it Vinny, and at one point Raena, myself and a friend of mine found ourselves going down such minor back roads that we were half expecting it to tell us to pull out a machette and hack our way through the bush.

[Lazy]

Well I dont think that GPS has made it to NZ yet. So it must have got lost on the way

[Krakalakachkn]

I liked that Lazy.  Very funny

[Majsju]

Nothing beats a map.

 

Intuition totally does. Ok, sometimes it might take you a little longer to get where you want to go, but you will probably have more fun getting there. ;D

 

But I pick a map over gps anytime.

[Lazy]

I like guessing. Its more fun

[LedZepMan]

Oh that is hilarious. Never used a GPS, never had the need of one. I have only been about six hundred miles from where I live, and my instinct is pretty good. Even when I was driving five hundred miles every week to get to my job, never even got close to lost. Taken some dirt roads that didn't go quite where I thought they would, but within fifty miles is pretty close lol.

[Lazy]

I love dirt roads. I got lost on them before but just kept following them and eventually came back to the right place

[Imperium]

Its why u use the postcode!

 

I can't drive so I really don't mind which is used. Actually I prefer GPS as we wud never have found a ground last year with a map.

[Lazy]

The only maps I use are online ones before I leave the house. I confirm the street I am looking for and then drive off in its general direction.

 

I coach a soccer team so I need to know where to go and how to get there so I can tell the kids/parents if needed.

[LedZepMan]

I don't live in a big enough town to need a map lol. I can drive from one end of town to another in like seven minutes. And the biggest city nearby that I sometimes go to is billings, which is not even that big compared to places like Denver, (or so I have been told)