
Death by GPS - bookmtn
http://arstechnica.com/cars/2016/05/death-by-gps/
======
Doctor_Fegg
This is clearly traceable to TIGER, the US Census data that most map providers
use as the bedrock of their map data in the rural US, yet was never meant for
automotive navigation.

TIGER classes pretty much any rural "road" uniformly - class A41, if you're
interested. That might be a paved two-lane road, it might be a forest track.
Just as often, it's a drainage ditch or a non-existent path or other such
nonsense. It's wholly unreliable.

You can see this in OpenStreetMap easily. Navigate to the backwoods and look
at the road types. It's predominantly highway=residential, the road type that
A41 was mapped to in the TIGER import. highway=residential is usually meant
for city streets and suburban residential roads. Not this.

So: help! I've genuinely spent weeks on this but it's a massive job. Paved
road? Reclassify it as highway=tertiary (wider with centreline) or
highway=unclassified (narrower, no centreline). Gravel or dirt graded road?
highway=unclassified, surface=gravel (or =dirt). Rough, not recommended for
most cars? highway=track. Genuinely a paved residential road? Keep the highway
tag as it is, but delete the tiger:reviewed=no tag. Nothing there at all? Just
delete it.

(My particular interest in this is bicycle routing. Bike routing usually
prefers the smallest paved roads in the grid. It breaks if those "paved roads"
are impassable desert tracks in reality. I take a very conservative view for
my site, [http://cycle.travel/map](http://cycle.travel/map), precisely because
I'm anxious about situations such as that described in the Ars article.)

~~~
lmm
As a cyclist I've been looking for a way to get cycle routes that avoid
unpaved surfaces (in the UK). Does/can your site do that? Is there an android
app that can do that?

~~~
Doctor_Fegg
cycle.travel prefers paved surfaces but will route via (good) unpaved surfaces
if it'd save a long detour or avoid a busy road. It highlights unpaved
sections in green so you can easily drag the route away. Alternatively,
bikeroutetoaster.com has a paved-only routing option, and maybe
gpxeditor.co.uk too, though the sites can be a bit flaky.

------
stickfigure
I travel by tiny backroads whenever possible - often dirt, frequently by
motorcycle, and sometimes in third world countries. I love the GPS because it
allows me to have a reasonable expectation that these crazy little roads will
go through.

I've found one "master" secret to not getting lost: Get rid of all that 3D
garbage and put the map in overhead view, north up. It takes a tiny bit of
practice getting used to the dynamic meaning of Left and Right but you build
up a geospatial awareness and can usually tell when the GPS is getting stupid.

~~~
schiffern
I live in the northern hemisphere, and wish more maps supported "South up."
Maybe I'm weird, but in my mental map I expect the light (the sun) to be at
the top of the page.

~~~
mrestko
There's no maybe. You're weird. Nearly all maps we're exposed to growing up
have North at the top of the page. However, you would be right at home in this
segment of West Wing:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OH1bZ0F3zVU](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OH1bZ0F3zVU)

~~~
schiffern
>Nearly all maps we're exposed to growing up have North at the top of the
page.

Heh, you say that as if I didn't know! ;)

I'm sure you've noticed that in computer UIs, all the "3D" effects are based
on the sun being at the top. Same with geography -- it's easier for me to
visualize the terrain if the sun is at the top. That means South-up in the
northern hemisphere, and North-up in the southern hemisphere.

Always fun to watch that West Wing clip.

------
chrissnell
I spent several weeks exploring this very area--Jarbidge, NV--last summer in
my old Land Rover. It's no joke. There are many Forest Service "roads" that
are completely impassible, even by a very capable 4WD vehicle such as the one
I drive. I spent over a year planning routes before I took my trip. I had
plotted out a route from Jarbdige to Silver City, ID that's completely on dirt
and--incidentally--probably crossed some of the same roads this couple took. I
was traveling with other trucks and we ended up driving through ankle-deep mud
and thick tamarisk trees before giving up. What looks like a passable route on
USGS topos and Google Earth doesn't always pan out.

You can see some photos from the trip here:

[https://www.flickr.com/photos/defender90/albums/721576543876...](https://www.flickr.com/photos/defender90/albums/72157654387670633)

I also did a detailed write-up with photos:

[http://www.expeditionportal.com/forum/threads/146545-The-
Owy...](http://www.expeditionportal.com/forum/threads/146545-The-Owyhee)

------
nathancahill
I was following a GPS at night just across the border in Mexico near Laredo.
After driving for 5 minutes or so down a highway, I stopped because it seemed
oddly dark and quiet. Checked the GPS for another route, and when I pulled a
U-turn to head back, my headlights shown over the end of the road 20 feet
ahead of where I'd stopped. The pavement just ended with a 15ft drop to a
creek gully. I would have driven straight off it at 60 mph if I hadn't
stopped.

~~~
Mahn
Makes you wonder how autonomous self driving systems are going to handle cases
like these. How far could a self driving car "see" to realize the navigation
data it has is incomplete and should instead improvise?

~~~
kalleboo
I'm also waiting for people to exploit these errors and DDoS the systems. Know
a particular route will get an autonomous car into a dead end or off a cliff?
Order 100 pizzas to the address with stolen credit cards...

~~~
cgriswald
An order of 100 pizzas might require human interaction (by policy, not by
technological necessity) and depending on how the vehicles are configured, may
only result in one vehicle being sent anyway. Order just a few pizzas, and
space them apart in time - long enough that they won't be on the same vehicle,
but short enough that the problem won't be discovered before the next vehicle
is sent.

------
jedberg
I had one of these experiences when I was driving from Hungary to Austria. I
was just blindly following the GPS, which started taking me down some very
small roads with lots of turns. Since I had no idea where I was going I didn't
question it.

I eventually stumbled upon a sign, in German, that was big and red, and I knew
I was on the border between Hungary and Austria. I wasn't sure what the sign
said, and at the time I didn't realize the two countries had an open border. I
looked around for police like cars, and then quickly crossed the border,
eventually reaching my destination just inside Austria.

As it turns out the sign just said "no vehicles over two metric tons", and
that somehow I had gotten of the highway which had a very nice border
crossing.

But a few years earlier and that mistake would have gotten me arrested!

~~~
vecinu
> a sign, in German

Interesting that the sign was in German while you were on the Hungarian side.

I find GPS to be invaluable in countries where I can't even decipher their
alphabet (Sanskrit, Chinese) and like you, I end up trusting them a lot more
than I probably should!

~~~
jedberg
> Interesting that the sign was in German while you were on the Hungarian
> side.

It was at the border to Austria, technically on the Austrian side. It was just
standard street sign seen across Austria that says no heavy vehicles.

------
sandworm101
Does anyone think this problem will get any better if/when we allow the GPS to
actually drive the car?

I'm waiting for the day that someone tells their iCar to "Drive me Home" and
they wake up stranded 7,000 feet up "Mt. Home". It's not the GPS that is the
problem. GPS does exactly what it was designed to do. The problem isn't even
in the mapping software. The problem is that the human is too ready to give up
decision-making to a machine. That should inform many autodrive enthusiasts
who think humans cannot be trusted with their own navigation.

~~~
striking
We'll certainly get more data on what works and what doesn't.

The implications of that statement, however, are not pleasant.

~~~
gutnor
Hopefully they will get UI data. Even the best of current generation of GPS
are awful to use if you want to force it to take specific routes. Even
analysing the route the GPS is building for you is not often easy and in any
case a lot of the metadata is not available visually before the fact. For
example, you will get the same symbol for a 4 lanes national road or a 2 lane
one. No way to tell the difference on the map as they are the same road
category, however, the GPS knows the difference ( it has lane information,
different exit strategies, speed limitation difference, ...) but doesn't
display it.

When the car primary control is the GPS that better change.

~~~
striking
The worst part is that there was one GPS manufacturer who actually did
implement the feature you're talking about: [http://cdn.itechnews.net/wp-
content/uploads/2011/06/Navigon-...](http://cdn.itechnews.net/wp-
content/uploads/2011/06/Navigon-70-Plus-Live-GPS-Navigation-Device.jpg)

They were summarily purchased by Garmin and their devices are no longer for
sale. The only remnant of their awesome Lane Assist Pro feature is in $30 GPS
navigation apps.

It's really too bad.

But hey, if you're a clever person who knows how to code, please file a PR for
this feature for Maps.me:
[https://github.com/mapsme/omim](https://github.com/mapsme/omim)

------
jdietrich
I'm reminded of a principle from aviation, "always fly the plane". Student
pilots are taught to never allow their attention to drift from the basics of
flight, even if they're dealing with mechanical failure or confusing
instrument readings. The first priority is always to maintain situational
awareness. A large subset of aviation disasters could have been prevented if
the pilot had simply looked out of the window.

~~~
throwaway_exer
Your recollection is a little rusty.

It's:

1\. aviate (physically fly the plane, or more fundamentally, fly the wing) 2\.
navigate (know where you're going/situational awareness) 3\. communicate (tell
whoever needs to know)

~~~
dTal
And always in that order.

------
nickpsecurity
Actually, I ran into a situation you all might like on this topic. I was
visiting a friend staying with someone in a shady area somewhat between OK
areas and The Hood. Easy route to get there on a major highway that keeps you
away from harm. Now, I have to see another friend in Middle America (aka "the
burbs") which can be reached same way with one exit leading to Interstate.
Just use the GPS to find last, odd roads on the route. Results surprised me.

Route 1: Turn left here, right here, right here, left here, highway here, odd
roads here. 30 minutes.

Route 2: Get back on highway, drive a while, Interstate, drive a while, odd
roads. 33 minutes.

Thing is, I recognized each street in route 1: The Hood(s) with about 300 cops
a shift who can't keep up with the amount of stuff that goes down. The other
was a straight, safe shot. I thought, "Is Google really trying to send me
through all the worst areas of my city... areas where you have to stop right
next to potential carjackers and killers... just to save _three minutes_?"

Now I know why people coming through think my city is just a shithole. It's a
mix of great, good, OK, bad, and ugly but Google keeps sending people through
The Hood. No wonder they think it's nothing but poverty and crime. So, then I
got the idea for a movie or TV show where there's a serial killer that, SAW-
style, makes people kill themselves. By Google Maps instructions they follow
blindly into the worst areas. You might see it on TV but you heard it here
first.

Yeah, don't trust the GPS's until they know the difference between an armed
robbery and an Interstate. At the least, they need to realize we won't take
that kind of risk unless we're talking about saving 30min to hours, the
interview is too important for Interstate traffic, or she was one bad-ass
lady. Not over three minutes, though. ;)

~~~
thirdsun
What's the alternative? Google taking social backgrounds of certain areas into
account when calculating routes? That sounds like a recipe for a
discrimination scandal and public outcry - I can already see the headlines:
"Don't want to be murdered? Google Maps with SafeNav now tells you which areas
to avoid!"

~~~
nickpsecurity
Violent crime numbers being factored into pathfinding. Just like we do with
videogames like StarCraft. That simple.

------
s0rce
This is a very unfortunate story When I first moved out west I looked up
directions with the Alltrails app, presumably based on some sort of map app,
maybe google maps, to a trailhead in Idaho that should have been about an hour
off the interstate. We drove until we reached a stream crossing that would
have been impossible to cross in the car we had. However, we would not have
continued up to the stream if the road narrowed to such a point that we were
unable to turn the car around, also, it was at worst a days walk to the
nearest town. We continued on foot following the directions for a bit,
realizing the road was clearly an ATV trail and didn't appear to actually lead
to the trailhead which looked to be quite a distance across a valley and a few
mountains. We eventually headed back to the car (the scenery was still
beautiful so nothing was really lost). We turned back and then re-read the
correct directions from the forest service and tried to follow them to the
real trailhead, eventually, asking for help from a super-fit cyclist climbing
the mountain road alongside our little car. We finally arrived at the road to
the trailhead only to find it covered in snow, unsurprisingly, as it was only
early June and we were at 6000ft. The first moral of the story was GPS
directions to trailheads are often incorrect and you should try and follow the
real directions to the trailhead. The second is to know what conditions to
expect during your travels.

------
bigger_cheese
It's not only blindly following GPS that can lead you to problems. Sometimes
road signs can be inaccurate or misleading too.

I was driving on a reasonably remote highway in Victoria Australia. My car was
running low on petrol. As I approached an exit there was a sign that said last
service for 90km or something like this. I did some mental maths and decided I
could make it another 90km so pushed on. The fuel warning light came on about
half way through the 90km. When I reached the exit the pump was out of order
and station closed (tiny rural station). Now I was forced either to turn back
or push on to next station. I decided to push on and ended up running out of
petrol I had to call roadside assistance. If I hadn't seen the sign saying the
next service was 90 km away I would have pulled in then and there.

~~~
hoppa_liza
After a couple of similar close encounters I just decided it is not worth it.
The gas I have must be enough for the trip with a margin. Even if I am late,
or if it is inconvenient or any other reason, does not matter, I follow this
rule like a robot.

------
Scoundreller
Things that GPS/Waze still don't do a good job of handling:

1\. Toll roads - You can either choose to avoid, or choose to take. But I want
to avoid toll roads when it will cost me > $x / saved hour. Or how about some
optimization between fuel use and the value of my time? Paying $2 to save 30
minutes makes sense, buy not $15 to save 2 minutes. Where's the in-between
setting/dial?

2\. High-Occupancy Vehicle lanes. The highway may make a lot of sense with 2
people, but not while being a solo driver.

3\. Traffic levels and when to wake up. I wish Waze could integrate with my
alarm clock to wake me up extra early when major roads are closed, and I'd be
majorly late for work without giving me an extra margin.

4\. I'm not a trucker, nor an SUV driver, but something to account for high-
height vehicles could be useful for many.

~~~
peckrob
> 4\. I'm not a trucker, nor an SUV driver, but something to account for high-
> height vehicles could be useful for many.

This exact issue causes a fair number of trucks to hit this one specific
bridge [0] in Durham, NC. Blindly following a GPS meant for cars when you have
a tall vehicle is a recipe for disaster.

[0] [http://11foot8.com/](http://11foot8.com/)

[1] [http://championtrucklines.com/latest-news/11foot8-bridge-
cra...](http://championtrucklines.com/latest-news/11foot8-bridge-crash-
compilation/)

[2] [http://chapelboro.com/news/news-around-town/durham-can-
opene...](http://chapelboro.com/news/news-around-town/durham-can-opener-
bridge-claims-another-victim)

[3]
[http://www.thetruckersreport.com/truckingindustryforum/threa...](http://www.thetruckersreport.com/truckingindustryforum/threads/11-foot-8-the-
canopener-bridge.210135/)

~~~
jackvalentine
With a "sister" bridge in Melbourne Australia:
[http://howmanydayssincemontaguestreetbridgehasbeenhit.com/](http://howmanydayssincemontaguestreetbridgehasbeenhit.com/)

~~~
Scoundreller
3m? Paris has a road tunnel with a 2m clearance. Some of us here would have
our heads grazing the top if we had to walk through it.

~~~
Someone
If you mean this one [http://tollroadsnews.com/news/french-low-ceiling-
tunnelways-...](http://tollroadsnews.com/news/french-low-ceiling-tunnelways-
of-duplex-a86-comfortable-to-drive-not-claustrophic), it is low, but not
_that_ dramatic: 2.57m

~~~
Scoundreller
From your very link:

> Vehicles will be limited by regulation and an overhead bar on entry to 2m
> (6.6ft, 79 inches). The space to the ceiling itself will provide 57cm (22
> inches) for signage and other overhead gear.

------
bpchaps
Within Arches National Park, my GPS told me to turn left to get back on the
main stretch of road towards vegas (we were in a hurry and the park seemed
like a good idea at the time). It sent us on a route meant for 4x4
offroading.. in my 4 cylinder lancer. By the time we figured that out, it
seemed quicker to just keep going - the GPS agreed. Well, two hours and a
havoc'd suspension system later, we finally got back on the main road. Damn
you, technology.

These days I have a dry erase board for directions in lieu of a gps and phone.
I only need to look at it every now and then, and as long as my notes are
correct, it's just about as easy to get there. If I get lost, pulling over and
asking someone isn't that difficult to do, either. Not sure I'll go back. :)

------
tommoor
Okay, I'll be the one to say it - how does this bode for the future of
autonomous cars? If a man drives off a cliff because he was following a GPS
and not paying attention then that's not great, granted - but if your car
drives you off a cliff whilst you're reading in the backseat that's another
matter :)

~~~
glenra
A handheld GPS typically offers a few options: (a) fastest route, (b) simplest
route, (c) shortest route. These problems happen to people who pick (c) or
worse, pick (c) with an added "avoid major roads" modifier. Which can be a
great option if you are hiking or biking or sightseeing and want to see the
"real country" and don't care how long the trip takes or how bad the roads
are.

The main thing this says for autonomous cars is: don't do that. If the routing
algorithm has a bias towards picking highways and major roads and roads you've
used before, this problem should virtually never come up.

------
sammyo
There was an increase in boats hitting buoys when GPS became common, out on
the water there really is very little traffic so setting an autopilot is often
practical, but if you set a waypoint exactly on the coordinates of a buoy and
forget to keep a close watch or proximity alarm, it tracks right into a big
iron marker.

------
pfarnsworth
I still remember vividly the death of James Kim, the CNET reporter who died
because GPS lead him and his family onto a small mountain road that shouldn't
have been opened in the first place. I didn't know him personally, but he was
a close friend of a friend, and as the events were unfolding, daily I could
see the worry and pain in my friend's face, until he was found dead (but his
family was miraculously found alive). This happened about 10 years ago in the
mountains in Oregon, notoriously treacherous during the winter.

Surprisingly, my neighbor revently described to me how she almost died in the
same area by following GPS, just last winter, almost 9 years later. They
blindly went up a mountain road in the snow as they were trying to drive to
Portland from the Bay Area, and they went to the point where they could barely
turn their car around. Had they attempted to stop later, they would have
gotten stuck and it would have turned into a similar story.

Unfortunately, GPS needs a setting labelled "follow the safest, biggest
roads".

~~~
markbnj
>> the CNET reporter who died because GPS lead him and his family onto a small
mountain road that shouldn't have been opened in the first place.

I feel for James Kim, but why is that a reason for the road not to have been
open? I make a hobby of exploring back roads. I sometimes use a GPS, but
almost always for locating myself and getting a view of my surroundings,
rarely for directions. I don't like to see bad things happen to people, but
I'm sincerely puzzled when the reaction is to try and prevent them happening
through prohibitions. When there are no roads left to close people will still
get themselves into trouble by not observing enough, not thinking enough, or
putting their faith in untrustworthy sources.

~~~
lmm
> When there are no roads left to close people will still get themselves into
> trouble by not observing enough, not thinking enough, or putting their faith
> in untrustworthy sources.

Perfect is the enemy of good. Sure, closing dangerous roads won't prevent all
deaths, but if it has a good lives saved:cost ratio then it's worth doing.

------
paulsutter
I was using Google Maps to take a shortcut through Kathmandu on foot. Just as
I commented on the amazing accuracy of the map, I found myself approaching a
dead end that the map showed continued onwards.

I turned around and several small dogs were in the road behind me. No big deal
I thought, I walked past them as they barked at the intruder.

I continued in the most promising direction, which turned out to also be a
dead end. Behind me the small dogs had been joined by an enormous fierce dog
so angry his hair was standing on end. And the only path out was past him.

I stayed calm with my eyes on the exit, walking wide of dogs who were drooling
and livid.

Better lucky than smart, I guess. I've never been cavalier about following
Google maps since.

~~~
anonfunction
A friend of mine and I followed Google Maps directions while on skateboards in
a little town in Oregon called Coquille.

At the bottom of a fairly steep hill there was a huge unchained full-grown
Rottweiler.

When we arrived at the flat area he attacked.

We had to hold our boards out to defend ourselves.

A women driver started honking and driving towards the dog causing him to run
away.

We rode towards the main road, and I've never used Google maps in that tiny
town again. Likely because I haven't been there since that day.

~~~
thrownaway2424
I guess I don't get it. Does Google Maps reputedly have a feature regarding
dog population?

------
13of40
I had a fun experience in the Dominican Republic once: There was no official
coverage of the island at that time, but I was able to get a map for my Garmin
from some shady Russian website. The roads were accurate for the most part,
but they were lacking all of the metadata like highway size, speed, direction,
etc. We used it to drive from our resort to another town down the coast, and
lacking all of that data, the Garmin just routed us through the shortest path,
which turned out to be a country road out in the hills that eventually
disappeared. Luckily I was able to ask some bemused farmers how to get to the
right road - basically drive 20 miles back and get on the highway.

------
wglb
A very harrowing story.

This seems to be an extension of what my family called "the Jeep principle". A
jeep, and now a GPS, enables you to get stuck further from help.

~~~
omegaham
The best example of equipment-induced hubris that I grew up with was people
buying a 4-wheel drive pickup to drive during Massachusetts winters.

Yes, it raises your performance. It doesn't magically turn icy, snowy
Massachusetts roads into Arizona highway.

The result is that lots and lots of high-performance trucks end up in ditches
and smashed into trees.

~~~
wglb
Yep.

I saw a similar incident in Michigan. Big snow comes up suddenly, work lets
out early. Someone with a new four-wheel drive vehicle becomes impatient
waiting for clogged traffic to clear, and decides to go over a berm. Wasn't
all that high of a berm. Vehicle sat there for three weeks. Kind as of a
reminder to all.

------
avel
Recently I have been noticing how Uber/Lyft drivers in NYC are "gps sheep".
The lack of common sense is astounding to me. They are very often only
listening to their gps and nothing else.

One time, a driver chose to circle around after two blocks instead of turning
directly right at an intersection, because Waze said it had a lot of traffic
and therefore chose that route. If he had bothered to turn his head right,
he'd see that the road was empty.

~~~
e1g
Following the GPS has two benefits: assure the passenger they aren't being
ripped off with dubious/scenic routes, and remove the mental load from the
driver on each intersection. Any single trip could be faster by couple minutes
of done by a local, or longer+pricier if done by a crafty taxi driver. The GPS
narrows this variability, pacifies the passenger, and let's the driver focus
on the driving vs the routing. But yes, this sound general strategy can be
frustrating in a local-maximum situation.

~~~
Spooky23
That's a great example of the problem with all of this stuff -- both driver
and passenger are blithering idiots who have no idea where they are. A
professional driver should know how to drive their city.

Some good friends moved to the North Shore near Boston about 10 years ago. We
visit 3-4 times a year. They are big GPS people, and know nothing about
navigating the region. If we go somewhere, can get us there more sensibly just
about any time. It mind blowing to me. I always drive and/or walk around any
new place I visit for more than a day. I like to know where I am.

------
ygra
I wonder how this happens, though. Normally, finding a route for cars will try
to follow increasingly larger roads. This has practical reasons to avoid
scenarios outlined in the article and also performance reasons to avoid
searching the complete graph of roads.

Getting a route that follows many small roads usually only happens if you tell
the GPS to find the shortest route (and really the _shortest_ one), or by
using its bicycle or pedestrian routing.

It also requires the user to ignore any signs along the way, putting way more
trust in a bunch of males that's hard to keep updated properly than is
healthy. (For topographical maps in Germany (I guess road maps have similar
problems) it is sometimes normal for certain regions not to receive an update
in a decade or two, thus sometimes showing very outdated features. OSM these
days is luckily either very up to date or simply very sparse, depending on the
region and how many people with local knowledge are contributing.)

~~~
pkaye
You would be surprised the routes the GPS suggests when you are traveling in
less populated areas. I've seen a lot of this near national parks. Often times
the route seems reasonable enough but slowly it narrows and becomes worse. It
takes some time for you to eventually question your decisions.

~~~
maxerickson
It's because of TIGER! It groups a huge variety of roads together as something
like 'minor road, open to the public'. A dirt trail all the way up to a nice
highway that they haven't noticed was rebuilt.

Most digital US maps started with it and low traffic areaas are not a priority
to update to something more sensible.

~~~
ghaff
There's also enormous variety which may change with the season, weather,
washouts, and how recently the road has been repaired across large stretches
of the US West, among other areas. Even with a map, the difference between
well-graded dirt road and competent high clearance 4WD vehicle and driver
needed is often far from obvious.

Furthermore, some visitors not familiar with such areas tend to assume that,
if a road is on the map, that means it's fine to take in their passenger car.

------
eggy
The younger generation is increasingly reliant on gadgets too for many things.
When I was 11 my friends and I would take the subway to Manhattan from
Brooklyn to go to Central Park, walking and the museums. We always agreed on a
meeting spot at a set time, since this was 1975. Payphones were the only
option.

I've been to the mall with my friends and their children, and there is no pre-
planning, since they rely on the phones to meetup. However, when the battery
dies, they're lost, or they rely on a friend's phone or charging station being
available. There's an implicit reliance on redundancy, and blind faith
somebody has a gadget.

I always taught my children to pre-plan. I have taken them around the world at
young ages, and I think they have become better planners and thinkers when
they are taught 'the old ways':)

I have traveled a lot, and I have lived in other countries, some remote
places, and I have been lulled by technology too. Fortunately, not life-
threatening situations, but I can easily see it happening.

A few days ago while driving in East Java, we followed the GPS into a sugar
cane field. The road narrowed, was muddy, and started to diminish to almost
just field. The road was on the GPS, and valid, but the van almost got stuck
in the mud from the day's rain. This has happened to me about 2 to 3 times in
7 years, because smaller and smaller roads have made their way to the maps as
mapping increases, and the GPS uses a traffic/length of route algorithm that
sometimes has you turning off and back on to main roads to make time. I never
would have followed that last turn-off several years ago.

I usually set the GPS to 'main roads and highways', but in some less-developed
places this will put you at the mercy of weather, the vehicle's capabilities,
and hoping that the routes have not changed since they were mapped. I also
agree with other posters here in leaving it in overhead view with North as up.
On a highway, no, but on twisty roads, yes. It is the only way you maintain
orientation and a sense of the actual location you are in.

------
lamontcg
The more mundane case of reliance on GPSes is to not know the route you're
taking and blindly following the GPS. Then if (for example) there's two exits
close together it leads to distracted drivers, focused mostly on reading the
GPS device trying to figure out which exit the GPS is telling them to exit to
-- which can lead to rapid, panicked lane changes.

Source: was hit a few weeks ago by a car that did a sudden lane change with no
signal right before an exit by a guy who was trying to follow his GPS...

------
jaza
Makes me think that this article I wrote on my blog several years ago is more
pertinent than ever:

[http://greenash.net.au/thoughts/2010/08/boycott-
gps/](http://greenash.net.au/thoughts/2010/08/boycott-gps/)

Seriously, folks. Turn off the GPS, and start observing the world around you.
And if you really do need route navigation, do it the old-fashioned way: study
a map! (Printed or online, doesn't matter).

------
johngalt
This has nothing to do with GPS imho. Plenty of people died in the past by
following an out of date map, or incorrect directions. The most common theme
in situations like this is not realizing when you are crossing over from an
inconvenience to a life threating situation. Driving somewhere without
thinking "what happens if I break down out here? Does anyone know where I am?"
Then taking additional risks without understanding what the stakes are.

------
prawn
"eventually to a confusing three-way crossroads. They chose the one that
seemed to point in the direction they wanted to go. And here their troubles
began."

This line seems to suggest that the GPS wasn't ultimately at fault?

My GPS has options for avoiding tolls and the like, but I've not seen one
giving the ability to define the capability of the car. That said, there is
huge variability in quality of unpaved roads, especially when impacted by
weather.

~~~
mikestew
_This line seems to suggest that the GPS wasn 't ultimately at fault?_

There's lots to the story that isnt the fault of Magellan or their data
providers, starting with the fact that they _ignored_ the GPS that told them
to take US 93. And ID 51 isnt "a few miles to the west" of US 93, it's got to
be a good hundred miles or more. It sounds like they had a paper map, which
even the most undetailed of which would have told them the two roads are
separated by wilderness areas, meaning there were probably no roads to get
from one to the other. All of this before they got to the confusing
crossroads. Had they _stayed_ on 51 instead of trying to outsmart the GPS
algorithm, they would have eventually hit I-84, arrived in Vegas a little
late, and would laugh later about how they should listen to the GPS next time.

As another commenter pointed out, had they simply entered "destination='Las
Vegas'" and blindly followed it (as the article ironically seems to argue
against), they would have been fine.

EDIT: As for GPS options, the BMW-branded Garmin for my motorcycle has an
"offroad" option. Because middle-aged men riding 600lb. "dirt bikes" like to
pretend they're mighty adventurers. Better know what you're doing, because
that thing will lead you down roads that aren't passable the majority of the
year (or passable at all on an R1200GS, in some cases). What you propose isn't
practical because one good rain and the road can go from "okay if you don't
mind dings in your minivan" to "you brought a lifted Jeep, right?" very
quickly. Or as a more recent example from my other comment in this thread,
that road i bailed on this weekend needs snow tires and preferably 4wd right
now due to snow. I'll bet in just a few weeks you can take a lowered Civic
over the pass.

------
kriro
Since there are no citations which kind of sucks (or did I miss them
somehow?)...the 2006 base study mentioned in the article is called: "Computer-
assisted navigation and the acquisition of route and survey knowledge" by
Münzer, Zimmer, Schwalm, Baus and Aslan

------
mikestew
No one sets out to spend two months drinking out of mud puddles and getting
your husband killed. I get that, I won't pile on with "morons, don't rely on
your GPS", because that doesn't help anything but my own sense of superiority.
That said, I sometimes wonder if there shouldn't be a little one-pager that
comes with your GPS. No one will read it, of course. I'm not exactly sure what
it would say, either. But a few points to consider...

Observe your surroundings. If you begin to start to feel the slightest
discomfort with the route you're on, consider turning back. Please reference
"sunk cost fallacy". The time you lose backtracking is nothing in comparison
to the time lost if you're _dead_. Or to be less dramatic, it might take a day
for a tow truck to get to you, if they can get to you at all.

And always be prepared to turn back. Hell, I do it all the time; did it just
this weekend, in fact. Wanted to go over Stampede Pass in the camper van with
the dogs, camp, do some hiking, see the ghost town of Lester. Big plans! Warm
spring, mid-May, should be good. Nope, turned back by snow. Might have been
able to make it, but on those tires? Meh, go camp somewhere else, no fun to be
had digging your van out of the snow ten feet at a time. More so on the bike:
point A to point B on forest roads, map says it should go all the way through.
Sometimes I'm turned back by gated roads. Sometimes, like the stories in this
articles, the road turns to two dirt tracks separated by tall grass, to trail,
to what once was a narrow trail and is now overgrown with saplings. And yet I
still catch myself thinking, "park the bike, walk ahead a few hundred feet,
see if it gets any better". Despite being somewhere no tow truck will come,
with a 600lb. bike (heavy, for the uninitiated) ridden by a scrawny marathon
runner who's going to have a shitload of fun picking said bike up when he
drops it. Don't be a dumbass like me; turn around.

If you are well and truly lost, _stay where you are_. I'm not talking the "oh,
we missed our turn" kind of lost. I'm talking, "without backtracking, I have
no _real_ idea where I am in relation to a major road or decent-sized
town...or even a house" lost. If you find yourself hoping the road gets
better, hoping _this_ road will take you where you want to go, and hoping it
will just all work out if you keep going, _STOP_. Maybe not until Search and
Rescue finds you, but at least stop for an hour and get your bearings. Good
bearings, so that you can point at a map (if you had one) and say with 90%
confidence, "that's where we're at". Figure out your plan, 'cuz the current
one ain't working. And do not leave your vehicle. Time and again I read these
stories of "GPS took them down a snow-covered forest road, and they got stuck"
that end with someone dying because they walked to get help. You're obviously
already lost, you're not going to unlost by walking around ill-equipped.

Call in to work, call the friends you're supposed to meet, call off that
client meeting, because you're going to be late or not make it at all.
Seriously, just give up those thoughts right now. The time for "making up
time" is over. You fucked up, and now you're late. Continuing on is not going
to undo that fact. For one, you have insufficient information to conclude that
you stand any chance of arriving on time. You don't even know where you are,
how do you know how long it will take to arrive? So go ahead and backtrack,
because you're plans are shot. Or go on over that mountain pass in mid-
Novemember, the GPS says there's a road, and you might still make it. Just
kidding, no you won't. You'll get stuck, try to walk to get help, and freeze
to death on the way.

That's what my pamphlet might look like anyway. I often wonder how folks get
themselves in these situations, and the best theory I have is that we have
enough everyday convenience that we forget the parts of the U. S and Canada
(let alone the world) that are still very remote and very dangerous for the
unprepared. Many of us live where there's always a gas station, always a cell
signal, always some landmark to give us guidance as to where we are. Road
signs to tell us where to go, guardrails to keep us falling off a cliff. As
the folks in this article found out, the western U. S. is a place where it is
very easy to get yourself into trouble if you take all of those assumptions
with you down a dirt road. Gas might be 100 miles away (whoops, that station
closed ten years ago, hope you have enough to make it 50 more miles), you
probably won't have a cell signal, and once you're off U. S. and state
highways all bets are off as to road conditions or if the road even exists
anymore.

After all this typing, it just occurred to me how some of these tragedies
could be avoided, and in one sentence: if you're not a local, not experienced
in off-pavement driving (especially in the mountains), and are not equipped to
spend a few nights out there if you absolutely had to, then the _instant_ the
road turns to dirt, turn around; no exceptions. For the folks that drive off
bridges, sorry, my only advice is to turn in your keys.

------
blt
App idea: a "city trainer" GPS navigator. You input your destination, but it
doesn't give directions. You still try to navigate to the destination using
your mental map. The app warns you if you seem to be getting lost.

It probably wouldn't be very popular...

------
deevus
I think the part that baffles me the most is that these drivers blindly do
what the GPS says and drive straight into a lake.

I regularly see tourists here in Australia do very odd things and sometimes I
can't help but feel a little xenophobic.

~~~
mikestew
The best explanation I can come up with is that people assume the GPS has
perfect information. Sure, you and I and anyone that's used a GPS off the
beaten path knows that's not true, but that's a long way from "everyone". When
you ask yourself, "who would do that?", the obvious answer is, "someone who
was led to believe that a GPS unit is infallible."

------
willidiots
If you're the type of person who ever takes scenic routes, do yourself a favor
and buy a PLB. You can get an ACR ResQLink for $250, they last up to 10 years,
and they work nearly everywhere.

------
YZF
Previous discussion here:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11096978](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11096978)

------
withdavidli
Used a GPS with outdated map (too cheap to buy the new update) a few years
back. Construction with ramps in Boston, thing almost had me driving off a
200ft cliff.

~~~
jeffwass
You should check out Mapkin. Boston based startup with crowd-sourced GPS
directions.

[http://www.mapkin.co](http://www.mapkin.co)

------
brianwawok
This is a likely way that I die. Other option is ran over while riding my bike
by a SUV or a giant pickup truck with a lift.

------
revelation
Had they simply entered Las Vegas from the beginning, it would have got them
there no problem..

------
dbcurtis
All you coders out there say it with me: "cost function".

Really, is that so hard? I see a lot of comments about what is going to happen
when robotic cars do this. Well, every roboticist I know, and I know a big
bunch of them, is well acquainted with the concept of having a cost-map
overlay on the world map. And it is not only OK, but common, to have infinite
cost assigned to many nodes -- "Don't go there robot, you will not be a happy
robot."

So why does the GPS database have poorly assigned cost values on certain road
segments? Perhaps because QA de-prioritizes little-traveled roads?

But more to the point -- I'll get out of roboticist mode and into seasoned
backwoods traveler mode for a moment -- don't go where you are not prepared to
go. Look at a paper map, ask a local at the gas station about conditions, and
if the road ends up bruising your kidneys, turn back.

~~~
jakevoytko
This is a problem that we can fix just by throwing data at it. Now that it's
possible for any app to know what routes people _actually_ take, we can do
even better. It's possible to generate cost functions based on what people
_actually do._

This would fix a lot of different types of problems. First: issues like the
ones raised in the article. The killer "roads" have never had drivers
successfully complete them, so they should have infinite cost.

It would handle construction. If the traffic in a route suddenly falls to
zero, or suddenly goes from zero to lots, the cost functions can be updated to
reroute.

It would handle dangerous neighborhoods. Route 31 was the most direct route
between my first apartment and Pennsylvania. I once followed MapQuest
directions on this route, and it turns out that it takes you through the part
of Trenton that makes it one of the top-20 most dangerous cities in the nation
(at the time). Nobody really drives this way, so it could route people via
safer roads.

The problem here is that the companies that already have _good_ databases are
probably going to keep them secret, in case they figure out a way to turn that
data into more ad revenue

~~~
tremon
I don't think it's as simple a picture as you paint. The world is not a static
place, and there will always be cases where human judgement is required.
Consider for example ice roads or mountain passes: thousands of people may
ride them on a single day, and the next day the road may be closed off because
of frost, thaw or avalanche danger. There is no way you want your car to only
consider a different route after ten drivees have lost their life.

~~~
jakevoytko
Who limited it to one data signal? I sure didn't.

------
jwildeboer
Uhm. You cannot blame GPS for the bad maps in navigation systems. GPS knows
nothing about roads. That's the maps in your satnav.

~~~
SolarNet
The colloquial usage of GPS includes devices using GPS with maps in them.

