I Love Sat Nav

Post #221,486 by pwhysall 8/29/05 5:03:46 PM 8/29/05 5:05:29 PM Reply	I Love Sat Nav But there's a but. And that but is that if you become dependent on these things, you end up being unable to navigate by yourself. You become so conditioned to following the instructions that you don't build a mental spatial map of your surroundings, and thus if the satnav should for any reason fail, you're at square one. Peter [link\|http://www.ubuntulinux.org\|Ubuntu Linux] [link\|http://www.kuro5hin.org\|There is no K5 Cabal] [link\|http://guildenstern.dyndns.org\|Home] Use P2P for legitimate purposes! Edited by pwhysall Aug. 29, 2005, 05:05:29 PM EDT I Love Sat Nav But there's a but. And that but is that if you become dependent on these things, you end up being unable to navigate by yourself. Peter [link\|http://www.ubuntulinux.org\|Ubuntu Linux] [link\|http://www.kuro5hin.org\|There is no K5 Cabal] [link\|http://guildenstern.dyndns.org\|Home] Use P2P for legitimate purposes! Collapse All History
Post #221,491 by tjsinclair 8/29/05 5:34:46 PM Reply	Re: I Love Sat Nav >And that but is that if you become dependent on these things, you end up being unable to navigate by yourself. That is exactly what I was thinking as I used it. With my previous system (printing out maps and directions from the Internet) , I was forced to pay closer attention to my surroundings and look for landmarks to help guide me. With a nav system I just listen to the nice lady telling me where to turn. I suppose it's just another in a long line of innovations: - writing meant that we didn't have to memorize long odes or prose. - speed-dial and 411 meant that we didn't have to know anyone's phone number - Google meant that we didn't have to know anyone's Web site address. - Spotlight/Google Search means that we don't have to remember where we put that folder or file. It's a trade-off and I haven't figured out whether it's a good one or not. I can see having one in my own car, if only to help me navigate downtown Denver which is a maze of one-way streets and roundabouts. However, my wife and I enjoy cross-country road trips so I wondered if these things work well outside their native area? Tom Sinclair backronym: n. [portmanteau of back + acronym] A word interpreted as an acronym that was not originally so intended. This is a special case of what linguists call back formation. Examples are given under recursive acronym (Cygnus), Acme, and mung. Discovering backronyms is a common form of wordplay among hackers. Compare retcon. - The Jargon File
Post #221,498 by drewk 8/29/05 6:18:26 PM Reply	What's the fallback? I don't know anyone's phone number. They're all entered on my mobile. But if for some reason I don't have it handy, I can look up anyone I need with a phone book or 411. If the navigation system goes down, can you stop at a gas station and buy a map? Usually. For now. Will they disappear as nav systems become common? Maybe. I agree that you don't build that mental model, though. There are places that I only go with my wife -- her relatives, the craft store, etc. If she's not there giving me directions, I have no idea where I am. === Purveyor of Doc Hope's [link\|http://DocHope.com\|fresh-baked dog biscuits and pet treats]. [link\|http://DocHope.com\|http://DocHope.com]
Post #221,549 by tjsinclair 8/30/05 1:34:36 AM Reply	What I do right now If I'm going somewhere (even local) where I've never been, I look it up on Yahoo!, get directions, print them out (maybe load them onto my iPod for backup) and head out. This technique got my wife and me to LA last year without incident. However, the downside is that we were on a fixed route and really didn't feel confident enough to stray to see interesting stuff. The upside of a Nav-Sat system is the freedom to explore. Tom Sinclair "The effective programmer is keenly aware of the limited size of his own head." - Attributed to Edsgar Dijkstra
Post #221,575 by boxley 8/30/05 9:43:21 AM Reply	huh? didnt feel comfortable enough to explore? you were going to LA which roughly entails driving towards the setting sun and asking whether LA was north or south when you hit the ocean. How hard could it be? thanx, bill "the reason people don't buy conspiracy theories is that they think conspiracy means everyone is on the same program. Thats not how it works. Everybody has a different program. They just all want the same guy dead. Socrates was a gadfly, but I bet he took time out to screw somebodies wife" Gus Vitelli Any opinions expressed by me are mine alone, posted from my home computer, on my own time as a free american and do not reflect the opinions of any person or company that I have had professional relations with in the past 49 years. meep questions, help? [link\|mailto:pappas@catholic.org\|email pappas at catholic.org]
Post #221,579 by tjsinclair 8/30/05 10:27:17 AM Reply	Chalk it up to timidity in strange environs A personal fault. Plus, along the route we took (across New Mexico, Arizona) there are long stretches where there aren't a lot of places to pull over and ask for directions. Tom Sinclair "This is a lovely party," said the Bursar to a chair, "I wish I was here." -- The Bursar is a man under a lot of stress (Terry Pratchett, Lords and Ladies)
Post #221,557 by Meerkat 8/30/05 6:30:21 AM Reply	As someone who's perpetually at square one... I like the idea. However, I don't have in-car satnav. I take the cheap-arse approach and check www.whereis.com.au for directions before I head somewhere new. And I always have my street directory in the car as a backup. Two out of three people wonder where the other one is.
Post #221,623 by drewk 8/30/05 12:57:46 PM Reply	Can you fit street maps for all of Oz in one directory? If you want a complete street-level map just of L.A. for example, you might need two or even three large maps. Putting it all in one book makes it a fairly thick book. The entire state of Oregon, on the other hand, fits all interstates and street-level maps of most of the major cities all in one folding map. I know Oz is much more sparsely populated than most of the U.S., and now I'm curious how big a map you'd need for the whole country. === Purveyor of Doc Hope's [link\|http://DocHope.com\|fresh-baked dog biscuits and pet treats]. [link\|http://DocHope.com\|http://DocHope.com]
Post #221,734 by static 8/30/05 9:21:48 PM Reply	No. The Sydney street directory is over 400 pages just of maps. But if you search hard enough, you can in fact locate the same thing published as a folding map. The UBD website gives the impression it's one map, but when I last saw it, it's actually in three parts. OTOH, Adelaide fits on one folding map. Just. Us Oz city-dwellers are used to thick books for street directories. Wade. d-_-b

Welcome to IWETHEY!