Especially here in Southern/Eastern Oregon and the north end of California. I've a Tom-Tom and I'm continually amazed with the mapping errors. One of those (So-Oregon) has cost the lives of at least three travelers that I'm aware of.

fae


Travelers in U.S. warned not to rely only on GPS

By Laura Zuckerman

SALMON, Idaho | Fri May 13, 2011 7:48pm BST

SALMON, Idaho (Reuters) - Travelers in the western United States should not rely solely on technology such as GPS for navigation, authorities said, after a Canadian couple were lost in the Nevada wilderness for 48 days.

Albert Chretien, 59, and his wife Rita Chretien, 56, sought a shorter route between Boise, Idaho and Jackpot, Nevada during a road trip from British Columbia to Las Vegas.

Rita Chretien drank water from a stream and rationed meagre supplies until hunters found her on Friday. Albert Chretien has been missing since March 22, when he went to seek help.

The Chretians mapped the route on their hand-held GPS, an electronic device tied to global satellites and commonly used for navigation.

Law enforcement and search and rescue officials said that too many travellers are letting technology lull them into a false sense of security.

"There are times when you need to put the GPS down and look out the window," said Howard Paul, veteran search and rescue official with the Colorado Search and Rescue Board, the volunteer organisation that coordinates that state's missions.

Sheriff's offices in remote, high-elevation parts of Idaho, Nevada and Wyoming report the past two years have brought a rise in the number of GPS-guided travellers driving off marked and paved highways and into trouble.

The spike has prompted Death Valley National Park in California to caution on its web site that "GPS navigation to sites to remote locations like Death Valley are notoriously unreliable."

When two roads diverge in Western lands, take the one more travelled, authorities said.

"You've got people driving into the middle of a field because a machine showed a route that was shorter and quicker -- which it ultimately is not," said Rob DeBree, undersheriff in Albany County in southeastern Wyoming.

Searching for travellers who veer off an interstate highway in a county the size of Connecticut can be costly, time-consuming and dangerous for rescuers, he said.

Jerry Colson, sheriff of neighbouring Carbon County, issued a broad appeal this winter to stay on paved roadways after several motorists consulted GPS devices for shortcuts and ploughed into snowdrifts on roads to nowhere.

Authorities said such incidents show there is no substitute for common sense.

"Your machine may tell you the quickest route but it might not take into account there are impassable canyons between you and your destination," said Daryl Crandall, sheriff of Owyhee County in southwest Idaho.

Kevin McKinney, detective sergeant with the sheriff's office in Elko County, Nevada that is heading up the search for Albert Chretien, said motorists risk hardships on the patchwork of primitive roads in the wilds of northern Nevada where technology is ineffective.

"This country is as rugged and as unforgiving as you can get," he said.

(Editing by Dan Whitcomb and Greg McCune)

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"The problems we face today are there because the people who work for a
living are now outnumbered by those who vote for a living." -- Anonymous

Ain't technology a wonderful thing Fred . . . . . .

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Illigitimi non Carborandum

I find a good map is a nice thing to have in the car if I'm leaving an obviously well traveled road.

A road that goes from a solid line to a 'dotted' one is NOT a good thing.

__________________
"The problems we face today are there because the people who work for a
living are now outnumbered by those who vote for a living." -- Anonymous

I start to worry when I find grass growing in the middle of the road and its barely wide enough for one car.

BK

The last time I was down the road that runs alongside Loch Hope from Hope to Altanaharra it was like that

It is worth the trip just to see Dùn Dornaigil, one of the best preserved Brochs in the country, and pass below Ben Hope, the farthest north of the Munros.

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Don't worry, be happy.
Sandy
Carried it in full, then carry it out empty.

You don't drive around the west country very much then!, that sounds like a major road.

I do find it strange the number of people who follow the sat nav instructions into rivers or down dead ends - just because the sat nav said so - don't these poeple look out of the windows whilst driving?

Carl

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If you're frightened of dying and you're holding on you'll see devils tearing your life away. But if you've made your peace, then the devils are really angels freeing you from the earth.

Obviously not

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Allan
Only dead fish go with the flow.

Interesting thought just posted to one of our local boards. A lot of the auto GPS units have two settings: "Fastest Route and Most Direct Route." And I think the poster was dead on with his observation.

I can think of three times were my GPS has left me to "hang out to dry" I had it set to the "MDR." Royal pain in the a$$! (Driving a MH/tow that's over 50 foot long is not recommended on City surface streets.)

__________________
"The problems we face today are there because the people who work for a
living are now outnumbered by those who vote for a living." -- Anonymous

Best one i have read recently was white van man driving a delivery to address in switzerland.
Followed sat nav up mountain road, then farm track, and finally got stuck on sheep track, with back axle hanging over 2500 foot drop!!
Had to be rescued by helicopter!
is true tale.
was photos and story on web about it a few weeks back made me smile at time.
then i read about chretiens!
regards
bert

I hear you Bert.

I look at my own residential subdivision here in White City, Oregon. Three major 'street map' Internet sites I know of to access: One shows the subdivision as farm land, another shows the subdivision and has the wrong street name in front of my home, the last has it right.

One out of three is crummy odds if you're looking up how to find my home. I give good (easy) driving directions. My Tom-Tom GPS? I'd just as soon be on Mars.

__________________
"The problems we face today are there because the people who work for a
living are now outnumbered by those who vote for a living." -- Anonymous