Google Map's Driving Directions

[lpetrich]

GPS is sometimes off by as much as a city block, and that has caused trouble for me, when some taxi driver thinks that the taxi is at the right spot when it is plainly evident to me that it is not. On one occasion, I told the driver to look outside the windows to see where the car was, and it seemed to me to be an uphill battle.

 

[Loren Pechtel]

GPS is sometimes off by as much as a city block, and that has caused trouble for me, when some taxi driver thinks that the taxi is at the right spot when it is plainly evident to me that it is not. On one occasion, I told the driver to look outside the windows to see where the car was, and it seemed to me to be an uphill battle.

GPS itself isn't going to make an error of that size. But the system is actually measuring the path the signals took from the satellite--which could reflect off something, making the path longer than the crow's path. A big problem if you're surrounded by even approximately flat vertical surfaces. I've seen some very erratic fixes in narrow canyons, you can get the same thing in steel canyons.

 

[TV and credit cards]

I think a lack of situational awareness is a disaster waiting to happen, and that you should always pay attention to where you are.

Preach.
And tell it to every knob on the path wearing ear buds.