Unknown Places?

The latest fad in automobiles is a GPS thing-a-ma-jiggy. It’s supposed to tell you where your are and how to get to where your are going. In fact it routes out the turns and tells you if you get off course. A person with GPS should never get lost, at least theoretically.

There are lots of things GPS can’t tell you. It can’t tell you if a bridge is out, or if the road is under repair, or if there are obstacles which would prevent a certain type of vehicle from using that route. That last part refers to big trucks which can’t traverse under certain overpasses or over certain bridges, or even down a particular street.

I guess GPS’s became vital when service stations morphed into the local quick stop and quit washing windshields, airing tires, checking engine fluids, providing clean (sometime) restrooms, and always free maps. People just don’t like to buy maps when, 20 years ago, they could get them for free. How do you know the map you buy isn’t 20 years old?

So enter, GPS. Global Positioning System is what I think the letters stand for. I think there is a place for GPS. Probably the best use is to find out where you currently are. As long as you know where you are, you can find your way to your objective.

If you are in the middle of the ocean, or deep in a forest and can pinpoint your location, you will have some assurance that you really aren’t lost. Like anything using up-to-date technology, GPS devices and satellites have been known to malfunction.

If you can’t read a map or don’t know east from west, you might indeed be lost in case of a GPS malfunction. As for me, I like maps for navigation purposes. With a map and a cell phone it is nearly impossible to get lost.

Unless I’m on vacation, I already know where I’m going and don’t need some fancy machine to tell me how to get to WalMart. Somehow I think GPS is similar to four wheel drive; mighty nice when you need it. But 99% of the time you don’t need it.