http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/gloucestershire/7139603.stm
Why do people have to use these rubbish devices?
2007-12-21 23:51:33 · 21 answers · asked by Charlene 6 in News & Events ➔ Current Events
Hi cookie
they do still use maps, I can see them on a weekend when I am driving my truck down the motorway.
Thousands of them all driving along with a map on the wifes lap in the passenger seat.
The furthest they usually go is to the local morrisons supermarket but on a weekend they set off on this great adventure to visit aunty doris who lives hundreds of miles away so out comes the map.
Middle lane of the motorway, 55mph, hands clenched tightly on the steering wheel and of course the obligatory bag of boiled sweets sliding about on the dashboard.
They are on the M1 travelling to london with 150 miles to go and they are constantly straining over the map book, just in case someone idiot has built an extra motorway or perhaps the aliens have turned that thick blue line on the map to the left or the right.
God I hate driving on the weekends!
2007-12-22 00:09:05 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 4⤊ 1⤋
I like my sat-nav. I have it for humour value, as it normally gives me some amusing directions. Driving on holiday in America, it told me to turn left onto an interstate from a road that was actually going UNDERNEATH said interstate. There was no on-ramp.
On the whole, they're pretty good, though. If you do what you're told, you'll get where you're meant to be, eventually. It won't be the fastest, the best or the most sensible route, but broadly speaking, they will get you there, unless they direct you down a road that no longer exists (I've had that too. The road hadn't been there since about 1985 either! I'd love to know how THAT got on their survey).
The problem is that searching a network as complicated as a road-network is an enormous parallel computing task. A supercomputer would need some weeks to work out a route properly, so obviously those little GPS devices we have stuck to our windscreens need to use some brutal truncations to the algorithm. They're pretty good, but you need to apply a bit of common-sense to them too.
2007-12-22 08:15:07 · answer #2 · answered by parspants 5 · 1⤊ 1⤋
I normally like all the new gadgets and stuff that come out, but sat navs are one of those things I'd never really want in a car. I've always been good at reading maps and I like to rely on myself rather than some computerised (and in some cases, American) woman, bloke, or Mr. T (yes you can even download celebrity voices for them) directing me off the nearest cliff. I've just always been more comfortable with a map and a good sense of direction.
2007-12-22 08:09:36 · answer #3 · answered by Rodriguez 6 · 2⤊ 1⤋
My mates call me a walking sat nav anyway because I can find my way to places without a map or sat nav. You see, people often miss these things, those obscure phenomena that are about 15 feet high at the side of the road called 'signs'. You don't need sat nav at all, a bit of common sense never hurt anyone.
2007-12-22 08:02:09 · answer #4 · answered by Rick G 4 · 3⤊ 2⤋
I'm blonde, I can't read a map, I have no sense of direction, yet I have driven the length and bredth of the country, and in spain, without the use of these stupid things. They enable people to stop thinking for themselves - not a good thing!
It's not like we live in the outback when you will drive for days without seeing a single person or a road sign!
2007-12-22 08:58:32 · answer #5 · answered by Missy H 5 · 0⤊ 2⤋
When he entered 'Lille' as the destination, he would have been offered every 'Lille' in Europe to choose from, he should have chosen FRANCE not Belgium. Apart from as a coach driver, he should have at least had some idea of the distance and direction he should be driving. From Ostende, Lille Belgium is E. Lille France is S!!
2007-12-22 08:16:03 · answer #6 · answered by jayktee96 7 · 3⤊ 1⤋
the driver must have pick the wrong destination when he confirmed the place. simple as. if he had noticed you can always go back stages to correct it. dont blame the sat nav for this one.
i use one all the time with my job i never have a problem like this cause i pay attention to what im doing.
2007-12-22 08:05:17 · answer #7 · answered by Alison C 5 · 2⤊ 1⤋
In 99% of cases its not the sat nav that cocks up but the user!! The driver must have entered the wrong destination, mine has never failed
2007-12-22 09:18:25 · answer #8 · answered by whats my name again 5 · 3⤊ 1⤋
Map is for the purpose of Guiding not for reading
2007-12-22 07:55:40 · answer #9 · answered by Totaram M 5 · 1⤊ 1⤋
Mine never goes wrong,
He must have put the destination in wrong!!! as i have tried tricking mine by taking wrong roads and turn the opposite way from what it says and, every time without fail it puts me back on the right road.
2007-12-22 07:58:39 · answer #10 · answered by Agent Zero® 5 · 3⤊ 1⤋