What do they know that we don’t know? “… the Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, has just resumed training officers in the lost art of celestial navigation.”
On a related note – despite the thousands of miles I drive each year, I refuse to use a GPS. I don’t like the way the device undermines situational awareness.
The same reasons that map and compass nav is still taught to the guys with rifles on the ground, despite the proliferation of GPS.
You are right. Drove to Arizona to our getaway five times, never got lost. Keeping up with in crowd I bought
a GPS. Got lost on the exit to Rosetown by ignoring signs and listening to the mechanical voice.
Took an hour to get back on track in morning traffic. Threw it in the glove box where it lies today.
Hawaii is easy to find without a GPS. Just follow the contrails.
Our public schools need to TEACH everyone basic map-reading skills. I swear, my wife (God love her) hasn’t a CLUE how to read a map. She is utterly dependent on a disembodied electronic voice telling her where to turn. If the machine told her to drive off a cliff … she would. No map, just the voice commands. Frustratingly ignorant of her spatial surroundings.
In the door and up the stairs. Coordinate retrieval.
Only colour not found on a map. Purple. Used for making field changes
I was blessed with natural navigation senses.I. always saw kind of a GPS map in my head while traveling. Scalable too.drove 7 weeks across Europe before pulling out a map.still didn’t help us.the houses were numbered in the order they were built.
I thought everyone had maps in their heads till I met my wife. Hers must look like the start up screen
I tried to teach a young man how to use a romer but he thought it had something to do with a cell phone.
two reasons:
1. Possible EMP (thanks sasquatch for putting that in my brain)
2. Misdirection – some talk that those US sailors captured by Iran had their GPS’ scrambled by the Iranians, leading to a political embarrassment
*
here’s another…
3. cyber-attack on comms or sats themselves.
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“Celestial navigation” will bring you close to shore but then you have to rely on what is called visual ‘dead reckoning’ to keep the ship off of rocks and deadly reefs.
Remember the Concordia Cruise ship disaster ?
A large Aircraft Carrier crashing into a dangerous reef could be the ultimate ‘Dead Reckoning.’
I refuse to use GPS as well. Good to know there are some other holdouts.
B I N G O on no GPS.
I’ve taken a lot of heat on this from the motorcycle fraternity.
It’s good I have no issue with being considered eccentric.
I like maps and atlases and reckoning.
Oh, and talking to people.
I feel that GPS will do to your reckoning skills what the calculator did to mental arithmetic.
We used GPS on the weekend, in Victoria, but my husband was forced to turn off the audio, due to the TONE of the harridan giving directions.
Yeah, well if there’s a major EMP event the losing GPS in your car will be the least of your worries.
“Getting an accurate fix on longitude, however, had to wait for accurate timekeeping.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T-g27KS0yiY
After years in the Canadian army, I consider my map skills excellent. But on a recent vacation to Australia, GPS saved my butt in Sydney several times. ..and when driving on the opposite side of the road from what a person is accustomed to, it leaves you one less thing to worry about.
Your major worries will be potable water and non-irradiated food sources…and good luck with your cell phone service which would interrupt your google maps!
Keep some potassium iodide pills handy, as iodine 131 collects in the thyroid glands, so don’t drink the milk; yer better off with aged beer and wine.
https://nuclearinformation.wordpress.com/2013/07/20/radiation-radioactive-isotopes-in-drinking-water-and-food/
Last I checked the Cdn Army still teaches basic map reading, with exercises at night when rain and cloud inhibit landmark recognition…
Notably, its pretty hard for hostiles to knock the stars out of the sky…so celestial navigation still makes eminently good sense.
On the other hand if you have a “Bethlehem Star” type event in your solar system you’ll be speaking to your Maker in short order in any case:
Found: The Most Powerful Supernova Ever Seen
A stellar explosion almost 600 billion times brighter than the sun pushes the limits of physics
By Lee Billings on January 14, 2016
If the supernova took place in our own galaxy, it would be easily seen by the naked eye even during the day; if it were 10,000 light-years away, it would appear to us at night as bright as the crescent Moon. If it were only as far away as Sirius, which at a distance of 8.6 light-years is the brightest star in the nighttime sky, it would blaze overhead almost as powerfully as the Sun. If it were as close as Pluto, it would vaporize the Earth and all the other worlds in our solar system.
Yer, nautical navigation may vary… 🙂
Cheers
Hans Rupprecht, Commander in Chief
1st Saint Nicolaas Army
Army Group “True North”
I tried using a GPS but got sick of having TWO women telling me where to go.
The hullabaloo about GPS is much like the excitement about cell phones. Just another tool. I consider my self fairly well travelled having worked around the world and in many cases I found that driving by GPS took an added load off my mind. It was a requirement in Australia, and although not a requirement in New Zealand – it was still useful. In Italy it was useful because I defy anyone to try to find their way around Rome or even Perugia without one. Even our cab driver used on. Sorry, map in your head – maybe – certainly not me, and the GPS saved the day for our travels.
The UK you can use a map. The mideast you can use a map – those borders are by and large suggestions anyways.
The situational awareness thing – OK, I kind of get that. But generally speaking, either you are have that situational awareness when you are driving – or you don’t. Distractions are part of the game.
Thanks for the heads up on that YouTube video.
I read his book ‘The True Story of a Lone Genius Who Solved the Greatest Scientific Problem of His Time’ – Longitude. John Harrison, a carpenter created a clock that is still running 200+ years later, His ‘chronometer’ watch gave Great Britain control of the oceans and the world.
Obama is still pissed at the British for their control of Indonesia..
I bet the Foreign Indonesian exchange student Obama, didn’t even know that the original word ‘Chronometer’ was considered a Joke..
NSA- if you are reading this, You can kiss my ass..
TWO women telling me where to go.
ha.
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At least with the GPS my wife no longer tells me to go ask for directions..
No matter how good the statistics say the reliability is, everything can go wrong so eventually it will. If it happens to me I won’t know how to fix it so I choose to not become dependent on GPS.
The female voice on my GPS unit is kinda hot. And the Google Maps voice on my phone, I swear sometimes she is flirting with me. She is just so perky sometimes. Siri, on the other hand, is a real turn-off.
I have fallen , i use gps and i love it. to get around in another city in another country is very easy to use however i do keep a map of where ever i am travellingin my care i have abasic map of north america too in a book in my truck. Some staples you just cant go wrong with and make sure they are laminated pages .
The military, flying, and my profession gave me excellent map and compass skills. When GPS became available I added it to my navigation toolbox, however like any electronic device I don’t consider it a reliable primary navigation tool. I don’t use it in my vehicle, and wouldn’t own any vehicle that has it.
Most electronic devices have only made a lot of people more stupidly dependent. If they don’t have their computer, cell-phone, GPS or a calculator they’re dumb as a rock and useless as tits on a bull.
We were given a GPS unit, and do use it sometimes. Admit to checking with google maps beforhane just to confirm where I’m going. It’s great fun to choose an alternate route (based on local knowledge) and watch the GPS go ballistic.
Darn GPSs. Dunno where I’d put it on the horse.
I love my icebox and wood stove.
Try driving in Paris or on the left in London without a GPS.
Yes, Sasquatch was correct about that possibility.
Also, both the Russians and the ChiComs have anti-Sat missiles ready to take down the U.S. navy’s GPS satellites.
It’s always a good idea to be able to navigate without GPS. Whoever you are, having a ‘plan B’ is a good idea too.
Have always been comfortable with a map and compass both on the ground and in the air. When I cut line we’d use GPS to locate one corner of the grid, then it was compass, prism and chain to locate every point on the grid after that. Followed the glowing needle on my compass most nights as I’d walk to the skidoo in the dark after cutting until you couldn’t see your pickets anymore.
I started flying with a map and compass and can still get it done without gps, but being able to confidently eyeball wind corrections and being patient enough for a major landmark to pass by to estimate heading corrections and ground speed is hard to do when the exact info you need can be retrieved from a magic box. Have had the GPS fail on me a few times, most memorable was when I was picking my way across the tundra at a few hundred feet trying to stay visual below a low drizzly ragged ceiling. The Coast was fogged in so I had to fly heading and time as recognizable landmarks were sparse, not being able to see sweet dick for distance kinda compounded the ‘sparse landmark’ problem. Eventually we crossed a big river and could pinpoint our location, was pretty close to on track, but it was a long half hour of watching vegetation and ponds going by before that river showed up. Younger guys that have never flown without gps hate it when I don’t program it, even if it’s on a route that is flown regularly. It’s both a security blanket and a crutch for most.
Right on kengi. I love to publicly shame my wife too.
I’ve done a ton of back country hiking using map and compass. But I love the GPS when I drive if for no other reason than the approximate eta.
Nothing wrong with technology as long as it doesn’t replace our thought processes.
Unfortunately, in the real world, we need to deal with a non-static driving environment. Anyone ever heard of construction, detours, switches in traffic patterns, new lights, etc, etc?
Even for people that think math is hard – reading a map isn’t, parallel parking isn’t, backing into a stall isn’t, opening a car door with a key (if you have a dead battery in your remote) isn’t hard, etc.
Some of the modern technology is encouraging people to be imbeciles.
What is wrong with being aware?
knowing where you are without a device telling you is a good thing.
Of course, like any person over the age of 40, probably, I can get around fine with a map, and I suppose if I were to indulge in any wilderness hiking, a map and compass, but Google maps tells you about accidents, slowdowns, etc, and plans a route ahead for you taking those into account. So if you are going to use paper maps, it’s very nice to have the extra time. Tomorrow I am starting the drive from Florida to Vermont, I could easily do the trip from memory, but I will take the GPS, thank you very much.
On the other hand, I always take a window seat when flying cross country because I like to know where I am, I get a chillike thrill crossing the Mississippi, for example.
“Just follow the contrails.”
Surely you mean “chemtrails”?
Ha ha!
Let me come back and say that the GPS I have has saved me hundreds, maybe thousands of dollars and traffic tickets.
If a stop light is bugged and used as a tax collector for the local yokels, my GPS tells me to be aware, next red light will take your photo, and give you a ticket.
Also tells me when to avoid a speed trap..
I know GPS might be a pain in the ass, but it can save pain in your checking account..
“I don’t like the way the device undermines situational awareness.”
I actually like GPS because I use it to enhance situational awareness. I keep mine “zoomed out” to show all surrounding roads and points. In other words, it’s a head-up display.
I do find it cannot “replace” you in more familiar territory (because you tend to know shortcuts and detours better) but it is certainly handy if you’re travelling.
On a more philosophical level, the next time someone crabs about “US imperialism” we should remind them that without it their shiny new SUV would be cluttered with CAA maps instead a clever little voice-activated GPS.
I can read and use a map just fine ……but why bother with what I consider to be a mindless task. I don’t have a spouse to provide me with immediate and specific directions on which way to go and stopping on the 401 to review a map isn’t a good idea.
Mine uses both GPS and the Russian GLONASS system together and has been deadly accurate in the dozen or so countries that I’ve used the thing. A farmer friend has abandoned the old ways and exclusively uses GPS in his tractors.
A farmer friend has abandoned the old ways and exclusively uses GPS in his tractors.
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The first thing crossed my mind was tracking down some soy beans. ha.
But as a Yank, I first thought that comment funny, then realized that in Canada, farmers cultivate hundreds of Metric Square miles of land.
We here in America mow small lawns.
Canadians mow Farms, and could get lost on a freaking lawn mower..
I like my GPS but have noticed that it will instruct you to go whatever route is recommended by some bureaucrat. If they want traffic to use an out of the way bypass instead of a much shorter route, your GPS will send you the long way.
GPS is like a wife. It won’t lie to you, but it will run you around.
“Remember the Concordia Cruise ship disaster ?”
that was simply a stud wop and his ego that caused that
ask directions, use a GPS, hell, I can git lost without help:-)))
Actually, when I did much of my travelling, there was NO GPS, so, you land, pick up rental, and go buy a good map. Now my friend over seas wonders how I’m so good at getting around in her country:-)))
Gee-pee’ess: old Naskapi word meaning “dumb dog for lost warriors”.
Fearless – Some combine harvesters and seeding tractor rigs have their steering controlled by a GPS-coupled computer to minimize overlap and gap losses as they proceed around the field; some systems allow accuracy within one inch. They also work just fine at night, where even without extra lights, it helps take advantage of good weather. Make hay while the moon shines.
Love them….whether it’s my golf GPS, hiking GPS or car GPS they’re all great.
When I want a nostalgic trip back to ancient history I simply turn the GPS off and use maps and chop wood and make bannock.
Life is good.
Good point JJM! GPS can be used to enhance situational awareness. For example, when it is foggy out, I can zoom the GPS out to a point where I can see the side roads, and I know points where a collision could be imminent.
I don’t know why the Luddite approach to GPS has taken root here at SDA. GPS is no more a “crutch” than is a map.
If you don’t have situational awareness to begin with, a GPS darn sure isn’t gonna give it to you. As someone up-post said, it’s another tool in the road warriors tool box.
I like my GPS, it has saved me a lot of money. Red light cameras are marked, photo radar locations come up, 30 klik school zones all beep when I approach. My employer has a deal with ESSO for fuel, so all ESSO stations in Canada are there.
Also good when you are in an unfamiliar town of city. Enter the addresses of your appointments or destinations and it’s pretty reliable.
Death by GPS happens when you don’t have a plan, if you do go off the beaten path have a decent map. I am in Manitoba and there is a map book that includes all back roads. I visit Hutterite colonies and they have a listing for all the colonies with GPS coordinates. Punch in the coordinates and the GPS will get you there. I have been on some pretty skimpy back roads and the GPS has them.
Cool tool for 60 bucks!
I have tried in vain to get my wife to FIRST use a map … to VISUALIZE where she is going before simply following verbal directions. It seems beyond her ability … suffice to say that when we drive together, I am both driver and navigator.
I watched a documentary on Mr Harrison the ‘uneducated’ bloke who officialdom ignored and then stole his idea. It took an act by the monarch to provide him with a small measure of recognition and justice.
the more things change the more they stays the same.
Some people just can’t use a map. They can’t connect Reality to the 2D representation. They can’t find North. If you hand them a compass, they still can’t find North. Then when you show them North, and physically arrange the map to point that way… they still can’t read the map.
These are the people who get lost in their own town all the time. Some are extremely high functioning, we’re talking doctors, lawyers, CEOs.
Then there’s me. I’m never lost. I -always- know which way is North, use a map easily, it’s all good.
Even I, super dude, used to get lost in upstate New York. It is a frigging labyrinth down there. Roads follow no plan, go the wrong way to where you want to end up, don’t meet when they look like they ought to. Also, every road is a tube cut through trees. You can’t see the sun on a cloudless day. It’s like frigging Mirkwood.
I mostly use the GPS for the speed indicator and to get around accidents on the 403/QEW.