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Couple stranded 3 days after GPS leads them astray - 12/28/2009 6:51:15 PM   
Sanity


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From: Nampa, Idaho USA
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quote:

Couple stranded 3 days after GPS leads them astray

GRANTS PASS, Ore. – A Nevada couple letting their SUV's navigation system guide them through the high desert of Eastern Oregon got stuck in snow for three days when the GPS unit sent them down a remote forest road.

On Sunday, atmospheric conditions apparently changed enough for their GPS-enabled cell phone to get a weak signal and relay coordinates to a dispatcher, Klamath County Sheriff Tim Evinger said.

"GPS almost did 'em in and GPS saved 'em," Evinger said. "It will give you options to pick the shortest route. You certainly get the shortest route. But it may not be a safe route."

Evinger said the couple got stranded Christmas Day and a Lake County deputy found them in the Winema-Fremont National Forest outside the small town of Silver Lake on Sunday afternoon and pulled their four-wheel-drive Toyota Sequoia out of the snow with a winch.

John Rhoads, 65, and his wife, Starry Bush-Rhoads, 67, made it home safely to Reno, Nev.

"It will be (a Christmas) we remember the rest of our lives," Starry Bush-Rhoads said in a telephone interview from her home. "They said if they didn't find us 'til this time next spring, we wouldn't be happy."

The couple was well-equipped for winter travel, carrying food, water and warm clothes, the sheriff said.

"Their statement was, being prepared saved their life," he said.

Full article here.



Whats I found odd about this story when I came across it is that my GPS system lead my daughter and I up a dirt road to nowhere in the exact same area while traveling around Crater Lake last summer. It totally screwed us up, we almost ran out of gas, and we ended up spending the night in a motel in Klamath Falls Oregon, hundreds of miles in the opposite direction of our intended destination.


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RE: Couple stranded 3 days after GPS leads them astray - 12/29/2009 1:19:49 AM   
stella41b


Posts: 4258
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Status: offline 		It's got to be said that if Apple, IBM, Nokia or some other company came up with a product called a Brain I might just give it a whirl.

Until that time I'm quite happy to continue thinking and using my brain enhanced and supported by (and not replaced by) the technology available.

To me GPS, Satnav, etc is just like a computer, a camera, it's a tool, and using a tool requires thinking.

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RE: Couple stranded 3 days after GPS leads them astray - 12/29/2009 1:35:20 AM   
hlen5


Posts: 5890
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Status: offline 		Did anyone else get (an admittedly juvenile) /a  kick out of the wife's name?

< Message edited by hlen5 -- 12/29/2009 1:38:34 AM >

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RE: Couple stranded 3 days after GPS leads them astray - 12/29/2009 5:15:06 AM   
Loki45


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quote:

ORIGINAL: hlen5

Did anyone else get (an admittedly juvenile) /a  kick out of the wife's name?


Must be a lot of famous whore houses on Starry Bush Road.

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RE: Couple stranded 3 days after GPS leads them astray - 12/29/2009 7:15:20 AM   
Sanity


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Its not the GPS that will fail you, it always knows where it is. Its the mapping software that will get you, which mine was a DeLorme product, and it should have been reliable because DeLorme knows mapping.

I had a good atlas and I do know how to navigate, but Central Oregon is essentially a vast wilderness and the roads are poorly marked and easily confusing, especially at night. There are a very few one-horse villages here and there which close up their one gas station / general store around nightfall, and its illegal to pump your own gas in Oregon - so if you take the wrong road at night in that part of the world you can really be screwed.

Its that need for gasoline that kind of makes you stick with the direction you pick even if you begin suspecting you're going the wrong way because you know that odds are, eventually you will come upon a gas pump in almost any direction you go.

quote:

ORIGINAL: stella41b

It's got to be said that if Apple, IBM, Nokia or some other company came up with a product called a Brain I might just give it a whirl.

Until that time I'm quite happy to continue thinking and using my brain enhanced and supported by (and not replaced by) the technology available.

To me GPS, Satnav, etc is just like a computer, a camera, it's a tool, and using a tool requires thinking.


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RE: Couple stranded 3 days after GPS leads them astray - 12/29/2009 7:16:01 AM   
JudasButcher


Posts: 43
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Status: offline 		Once again, a show of total reliance on technology. I have several friends with these things, they are annoying and almost always wrong. ANYWHERE I go, whether its out of state or just out of town, I have one of those really old fashioned out of date paper thingy's called a map. Anyone remember those? I have big fold out maps, atlas', and the red local map books, all under the seat with highlighters and a notebook. I'd much rather take a few minutes in a rest area to check my map than rely on a GPS device. Maybe it's just my hatred of technology talking lol.

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RE: Couple stranded 3 days after GPS leads them astray - 12/29/2009 7:20:42 AM   
LaTigresse


Posts: 26123
Joined: 1/15/2006
Status: offline 		I do not own, nor do I see myself purchasing one of these little gizmos. I have been driving for over 30 years and never gotten so lost I couldn't find my way back. I generally think maps work perfectly. Combine that with an awareness of surroundings, location of sun and time of day (keeps you aware of directions), all tends to work pretty darn well for me.

Then again I drove from my little farm in SE Iowa to my sister's farm in west central Colorado with only a few handwritten directions, and found it, in the dark, with ease.

The first day I was there I took a 4 yo, as my GPS, to go into town grocery shopping. He didn't miss a turn!


< Message edited by LaTigresse -- 12/29/2009 7:23:22 AM >

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RE: Couple stranded 3 days after GPS leads them astray - 12/29/2009 7:24:07 AM   
Sanity


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The back roads of Central Oregon at night and the freeway are two completely different things. There aren't any rest stops out there... and oh yeah, believe it - even the best can get turned around out there.

At the bottom of the article I posted is the key to survival, which is being totally prepared for any eventuality.


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RE: Couple stranded 3 days after GPS leads them astray - 12/29/2009 7:28:09 AM   
rockspider


Posts: 633
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Status: offline 		I don't hate tecnology, but one of the first things i learned in tecnical college was to look at the result of your calculation and ask yourself. Is this plausible? The GPS is a fantastic tool, but i always have a map with me too. Ok i still only have the old type of handheld GPS which only gives coordinates, waypoints and directions. But it has saved me oceans of time. Never blindly trust tecnologi. Use a bit of common sense too.

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RE: Couple stranded 3 days after GPS leads them astray - 12/29/2009 8:55:29 AM   
Justme696


Posts: 3236
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Status: offline 		I have several gps thingies. I programm stuff for it once in a while.
Older people..like with cellphones..have a hard time using them..and sales people sell them as if they are easy to use.
They can be handy..when used the right way.

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RE: Couple stranded 3 days after GPS leads them astray - 12/29/2009 9:05:40 AM   
Louve00


Posts: 1674
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Status: offline 		I don't even know how to operate a gps system lol.  But you obviously do use them Sanity.  And there most certainly seems to be a flaw in that area you're mentioning.  I wonder if it is indeed the software in that area, or is there a such thing as a "blind spot" for those things? 

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RE: Couple stranded 3 days after GPS leads them astray - 12/29/2009 9:09:47 AM   
Justme696


Posts: 3236
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Status: offline 		New maps are important..new software second important.
And check a normal map or a maps on your pc before you leave, so you roughly know were you go.

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RE: Couple stranded 3 days after GPS leads them astray - 12/29/2009 9:17:16 AM   
pahunkboy


Posts: 33061
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From: Central Pennsylvania
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what about ONSTAR?

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RE: Couple stranded 3 days after GPS leads them astray - 12/29/2009 9:17:23 AM   
SL4V3M4YB3


Posts: 3506
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From: S.E. London U.K.
Status: offline 		One thing I've noticed about SatNavs is that they don't always recognise dual carriageways and so sometimes ask you to turn right into head-on traffic.

I could have come unstuck if I wasn't paying attention to the big round road sign with an arrow pointing left on it.

I do however love finding alternative routes to the same destination, this is great I'll spend hours trying to find the route with greatest zig zag content.


< Message edited by SL4V3M4YB3 -- 12/29/2009 9:18:01 AM >

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RE: Couple stranded 3 days after GPS leads them astray - 12/29/2009 9:23:24 AM   
Justme696


Posts: 3236
Joined: 1/7/2008
From: Royal kingdom of the Netherlands
Status: offline 		I don't know what nav's are popular in the USA

We like iGO and Navigon a lott. ( and Tomtom..for what ever reason).
They work pretty good overhere. But Europe is small compared to the USA..so I guess our cards/maps might be updated quicker. (99,9% coverage they say)

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RE: Couple stranded 3 days after GPS leads them astray - 12/29/2009 9:30:08 AM   
pahunkboy


Posts: 33061
Joined: 2/26/2006
From: Central Pennsylvania
Status: offline 		It doesnt sound like a gadget I would want.  I usually know where I am going.

I doubt that would even work on our back roads here.  When they list roads closed- I cant tell where they are- many have no names.

Stick with the main roads and then one wont get lost.

Does one have to pay a subscription fee to a GPS???

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RE: Couple stranded 3 days after GPS leads them astray - 12/29/2009 11:43:45 AM   
Justme696


Posts: 3236
Joined: 1/7/2008
From: Royal kingdom of the Netherlands
Status: offline 		GPS is free. TMC ( traffic data, to avoid traffic jams)) you have to pay for, although many offer it for free now.
There are off the road navigation maps. But that needs more work done before you can use it.


The coverage for the USA is pretty good it seems
quote:

Countries: United States, Canada and Mexico
Road coverage: 7406965 miles (11920356 km) >99%
House number coverage: >99%: United States and Canada, 35%: Mexico
Postal codes: yes
Signpost and lane information*: yes: United States and Canada
Points of interest: none

* Please note that not all software versions display signposts and lane information.


< Message edited by Justme696 -- 12/29/2009 11:48:27 AM >

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RE: Couple stranded 3 days after GPS leads them astray - 12/29/2009 2:26:14 PM   
thornhappy


Posts: 8596
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quote:

ORIGINAL: JudasButcher

Once again, a show of total reliance on technology. I have several friends with these things, they are annoying and almost always wrong. ANYWHERE I go, whether its out of state or just out of town, I have one of those really old fashioned out of date paper thingy's called a map. Anyone remember those? I have big fold out maps, atlas', and the red local map books, all under the seat with highlighters and a notebook. I'd much rather take a few minutes in a rest area to check my map than rely on a GPS device. Maybe it's just my hatred of technology talking lol.

I travel frequently for work out of state, and take a GPS with mapset (it's the same receiver I use for geocaching).  It's rarely steered me wrong (and only made minor mistakes.)  My map database is from 2003, and is finally showing its age.

Paper maps are fine until you're traveling in many different places (just how many Thomas Bros maps do you want to haul around?), and are incredibly clumsy to use at night in urban areas.

When you're driving through somewhere like metro LA with a total workplace commute up to 200  miles from the airport, a little something extra in the GPS department comes in handy.  Or driving through small New England towns that aren't laid out in a grid pattern.  With overcast skies, or at night, just to up the style points.

* lurvz my gear! *


< Message edited by thornhappy -- 12/29/2009 2:33:00 PM >

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RE: Couple stranded 3 days after GPS leads them astray - 12/31/2009 5:13:53 PM   
Sanity


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From: Nampa, Idaho USA
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The Airforce called. They said they want their reputation back...


quote:

Lost Couple Can't Blame GPS, Air Force Says

The U.S. Air Force wants to set the record straight: Neither aging GPS satellites nor a weak GPS signal were responsible for an elderly couple getting stranded in the woods for several days after following directions in their GPS-enabled SUV.

Some news reports of the couple's adventure were accompanied by headlines such as "GPS Strands Couple and Then Saves Them: Aging Satellites?"

Writing under the Twitter username @AFSpace, AFSPC said: "While we do not want to speculate on what caused the couple to get stuck in the snow; the cause was not due to the GPS signal."

AFSPC spokesperson Toni Tones said the current GPS constellation is the most capable in the history of the program. "Since the inception of us putting it up in 1995, it has exceeded our performance requirements, and we are very proud to offer this service to the general public," Tones told LiveScience.

Tones declined to speculate about why the Rhoads were stranded, but expressed confidence that it wasn't due to the satellites. "All I can say is that the signals that are coming down are very strong and healthy," she said, "so I would have to defer those kinds of questions to [manufacturers] such as Garmin and others that are providing the GPS devices."

That's because even though AFSPC operates the GPS satellites that emit the signal that consumer GPS devices use, they do not create or update the maps that run on the devices, and they are not involved in calculating the routes between destinations.




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RE: Couple stranded 3 days after GPS leads them astray - 12/31/2009 5:21:24 PM   
EbonyWood


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Status: offline 		So these are the Rhoads more travelled.
 
I always wondered.

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