Re: My theory on why the GPS argument will never be settled

Colin MacDonald wrote:

> Sorry to pick on you,

Not at all, pick away...

>> The A-Z update their maps using GPS.
>
> I'll take your word for it, seems reasonable.

Nicholas Crane showed them doing it on an episode of Mapman.

At this point it's probably worth pointing out that it was my birthday
yesterday, and I consumed rather a lot of alcohol before making all those
posts. Consequently, some of the things I wrote probably weren't phrased as
well as they might have been. For example...

>> Everyone who's anyone uses GPS these days.

> And, you see, here's where things start to break down. The
> implication here is that if you don't use GPS then you aren't
> 'anyone', which many (most?) non-GPS users will find insulting.

Apologies for any misunderstanding, I didn't really mean to imply "anyone"
in the personal sense. All of my examples were of commercial concerns,
businesses and so on, and that's what I was getting at. Where money is
involved, particularly when carrying passengers or producing accurate maps,
GPS is the tool of choice.

Individuals have the luxury of choosing their method of navigation, and if
they prefer to stick with traditional techniques, fine, provided it suits
their circumstances and gets the job done. I'm not saying that every walker
should navigate by GPS. What I am saying is that on a higher level, the
modern world now uses GPS as the tool of choice, because it's the best tool
for the job.

Hence I get a little irritated when those who prefer traditional navigation
dismiss GPS, pick faults with it and try to justify the old ways as being
somehow superior. They aren't. There's nothing wrong with using a compass
to navigate, but to claim that it's essential while a GPS is merely optional
is old fashioned thinking.

Specifically, what bothers me is the tendency of the MRT to criticise the
party's lack of traditional navigation ability, whilst saying nothing about
GPS, seemingly perfectly happy with the fact that they didn't have one.

Simon's question about how someone who buys a GPS can learn traditional nav
begs the question; "why should they have to learn traditional nav?" Sure
it's useful as a backup, but doesn't it make sense to concentrate on
learning how to use the new, better system, if that's what you've chosen to
use?

Insisting that traditional navigation skills are essential for GPS users is
akin to requiring people to learn how to ride a horse in order to pass their
driving test. Sure it's useful to know just in case the GPS does conk out,
but as the new technology becomes more reliable, cheaper and more
widespread, the solution to a knackered GPS will simply be to switch to your
mates' GPS instead, or get out your backup GPS. Maybe we'll all we walking
with GPS watches that give a simple GR as a backup to our main units?

I mean, if your car breaks down these days, what do you do? Hire a horse to
ride home? No, you just caj a lift from someone else, or call a taxi, or
get on a bus. Of course, there are some people who still like to ride
horses, but mainly for pleasure. Most people prefer to use a car to
actually travel anywhere.

I just think MRTs are being rather slow to accept the change in how people
navigate, and how they expect them to be able to navigate. If a driver
calls the AA because his car broke down, is it reasonable for them to
criticise his lack of horse riding ability? "Well sir, if you'd learned to
ride a horse properly and brought one as a backup, you could have avoided
this unnecessary callout!" ;-)

> And
> thus the argument is propagated. Especially when you use 'antique'
> in a pejorative manner to describe a compass, the natural inference
> of which is that a compass is in some way flawed because it is old
> technology.

No, I didn't mean antique in that the sense of flawed, simply in the sense
of outdated. They still work as well as they ever did, but now there's a
better alternative. A horse will still get you to London if you choose to
travel that way, but a car is undoubtedly quicker and more efficient.

> FWIW, getting away from Paul's post, I'm not sure anyone said that a
> compass was 'better' than a GPS, and if they did then it's a daft
> thing to say since they are two different beasts. It's like saying a
> car is better than a bike; they are related tools, but have different
> purposes. Many people have both a car and a bike, or multiples
> thereof, because sometimes they will want to use one, and sometimes
> they will want to use the other.

Fair enough, but in this case, both a compass and a GPS have the same
purpose, to help you navigate (remembering that it's *you* that's doing the
navigating, the compass and GPS are just tools). In this instance, the GPS
is usually the better tool, because it can do more than a compass, although
obviously it's not better in all circumstances. A GPS won't help you
navigate underground for example.

(Has anyone actually done any compass nav in a cave system?)

> Technology is imperfect, yet useful. But car owners have no more
> right to force cyclists into cars than cyclists have to force drivers
> onto bikes.

Indeed.

> And if someone chooses to take a GPS into the hills,
> what is that to anyone who chooses not to? And if that piece of
> technology saves a life that would otherwise have been lost, isn't
> that a good thing? And if another person chooses to navigate only by
> map and compass, even in difficult conditions, it remains their
> choice, even if this brings an added level of risk. But different
> people have different tolerances to risk, as well as different skills
> that affect levels of risk, so for one person to say 'this is how you
> should deal with risk' doesn't really work.

I don't think anyone's saying that. This thread has drifted from its
original subject of a *specific* rescue incident in the Cairngorms into a
more general "GPS vs. compass" debate. I don't want to get involved in such
a debate. We've had these many times in the past and there's no point going
over that same ground again and again.

My comments in this thread relate specifically to the Cairngorms incident.
I'm not saying that *every* walker should always carry a GPS, I'm saying
that anyone heading out into a seriously wild mountain area in the middle of
winter with bad weather forecast would be well advised to take a GPS with
them, if only as an emergency backup.

> Colin
>
> PS. Paul, I'm not getting at you,

I know.

> just using your post as an example.
> Forgiveness appreciated.

No problem, I don't take it personally.

Paul



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Relevant Pages

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