GPS navigation: does it always work?
GPS seems like an idiot-proof application. No more worries if you can’t read a map: just select the location you want to go to and the machine tells you how to get there.
Except that there are lots of places with the same name of course. Only last week a bus driver going for the day from Dover to Lille in France for a shopping trip ended up in Lille in Belgium because he slavishly followed the directions and ignored little things like border crossings and changes of language on the signs along the way.
Also worth noting is that the majority of the software that they used was developed in America where there are nice straight roads even outside the cities and the quality of roads is indicated by their classification. Move such a system to Europe where few places have straight roads and the classification of roads seems almost random at times. The net effect of this is that in some places those using navigation systems end up taking substantially longer to get from A to B than they would if they used a map, or even just followed the road signs.
Where it is excellent of course is when you haven’t a clue where you are but you know where you want to be. This is very often the case with me in large cities!
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