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directions
Aug. 23rd, 2010 09:47 amxkcd thinks that you don't need directions if you have GPS.
Allow me to laugh hollowly, not at the known inaccuracies and incompetencies of electronic navigation and mapping services of all kinds, but at the idea that this is anything new.
See, in the old days we used to have these things called "maps", and they could be pretty good at telling you how to get places.
In days past, when I conducted much of my life on the telephone, if I was calling somebody to arrange a meeting at their home which I hadn't previously visited, I would always make sure I had the appropriate map in hand. Because I knew they'd offer me directions whether I needed them or not, and there was always the possibility that, as locals, they might have better suggestions as to the best routes than I could deduce from the map (something no less true if you have GPS). But also, it would be easier for me to grasp and remember those directions if I was following them on a map than if I tried to write them down. Directions by themselves are just a series of random instructions; if you have a map, then you know the why of the directions and they become meaningful.
One thing I noticed about people giving directions over the phone is that, somewhere in the process, they would always, always at least once say "turn right" when they meant "turn left" or vice versa. Another reason to have a map.
What I really need, though, is not directions, but any necessary instructions for finding the place once I get there. House numbers are not always visible, especially in the dark. Buildings may be placed confusingly behind other buildings. And that remains true even with GPS. Having taken airport pickup shuttles recently, I find there is nothing more helpless than a shuttle driver who thinks his GPS will tell him where the customer is waiting.
The last time I took a shuttle, the driver stopped down the street, where my townhouse's street number would be if it were on the street and not back in the complex, not seeing me waiting by the entrance to the complex, though I would have been clearly visible if he'd been looking at the real world instead of his GPS.
We then went to pick up another customer from a large apartment village. The shuttle drove into the village, and after proceeding around awkwardly for a while, pulled to a stop near another entrance which we'd driven right past on our way in. No customer. The driver futzed around for a bit, eventually called the customer on his cell phone, and then gave the phone to me so that I could relay directions while he drove. It was clear from what the customer said that he was way around on the other side of the village (as indeed he was), and I told the driver to drive ahead. He inched forward a few feet. I told him to keep going. He inched forward another few feet, so convinced was he that GPS could not be leading him astray.
Allow me to laugh hollowly, not at the known inaccuracies and incompetencies of electronic navigation and mapping services of all kinds, but at the idea that this is anything new.
See, in the old days we used to have these things called "maps", and they could be pretty good at telling you how to get places.
In days past, when I conducted much of my life on the telephone, if I was calling somebody to arrange a meeting at their home which I hadn't previously visited, I would always make sure I had the appropriate map in hand. Because I knew they'd offer me directions whether I needed them or not, and there was always the possibility that, as locals, they might have better suggestions as to the best routes than I could deduce from the map (something no less true if you have GPS). But also, it would be easier for me to grasp and remember those directions if I was following them on a map than if I tried to write them down. Directions by themselves are just a series of random instructions; if you have a map, then you know the why of the directions and they become meaningful.
One thing I noticed about people giving directions over the phone is that, somewhere in the process, they would always, always at least once say "turn right" when they meant "turn left" or vice versa. Another reason to have a map.
What I really need, though, is not directions, but any necessary instructions for finding the place once I get there. House numbers are not always visible, especially in the dark. Buildings may be placed confusingly behind other buildings. And that remains true even with GPS. Having taken airport pickup shuttles recently, I find there is nothing more helpless than a shuttle driver who thinks his GPS will tell him where the customer is waiting.
The last time I took a shuttle, the driver stopped down the street, where my townhouse's street number would be if it were on the street and not back in the complex, not seeing me waiting by the entrance to the complex, though I would have been clearly visible if he'd been looking at the real world instead of his GPS.
We then went to pick up another customer from a large apartment village. The shuttle drove into the village, and after proceeding around awkwardly for a while, pulled to a stop near another entrance which we'd driven right past on our way in. No customer. The driver futzed around for a bit, eventually called the customer on his cell phone, and then gave the phone to me so that I could relay directions while he drove. It was clear from what the customer said that he was way around on the other side of the village (as indeed he was), and I told the driver to drive ahead. He inched forward a few feet. I told him to keep going. He inched forward another few feet, so convinced was he that GPS could not be leading him astray.
