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> People aren't learning how to read a map. So what? If relying on GPS navigation erodes ability to read a map, doesn't relying on a map also erode ability to
by dpark 9y ago
> People aren't learning how to read a map.
So what? If relying on GPS navigation erodes ability to read a map, doesn't relying on a map also erode ability to navigate by intuition or ability to follow verbal navigation instructions?
I actually agree with the claim the heavy use of GPS navigation erodes ability to navigate successfully without it, though I have only anecdotal evidence of this. My own ability to navigate definitely seems to have declined when I started relying on GPS nav frequently, first Garmin/TomTom and now Google maps. But so what? Overall I'm significantly more efficient at navigating now overall.
Net net it's a gain, which is the very promise of technology. (Almost) No one laments the decline in ability to type on a manual typewriter that has come from the rise of general purpose computing or the decline in ability to use an abacus or sliderule that has come from the creation of calculators. The loss of these skills is far outweighed by the benefits.
- sliverstorm 9y agoNot to take the bait & segue too much, but maps have been a core part of navigation for centuries upon centuries, and they generally teach & augment your own ability to navigate rather than navigate for you. No one misses the technical skill to use a sextant, typewriter, or sliderule. Those things are in a sense just drudgery. But if you lose the ability to navigate, compose, or do math in the process, that's a different story.
- euyyn 9y agoHorses have been a core part of warfare for centuries upon centuries. There's probably plenty of useful skills being a mounted soldier taught you that driving a tank doesn't. Those skills, if they're still useful today, are learned another way.
- sliverstorm 9y agoIf horses taught you high level (not horse-specific) military strategy that tanks didn't, then yes there might be an issue at hand.
- euyyn 9y agoThose would be very exceptional horses. And very powerful maps.
- pbhjpbhj 9y ago>doesn't relying on a map also erode ability to navigate by intuition // It doesn't, you still use your situational awareness, the same observations (to locate where you are on your map), the same site of direct observations. For me it's like the difference between waking around a building blindfolded following a voice instruction and following a floor plan. In the former case (as for satnav) I'm lost without the aid; in the latter case I can not only navigate the same route but also find places I didn't visit before because I noticed then in passing in order to orient myself. FWIW I use satnav and don't consider it a great wrong, but if I want to know a route or learn about an area then map following is much better.