5 ms·

My thoughts exactly. How many millions would be unable to get to work (or stranded at work)? So many people have lost the ability to navigate without it.

moftz 7y ago
Your phone can do a lot with just the cell towers for navigation. The towers themselves would lose GPS signal but they are stationary, they should be able to pump out location despite the loss of signal. The guy out in the middle of nowhere might be screwed but there always should be a backup navigational aid when you are that far out. A GNSS blackout would be more of an issue for ships and planes. Both can get by in most cases with a GPS blackout using beacons, dead-reckoning, maps, and other old-school techniques. However, a major solar storm could cause issues with all of the navigational instruments (radios, compasses), you might be limited to just using a sextant and a precise clock.
- floatboth 7y ago
  Cell towers do not "pump out" location. Your phone queries Google/Apple/Mozilla/OpenCellID/whatever with the IDs of the towers it sees, the service returns approximate location based on its database of towers' locations. Same is done with WiFi SSIDs.
  - Piskvorrr 7y ago
    As a metaphor for triangulation, "cell towers pump out location" is a passable first-order approximation, even though the infrastructure is far more complex.
emiliobumachar 7y ago
Really, is that a thing? I'm completely unable to redo a nontrivial GPS route without the GPS after a handful of times, but I can definitely redo routine routes. At first I'd expect so can anyone else.
- lexapro 7y ago
  What about all the people that started at a job recently?
  - Cerium 7y ago
    They would get a paper map? You can buy, print, or draw maps.
  - bauruine 7y ago
    google maps works without GPS you just need to remember the directions and follow the signs. Even if someone uses GPS even for the easiest routes doesn't mean that he's not capable of doing it without.
- jslabovitz 7y ago
  Not everyone. I've always had a horrible sense of direction. I can follow a road or a map, but if I take a wrong turn or otherwise get off track, I get completely disoriented, and it's extremely stressful to me. I also seem to have a poor working memory that makes it hard to remember many steps at a time. I often need many drives over many months along the same route to finally etch it into my brain. With GPS, I'm much calmer and less anxious, and more willing to take risks with alternate routes.
- myself248 7y ago
  When I go to a new city, I follow my satnav device for the first few days, then start altering my route -- deliberately missing turns, or starting out in a different direction, to learn where it takes me as a result of those changes. I'll study the map before I depart, and plan which turns to blow, and predict what reroute I think it'll give me. After a week or two of this assisted learning, I tend to have a pretty good base map in my head, so I start doing without. I'll leave the device face-down on the passenger seat, not giving me any hints, but still tracking my location and there for a quick peek if I get turned around. After a few days of this I can typically do away with it entirely.
christophilus 7y ago
Dunno why you were downvoted. I worked with a guy who literally used his GPS every morning for months to get from the same hotel to the same job site. The route consisted of something like three turns. One of which had a big sign clearly advertising the exit. Some folks would be incapacitated if GPS was out for long enough.
- jsty 7y ago
  Whilst that three-turns example sounds a bit extreme, I often plug in routes I could drive without GPS to get traffic / road closure notifications & automatic re-routing around them. There are benefits aside from not knowing where you're going :)

moftz 7y ago

Your phone can do a lot with just the cell towers for navigation. The towers themselves would lose GPS signal but they are stationary, they should be able to pump out location despite the loss of signal. The guy out in the middle of nowhere might be screwed but there always should be a backup navigational aid when you are that far out. A GNSS blackout would be more of an issue for ships and planes. Both can get by in most cases with a GPS blackout using beacons, dead-reckoning, maps, and other old-school techniques. However, a major solar storm could cause issues with all of the navigational instruments (radios, compasses), you might be limited to just using a sextant and a precise clock.

floatboth 7y ago
Cell towers do not "pump out" location. Your phone queries Google/Apple/Mozilla/OpenCellID/whatever with the IDs of the towers it sees, the service returns approximate location based on its database of towers' locations. Same is done with WiFi SSIDs.
- Piskvorrr 7y ago
  As a metaphor for triangulation, "cell towers pump out location" is a passable first-order approximation, even though the infrastructure is far more complex.

emiliobumachar 7y ago

Really, is that a thing? I'm completely unable to redo a nontrivial GPS route without the GPS after a handful of times, but I can definitely redo routine routes. At first I'd expect so can anyone else.

lexapro 7y ago
What about all the people that started at a job recently?
- Cerium 7y ago
  They would get a paper map? You can buy, print, or draw maps.
- bauruine 7y ago
  google maps works without GPS you just need to remember the directions and follow the signs. Even if someone uses GPS even for the easiest routes doesn't mean that he's not capable of doing it without.
jslabovitz 7y ago
Not everyone. I've always had a horrible sense of direction. I can follow a road or a map, but if I take a wrong turn or otherwise get off track, I get completely disoriented, and it's extremely stressful to me. I also seem to have a poor working memory that makes it hard to remember many steps at a time. I often need many drives over many months along the same route to finally etch it into my brain. With GPS, I'm much calmer and less anxious, and more willing to take risks with alternate routes.
myself248 7y ago
When I go to a new city, I follow my satnav device for the first few days, then start altering my route -- deliberately missing turns, or starting out in a different direction, to learn where it takes me as a result of those changes. I'll study the map before I depart, and plan which turns to blow, and predict what reroute I think it'll give me. After a week or two of this assisted learning, I tend to have a pretty good base map in my head, so I start doing without. I'll leave the device face-down on the passenger seat, not giving me any hints, but still tracking my location and there for a quick peek if I get turned around. After a few days of this I can typically do away with it entirely.

christophilus 7y ago

Dunno why you were downvoted. I worked with a guy who literally used his GPS every morning for months to get from the same hotel to the same job site. The route consisted of something like three turns. One of which had a big sign clearly advertising the exit. Some folks would be incapacitated if GPS was out for long enough.

jsty 7y ago
Whilst that three-turns example sounds a bit extreme, I often plug in routes I could drive without GPS to get traffic / road closure notifications & automatic re-routing around them. There are benefits aside from not knowing where you're going :)