The Dangers of GPS Addiction

For someone who travels a lot and lacks a natural sense of direction, GPS devices are a god-send. On a recent trip to wine country north of Santa Barbara I was reminded of the limitations of ignoring bringing a paper map.

First, I've noticed in L.A. where I landed, the GPS take an extra few minutes to get synched with the satellites. As a result you better be in a parked position and wait. If you choose not to do so, well you are off and running and could get considerably off track before the device decides to recalculate the route and get you on the right path. L.A. traffic means this mistake can cost you 30 minutes.

Secondly, up in the foothills north of Santa Barbara the maps used in the GPS system may not be perfect. I had the pleasure of being sent in a 12 minute loop a couple of times before I found a gas station to ask for directions back to Highway 101.

But had I done the reverse and simply relied on traditional maps and directions given by local wineries...I would have spent a lot more time and reached a much higher level of frustration than the minor annoyances listed above.

I still believe for GPS to hit the next level of customer acceptance, companies like Garmin and TomTom need to highlight there is no monthly fee (i.e. like GM Onstar) making the portable version of these devices pretty affordable.

My advice, use them but have a back up plan and pay attention to your surroundings to see if what the GPS is showing/telling you makes sense with what you see around you.