AnarchistPrepper
Member
I don´t use a GPS. Depending on which kind of disaster strikes, GPS will be down after a few seconds to a few days.
Do you rely on GPS?
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bigpaul
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over here its generally referred to as "Sat Nav" and its on all smartphones, my phone is a basic model and dosent have it, I probably wouldnt use it anyway, I prefer paper maps.
Arcticdude
Top Poster
I prefer paper maps too. I use topo maps and Forest Service and BLM maps. But a paper map can't guide me home after dark or during a snow storm. Or save my route on a shallow rocky river. Not all of the US is connected by maintained paved roads.
If GPS disappeared tomorrow we'd all be fine.
If GPS disappeared tomorrow we'd all be fine.
Some of you that don't understand what GPS can do simply can't comprehend what we are talking about. Paper maps can't tell me where recently closed roads and traffic jams are and the fastest way to get around them to avoid traffic. Google Maps (and it pains me to have to use Google anything) will give real time traffic information and suggest detours to save time. On nearly every trip up to North Carolina to see my daughter there will be a severe traffic jam or two or three and Google maps will warn me of it and tell me how to get around it. Coming back last week there was a 10 mile long logjam on I-85 at Gaffney with the southbound lanes at a complete standstill. I was able to drive around it before I got into the traffic jam.
This is what part of that stretch looks like RIGHT NOW on Google Maps:
This is what part of that stretch looks like RIGHT NOW on Google Maps:
Some of you that don't understand what GPS can do simply can't comprehend what we are talking about. Paper maps can't tell me where recently closed roads and traffic jams are and the fastest way to get around them to avoid traffic. Google Maps (and it pains me to have to use Google anything) will give real time traffic information and suggest detours to save time. On nearly every trip up to North Carolina to see my daughter there will be a severe traffic jam or two or three and Google maps will warn me of it and tell me how to get around it. Coming back last week there was a 10 mile long logjam on I-85 at Gaffney with the southbound lanes at a complete standstill. I was able to drive around it before I got into the traffic jam.
This is what part of that stretch looks like RIGHT NOW on Google Maps:
THATS why GPS is a useful AID not a replacement for maps.
Last time i was in Atlanta i got lost in 5 oclock traffic, the roads and signs down there are horrible!!
Arcticdude
Top Poster
I would never completely depend on GPS for driving around on the road system. In Alaska I had a GPS chart plotter in my jet boat. Many Alaskan rivers are fed by glacier and have zero visibility due to the silt, and the depth finder wouldn't work. Some rivers can be a mile or two wide and only a half inch deep in places. Its vital to map a channel going up or down river so you can find your way back after traveling a hundred miles or so without getting hung up on a sand bar. I'd still run up on a sand bar occasionally anyway due to shifting sand and silt, so I'd carry a parachute with me to drop off the stern. It would fill up with water and drag the boat off the sand bar, most of the time. GPS is a great tool. For me I seldom use it to find an address or a town.
in regard to GPS - it's 100% controllable by the US gooberment - might not get to the actual SHTF kick-off before the US military goes coded >>> any attack on the US and friendlies will attempt to use active GPS for pinpoint target accuracy and navigation >> WW2 Pearl Harbor attack the Japs were listening to Sunday morning hula music heading in from the sea ....
wouldn't count on anything like GPS 100% - even in a domestic scuffle an administration like Biden's might find it advantageous to cut the civilian GPS along with communications & internet ....
Had not thought about that
bigpaul
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wife travelled with someone long distance who relied completely on GPS, to say they got lost several times is an understatement, so much so that the wife will never travel with that friend ever again.
as for road closures I probably know more road closures than any that appear on GPS systems and well in advance, knowing your area and regularly "patrolling" it gives better information than any GPS.
I will never ever rely on any technical system, in an emergency its bound to let me down.
as for road closures I probably know more road closures than any that appear on GPS systems and well in advance, knowing your area and regularly "patrolling" it gives better information than any GPS.
I will never ever rely on any technical system, in an emergency its bound to let me down.
Brent S
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I had a surveyor come to the property here yesterday. He put up a central unit near his truck and then read signals from each corner of all the buildings and corners on the property. We were talking about accuracy and I guessed within inches. He said it’s within hundredths of an inch now. Impressive and beats the old line of site method by far.
never have got a strait answer in regard to planned & timed GPS coding and how they'd handle the existing civilian flights in-route to their destinations or emergency setdowns ....
only PAW type SHTF movie or TV show to situate an air flight was Jericho - can't imagine being on a commercial flight and being in that situation - no more GPS and/or ground control and probable plane systems outages - is there such a thing as a flight case and paper maps on any commercial flights anymore?
bigpaul, advance knowledge can't tell you a wreck happened one minute ago up ahead of you and has blocked the road. Google maps can tell you that. Sitting right here in the US behind my computer I can tell you where every traffic jam in Exeter is RIGHT NOW by looking at Google maps.
bigpaul
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I dont use Google, many people over here dont trust it.
any mapping system dosent update for something that happens one minute ago. in a rural area like this there are alternative routes, most wrecks over here happen on the motorways anyway.
NomadicPrepper
Active Member
I use GPS, but I always research the route before I get on the road. Seeing what towns it brings me through, what road work they got going on and etc. And I always keep some paper maps with me for whatever states I'm traveling through just in case.
bigpaul
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I mostly drive on back country roads, the worst thing I come across is cattle or sheep when they are moving them from one field to another and thats not very often,sometimes come across escaped sheep they are very good escape artists.
Yes it does. Every person using Google Maps to navigate is sending real time information to Google about where they are, how fast they are going and what direction they are traveling. When traffic stops, Google Maps knows it immediately. It even shows when a line of cars stops at a stop light.
Any turn-by-turn navigation app does the same, whether it's Google, Apple, or Mapquest because they HAVE TO KNOW WHERE YOU ARE in order to tell you when to turn.
Brent S
Top Poster
Yes, required. And all pilots are expected to know how to chart the old ways. Not a skill they use much anymore but at least it’s still taught.
Brent S
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What’s not to trust with google? They pretty much admit they are going to invade your device and use and sell all your information. The trade off is they give you really great apps for free. It’s all there in that 10 thousand word user agreement that no one ever reads…. Sad, but true.
on a side note I really enjoyed the movie Jexi. It’s about a made up computer AI operating system that takes over a guys life. Decent comedy and likely coming to a device near you one day….
