"Death by GPS", People renting vehicles with GPS & following them to nowhere

[Liberal_in_LA]

'Death by GPS' in desert
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By Tom Knudson

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In the SUV, Nattrass found Sanchez's lifeless 6-year-old son Carlos on the front seat. "She told me they walked 10 miles but couldn't find any help (and) … had run out of water and had been drinking their own urine," Nattrass wrote.

"She turned down a wrong road," Nattrass said in a recent interview. "She said she was following her GPS unit."

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"It's what I'm beginning to call death by GPS," said Death Valley wilderness coordinator Charlie Callagan. "People are renting vehicles with GPS and they have no idea how it works and they are willing to trust the GPS to lead them into the middle of nowhere."

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The number of people visiting Death Valley in the summer, when temperatures often exceed 120 degrees, has soared from 97,000 in 1985 to 257,500 in 2009. That pattern holds at Joshua Tree as well, which recorded 128,000 visitors in the summer of 1988. Last year: 230,000.

With another potentially deadly summer season approaching, Death Valley managers now are adding heat danger warnings to dozens of new wayside exhibits and working with technology companies to remove closed and hazardous roads from GPS units. They also have posted warnings on the park's website, telling visitors not to rely on cell phones or GPS units.



Read more: http://www.sacbee.com/2011/01/30/3362727/death-by-gps-in-desert.html#ixzz1Cw0yImcr

[madinmaryland]

1. I always consult a real map or at least check out the directions to be sure where I am

going really exists.

Sadly, that woman didn't and that is what happens.

[slackmaster]

43. Be careful - All commercial maps have intentional errors as a form of copyright protection

In Thomas Brothers street maps, it's about one intentional flaw per page.

[surrealAmerican]

46. That sounds rather like an urban legend.

A map would not need any errors to be protected by copyright. Sure, it would make detection of a violation simpler, but at the cost of their product's usefulness.

[JVS]

48. Minor errors are added to catch those who steal the work of others.

Reader Carlson encloses a clipping from the March 22, 1981 Los Angeles Times about the Thomas Brothers map company, which publishes maps of southern California. The article says:

" that the company sprinkles fictitious names throughout its guides.... `We put them in for copyright reasons,' he said. `If someone is reproducing one of our maps (as with a photocopier) and selling them, we can prove an infringement.'

"Of course, the make-believe streets are little ones. The mythical avenues normally run no longer than a block, dead end, and are shown with broken lines (as though they are under construction).

"Elias revealed that the guides for San Bernadino and Riverside counties have the heaviest concentration of fictitious streets--`between 100 and 200. . . . We try to come up with names that would fit in with the area . . . . Spanish sounding names are very big now.'"


http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/1058/do-maps-have-copyright-traps-to-permit-detection-of-unauthorized-copies

It shouldn't be enough to actually make the product dangerous.

[slackmaster]

51. See reply #50 below for a Thomas Brothers map watermark that could actually be dangerous

:hi:

[JVS]

65. Dangerous if you drive through wooden fences at your GPS' behest.

[slackmaster]

50. I worked for a major data provider for several years. It's common practice, and I know an example.

I have a friend who lives at the end of a cul-de-sac. His street ends on top of a cliff about 30 feet above a major road.

On all government maps (e.g. USGS topographic map, city parcel map, etc.) it's obvious that the streets don't intersect - They're offset from each other by about 150 feet horizontally. On a satellite view, Google Maps, etc., it's also quite obvious. The AAA map clearly shows that the roads are not connected. But Thomas Brothers shows the roads as intersecting. A person foolish enough to drive down the residential street and use only Thomas Brothers to find directions to the main road, would literally drive through a wooden barrier and plunge off a cliff. Google Maps directions would not direct you off the cliff.

I used to work for a company that aggregates and sells real estate data. They have a secret algorithm that systematically "watermarks" their normalized public record data with intentional inaccuracies, and have used that several times to catch customers who re-sold the data in violation of their purchase contracts.

It's normal to watermark intellectual property that you want to protect against unauthorized resale.

Here's the spot. Boulevard Place does not intersect Torrey Pines Road. But Thomas Brothers (in print, not the online version) shows them as connected.

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=Boulevard+Place,+La+Jolla,+CA&aq=0&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=41.275297,67.587891&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=Boulevard+Pl,+San+Diego,+California+92037&ll=32.849218,-117.258013&spn=0.001896,0.002063&t=h&z=19

[PBS Poll-435]

60. DVD Nav systems used to put an island on White Rock Lake here in Dallas

There is no such island.

:P

[LanternWaste]

58. Source, please?

Source, please? My workplace experience differs (we produce city/county maps)

On edit: read further. Saw the one example.

[Chimichurri]

2. what a horrifying story. My heart goes out to her and her family. Hopefully

something will get done about this and other treacherous areas. So sad.

[Brickbat]

3. I live in an area where GPS is useless. I can't imagine relying on it anywhere.

[Contrary1]

4. I'm getting used to reading stories that don't make sense due to poor or no editing, but...

I'm not getting this one.

"...Alicia Sanchez lay down next to her Jeep Cherokee and prepared to die.

"She told me they walked 10 miles..."

So did they walk 10 miles, then return to the Jeep? :shrug:

Whatever happened, it's a very sad story.

[hlthe2b]

5. Mapquest does this too...

I can't tell you how many non-existent roads it has tried to send me on...

[InvisibleTouch]

7. MapQuest once gave me an exact opposite direction.

Told me to turn right when it had to be left. Fortunately it was an east/west choice and I looked at the sun and said, "Wait a minute, that's not right." And went with my own knowledge. This was some years ago and maybe those glitches are fixed now. But it definitely happens.

On a longer trip I like to have several backups - GPS and a MapQuest printout and a paper map. People are forgetting or never learning how to read an old-fashioned map, and if their electronic gadget fails, they are stuck.

[Dawson Leery]

8. Mapquest is exceptionally bad.

They have non-existent addresses in their database.

[proud2BlibKansan]

23. Mapquest once sent me to a coffee shop in the middle of a hospital

The address was a hospital. No coffee shop there either.

[arbusto_baboso]

6. It's called a AAA paper map, folks.

I mean, what the hell would happen if sunspots or something took down our satellites for a few minutes? You always have to have a backup plan when traveling in unfamiliar areas. And spare gasoline if possible.

[trumad]

12. Come on---

I use my Iphone GPS everyday all over this country and it get's me to where I'm going 99 percent of the time.

A map is great but impractical for heavy traveling.

[HuckleB]

13. Impractical?

The pre-GPS era must have been horrific.

[trumad]

16. Actually---it was a pain in the ass.

I'm ex-military---dropped in the middle of nowhere with only a map and compass... and made my way back fine.... it was actually pretty fun doing it.

So I know how to read a map.

BUT---why the fuck should I when I have a device that speaks to me and get's me where I have to be--- with about a 99 percent success rate.

I hate driving and having to read a map---it's a pain in the ass.

[proud2BlibKansan]

22. +1

[hlthe2b]

15. Ahh, Trumad... That Y chromosome will get ya in trouble...

every time. Yes, you can stop for directions. Maps are not girlish.... (but you can grunt, while you try to fold it back up) :evilgrin:

[trumad]

17. Exactly---

hell I contend that paper maps are more dangerous than a GPS.

[hlthe2b]

18. Well, I've surely had my share of paper cuts...

;)

[slackmaster]

24. Heavy traveling was simply not possible before GPS was available to the general public

;-)

[hlthe2b]

14. Yup... a great AAA service... one I often forget to take advantage of

[XemaSab]

41. I've had DeLorme maps send me down sketchy roads

Word to the wise: "Spring Branch Road" in Tehama County is not recommended in a passenger sedan. At least not if you value your suspension. :P

I think a big part of the problem detailed in the OP is that certain groups of people (cough, cough, city dwellers, cough) don't have enough experience in rural areas to confidently know the difference between a highway, a smaller but well-maintained paved road, an unmaintained paved road, a well-maintained gravel road, a poorly-maintained dirt road, and a logging road or jeep track. Furthermore, I think a lot of these people don't have the presence of mind to say "Wow, this looks sketchy. I'm turning around." Finally, I think a lot of them don't have the experience to understand how not to get stuck, and what to do when you are stuck.

I don't claim to be an expert, but I've high-centered on snow, slid 50 feet down a hill on mud, been stuck out in BFE because my car wouldn't back up a slick road surface, and been stuck in the sand on the beach. And you know what I learned? Don't do that shit. :D

[pipi_k]

53. Sometimes the paper maps don't work either....

my road used to go all the way over the mountain into town.

That stretch of road has been closed for years now (so it's a dead-end road now), but some maps still show it as being open.

[arbusto_baboso]

56. My point is, nothing is fool-proof, so you need back-up plans.

Like trumad, I also had to find my way to a bivouac site with nothing but a compass. Unlike him, I didn't let it go to my head. Planning is what keeps you alive. Without it, one can easily die.

[pipi_k]

57. I'm not sure the majority of people...

would know how to read a map even if they had one.

I know that sounds silly, but really, I know plenty of people who can't read maps...my mom included, and she can go someplace a dozen times and still get lost.


When I was in 8th grade (many many years ago) our Social Studies teacher had a lesson plan on map reading. Most of the kids thought it was stupid, but I was secretly thrilled...I've always loved maps.

[csziggy]

66. Before GPS people got lost following paper maps

One horrific story I read was about a family who looked at the map, saw a road going though the Cascade Mountains and took it without checking with locals. It ended up being a mere trace of a route and whatever vehicle they were driving could not handle the conditions. I don't remember all the details or if anyone died, but they had a long ordeal trapped in a mountain valley they could not get out of.

Eventually someone figured out they were missing and somehow they were found, but they had not left any word on their planned route, not taken any extra food, water, clothes or blankets. The only shelter they had was their car.

That said, when hubby and I travel, we take AAA maps and when possible we also get a Delorme Atlas and Gazetteer for the states we will be in. Those are great and give a lot of detail of terrain, roads and other features which can help if you get off the beaten path.
http://shop.delorme.com/OA_HTML/DELibeCCtdItemDetail.jsp?beginIndex=0&item=224§ion=10096

[Kaleva]

9. Personal locator beacons and plenty of water would have saved many

who became lost and died in Death Valley.

[Marr]

10. That's awfully sad. People have become incredibly lax about

tending to their own safety, I've noticed. I think the popular method in the US is to engineer things in such a way that even a determined person finds it hard to harm themselves, and it makes people careless.

I was watching a show about a couple trying to rent a home in France not too long ago, and I remember them asking the real estate agent what was to keep them from falling out the second story window. He said, "don't jump out the window", and stared at them befuddled. They thought the window should be engineered in such a way that they could not accidentally fall out of it. :/

[petronius]

25. That struck me suddenly a few years ago when we were in Iceland - we could

walk up to all kinds of potentially hazardous features without any guardrails or warning signs or anything but our own common sense.

It was refreshing, but it also made me a bit paranoid that I was overlooking an obvious risk that a local would see - and I was about to end up as the next dead moron on the front page of the Reykjavik Times... :)

[lolly]

35. Are you sure they weren't thinking of a small child?

I remember a House Hunters episode where the couple were trying to rent in Europe, and noticed their were no guards on the upper story windows.

Children can't be watched 100% of the time. Look at what happened to Eric Clapton's son. I don't think expecting child-proofing on accessible windows is so bad.

[Fumesucker]

54. Not everyone has or even expects to entertain children..

Should homes that have no expectation of children visiting have to be made childproof?

I'm a grandfather of three so I'm hardly anti-child or anti-safety but I don't think it's the responsibility of people to totally childproof everywhere.

[lolly]

64. Maybe a different show then

The episode I watched featured a couple who did have children, and would have wanted those features.

And, damn, mixed up my there/theirs. And too late to edit it!

[Codeine]

11. Darwin Award finalists. nt

[cutlassmama]

19. no shit.

[TwilightGardener]

38. It's a sad story, but I agree. I have to question the brain of a mother

who ventures unprepared into what is basically a vast hell...in August...to go camping with a little boy. Even if she hadn't gotten lost and stuck (stupid in and of itself--she drove over BARRIERS intended to close the road), what happens if she's out in an isolated area and something happens to her? Or rather, what happens to a six year old when mommy collapses or gets bitten by a rattlesnake and there's no other adult to depend on?

[zorahopkins]

20. Recalculating........

Recalculating......

[bluedigger]

21. That's some lonely country.

I drove down the Saline Valley Road last fall.









So you don't have to.;-)

[CaliforniaPeggy]

26. Those are great pics!

Glad you got back OK, too...

:hi:

[bluedigger]

27. Thanks, CP!

It was a little iffy. The last two hours or twenty miles or so were in the dark. :scared:

:hi:

[Liberal_in_LA]

30. lovely pics

[struggle4progress]

28. The Sanchez story is quite sad:

They didn't tell anybody where they were going: a consult with rangers would have saved their lives. They took only 3 gallons of water with them. IIRC, according to some accounts at the time, some of the water was used to water the dog. After they got a flat and fixed it, they rode on further into the valley without a spare.

... They only had three gallons of water, cheese sandwiches and pop tarts to survive for the five day stretch ...
New information about mom who watched son die in desert
http://www.ktnv.com/story/10868710/new-information-about-mom-who-watched-son-die-in-desert?redirected=true

... During their ride to Death Valley, they got a flat tire, which Alicia was able to change herself ...
Boy dies in searing heat
Child, mom were trapped in desert for days; originally from this area
August 15, 2009 - By DARCIE LORENO Tribune Chronicle

[pipi_k]

29. GPS has caused major trouble where I live too

I'm rural, but not terribly remote, like out in the desert.

One group of people following GPS were directed to take a "shortcut" to my house.

Well, there IS NO shortcut to my house, which is on a dead end dirt road. Only one way in and one way out.

This group followed a road that became a lane that became something like a cowpath and eventually ended up with the front end of their Pathfinder lodged on a huge boulder.

Another time a visiting nurse came from a different direction than usual and was told to take the same "shortcut", ended up in the middle of the woods hysterical and thinking she would die there, alone and unfound. Oh, and to make it worse...where I live there is very spotty cell phone service, if at all, so it's not like people can just call and be rescued.

Lots of very steep gullies and riverbanks in dense woods where nobody would think to look unless there are actual skid marks or tracks.

So when people come up here for the first time I have to tell them do NOT follow their GPS.

[WolverineDG]

31. They can only plot public streets & roads

My cousin got one of those things for Christmas & we had a gas messing it up by driving on private roads. Maps can be a PITA, but they've not led me astray.

dg

[cynatnite]

32. n/t

[Name removed]

33. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[cynatnite]

36. I am sorry. n/t

[Recovered Repug]

34. Recently, there were threads about "lost" skills

of younger men and women. Map reading should be listed among the lost skills.

[XemaSab]

42. Common sense should be listed among the lost skills

:P

[JCMach1]

52. +1

[TwilightGardener]

37. Rand McNally and MapQuest vs. Garmin/Onstar: Battle of Us vs. The Inlaws.

My inlaws slavishly followed their electronic masters while visiting us in our new state, and got lost over and over--half the time they never even seemed to be aware of their surroundings, and they didn't bother to check if anything made sense or even if they were headed WEST (toward the setting sun!) or EAST (away from the setting sun!). This is where the problem lies: you get so caught up in following directions, you lose situational awareness and can't make sense of your surroundings. I like maps--I'm visual. I love my atlas--hell, I read it for fun.

[Raine]

39. If I had followed the directions my GPS gave me

I would've entered the freeway via the off ramp. :wow: Luckily I knew my way around better than that and knew there was something wrong with those directions. :think:

[Warren DeMontague]

40. Edit: Delete.

Sorry, you're right. This story is too sad for snark.

Always take water and supplies if heading out into the Desert; or even any big road trip, folks.

[Skidmore]

44. My husband wanted one of those contraptions sooooo badly that

we got one for his combined birthday/Christmas/anniversary present last year. Personally, I'd like to throw it through the car window. However, he's programmed a bunch of addresses into it and then he spends his time trying to school the GPS lady about which roads to take. She never goes the same route he would go and has a preference for county roads. So he starts talking to her and scolding her and then he gets mad at her and turns the unit off. I've taken to wearing earphones and listening to music when he had that darned thing on.

[phylny]

45. I depend on my GPS daily, and frankly,

I rarely have a problem. I don't live in a city, either, but in a rural part of Virginia.

[cbdo2007]

47. I still print off paper maps from Google with my preferred route....

rather than use the GPS when going places. Sure, we have the GPS because it's handy when trying to find out how close the nearest Schlotsky's is or something, but I always have maps printed out and available and know instantly when I get off the route.

[Blue_Tires]

49. Maybe it's my east coast biases, but...

Am I the only one who didn't know that people actually vacation in Death Valley??

[Retrograde]

61. Death Valley can be beautiful, and there are some lush parts

I've camped in Death Valley after a snowfall in the mountains, and with the full moon reflecting off the light-colored soil and the snow it was bright enough to see colors at night. I try to go desert camping at least once a year these days, and have even done off-road travel. But, we make sure we checked the vehicle before we leave the house, have basic tools, more water than we think we'll need, and check local conditions before heading off the pavement when we can. And have at least one good map of the area, preferably a topo map. For all I know, the databases GPS services use probably still think all those ghost towns in the West are still bustling communities.

The other problem we have out here is seasonal road closures: a lot of the mountain roads aren't plowed, so they're pretty much impassable for large parts of the year. The AAA maps mark them as seasonal, but I don't know if GPS systems are smart enough to do so, since when they close depends on what the snowfall is like. The road over Tioga pass in Yosemite usually closes at the end of October, but I've been over it after Thanksgiving during a dry year.

The other thing I like about having maps handy is that they give some context for the route in case you need to make changes for flooding, landslides, traffic problems, etc. GPS can recalculate a route, but you have to be moving AFAIK.

[Edweird]

55. Yeah, she's an idiot. I use an EEE pc with 'streets and trips'.

It's the best of both worlds. It's a map that always shows where I am in relation to where I want to be. I make my own decisions about the best way to get there.

[Leithan]

59. This is a very important issue

One the media has totally neglected thus far. K&R.

[RandomThoughts]

62. They could have sent the beer and travel money that is due.

Said that would have been easier.

And it still hasn't arrived, so somebody needs to make that correction.

[Taverner]

63. Reminds me of the Office ep where Michael drives into the lake

Because the GPS told him to