GPS controversy explained.

It seems that any thread that mentions a gps gets morphed/'jacked into a gps vs. compass thread.

I have reflected on this thorny and contentious issue and am now prepared to share my results with the community.

No doubt about it, the GPS is today's "killer app" of all things navigational, bar none.

I am often intrigued as to why this little beast raises the hackles of many an outdoorsman and generates such a plethora of commentary.

After all, nobody, but nobody has an issue with newfangled snowshoes, gore-tex, or any other of the new high-tech goods that have found their way into the back-country. How come all the fuss over GPS technology?

Well, here's why.

It takes years to master the skills of map and compass, terrain association, observation navigation and all the rest of it. On the other hand, figuring out how to run a GPS requires nothing more than a casual afternoon in the comfort of one's living room (or ensconced in a plush leather arm-chair with a snifter of brandy in one’s private gentleman's club). Notions such as compass declination can be cast aside like yesteryear’s fishnet underwear.


Nowadays, newcomers to the art of off-trail navigation may blithely rely on a series of satellites that orbit miles above the earth and which beams down a never-ending series of mysterious code. An outside force guides the modern, high-tech way-farer over hill and across vale. This outside force, this technological helping hand, is a quantum leap beyond interpreting the cryptic squiggles on a topo map and relating them to the hilltop above.

The playing field has been mercilessly leveled.

You can make a similar argument about navigation over water. Way back when, there was the sun and stars, and landmarks, and lining up triangulation points, and dropping a line to measure the depth. Later there was a compass. Then came sonar to find the bottom, and later came charts and then loran, then GPS and its introduced random error, which lead to the dGPS to fix up the error, which lead to the removal of the error, which leveled the playing field.

Some time in the future we'll look back on GPS and say "Isn't that quaint ... remember when people navigated by GPS?"

Tim

Right on the money! I was finishing your sentences mentally as I was reading.
I did it the hard way for years, and sometimes really paid the hard way by not paying attention and ending up having to reclimb to get back to the car or on route.
The GPS makes it simple, really simple. So simple that after getting into GPS usage that I compel myself to do the map studies and run map and compass routes so the backup is there, the familiarity with the route is there, and so I don't lapse into complete lethargy with the ease of uploading computer generated routes into the GPS.
Very much like suddenly having a tractor after using horse and plow your entire life.

The one caveat that is valid for bringing compass and map into the discussion, in my opinion, is when the GPS fails (whether due to tree cover, battery drainage, or some larger issue).

The real argument shouldn't be GPS vs. compass and map, but rather having a backup for the new (and generally superior) GPS technology.

This applies to piloting as well - GPS makes a dramatic difference in navigation and opens up all kinds of places to new instrument approaches; you'd be a fool not to take advantage of it. But we all train to use traditional instruments and other navigation aids, as well as in failure modes of GPS receivers and moving maps, just the same.

Neil, good job explaining a big part of the issue. I think the essentials of your argument can also be applied to cell phones.

New ideas and technology are often controversial and met with great resistance. Hell, people used to be put to death for suggesting the earth was round, rather than flat. Acceptance of new ideas always takes time, and the process is often rancorous. But, to coin a phrase - "Resistance is Futile".

I have a hunch that within 10 years, and probably less, the GPS vs. compass "controversy" will be long forgotten in much the same way the wooden snowshoes vs. aluminum "controversy" occurred. The issue of cell phones, which drew so many heated threads only a few years ago, is mostly a non-starter. Same thing will happen to the GPS.

And Neil get points for sneaking in "plethora".

Neil,

Perhaps this controversy can be best summed up by a statement made on another forum a few years back:

"To me, the term "sport" implies using a set of skills while getting some exercise. Like golf, flyfishing, playing hockey etc. And so if gps usage decreases the usage of skills then it is less sporting."

Less sporting. Nail on the head.

Very nicely phrased, Neil.

Neil said:

The playing field has been mercilessly leveled.

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Until their GPS unit craps the bed.

Could be batteries, tree cover, damage, etc., but when it does happen, and our "intrepid explorer" is 5 miles into the backcountry, what then?

I just got a GPS for my birthday this summer and have slowly been playing with it a bit. The thing is, I still *always* bring map and compass on hikes, even when we'll be following trails.

I think GPS is a wonderful technology, but it's simply a tool, not the be-all/end-all. My concern with it is that, due to it's effectiveness, it allows people who don't have the requisite nav skills (ex. GPS) to get themselves into potentially hairy situations when their magic box stops working.

I see a similar parallel with climbing. Lots of people have gotten into the sport in recent years through climbing gyms. Their phyiscal technique may progress rapidly and they can climb 5.12s in the gym, but then they go outide and try to do a hard trad climb at the Gunks or the Red and they get into trouble or get hurt because they don't have the "rock knowledge" of how to read the route, place protection, rope management, safety systems, etc. When outdoor trad climbing was the only type of climbing around, the technical skills and rock knowledge developed in tandem, so by the time folks were climbing 5.12s, they had done many routes and knew what they were doing.

I'm still on the fence as to whether mobile phones are a blessing or a curse in the backcountry...

My interest is not which method is better, more rewarding or more sporting. I'm intrigued by what is behind so much (the plethora ) controversy.

In my mind if there's one thing that typifies the competent and autonomous outdoorsman it's the compass and being knowledgeable in its use. In spite of all the high-tech gear when an outdoorsman (outdoorsperson) goes into the back-country they are self-reliant for the duration of their trip.

Now with gps one is on-line. Connected and relying on a data stream from space.

(New York Times crossword, last week: an 8 letter word beginning in P for, "amount of commentary on outdoors message boards regarding Global Positioning Systems.)

I was telling someone about how I like go hiking off-trail in the Adirondacks and they assumed I used a GPS. When I said I usually preferred to use a map and compass they said they thought map and compass was out of date.

When I told my neighbor that I knew how to use a gps he said to me, "now I'm impressed".

Kevin Rooney said:

.

And Neil get points for sneaking in "plethora".

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AND Fishnet Underwear !

Neil said:

My interest is not which method is better, more rewarding or more sporting. I'm intrigued by what is behind so much (the plethora ) controversy.

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Me thinks it's a bit of (perhaps well earned) snobbery. Like telling our kids how tough we had it in the days of 60/40 cloth and Frostline kits.

Chip said:

and Frostline kits.

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Now there's something I wish would come back!

Neil said:

(New York Times crossword, last week: an 8 letter word beginning in P for, "amount of commentary on outdoors message boards regarding Global Positioning Systems.)

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What day? Thursday, 11/13 - 34D "PAMPHLET"? I didn't spy any others but I only glanced quickly through the pile and I don't usually finish Saturday's.

Tim

Don't go dissing on fishnet underwear... I still have a set, & wish I could find more!

Same thing happened when pitons were introduced to technical climbing: the traditionalists of the day raised a fuss...

Doug

J.Dub said:

My concern with it is that, due to it's effectiveness, it allows people who don't have the requisite nav skills (ex. GPS) to get themselves into potentially hairy situations when their magic box stops working.

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That's the basis of my skepticism...GPS makes navigation easy, but it makes it easy to get in over your head. Unfortunately the ad copy and some fans of the technology (nobody on this site) seem to emphasize #1 over #2

I ran into somebody on the Garfield Ridge trail with his face in his GPS (mapping unit, and the only map he was carrying). He was looking for the Garfield Pond trail back to the Garfield Trail, which was closed...30 years ago? I showed him my AMC and NatGeo maps, neither of which showed it, said the trail was closed and would probably be difficult to follow, and obnoxious as it was, his most reliable route back to his car was probably to retrace his steps. He insisted the trail must be maintained because it was on his GPS, and the money quote: "I can't get lost. I have a GPS."

Neil said:

After all, nobody, but nobody has an issue with newfangled snowshoes, gore-tex, or any other of the new high-tech goods that have found their way into the back-country. How come all the fuss over GPS technology?

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I disagree with that statement, there have been several arguments about similar things

Neil said:

No doubt about it, the GPS is today's "killer app" of all things navigational, bar none.
...
The playing field has been mercilessly leveled.

Click to expand...

I disagree with that statement also, I would say the availability of online maps and satellite photos has a greater impact on the actual hike. If like most people you use a GPS like a compass and walk in straight lines, you still have to deal with all the nasty terrain and navigational issues. If you use a map or satellite photo to find a shorter route or easier route in, it has more effect on the actual hiking experience. Good selection of a route will trump just knowing you're in a nasty place anytime.

And nobody has yet responded to my comment in the Vose Spur note that with a GPS you actually have to go to the summit, you can't just quit at some likely bump lower down

jniehof said:

"I can't get lost. I have a GPS."

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I see a new signature line in the making!

I feel like I should chime in, since I'm apparently one of the most "critical" of those that rely on GPS technology.

Personally, I don't care what method other people use. I think everyone that goes hiking should at least have some fundamental map and compass skills to rely on if anything unexpected happens. I think they should really know their stuff if they plan on doing a lot of bushwhacking.

The real source of the "controversy", however, lies in the reactions of those devoted to their beloved GPSs. I won't say everyone, but I will say that a number of these people feel the need to justify or defend their use of a GPS. Some people get all defensive and offended if I opine that what they do with a GPS could also be done with a map and compass. Who cares what I think? But if people are truly feeling defensive about their use of a GPS, then they themselves probably feel like they are taking the easy way out or being "unsporting", as HH1 mentioned. That kind of reaction fuels the controversy.

Finally, I've been in the woods with people that use GPS. If you have the coordinates of where you are going, it will tell you how many horizontal feet away from your destination you are. 550' to the summit... 235' to the summit, 66' to the summit, etc... This just annoys me - it turns peakbagging into a glorified version of geocaching, and that's just too plain geeky for my tastes. (I'll admit it - I own a GPS and I use it for geocaching when I'm REALLY bored - which is not often these days.) But hey - geek out if that's what floats your boat. I'll stick to doing things the "hard way", as Peakbagr says... 'cause it makes me feel all heroic and stuff.

Speaking of word usage:

In my mind Neil takes the cake for using the bestest words, within context.
Hackles, plethora (proverbial), ensconced, yesteryear’s, blithely were all wicked cool.

But I have to say that Kevin’s usage of rancorous was wicked pissah.

About GPS vs Compass

I have nothing meaningful to add. I use both.

Assuming we're talking off-trail hiking, using maps and computers to plan an easier, or better route and then doing it with gps as opposed to map and compass will take you over pretty much the same terrain.

However, using a gps instead of the compass will be a lot easier, navigationally speaking. Or should I say, will require a lesser degree of skill IMO.

In addition to the at-home route planning the hike will be made easier by reading the land in front of one and being flexible enough to detour around blowdown fields and making any other changes in one's route. But, all things being equal, the gps helps you get your objectives with less skills. Hence my levelling of the playing field comment.

Not everyone is interested in applying ob-nav skills when they bushwhack, many are content to pass that challenge by and are totally fulfilled by all the rest that a bushwhack has to offer.