What Do You Think? Archived Poll

As a sailor, I'm glad I learned to navigate before GPS. When the equipment fails, and it will due to lightning, etc., I will still be able to find my way with pencil, paper, watch and a compass.

Too many of us are becoming push-button navigators, totally dependent on machines to tell us where we are and where to go. What happens when the machines fail?

Of course we are. Ask Marvin Creamer (and his ship the Globestar), who did the first instruments free circumnavigation, an event that has NEVER received its due recognition.

When I gave a talk to the instructors of marine navigation at US Naval Academy at Annapolis, I discovered that some of them did not understand the connection between time and longitude. That's scary!

GPS devices can get broken or lost - then you have to go back to a paper map! Reading maps can be difficult for some people. It's too bad geography is no longer taught in school. It would help explain to people their relationship to their locale & why we cannot be an isolationistic society.

Pretty soon no one will know what 2+2 equals. I use GPS all the time on board our sailboat, it keeps me off the reefs. But I never sail without paper charts and every so often I plot my position using dead reckoning and other 'old fashioned' tools. (like a pencil) Sooner or later any electronic device will fail.

GPS is an amazing tool but there is never a reason not to have maps/charts available. GPS can fail for many reasons and the "old fashion" methods are tried and true! We should never loose those skills.

I spent a couple thousand hours out of Midway Island on the Pacific Barrier. We used a sextant and Loran charts that were stamped "THEORETICAL COVERAGE NOT FOR NAVIGATION" When using stars for navigation the best you could do on a clear nite was find where you were fifteen minutes ago! Flying at something over 200 mph thats some 50 miles ago! We sure would have welcomed a GPS unit! I was known as " All over the Ocean Van Cleve

While GPS will give a precise location, we do not learn as much about the areas surrounding our travels and their locations relative to each other. Learning about neighbors and their neighborhoods is left by the wayside when the maps are surrendered.

As a pilot, navigation is key, and although we use GPS more than most, personally, I never go out without having a well planned "backup", and all pilots expect that during a flight test, if they show reliance on the devices, the pilot examiner will turn them off, and say "Uh Oh.. your batteries just died.. now what are you going to do?"... You better have a good answer!

Batteries die, signals fade, electronics are very fussy when it comes to inclement weather. The ability to read a paper map and compass will always be a valuable bit of knowledge when all else fails.

You better have at least one good map and time piece. I have had to use them more than once when the computer took a break.

You'd better have a paper map like a USGS 1:24K Quad as back up in case your fancy electronic gadget poops out or your batteries die. Just a thought from an old timer.