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Posted by karakoram 8 hours ago

GPS and the Lost Art of Getting Lost(www.newyorker.com)
65 points | 52 commentspage 3
ButlerianJihad 6 hours ago|
I've been visiting a particular hospital while perfectly healthy, and said hospital is undergoing a lot of construction. Even in normal conditions, a large medical center is challenging to navigate, but with the construction surprises, even more so. Google Maps doesn't have sufficient internal information to help (although I noticed that Maps does seem to know where all the sections are inside the local Best Buy?) I did obtain and scan a comprehensive map of the campus, but sometimes it is not sufficiently interactive to find where I am, or how to get somewhere.

So I spend a lot of time walking and trying to follow the many directional signs, which can be helpful. Hospital navigation is a lot of walking. It is unsurprising that many will punt to a wheelchair with assistant. Anyway, it is often the case that I encounter a VIP administrator or high official (evident from their high heels, elegant dress, and lofty demeanor) and they easily notice I'm very lost, and they offer to help and give me directions. The first time, I accepted because I was just trying to get outside without encountering the E.R. again. But the second time I looked the lady in the eye and I said "no thank you! I rather enjoy getting lost in here!" and she smiled and said she feels the same way.

tqi 6 hours ago||
> “I don’t think there’s enough research yet to say G.P.S. is terrible, that it’s hurting your brain,” Hegarty said. But it’s clear that turn-by-turn directions prioritize stimulus response over cognitive mapping.

Articles like this one annoy me so much, where is clear the author started with a premise and backfilled the "evidence". The New Yorker would never publish this kind of speculative innuendo if the article was for example about vaccine hesitancy, so it's frustrating to see that stanard relaxed for other topics.

cubefox 5 hours ago|
I'm pretty sure there is sufficient general research which says that if you don't train a skill, it gets weaker.
ghaff 3 hours ago||
Way back when, I did take some orienteering although I never did it seriously especially because, in the Northeast, it's mostly trails. But I haven't taken any orienteering for years and years.
black6 7 hours ago||
We were on our way to Annual Training for the National Guard on a charter bus. I was seated close to the front and could see where we were heading, and knew that we were leaving the small town where the garrison was, getting on the interstate, and heading to the post across the state. I saw the sign on the side of the road pointing straight ahead to the interstate entrance/exit. The bus driver's GPS said "Turn right," and he turned right without thought, right into a neighborhood with narrow streets and deep ditches on either side. He couldn't navigate the turns in the bus to get us back out, and eventually had to back out the way he came. Thanks, Tom Tom.
arjie 5 hours ago|
Amusingly both this and the opposite happen semi-frequently to us. Sometimes the maps apps have the location where people most often get dropped off and that’s superior because the signs are mechanically true but also useless (next 3 exits to the XYZ museum, but the first two lead to the one that’s closed most days which isn’t mentioned on the exit sign).
iluvcommunism 5 hours ago|
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