{"id":1241,"date":"2010-06-21T18:32:39","date_gmt":"2010-06-21T23:32:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kickert.info\/blog\/?p=1241"},"modified":"2010-06-21T18:32:39","modified_gmt":"2010-06-21T23:32:39","slug":"mixed-feelings-on-my-tomtom-gps","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/kickert.info\/blog\/2010\/06\/21\/mixed-feelings-on-my-tomtom-gps\/","title":{"rendered":"Mixed feelings on my Tomtom GPS"},"content":{"rendered":"

The other day I took most of my birthday money and bought a new GPS (I say new, because I already have a 10 year old hand held backpacking model). \u00a0I have been researching then for a while and was looking for something I could use here and in Swaziland. \u00a0I ended up getting a great deal at Best Buy<\/a> on a Tomtom XL 340<\/a> and so far have been pretty happy with my purchase.<\/p>\n

It does some pretty snazzy stuff. \u00a0It has lane guidance so you know how to navigate interstate transitions. \u00a0It has a huge number of pre programmed points of interest. \u00a0It calculates trip time on the fly based on actually average speeds for each road. \u00a0It has audible turn by turn directions. \u00a0It was great this week for our trip down to Tallahassee. \u00a0You could take backroads without having to worry about watch road signs. \u00a0It was easy to find out what sort of\u00a0amenities\u00a0were at each stop. \u00a0It allowed us to take a few shortcuts on our way down.<\/p>\n

As nice as it has been, I have some misgivings about the thing. \u00a0You see, I am generally pretty good with directions. \u00a0I can glance at a map and be able to get around a city with relative ease. \u00a0I am good at being able to keep my bearings and guess which road to take if our trip takes an unexpected route. \u00a0I am great at reading a map and being able to plan a trip. \u00a0The problem is, when you have a GPS that does it all, those skills are not only\u00a0unnecessary, they are actually diminished.<\/p>\n

On this most recent trip, despite knowing my latitude and longitude down to a few feet, there were many times when I did not know where I was. \u00a0Because I no longer needed to plan my route or keep up with roads I was passing, I found I was not as well\u00a0acquainted\u00a0with the city or how road systems ran together. \u00a0It was easy for me to the closest Zaxby’s, but if someone asked me how to get there later, there is no way I could have told them without relying on th GPS.<\/p>\n

Perhaps I am just being\u00a0sensitive\u00a0because previously my map and directions skills were valued and recognized and now anyone with $100 can look like\u00a0Magellan; but, I think there is something more to it. \u00a0Simply put, I think a GPS like my Tomtom is great for getting around, but is horrible for knowing where you are.<\/p>\n

Then again, maybe I am just a luddite<\/a>. \u00a0I am sure I would probably decry the advent of the calculator as being the end of our math skills. \u00a0At the end of the day, while I appreciate its\u00a0convenience, I would never trade my skills and\u00a0experience.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The other day I took most of my birthday money and bought a new GPS (I say new, because I already have a 10 year old hand held backpacking model). \u00a0I have been researching then for a while and was looking for something I could use here and in Swaziland. \u00a0I ended up getting a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[570,567,569,539,336,568],"class_list":["post-1241","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-reviews","tag-directions","tag-gps","tag-luddite","tag-maps","tag-technology","tag-tomtom"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/kickert.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1241","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/kickert.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/kickert.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/kickert.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/kickert.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1241"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/kickert.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1241\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1243,"href":"http:\/\/kickert.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1241\/revisions\/1243"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/kickert.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1241"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/kickert.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1241"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/kickert.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1241"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}