In the spring of 2012, three Japanese students take off from a coastal road just outside Brisbane in Australia. They have hired a car to experience the island paradise of North Stradbroke Island. The island is known for its endless white beaches, and according to the car’s navigation system, it is only a short drive from the mainland. What the navigation system doesn’t say anything about is the 15 kilometers of water and mud that have to be forced through to get there. Convinced that sooner or later the GPS will lead them onto a proper path, the students follow the direction arrow for 500 meters in the spring stones before it says stop. The car is stuck, and soon the rapidly rising tide forces them to abandon it in full view of a ferry of spectacled passengers. North Stradbroke Island. Photo: Shutterstock “Death by GPS” Although the situation was certainly experienced as dramatic for the three students, it probably appears most comical in retrospect. However, there are a number of incidents where navigation systems have led people astray with far more tragic outcomes. In fact, so many that the phenomenon has been given its own name in English: “Death by GPS”. “Death by GPS” is the horror example of what blindly following GPS can lead to. At the same time, there are also less obvious, but equally unfortunate consequences of becoming too dependent on navigation services when you are on a trip. We have researched what you do when you get lost, and our findings say something about the importance of having more legs to stand on when traveling outdoors. Let bikkja find the way By investigating how over 400 people who got lost found their way back, we developed an overview of which strategies and aids people use in such situations. In the past, it has been assumed that people largely resort to so-called random searching when they get lost. Our overview shows that what is happening is far more complex than that. The majority of the participants said that they used completely conscious strategies to orientate themselves. Most commonly used are digital map services such as Google Maps. And when the mobile phone no longer reaches, people often start moving at height to form a better overview or look for landmarks. The participants also talk about a number of more creative solutions: For example, three let the bee find its way. Some oriented themselves using sounds from traffic or rivers. Still others read weather phenomena and used the slope of the terrain to orientate themselves in a fog-covered landscape. The point is that there was rarely one single strategy that helped them find their way back. A change in subject? These findings fit well with previous studies, which suggest that Scandinavians are generally good at navigation. This can probably be explained by the fact that orientation is a compulsory part of physical education at secondary school and upper secondary school. Norwegians are also keen walkers. So eager that DNT has almost come to be considered a cornerstone of the Norwegian self-image. Still, we wonder how our navigation skills will fare in the future. The data reveals that a change may be in the offing. With map and compass on a mountain tour in Surtbyttdalen in Breheimen. Illustration image. Photo: NTB Because while all the participants in the survey used digital maps, there were far fewer who used traditional aids such as maps and compasses. It was primarily the older people who did that. This suggests that we have an incoming generation with a completely different perspective on which aids are available when traveling outdoors. Losing important references Having a conscious relationship with celestial directions, landmarks and other reference points can be absolutely decisive for whether you find your way back when you get lost. However, as we saw in the example with the Japanese students, the instructions on a screen can make us completely overlook our surroundings. Because while traditional maps encourage you to look up and read the landscape, point-to-point navigation often has the opposite effect. It therefore worries us that so many people turn to Google Maps, or even the map service in Snapchat and other social media, to find their way around. Not only can you lose important references along the way. These services also do not provide good enough information about the terrain to be a good aid in the outback. The services are still here to stay, and the way we teach people to travel in nature must reflect that. There must therefore be greater awareness of the fact that there are better digital aids when going on a trip, such as the Swedish Mapping Authority’s “Where?”. But even with suitable road maps on your phone, there are good reasons to warn against leaning too heavily on one strategy. A prerequisite One thing is that the phone can run out of battery or be damaged – what then? But there is also a connection between how many wayfinding strategies one has available and how safe one feels traveling in nature. And the degree of security in turn affects the likelihood that one will seek out nature at all. Ensuring that people are safe in nature is not just about preventing walkers from getting lost. It is a prerequisite for us to use it at all. Therefore, make it a point to be aware of your surroundings when you are on a trip during the autumn holidays. That way, you don’t just have more legs to stand on in a difficult situation. You are also helping to pass on good hiking habits. Published 29/09/2024, at 15.12
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Don’t trust Google Maps – Statement
