This is your brain on satnavs
First, I learned a new word today: “satnavs,” for satellite-guided navigators.
Next, this is exactly what I intuitively sense when I use my navigator to help with driving directions:
”˜Our results fit with models in which the hippocampus simulates journeys on future possible paths while the prefrontal cortex helps us to plan which ones will get us to our destination.
”˜When we have technology telling us which way to go, however, these parts of the brain simply don’t respond to the street network. In that sense our brain has switched off its interest in the streets around us.
’The findings build on previous research by UCL that the hippocampuses of London cabbies expand as their knowledge of streets increases.
The current study suggests drivers following satnav directions do not engage their hippocampus ”“limiting the learning of the city street network.
How did we all manage without them? Well, I used to regularly get lost in a city such as Boston. Then again, I still do, because satnavs get very confused there and sometimes go on strike or give impossible directions, such as to go the wrong way down a one-way street.
If a person has too many experiences like that, satnavs lose their effectiveness because people start distrusting them. And if you don’t trust your satnav, you don’t do what it says.
My car’s built-in navigation system is always warning me of traffic jams that don’t exist. Sometimes it’ll see three or four of them in an hour, on peaceful country roads with no traffic lights, where the biggest traffic threat is a stopped school bus or a herd of cows crossing the road. So, over the weekend, I was on an interstate near a mid-sized city when the system anxiously warned me one more time of a traffic jam ahead and urged me to take an upcoming exit. “Ha!” I exclaimed as I swept past the exit. “Crying wolf again! Can’t fool me!” Then I got over the hill and saw, in fact, a traffic jam that extended as far as the eye could see, with no more escape routes. I was stuck in it for the next half-hour. Sometimes it pays to trust them.
Years ago, when portable GPS units were becoming affordable, my son in law and I would go salmon fishing in the Puget Sound, from the most northwest point on the Peninsula. I had gone with him several times, before– but this year he borrowed a GPS unit from a friend.
It was the kind that set waypoints, which you could follow back, as I recall.
Anyway, we were towards the middle of the Sound when a thick fog rolled in. I mean thick, so thick that you couldn’t gauge a direction from the sun.
We started back, and my SIL kept wanting to head a certain direction, but that wasn’t what the GPS unit was telling us. He was certain which direction we should head, and I had to keep reminding him we should probably follow the direction the GPS was saying.
Needless to say, we popped out of the fog bank, a couple hundred yards from the boat launch.
Had we kept going the direction my SIL was certain was correct, we might have ended up missing the peninsula all together, depending on which way the tide was running at the time, which means we would have been heading to the Pacific.
Carry this forward. Coming generations will use satnavs when they first begin driving.* They will never look around, never see the landmarks, never “learn” the way. All the satnavs will give the same directions, because they’re all programmed the same way. After a decade, with everyone following the same directions,** all those routes will be traffic jams, and all the other streets will have no traffic!
* This assumes that human beings will actually “drive,” as opposed to “ride in” a vehicle.
** Cue Robert Frost
The Park Service is always rescuing hikers who head out with a satnav device to tell them which way to go, but no topo map to warn them that they will have to cross 50-foot ravines or climb nearly-vertical hillsides.
As a directions-challenged person, I happen to think the satnav is the best invention ever made (the DVR is the second best invention ever made). It can be frustrating at times, particularly since I live in Texas where every major highway has been continuously under construction for the better part of the past 10 years, thereby confusing the poor nav system; but without it I would most likely be wondering around somewhere in Arkansas right now.
As someone that has always had a very good sense of direction and understanding of how cities (most anyway) are laid out I find that I only use some type of GPS for very strange locations like out in the country on county roads and the sort.
We are rapidly approaching a time when young adults are going to be unable to do anything without technological help.
Satnav is like any other tool, or technology, it can be used wisely or otherwise.
I bought my first Garman (hope they appreciate the plug) when we contemplated moving from Va to Ca; we ended up flying. But, after arriving in an unfamiliar locale the GPS was of great help.
Sure, we have driven across the country several times the old fashioned way; and we have moved to new locales many times. But, the technology was a great tool.
I have learned that the Garman has drawbacks. Now that I know my way around, I often ignore its routing, which can be arcane.
Hard to understand why people would not observe their surroundings. I just like to know–but. One granddaughter was visiting her sister in DC. While sister worked she set out to explore museums, and so forth. Phone battery died. She did not know Sis’s address, nor have a clue how to get back. Finally, went into a store and bought a battery charging cable. Saved.
Oldflyer:
Yep my nephew is like your granddaughter I guess as he doesn’t know anybody’s phone number, address or even the time without checking out his phone. Just can’t wrap my mind around that as I know by memory most family members info but I guess I’m out of touch with the new way of things.
I like my GPS and use it all of the time because in addition to the route I like the ETA and mileage features. Traveling in a metro area I don’t know it has been a life saver, especially a few years ago driving through the D.C. area up through Baltimore heading back to Allentown PA where I was working for a few months. And, yes it is a crutch and I don’t bother to learn the streets and turns anymore.
As for Boston, 50 years ago I was stationed at Ft. Devens West of Boston and my wife was working for a bank in Boston. She usually took the train in but one day, close to Christmas I had time to come in early and take her to dinner in Boston. I knew the building she worked in but every street I came to was one way going the wrong direction.
I pulled up and asked a policeman who was directing traffic how to get to my destination and he gave me a series of left and right turns and driving through a parking lot, I think. Anyway my third time to pull up to him looking bewildered he told me to stay put, he walked part way up the block and stopped the whole street so then had me back up to him and make a turn that put me on the proper street going the right direction.
I sure appreciated his help and in those days when I was on foot in Boston I was impressed by the officers on horses who could walk the horses sideways to back pedestrians off the crosswalks back up to the sidewalks. I don’t know if it was the time and place 1966 Boston but I have lived in different parts of the world and never saw as much foot traffic as I saw in Boston with the exception of Times Square certain time of the day.
Back to GPS, of course if you are like a Dallas lawyer buddy of ours, he knew for sure his GPS could never give him the wrong answer and he spent three hours driving around central Oklahoma from 11 pm till 2 am when he was joining us for a Pheasant hunt the next morning. He was too stubborn to call us and ask us to drive out to a waypoint and guid him in and he continued to argue with us the next day about the navigation system being right and the roads being wrong.
I am now an old man and I really like that annoy lady’s voice telling me when to turn and which lane to be in for the next turn.
We used to have a GM car with OnStar. It was nice to use when long-distance traveling but it was irritating to hear her parent/teacher voice to tell us “You have left the designated route!” whenever we stopped to buy gas, eat, whatever. I won’t tell you what our response was.
GPS is fine as long as one recognizes its limitations and adjusts accordingly. But to make that adjustment it does take some semblance of situational awareness. I turn the voice off as I find it annoying. Growing up with maps, a quick glance at the screen tells me all I need to know, and as to whether I agree with the GPS routing.
I second the idea that the technology is producing a generation that can’t function without it. A scary thought. I even see it in my own daughters.
When heading to unknown territory we first obtain detailed, up to date maps. Mrs parker drives and I compare the maps to the GPS directions. We have found maps to be more accurate except in a few instances. I let her drive because my hippocampus is masculine and better at reading maps. Also, she never wants to stop and ask for direction, but I actually enjoy asking for directions because local knowledge trumps maps or GPS. 😉
If you are driving the back roads of Kentucky you need to first give the names of your Kentucky kin and where they live before you can expect truth directions. Outsiders without roots will be provided with a hills and hollers goose chase.
I have driven from Texas to the Northeast without use of a map, let alone a SATNAV system. I have never used a SATNAV. When my cousin from NY visited me, her rental car had a SATNAV system, which greatly assisted her.
I am from the old school that still navigates with the assistance of landmarks. Several years ago I was in my hometown driving to the home of an old friend, who lives at the dead end of a back road, when I thought I had gotten lost. It turns out that I had gotten thrown off by a change in one of the cross roads. I was used to it being dirt, but it had been repaved with white rock.
OldTexan’s experience of driving in Boston reminds me that years ago I decided to avoid driving in Boston as much as possible. Boston proper has undecipherable roads, and the drivers from 128 on in are the worst in the country, in my opinion. When my sister lived inside 128, some driving was inevitable- though I used the subway system as much as possible. When I drive from CT to Maine, I try to get no closer than 495 to Boston.
I swear my friend’s satnav gets huffy when her directions are not followed and she blurts out “Recalculating!”
I like maps. I like charting the route and imagining the turns in my head so that I get in the proper lane, look for landmarks along the way (so I can retrace my steps on the way home), etc. Love to explore and find back roads and shortcuts to frequent destinations. Probably why I HATE the idea of driverless cars – and now it sounds like satnav is stealthily working to get people to accept it. Count me out!
Apart from traffic, DC is fairly easy to navigate because N-S streets are numbered, E-W streets are lettered, and diagonal streets are named after states.
In CO, the major cities are along the front range, so you always know which way is West (the mountains). Also helps that streets are generally laid out in grids.
Then there’s Boston. SNL did a great skit on this (can’t find it) where gameshow contestants were asked directions to various places, and their responses referenced landmarks like Jordan Marsh, Dunkin’ Donuts, etc. Nailed it.
I first came to Boston in 1964 with my parents on a trip from our home in Cleveland where everyone is polite and well behaved, as only Midwesterners can be. We hit Harvard Square at rush hour and my father almost went into cardiac arrest. No one, and I mean no one, on foot obeyed the traffic laws and the cars, which could only move at a snail’s pace, were just barely in compliance. If you’ve ever gone snorkeling and encountered a large school of fish that swims around you, you’ll understand what it felt like. Boston traffic is much more orderly now, though the traffic circle at the bottom of our hill is known locally as the “Circle of Death”.
GPS works in the burbs, but in the few remaining parts of old Boston it can be very challenging to navigate the cow paths and Indian trails humorously known as streets.
I was a professional navigator. Literally; I taught celestial navigation and radar navigation for the USAF’s Interservice Navigator School at Mather AFB, Sacramento, CA.
This is literally true; when you’re using an electronic navigation system, you quickly become too lazy to care where you are. Since getting my first Garmin, I have become fairly dependent on the thing, to the point where I no longer even keep a set of AAA maps in my car.
I used to work in the automotive division of Garmin, so it’s great to read everybody’s comments.
You always have to be careful of technology. One couple drove their car into a pond, because the GPS told them it was a road. There was also a soldier, whose life we saved, because his GPS took a bullet for him.
Always been pretty happy with my GPS, but I only use it on long trips. I also like to have a paper map, just in case.
Griffin Says:
March 21st, 2017 at 3:40 pm…
We are rapidly approaching a time when young adults are going to be unable to do anything without technological help.
* * *
THE FEELING OF POWER
by Isaac Asimov
Worlds of Science Fiction, February 1958
http://themathlab.com/writings/short%20stories/feeling.htm
I love maps! You can learn so much while planning your trip. When we moved to LA, I spent the entire flight “learning” central LA using a fold-up map. After landing at LAX and renting a car, it was so much fun zipping up and down and east and west getting to know the “real” streets and blvds.
Having used Satnav twice (once in France and once here in the U.S.), I don’t think they’d ever ask me to be their spokeswoman. 😉
And I get super annoyed with my family when they use Satnav just driving around the city we all grew up in. What????? And no, it didn’t save us from detours or rush hour traffic and once it sent us the wrong way altogether. I told my sister she was nuts.
When I was working in our nearest large city and driving to different sites every day, I used my faithful Thomas guide which rarely let me down. I also learned how to get around the city without needing the maps. Ever since I have been using a GPS (and often being led astray) I have said that GPS makes you stupid. Now I have that suspicion confirmed by science. Thank you.
And Neo, you attract the best commenters! Always have. 😎
I was on vacation recently in a couple of towns I’d never visited before. The first one I got around by map. I rented a car and drove to the second one using GPS, and used the car around town. If you dropped me anywhere in the first town I could find my way around. I learned nothing about the layout of the second one.
One of the comments above reminded me that when I used to drive West out of Boston, around the Charles River I would make some kind of funny turn and end up in a college parking lot. I think it was Harvard.
On the East side a wrong turn in 1966-67 would put me on the bridge, paying a toll, and I would end up at the Logan Airport where I didn’t want to be and after the third time over the bridge I found the correct street and turn. That was kind of like the Kingston Trio song about the M.T.A., and his fate is still unknown.
Ken Mitchell, GPS came into airplanes rather late in my career. I loved the displays; you could really grasp geographical awareness at a glance. On the other hand, your comment is also germane. I have flown across the country with pilot’s who never unfolded a map; and really didn’t monitor the display very much. The technology took care of everything–unless it failed.
Back to my original statement; wonderful tools if used properly–but, traps waiting to be sprung if not.
As others have said; I love maps. I cannot read a book set in an unfamiliar locale, without an atlas at hand.
That was kind of like the Kingston Trio song about the M.T.A., and his fate is still unknown.
🙂 Affirming why I approach driving in Boston with the trepidation of a gazelle peeking into a lions’ den.
I echo “great commenters!” Paul notes that central Boston streets were, in fact, cow paths 200+ years ago. And Aesop picked up that fabulous Asimov story, “The Feeling of Power.”
I just saw the latest installment of the TV documentary “Air Disasters” which details the Asiana Boeing 777 crash at SFO several years ago. The pilot had gone overspeed in his approach and had pulled the throttles back to idle, knowing that the auto-throttle computer would re-apply power as needed, as it had done in his simulator training. Only it didn’t, and the plane crashed at the foot of the runway killing 3 and injuring 187.
The NTSB report had multiple conflicting conclusions, but the key one was that the auto-pilot/auto-throttle has such an intricate system of operational logic, that few pilots could know what its state is without carefully studying the screens. Do we have a word yet for bad computer/human interface design?