baltimoresun.com

« March showers, April flowers | Main | Flash! Boom! Summer's gone »

March 27, 2007

Following GPS into the drink

GPS is a very cool technology. If I had had the dough, I would have ordered my Prius with it. But there is always a need for a functioning human brain to provide backup. A British woman could have used more cranial software recently. The GPS in her Mercedes said there was a road ahead, so she plunged ahead, despite data entering her eyeballs that told her brain the road was under water, submerged by heavy rains.

The water grabbed the L96,000 (that's $188,000; is that even possible?) SL500 and tossed it downstream. The woman managed to escape, was rescued, and ... well, you can read about it here. Take-home lesson: If the road ahead is flooded, turn around, don't drown, no matter what your GPS tells you.

Posted by Frank Roylance at 10:50 AM | | Comments (1)
Categories: Flooding
        

Comments

Lots of money can get you somewhere in life, but is apparently no substitute for common sense, and may hinder it in some cases.

Heard a concert last weekend in Baltimore of two musicians from the Shetland Islands, one of whom recounted spending several hours with Google Maps printing out directions to all the places in the States they would visit. This was in lieu of spending $800 for a Nav Star system. He was quite proud of his work, until he picked up the rental car and realized it had built in talking navigation.

In the end, though he learned more about where they were going by studying the maps, he might have saved some time by trusting the GPS. Which makes me wonder why travel if you can pass through and not have to know much about where you are.

Post a comment

All comments must be approved by the blog author. Please do not resubmit comments if they do not immediately appear. You are not required to use your full name when posting, but you should use a real e-mail address. Comments may be republished in print, but we will not publish your e-mail address. Our full Terms of Service are available here.

Verification (needed to reduce spam):

About Frank Roylance
This site is the Maryland Weather archive. The current Maryland Weather blog can be found here.
Frank Roylance is a reporter for The Baltimore Sun. He came to Baltimore from New Bedford, Mass. in 1980 to join the old Evening Sun. He moved to the morning Sun when the papers merged in 1992, and has spent most of his time since covering science, including astronomy and the weather. One of The Baltimore Sun's first online Web logs, the Weather Blog debuted in October 2004. In June 2006 Frank also began writing comments on local weather and stargazing for The Baltimore Sun's print Weather Page. Frank also answers readers’ weather queries for the newspaper and the blog. Frank Roylance retired in October 2011. Maryland Weather is now being updated by members of The Baltimore Sun staff
-- ADVERTISEMENT --

Sign up for FREE weather alerts*
Get free Baltimore Sun mobile alerts
Sign up for weather text alerts
SKY NOTES WEATHER

Returning user? Update preferences.
Sign up for more Sun text alerts
*Standard message and data rates apply. Click here for Frequently Asked Questions.
Maryland Weather Center


Area Weather Stations
Resources and Sun coverage
• Weather news

• Readers' photos

• Data from the The Sun's weather station

• 2011 stargazers' calendar

• Become a backyard astronomer in five simple steps

• Baltimore Weather Archive
Daily airport weather data for Baltimore from 1948 to today

• National Weather Service:
Sterling Forecast Office

• Capital Weather Gang:
Washington Post weather blog

• CoCoRaHS:
Community Collaborative Rain, Hail and Snow Network. Local observations by volunteers

• Weather Bug:
Webcams across the state

• National Data Buoy Center:
Weather and ocean data from bay and ocean buoys

• U.S. Drought Monitor:
Weekly maps of drought conditions in the U.S.

• USGS Earthquake Hazards Program:
Real-time data on earthquakes

• Water data:
From the USGS, Maryland

• National Hurricane Center

• Air Now:
Government site for air quality information

• NWS Climate Prediction Center:
Long-term and seasonal forecasts

• U.S. Climate at a Glance:
NOAA interactive site for past climate data, national, state and city

• Clear Sky Clock:
Clear sky alerts for stargazers

• NASA TV:
Watch NASA TV

• Hubblesite:
Home page for Hubble Space Telescope

• Heavens Above:
Everything for the backyard stargazer, tailored to your location

• NASA Eclipse Home Page:
Centuries of eclipse predictions

• Cruise Critic: Hurricane Zone:
Check to see how hurricanes may affect your cruise schedule

• Warming World:
NASA explains the science of climate change with articles, videos, “data visualizations,” and space-based imagery.

• What on Earth:
NASA blog on current research at the space agency.
Most Recent Comments
Blog updates
Recent updates to baltimoresun.com news blogs
 Subscribe to this feed
Charm City Current
Stay connected