Long gone are the days of navigating by the stars with the use of a Sextant. The skill is now foreign to all but the oldest of sailors. Even today, basic knowledge of how to use a map and a compass is also falling by the wayside and seems to only be taught to school children. With the introduction of Global Positioning Systems aka the GPS, basic navigation is no longer deemed as an essential skill. The GPS, which uses satellites to triangulate your position around the globe, is the most revolutionary navigation tool since the map itself, which has been around since cave drawings.

I’ve used a GPS for many years now and they are without a doubt very handy to have with you when you travel. Not only can they help you get to where you want to go but also they can track where you’ve been, which can be especially handy when you get disoriented in the woods.

The features of modern day GPS devices are long and vast so I won’t get into the details since they can all be found on the websites of their respective manufacturers. Instead, I want to touch on some of the lesser-known drawbacks and limitations of relying on a GPS as a sole means of navigation.

Accuracy
Commercial GPS units are now accurate to within as little as 1sqr metre (which is good enough for most military applications) however, they are not consistent. This depends on how many geo-synchronos satellites the unit is locked on to and how strong those signals are, which by the way are ever changing as your position changes. Herein lays the problem. If the signal weakens, you could find yourself positioned on the wrong side of a river or past the road that you wanted to turn on.

On a recent ride along the Seaway Trail, which skirts the southern shores of Lake Ontario, my GPS signal weakened and suddenly placed me 5km offshore in the lake. Yes, thoughts of Moses on a Motorcycle came to my mind also. At the same time though my GPS was unable to accurately calculate my speed and showed me travelling across the water at 225km/hr. (GPS units also record top speed and at one point logged my max speed at 555km/hr).

Reliability
One of the other shortfalls of relying on a GPS is that they require power. You would think that this would be obvious, but time and time again, people have been caught off guard with drained batteries leaving them without a clue as to where they are and up the proverbial creek without a paddle, so to speak. The simple rule of thumb here is to always ensure that you have a fresh set of batteries on hand.

Safety
Although using a GPS is convenient, they do present a safety risk as a visual distraction while riding. Some people simply view them through the map window of their tank bags, whereas others use proper ram mounts affixed to their handle bars, placing the unit higher up making it easier to view while riding. No matter how you choose to use it, it still presents a visual distraction. Each time you look at the screen, you are effectively NOT looking at the road ahead.

In summery, the modern GPS has a long list of advantages when used properly but never make the mistake of relying on them as “fact”. In the end it’s still a good idea to carry an old fashioned road map.

A map never “crashes” and a compass always points north.