Where Are We? - GPS Declassified: From Smart Bombs to Smartphones - page 151

house in 2009 after an apparent mix-up involving gps coordinates. 13 Angry
Hollywood Hills residents, exasperated by cars and tour buses clogging nar-
row roads and dead-end streets near the famous Hollywood sign, finally con-
vinced Google Maps and Garmin in early 2012 to change the programming in
their systems and guide users to appropriate viewing sites farther away. 14
Media reports of gps users gone astray seem to have waned, perhaps indi-
cating that device makers have corrected most map glitches or that users have
become more cautious, but such stories still appear occasionally. Tractor-trailer
drivers using gps units to locate Broadhead Road in a Bethlehem, Pennsylva-
nia, industrial park were still finding themselves stuck on Broadhead Court, a
narrow, nineteenth-century lane, a local newspaper reported in February 2012. 15
Days later the Costa Concordia cruise ship ran aground and tipped over off the
Italian coast. A former cruise industry executive acknowledged that technolo-
gies such as underwater sonar and gps made many crews complacent about
safety. 16 The London Telegraph reported that buses transporting American and
Australian teams from Heathrow Airport to the 2012 Olympic Village got lost,
turning a ninety-minute trip into four hours, because the destination was not
programmed into the vehicles' gps systems and the drivers did not know how
to operate them. 17 On the first day of competition hundreds of thousands of
spectators lined the men's cycling course, using mobile phones to send pho-
tos, videos, and text messages. Overwhelmed data networks blocked the infor-
mation from gps units traveling with the cyclists, so television commentators
could not report how far ahead of the pack the leaders were. 18
A survey in 2010 showed that more than half of British drivers do not trust
gps devices; a third said they have gotten lost while using them and 15 percent
blamed them for making them late to an important event. 19 Half of Australian
drivers reported a lack of trust, while two-thirds blamed gps units for getting
them lost and a third acknowledged frustration with using their device. 20
Michelin, which publishes maps and travel guides in addition to manufactur-
ing tires, surveyed 2,200 U.S. adult drivers in April 2013 and found that 63 per-
cent said gps devices had led them astray at least four times, while 7 percent
reported being misdirected more than ten times. 21 Allstate Insurance reported
that a study of three thousand drivers found 83 percent of men and 75 percent
of women occasionally disregard their turn-by-turn directions, while a third
keep a map in the car in case they need one. 22 States still print millions of paper
road maps to distribute at highway rest stops and tourist venues, but lower
demand and tight finances make such programs attractive targets for budget