The Religion of Global Positioning Systems

The first time I rented a car in NY I lost my way a couple of times even when I had access to the best maps. The complexity and number of the smaller streets and my interest in exploring new places influenced my decision to buy a vehicle with a navigation system. I have never regretted that decision as the truck has allowed me to jump on with confidence for any trip. Some of my friends told me that it will disable my ability to understand the city better. In the next few years I found out that they too had bought navigation systems but I am sure that the justification would not have applied to me in the first place. It is always the case. This could have come from a false assumption on how I was going to use my
navigation system or the lack of understanding on the factors that influenced my decision. I never wanted to argue because I did not fully understand the reasons for their conclusions.

The navigation system, as it was integrated into the car, always showed accurate information on when and where to turn. May be the speed at which the car was
traveling would always be taken into account to calculate the time and distance. During many of my long road trips, I had the luxury of taking detours without
even knowing the terrain. Its also true that a couple of occasions, I was directed with wrong way traffic and false destinations but one should be dumb enough
to follow the directions as it is, without considering the conditions.

There could be millions of devices, of different brands, that follow different satellites but the purpose was same. To give directions to move. Those directions
would come in different languages, different voices, possibly through different routes. But an address, a destination, would always be the same. The truth remain
the same. It would be a shame for me, or anybody for that matter, to claim that our navigation system is the better one or the only one. Truly speaking, you will still be good without one.