I finally switched from a compass to a GPS for orienteering and it felt like cheating

I grew up learning to navigate with a Silva compass and topographic maps, spent years getting lost on purpose in the woods around Ithaca. Last month a buddy handed me his old Garmin and I covered 8 miles without looking at the terrain once, kind of takes the skill out of it. Anybody else stick with the old methods for the challenge?

3 comments

3 Comments

logan_young2921d ago

Technology exists to make things easier, not to prove something. Using a GPS doesn't erase the skill of navigation it just updates it. Relying on a compass and map is like insisting on using a typewriter when a laptop is faster and more reliable. People said the same thing about GPS watches for running and now nobody blinks an eye. If you can still find your way using a map when the batteries die then you've got both skills covered, right?

ellis.susan20d ago

Question is whether most people actually can still find their way with a map when the batteries die, or are we just assuming we could? Feels like a lot of folks would be lost without that little blue dot.

wendyg4320d ago

Totally get what you're saying, susan. I had a scare last summer on a hike when my phone died and I had to pull out an old paper map for the first time in years. Felt like a total bozo fumbling with it, honestly. And Logan brings up a fair point about having both skills covered, but I think a lot of people just never learned maps to begin with, so there's nothing to fall back on. My teenagers look at a paper map like it's a foreign language, they'd be completely hopeless without that blue dot. It's not about being better or worse, it's just that we've mostly stopped teaching the old way.