Noted this on The Guardian website:
GPS directs driver to death in Spain's largest reservoir
Original Story in La Chronica de Badajoz.
Here are maps of the area shown using Geofabrik's MapCompare:
OpenStreetMap
Noted this on The Guardian website:
GPS directs driver to death in Spain's largest reservoir
Original Story in La Chronica de Badajoz.
Here are maps of the area shown using Geofabrik's MapCompare:
Discussion
Comment from HannesHH on 5 October 2010 at 08:48
It's not GPS that's at fault here. It is bad and/or outdated maps. GPS just can pinpoint your location. Maps decide the rest.
(I guess "GPS" is simply the term for "GPS-based routing" nowadays?)
Comment from Vclaw on 5 October 2010 at 12:32
Or the fault of people assuming their map is correct, and not looking where they are going.
Was there not any warning signs, or barriers across the old road?
Comment from davespod on 5 October 2010 at 13:02
The comparison links make very interesting viewing, as does the TomTom online route finder, which has just directed me through the very same reservoir:
http://routes.tomtom.com/route/Capilla%252C%2520ES%254038.82046%252C-5.08428%2540-1/Chill%25C3%25B3n%252C%2520ES%254038.79689%252C-4.86701%2540-1/?leave=now&traffic=true¢er=38.810934355592%2C-5.030878306885&zoom=10&map=basic
Comment from c2r on 7 October 2010 at 07:01
....and another one:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1315762/White-van-man-airlifted-safety-satnav-sends-mountain.html
Comment from Brian de Ford on 10 December 2017 at 15:56
It is almost certainly NOT (as others have suggested) bad maps, out-of-date maps, or bad routeing.
Here is the most likely (almost certain) explanation.
Most satnav systems give the user three option (sometimes more).
1) Shortest route.
2) Fastest route.
3) WALKING route.
Guess which one leads to idiot drivers ending up on goat tracks…
Then again, the comment from davespot indicates that maybe Tom Tom gets it wrong, but the link doesn’t work for me so I’m not sure if it implicitly went for a walking route.