[ti:Driving With GPS Can Be Difficult to Navigate]
[ar:Steve Ember]
[al:Technology Report]
[by:www.51voa.com]
[00:00.00]This is the VOA Special English Technology Report.
[00:08.96]Global Positioning Systems are now a part of 
[00:12.30]everyday driving in many countries. 
[00:16.19]These satellite-based systems provide 
[00:19.87]turn-by-turn directions to help people 
[00:22.21]get to where they want to go. 
[00:25.75]But, they can also cause a lot of problems, 
[00:28.54]send you to the wrong place or 
[00:31.23]leave you completely lost. 
[00:34.96]Many times, the driver is to blame. 
[00:38.54]Sometimes a GPS error is responsible. 
[00:41.38]Most often, says Barry Brown, 
[00:43.62]it is a combination of the two.
[00:47.80]Barry Brown is with the Mobile Life Centre 
[00:49.84]in Stockholm, Sweden. 
[00:54.32]The center studies human-computer interaction, 
[01:00.94]or HCI, especially communications involving wireless devices.
[01:03.88]We spoke to Mr. Brown by Skype. 
[01:07.91]He told us about an incident involving a friend 
[01:12.39]who had flown to an airport in the eastern United States. 
[01:19.06]There he borrowed a GPS-equipped car to use during his stay.
[01:22.09]BARRY BROWN: "And they just plugged in an address 
[01:24.64]and then set off to their destination. 
[01:26.73]And, then it wasn't until they were driving for 
[01:30.86]thirty minutes until they realized they actually put in a destination 
[01:33.20]back on the West Coast where they lived. 
[01:34.84]They actually put their home address in. 
[01:39.47]So again, the GPS is kind of 'garbage in garbage out'."
[01:43.15]Mister Brown says this is a common human error. 
[01:46.43]But, he says, what makes the problem worse 
[01:49.22]has to do with some of the shortcomings, 
[01:52.31]or failures, of GPS equipment.
[01:57.07]BARRY BROWN: "One problem with a lot of the GPS units is 
[02:00.42]they have a very small screen and they just tell you the next turn. 
[02:02.85]Because they just give you the next turn, 
[02:05.56]sometimes that means that it is not really 
[02:07.40]giving you the overview that you would need to know 
[02:08.85]that it's going to the wrong place."
[02:11.74]Barry Brown formerly served as a professor 
[02:15.33]with the University of California, San Diego. 
[02:19.61]While there, he worked on a project with Eric Laurier 
[02:22.14]from the University of Edinburgh. 
[02:27.03]The two men studied the effects of GPS devices 
[02:31.56]on driving by placing cameras in people's cars. 
[02:35.15]They wrote a paper based on their research. 
[02:40.78]It is called "The Normal, Natural Troubles of Driving with GPS."
[02:42.77]BARRY BROWN: "One of the things that struck us, 
[02:44.57]perhaps the most important thing 
[02:47.75]was that you have to know what you're doing 
[02:51.54]when you use a GPS. There are these new skills 
[02:53.13]that people have developed. 
[02:55.22]There are these new competencies 
[02:57.81]that you need to have to be able to use a GPS 
[03:00.89]because they sometimes go wrong."
[03:05.22]Barry Brown says this goes against a common belief 
[03:11.49]that GPS systems are for passive drivers who lack navigational skills.
[03:16.28]"The Normal, Natural Troubles of Driving With GPS" 
[03:20.67]lists several areas where GPS systems 
[03:23.31]can cause confusion for drivers. 
[03:26.80]These include maps that are outdated, 
[03:29.94]incorrect or difficult to understand. 
[03:34.51]They also include timing issues related to 
[03:37.35]when GPS commands are given.
[03:42.18]Barry Brown says to make GPS systems better 
[03:45.91]we need a better understanding of how drivers, 
[03:50.74]passengers and GPS systems work together.
[03:56.22]And that's the VOA Special English Technology Report, 
[03:59.76]written by June Simms. I'm Steve Ember.