DesertUSA.com/mb3

In remote places like California's Death Valley, over-reliance on GPS navigation systems can be a matter of life and death. If your young and you trust computers, your GPS will help you over ride common sense. (that not good)

Here is a new article on the problems with GPS in Death Valley by NPR

http://www.npr.org/2011/07/26/137646147 ... -companion

It's not just the boonies that they have issues. We were using ours to find a friend's house in Pahrump once and it kept wanting us to drive though people's yards! You have to use some common sense when using.

My brother and his gf have a tendency to rely on on their smart phone navigation a bit too much. While the smart phone navigation apps do appear to be a bit more accurate compared to the GPS method, it is not perfect either. While traveling to Flagstaff from the Salt Lake City area the app had taken us out of our way to just outside of Saint George and then through Colorado city to get back into Arizona. On the way to the Salt Lake area we took the more sensible route throgh Page and Kanab. I doubt that the smart phones would work in Death Valley though as they require a cell tower signal to get their navigation data. I personally see these types of navigation systems as something to refer to and not blindly follow.

As a uncertified GPS expert, I characterize thar NPS article as misleading. Technically, the article is total trash.