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From today's Boston Globe:
 
Remember the "Bert and I" Down East tale about the lost balloonist who
descends low enough over the cow pasture to ask the farmer, "Where am I?"
To which the farmer answers, "You're in a balloon, you damn fool!"
 
That's the way ---- (names withheld to avoid embarassment) two
individuals must have felt last Saturday when lost in the White Mountain
National Forest, they turned for help to a faithful piece of equipment.
 
A compass? How ancient.
 
Map? Never.
 
Instead, they turned to the latest gimmick in the woods: a highly
sophisticated, portable receiver designed to take readings from overhead
satellites to establish a position on earth exact to within 2 meters. The
navigational aid is called GPS, used for years by mariners but only
lately making itself known among recreational hikers.
 
The problem our "two individuals" ran into, however, was not knowing
exactly where they wanted to go to be found.
 
"Without a map or knowing the exact location which you want to travel
to," New Hampshire Fish and Game Officer David Hewitt told an Associated
Press reporter at the time, "there is now way to plot a course to lead
you to your destination."
 
The "two individuals" did not have a map, figuring the GPS unit would
answer all their navigational questions. When that failed, they turned to
the next piece of high-tech gear in their pack: a cellular phone.
 
They did manage to contact authorities, who were able to use their own
GPS units - along with maps of the area near Waterville Valley - to track
down the lost hikers.
 
 
It looks as though maps have fallen one more niche lower as yuppies
identify more "valuable" hiking equipment??
 
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David A. Cobb                           Tel (617) 495-2417
Harvard Map Collection                  FAX (617) 496-0440
Harvard University                      E-Mail: [log in to unmask]
Cambridge, MA 02138
                        VE * RI * TAS
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