-------- Original Message --------
Subject: Is GPS All in Our Heads?
Date: Sat, 04 Feb 2012 08:26:46 -0500
From: Joel Kovarsky <[log in to unmask]>
To: [log in to unmask] <[log in to unmask]>
From Saturday's _NY Times_:
<http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/05/opinion/sunday/is-gps-all-in-our-head.html?ref=opinion>.
A brief paragraph from the article by Julia Frankenstein:
If maps help us, what is the problem with GPS? A lot: in my opinion,
it is likely that the more we rely on technology to find our way,
the less we build up our cognitive maps. Unlike a city map, a GPS
device normally provides bare-bones route information, without the
spatial context of the whole area. We see the way from A to Z, but
we don’t see the landmarks along the way. Developing a cognitive map
from this reduced information is a bit like trying to get an entire
musical piece from a few notes.
Joel Kovarsky