Never Get Lost Again

I first learned about my navigational problem, when I was about 6 years old. My parents took me to visit some cousins who lived in Richmond, VA. I had just learned to ride a bicycle so I borrowed one of my cousin's bikes and set out to ride around the block. I must have gone around three sides of the block, thought I had been all the way around and, without a clue, headed off in the wrong direction. It wasn't long before I knew I was lost and had no idea how to get back. I rode for hours in total panic before a kind soul found me sobbing on the sidewalk and helped me find my way back to my cousin's house. How many things do you remember from when you were 6 years old? Probably not many, but this was such a traumatic experience that neither my parents nor I will ever forget it.

Since then, I have been lost hundreds of times. Whenever going to an unfamiliar area I just expect to get lost. What's worse, my job requires me to travel constantly, so I am always going to unfamiliar places. It's a real handicap, and when alone on a business trip, I sometimes skipped dinner because if I had to search for a restaurant I would undoubtedly get lost.

Have I found a cure for this malady? Well, not exactly a cure, but certainly a very sturdy crutch. Modern technology has provided a tool that eliminates the need for a person to have an intuitive "Sense of Direction". What is this marvelous thing that has set me free to roam without fear of getting lost? It's a system of orbiting satellites called the Global Positioning System, GPS for short. There is lots of information about it available on the Internet so I am not going to go into great detail here. But, in a nutshell, there are 24 satellites that orbit the earth and continuously transmit their position in the sky. No matter where you are on the earth, as long as you have a clear view of the sky, you can almost always receive a signal from at least 4 of these satellites and often, several more. The system was originally developed by the US government to help the military navigate, and is continuously maintained by the Department of Defense. But, the good news is that it is available to everyone and it works anywhere on earth, anytime, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. The signal available to civilians called Standard Positioning System (SPS) is currently purposely degraded from the more accurate Precise Positioning System (PPS) available to the military. However, it's guaranteed to get you within 100 meters of any position and most of the time it's much better than that. There are steps (expensive of course) that can be taken to improve the accuracy, but frankly, unless you are a surveyor or are travelling in a dense fog, you will find that you really don't need more accuracy. SPS alone will normally get you to within visual range of anything bigger than a breadbox. All you need is a little gadget about the size of a cell phone that receives the satellite signals and uses the data to calculate your position. It then displays your position on a LCD screen on top of a moving map of the area you are in. So, you always have a view from above showing you where you are and where you are going - fantastic!

Are these receivers too expensive for the average person? Well, I wouldn't call them cheap but they beat getting lost! Civilian GPS is here now, it works, and it's reasonably affordable. Perhaps you thought that GPS was only useful for the military, scouts, hunters, hikers, bikers, boaters, climbers, fishermen and pilots. It seems that even the manufacturers of GPS receivers have initially taken this shortsighted approach as the units are sold mostly by sporting goods and marine equipment retailers. But, the fact is that GPS is useful to anyone who ever gets lost, and I suspect that's almost everyone. So, if you travel outside of your familiar home area and you suffer from, "navigational impairment", as I do, suffer no more. Below are some links that will help you learn more about civilian GPS and find a receiver that's right for you.