Reporters Notebook (Gettysburg Times: 011908): "Global Positioning System"

Familiar with the latest technological motor vehicle fad?
Global Positioning System (GPS) devices are the new craze, enabling motorists to navigate toward their destination — near or far — with ease.
The device, a miniature computer placed in the vicinity of a vehicle’s dashboard, talks to motorists, instructing the driver where to turn and what routes to travel en route to a given destination.
“It’s perfect,” I recall colleague Jarrad Hedes telling me. “Now, we don’t have to listen to a woman telling us how to get somewhere.”
Prior to a vehicular trip, a destination is entered into the device, which then — via a global network of 24 orbiting satellites — tabulates the best possible route.
Jarrad, for example, when we leave the newsroom for lunch, actually punches in “Dunlaps” as a destination, and yes, the GPS takes us to the eatery.
But the devices do have their drawbacks.
Last weekend, I traveled to Ohio with Uncle Stan, and the GPS device successfully directed us on a seven-hour trip to Uncle Jeff’s house near Columbus.
However, the next morning, when we relied on the GPS system to find a school that was 10 minutes away (my cousin Ryan was in a wrestling tournament), we were a half hour late and missed Ryan’s first match.
The machine actually instructed us to turn on a dirt road.
“I don’t think there’s a school back here,” deadpanned Aunt Sharon.
We kept going anyway, hoping that the GPS knew what it was doing.“You have reached your destination,” the machine said.
Nope. We were in the middle of a wheatfield.
“I don’t think there’s a school back here,” said Uncle Stan.
At least the global satellites know how to find Dunlaps.
— Scot Andrew Pitzer