{"id":969,"date":"2016-02-21T15:19:04","date_gmt":"2016-02-21T20:19:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/?p=969"},"modified":"2016-02-21T15:20:33","modified_gmt":"2016-02-21T20:20:33","slug":"could-societys-embrace-of-gps-be-eroding-our-cognitive-maps","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2016\/02\/could-societys-embrace-of-gps-be-eroding-our-cognitive-maps\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Could Society\u2019s Embrace of GPS Be Eroding Our Cognitive Maps?’"},"content":{"rendered":"

Earlier this month in the\u00a0New York Times<\/em><\/a>, Greg Milner looked at something that was a frequent subject during The Map Room<\/strong>\u2019s first life: people getting themselves lost by blindly following their GPS\u00a0units (or satnavs, as the British call them).<\/p>\n

Could society\u2019s embrace of GPS be eroding our cognitive maps? For Julia Frankenstein, a psychologist at the University of Freiburg\u2019s Center for Cognitive Science, the danger of GPS is that \u201cwe are not forced to remember or process the information\u2014as it is permanently \u2018at hand,\u2019 we need not think or decide for ourselves.\u201d She has written that we \u201csee the way from A to Z, but we don\u2019t see the landmarks along the way.\u201d In this sense, \u201cdeveloping a cognitive map from this reduced information is a bit like trying to get an entire musical piece from a few notes.\u201d GPS abets a strip-map level of orientation with the world.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

[via<\/a>]<\/p>\n

\"pinpoint\"<\/a>Milner is the author of\u00a0the forthcoming book\u00a0Pinpoint: How GPS Is Changing Technology, Culture, and Our Minds<\/em><\/a> (W. W. Norton<\/a>, May 2016): pre-order at Amazon<\/a> or iBooks<\/a>.<\/p>\n

For another look at how GPS may be affecting our brains’ ability to navigate, see “Global Impositioning Systems<\/a>,” a long read\u00a0by Alex Hutchinson in the November 2009 issue of\u00a0The Walrus<\/em>, which I told you about in 2011.<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Earlier this month in the\u00a0New York Times, Greg Milner looked at something that was a frequent subject during The Map Room\u2019s first life: people getting themselves lost by blindly following their GPS\u00a0units (or satnavs, as… More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"link","meta":{"autoblue_enabled":true,"autoblue_custom_message":"","autoblue_shares":[],"autoblue_post_url":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[254],"tags":[314,315],"class_list":["post-969","post","type-post","status-publish","format-link","hentry","category-gps","tag-cognitive-mapping","tag-lost","post_format-post-format-link"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":2028,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2016\/05\/pinpoint-now-out\/","url_meta":{"origin":969,"position":0},"title":"Pinpoint Now Out","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"18 May 2016","format":"link","excerpt":"Greg Milner's\u00a0Pinpoint: How GPS Is Changing Technology, Culture and Our Minds is out this month from W.\u00a0W. Norton. (The British edition,\u00a0published by Granta, comes out in July.)\u00a0Pinpoint\u00a0explores the social impact of GPS, which sounds very interesting. I'll have to lay hands on a copy. Reviews:\u00a0Will Self in the\u00a0Guardian,\u00a0Kirkus Reviews and\u00a0Maclean's.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "GPS"","block_context":{"text":"GPS","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/gps\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"pinpoint","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/pinpoint-197x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1808285,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2022\/07\/gps-negatively-impacts-spatial-memory\/","url_meta":{"origin":969,"position":1},"title":"GPS Negatively Impacts Spatial Memory","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"27 July 2022","format":"link","excerpt":"Rebecca Solnit points to a 2020 study that attempts to measure the impact of using GPS navigation devices on our spatial memory. After assessing 50 drivers, researchers found that drivers with more GPS experience had worse spatial memory when navigating without GPS. But more significantly, it\u2019s a longitudinal study: 13\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "GPS"","block_context":{"text":"GPS","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/gps\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1787422,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2019\/06\/wayfinding-a-new-book-about-the-neuroscience-of-navigation\/","url_meta":{"origin":969,"position":2},"title":"Wayfinding: A New Book about the Neuroscience of Navigation","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"10 June 2019","format":"link","excerpt":"M. R. O'Connor's book Wayfinding: The Science and Mystery of How Humans Navigate the World came out in April from St. Martin's Press. Not coincidentally, she's published a couple of pieces on the subject of that book, both of which focus on humans' ability to pay attention to their surroundings,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "GPS"","block_context":{"text":"GPS","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/gps\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/9781250096968-194x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":4095,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2017\/03\/satnavs-and-switching-off-the-brain\/","url_meta":{"origin":969,"position":3},"title":"Satnavs and ‘Switching Off’ the Brain","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"30 March 2017","format":"link","excerpt":"More on the impact of GPS on our cognitive function.\u00a0A new study identifies brain activity in the hippocampus and prefrontal lobes while navigating city streets\u2014areas of the brain involving memory, planning and decision-making. There was no additional brain activity from the control group (using satnavs). The\u00a0University College London news release\u00a0on\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "GPS"","block_context":{"text":"GPS","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/gps\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1819334,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2023\/10\/gpsjam-maps-gps-interference\/","url_meta":{"origin":969,"position":4},"title":"GPSJam Maps GPS Interference","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"18 October 2023","format":"link","excerpt":"GPS Jam, created by John Wiseman, is an online map of GPS interference, updated daily, based on GPS accuracy information reported by aircraft. It\u2019s not necessarily a map of where GPS is being deliberately jammed, but when you look and see that the hotspots are the eastern Mediterranean, western Russia\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "GPS"","block_context":{"text":"GPS","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/gps\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Screenshot of GPSJam website","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/gpsjam-screenshot-1024x576.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/gpsjam-screenshot-1024x576.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/gpsjam-screenshot-1024x576.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/gpsjam-screenshot-1024x576.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1787453,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2019\/06\/many-moon-maps\/","url_meta":{"origin":969,"position":5},"title":"Many Moon Maps","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"21 June 2019","format":"link","excerpt":"With the 50th anniversary of Apollo 11 almost upon us, there's been an uptick in moon-related content, which includes moon-related map content. For example: New Exhibition. Opening today at The Map House in London, The Mapping of the Moon: 1669-1969, an exhibition of three centuries of lunar cartography. \"The exhibition\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Antique Maps"","block_context":{"text":"Antique Maps","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/antique-maps\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/national-geographic-moon.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/national-geographic-moon.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/national-geographic-moon.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/national-geographic-moon.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/969","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=969"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/969\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":973,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/969\/revisions\/973"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=969"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=969"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=969"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}