- Why are navies so bad?
"Why are car navigation systems so incredibly terrible?", "Are car navigation/GPS systems universally bad?", "Why does the navigation system lead us astray?": Many German internet forums are filled with drivers venting their frustration with their navigation devices. The consensus is that those who rely on built-in navigation systems end up in traffic jams and lost.
The anger expressed online is echoed on the streets: Only 6 percent of German drivers use their navigation system continuously, according to a representative survey by AutoScout24 in 2021. Seven percent are always offline and keep their navigation device turned off.
Why are navigation systems so bad?
Navigation devices were once high-tech
To understand why we now use Google Maps instead of expensive built-in navigation systems, one must know the history of these devices. In fact, modern satellite-based GPS systems have their roots in the military.
During World War II, researchers began developing a radio wave-based navigation system called "Long Range Navigation" (LORAN). This system was further refined in the 1950s and 1960s.
The development of navigation devices for the general public began with the introduction of the Global Positioning System (GPS). The U.S. Department of Defense launched the first satellite fleet in 1978, which still forms the basis of GPS today. Originally developed for military purposes, GPS was made available for civilian use in the 1980s.
Subheading
However, it wasn't until the late 1990s and early 2000s that consumer-oriented GPS navigation devices became commercially available. A significant breakthrough was the year 2000, when the U.S. military turned off the artificial degradation of the GPS signal ("Selective Availability"), greatly improving the accuracy of GPS.
One of the first manufacturers of GPS navigation systems was the Dutch company TomTom, which introduced its first portable all-in-one GPS device, the TomTom Go, in 2004. Other companies like Garmin and Magellan followed. For nearly a decade, they were a constant companion for many drivers - until the rise of the smartphone at the end of the 2000s.
Today, apps like Google Maps have banished clunky GPS devices from cars. The detailed turn-by-turn navigation on our phones has made specialized GPS navigation devices largely unnecessary for everyday use.
GPS devices, once popular for navigation, have been largely replaced by apps like Google Maps due to the increased accuracy and convenience offered by smartphones. In the late 1990s and early 2000s, companies like TomTom and Garmin introduced consumer-oriented GPS devices, building upon the foundation laid by the military's Global Positioning System (GPS) in the 1980s.
