This is in response to the March 21 Associated Press article entitled “GPS is a covered bridge’s worst enemy.” It refers to the use of GPS as a navigational tool. I have had many friends also say that they use GPS to find a route to the desired destination. Without wanting to be negative to the use of the term, I wonder how many people really understand the difference between GPS and a navigator. GPS stands for Global Positioning System, and it is a satellite-based system that provides the latitude, longitude, and altitude of the user. This global latitude and longitude identify only the position on the planet and thus GPS doesn’t know if you are in the middle of a lake, hiking on a trail, in an office building, or on a highway. A navigator translates that position to a road map location so it can tell you what road/highway you are on and calculate the best route to get to where you want to go. Thus, the navigator uses GPS, it is not GPS. I agree that saying you are using GPS is simpler than saying you are using a navigator, but do people really understand the difference?

Lee Armstrong

Leeds