Irony

[LCHIEN]

I'm sure you guys couldn't have missed the drama unfolding over the last week and a half about the young family lost in Oregon. The man and his wife and two young children were lost and stuck on a backwoods road in the snow for a several days and the man decided to strike out and try and reach help. The wife and kids were rescued OK a couple of days later but the man was found dead of hypothermia around Thursday of last week after he had walked 10 miles in a big circle and was about a mile fom the car.

It was on all the national news for a week, but particularly in the
CNET.com (e-magazine on technology) site where he was a products editor, he was known as the "gadget guru" since he reported on MP3 players, digital camers, computers, palmtops, phones and accessories exclusively.

I find it particularly ironic (I am a CNET subscriber) since he never reported on GPS receivers. An full featured GPS receiver would have saved his life, a cheap one probably would have saved his life but even a $5 compass could have saved his life.

It was a very sad story even without the gadgeteer angle.

One of James Kim's last gadget features:
http://www.cnettv.com/9710-1_53-24922.html?tag=nl.e729

[cgallery]

This was an awful story to watch unfold.

Are there any GPS-based panic buttons? Something that will send an emergency signal with your GPS coordinates? Would that GM-based OnStar system have helped, or does it require cellular service?

[Jeffrey Schronce]

OnStar would have helped. Like GPS, OnStar is satellite based.

[cgallery]

OnStar would have helped. Like GPS, OnStar is satellite based.

And OnStar has a way of sending a non-cellular emergency signal? I guess I don't understand that aspect of GPS. I thought GPS was just able to tell you your coordinates. But if you are on a deserted road in the middle of a 100-year snowstorm and there is no cellular service, how to do get help?

[Jeffrey Schronce]

And OnStar has a way of sending a non-cellular emergency signal? I guess I don't understand that aspect of GPS. I thought GPS was just able to tell you your coordinates. But if you are on a deserted road in the middle of a 100-year snowstorm and there is no cellular service, how to do get help?

OnStar voice communication is cellular based. The GPS based system allows OnStar to pinpoint exactly where you are located. Someone would have had to report the missing persons, then think to have OnStar "ping" them to find out where the were located.

[LCHIEN]

OnStar voice communication is cellular based. The GPS based system allows OnStar to pinpoint exactly where you are located. Someone would have had to report the missing persons, then think to have OnStar "ping" them to find out where the were located.

On-star is a GM product, I think Kim was driving a Camry.

Using A GPS system while driving, he would have had at minimum a location corrdinates, a track to his position, and if he had a better one, directions/distance to nearby towns and or roads.

He could have taken the GPS and followed the track back on foot to the major road rather than striking out blindly. Or, he could have used the GPS heading and distance indicators and taken a direct route to the nearest town or major road. At least he would not have been going in circles.

[cgallery]

On-star is a GM product, I think Kim was driving a Camry.

Using A GPS system while driving, he would have had at minimum a location corrdinates, a track to his position, and if he had a better one, directions/distance to nearby towns and or roads.

He could have taken the GPS and followed the track back on foot to the major road rather than striking out blindly. Or, he could have used the GPS heading and distance indicators and taken a direct route to the nearest town or major road. At least he would not have been going in circles.

Okay, I get it. Never used GPS device so I wasn't sure how it woulda helped, but that obviously would have probably saved his life.

[Kristofor]

And even more to the point, he probably wouldn't have missed the turn for the correct road and decided to try the next one...

That was a very sad story all around.

Kristofor.

[lcm1947]

I don't know if this is true but my wife told me that she heard that the chopper that the other family members hired to search for the family actually spotted his tracks and that lead them to the car. If true he did possibly save his family and is indeed a hero although of course he wasn't aware of it. Horrible story. I prefer to believe that this is true and he gave his life to save his loved ones. God rest his soul and bless him.

[onedash]

On Star is totally cellular....The GPS signal of course comes from space but all communications is via cell network. They claim since it has an external antenna it can be more reliable than a hand held cell phone which might be true. It does transmit your location to them just like some FRS radios can with built in GPS.
Its thought I heard on the news that located an attempted cell call but it didn't connect which narrowed the search...I also heard them say the search party spotted his foot prints which led them to the family....

Yes a GPS would have pointed him in the right direction. Not sure how far away he was from help though.

On a related note we were using Streets and Trips to go to Tennesee and on one stretch of highway it kept trying to get us to turn down dirt roads that dead ended and were not even in the right direction....I didn't turn on them but every time I recalculated it tried to get me down the next little dirt road or dead end....Made me think some weirdo submitted something to microsoft and they actually updated it...Wrong Turn and hills have eyes came to mind.....maybe just parnoid.....

[Ed62]

That was a sad story. I'm sure his family will remember him as being the man who saved their lives.

Ed

[LCHIEN]

...
Its thought I heard on the news that located an attempted cell call but it didn't connect which narrowed the search...I also heard them say the search party spotted his foot prints which led them to the family....
.....

The news said that although they were pretty much out of cell range, they did exchange a few packets with a cell tower, not enough to connect but enough to tell the authorities looking for clues that they were in that relative area. Narrowed down the search from a three state area to the area around the nearest cell tower.

[mschrank]

I first learned of the family's disappearance while researching mp3 players on CNET last week. I quickly assumed that being a gadget guru, he probably had a GPS navigation system and that that was probably what got him in trouble. I assumed the system might have directed him to a road without giving any indication of it's driveabilty.

I work with GIS (Geographic Information Systems), so I spend all day working with electronic maps. I'm constantly cringing at the way roads are depicted on some of the online and GPS mapping programs.

Turns out my assumptions were wrong. Nevertheless, it's important to point out that a GPS receiver is very good at telling you where you are, but without a map (that displays coordinates), it can't tell you where anything else is (i.e., towns, roads, etc).

I believe the best he had was a highway map, which didn't even show the road where he was stranded. Using that, he thought he could follow the Rogue River to a town he estimated to be 4 miles away (it was actually more like 15). He did his best to follow a drainage down to the river, and was found only 1/2 mile away from it.

I have two children about the same ages as the Kim's...so this story hit home with me and kept me awake at nights. All of the "what if only..." scenarios and "what would I have done" questions. I'm happy the mother and children made it...but I wish it could have gone another way for James Kim.

On-star is a GM product, I think Kim was driving a Camry.

He was driving a Saab, which is in the GM family. OnStar is an option on some Saab models, but his apparently did not have it.

[HarmsWay]

A sad story any way you look at it.

A GPS may have been hindered by terrain in Oregon. My GPS coverage was spotty hiking on Vancouver Island but using the same GPS on the water, we always had a full complement of satellites available.

Bob