A Swedish couple in search of the isle of Capri drove to Carpi, an industrial town in northern Italy, because they misspelt the name in their car’s GPS.
Italian officials say the couple asked at Carpi’s tourist office where they could find Capri’s famous Blue Grotto.
The car’s sat nav system had sent them 650km off course to Carpi.
“Capri is an island. They did not even wonder why they didn’t cross any bridge or take any boat,” said a bemused tourism official in Carpi.
Once they realised their mistake, the couple got back in their car and headed south, the official added.
Har!
You learn to trust your instruments, but to verify them as well.
Good lesson for life.
I love my GPS. But it can’t think for me.
At least it is not like the guy who drove past a bridge out sign because his GPS told him to.
GSP?
Not too sure about this story.
If they started in Sweden Google maps would route them through Carpi to get to Capri. They may have just misread a sign.
If they started in Napoli that is bad.
GPS is better than my wife’s navigation:
“You should have turned right about a mile back.”
So we got Delorme Street Atlas. While driving through rural South Carolina I glance over at the notebook running the GPS software. There are two cities plainly visible on the map display, Cincinnati and Orlando.
I say “Betty zoom in so we can see this probably unmarked dirt road we are looking for!”
She says “I like to see what is around us!”
I say “The United States is around us. Zoom in.”
She says “I don’t know how.”
I say “You found out how to zoom out!”
Years later we buy a dashboard GPS.
Betty says “I like the old one better.”
I ask “Why’s that?”
She says “You could zoom out and see what is around you.”
I suppress evil grin.
I believe if you use Mapquest to plot a route from somewhere in the states to Paris, France, it tells you to go to New York and SWIM across the Atlantic to Europe.
Are road maps now illegal?
Occasionally some who wanted to go to Sydney, Australia ends up in Sydney, Nova Scotia (Canada). Much hilarity follows.
They should file a lawsuit against the manufacturer of the GPS unit.