Lost in Space

So I’m sitting on a street corner in New York City at 5:30 in the morning hoping for a sign from above. No, I haven’t lost my mind or my way–yet. I’m trying to help the little yellow gizmo I’ve hooked up to my notebook computer get a fix on my latitude and longitude using signals from a network of global-positioning satellites. Since the signals can’t travel through walls, I’m stuck outside. Finally, a message pops up onscreen: “No GPS receiver has been detected.” Grrr.

It’s the morning before my 10-year college reunion, and I’m already totally stressed–not over the usual stuff (whether my outfit or my job is cool enough to dazzle old flames) but from trying to figure out why, despite fresh batteries and a brand-new adapter, my darned Earthmate GPS isn’t talking to the DeLorme AAA Map ‘n’ Go software that came with it. I’d thought it would be fun and instructive if my friend Karyn and I drove to Dartmouth with no paper maps, only digital ones. I’d picked Map ‘n’ Go over the competition because it was reasonably priced ($29, or $150 with Earthmate), created fairly simple-looking routes and gave instructions in a computer-generated voice. Had I made a big mistake?

As often happens with technical glitches, Earthmate mysteriously springs to life a few seconds after I get on the line with tech support. When Karyn pulls up in her blue Saturn, I fake a confident smile: “This will be really cool.” She looks skeptical as I plug in the car adapter ($120 from Port, based in Norwalk, Conn.) that will power my Toshiba laptop from her cigarette lighter. But right on cue, a green dot pinpoints our starting location on a detailed map and then morphs into an arrow as we reach the West Side Highway.

Suddenly the computer is barking out directions in a synthesized voice: “Go north on Henry Hudson Parkway!” “Go southeast on I-95, Exit 1A, 2 min. 59 sec. away!” It’s at once creepy and reassuring. Karyn steps on the gas. “I feel I have to keep up,” she complains. But wait! Following the signs south would take us to New Jersey. That’s not right. We ignore the computer this one time and head north. After that, we follow the rest of the directions to Hanover, N.H., without incident; even when we wander off course, the green arrow shows where we’ve gone astray.

Soon we’re relaxed enough to think about more important things, like what music to play and where to eat. I click on upcoming exits and find the nearest Boston Market. I scan a list of local radio stations to find some easy listening. For up-to-the-minute status on how far we have to go, I just hit a key. At last, we’re having fun!

Disaster strikes on the way home, just before we hit the city. By then we’re so comfortable with Map ‘n’ Go that when a road sign clearly says Manhattan and the computer says something else, we forget to rely on our common sense. All of a sudden we’re lost in the slums of the Bronx at 11 p.m. For the next 10 minutes the little green arrow mockingly charts our circular course.

So I hated it, right? Not at all. I like computers that talk to me, let me zoom in and out of maps, and keep me posted on the nearest Dunkin’ Donuts. And as Karyn pointed out, there’s security in being lost when you can see where you are onscreen.

Visit time.com/personal for more map software. E-mail Anita at hamilton@time.com