[jarek]

> For some reason I get the feeling that adopting all of these "smart" devices actually makes me more vulnerable to risk and gives me less control over my life.

Oh, of course it does. Consider: when are you more in control, when you know the city you're in inside-out, or when you're depending on Google Maps?

[VikingCoder]

You're considering only one dimension.

Consider: When you are in a new city, when are you more likely to learn the city inside-out, when you don't have Google Maps, or when you do?

[rm_-rf_slash]

It's a mix. If I need to get somewhere specific I'll follow directions, but if I'm browsing then I don't learn much by looking down at a screen the whole time.

Last time I was in DC for a conference in Foggy Bottom I got a recommendation for a pizza shop a few blocks from my hotel. &pizza, not bad.

Next day I went to that general area and browsed around looking for a bar. Because I didn't just look up bars on Yelp I was able to distinguish the character of the places I walked around, like the feel of a neighborhood that primarily houses GWU students, and another that is for unreasonably wealthy urban homeowners.

tl;dr I get what I want from a maps app when I know what I want. If I don't know what I want, I go out and learn by experience.

[jarek]

Depends if you like talking to people IRL

(Disclaimer: I usually don't)

[rm_-rf_slash]

Well, lemme think...

2012, October. I, an American from upstate NY, am traveling on the Queen Elizabeth Way to visit a friend in Toronto, a city I last saw at the age of 3. There are at least 6 lanes on the highway, packed with drivers so cantankerous and forceful that save for the autumn gray I could swear I was in LA.

I'm approaching the city and a display by the road says the route is closed for construction. My maps app redirects me to another highway, which is completely closed after 15 miles of driving. Another redirect, all while forcing my way through the automobile equivalent of a massive hockey team.

Suffice to say, I didn't know the city, and I didn't have the chance to unfold a map.

The only part that was out of my control was the $300 in roaming charges.

[jarek]

Ah but I bet that the animations were beautiful and the icons all lined up perfectly

[rm_-rf_slash]

This was iOS6 Maps...

[iofj]

How did you survive ?