Using any of the popular navigation apps in an area with regular roads is fine.
Using any of them to navigate the Australian outback is idiotic.
No sh*t.
There is a funny meme of someone following Google Maps off a cliff. Google Maps is great for the most part. But you have to use common sense if you look around and are getting further away from you destination in more and more remote setting.
“Prepared”
Heading into the bush without long sturdy ropes and a couple of hi-lift jacks? That’s not prepared.
Glad they had enough battery life left to power their drone. They pared their backpack weight down to the essentials and could carry a drone? I could see where it would be useful looking for roads.
Many years ago I was driving between two large US cities. It was my first such drive, so I followed a navigation app.
It started out okay. But after a few turns, four lane roads became two lane roads. The next thing you know, I’m driving through the deep woods on this cinder road. By dumb luck I came upon a paved road, and got to my destination.
It turns out that the app was set to “shortest distance”, not “best route”.
My brother said next time take my girlfriend with me. She would demand that we stop and ask for directions, long before we actually got lost. Good advice there.
“Recalculating.....”
My son was in Greece and went to visit Aristotles grave, got within about a mile and google maps went out, he went a bit further and the trail split, he turned around and went back without seeing it.
Turn off your Brain and follow Google Maps
A couple of years ago, I was cutting through some countryside, trying to get to a small courthouse to do some boundary research. I was using Google Maps & it took me off the paved road & on to a road that quickly deteriorated from gravel to dirt to grass. At first, I thought the gravel was a short cut, but quickly realized I was going to be ‘in trouble’ if I kept going. Fortunately, I found a spot where I could turn around and get out of what was rapidly becoming a bad situation. Since that time, I don’t trust Google Maps.
Just last year, GM told me to turn on a road that was several miles away from the road/driveway I needed to be on. Again, as soon as I turned, it didn’t look right & I stopped immediately & got on the map, scrolled around until I could figure out where I was & where I needed to go. “Main” roads are ok, but if getting off on any smaller roads, just stay sharp & if your spidey sense kicks in, stop & manually check the map.
There first mistake was vacationing in New York.
In this day and age, only an idiot has an experience like this. No emergency beacon? They are cheap and readily available. In most countries you can rent them.
Well, at least they had each other. A whole lot of buggery going on out there.
I rarely used gps in my trucking career. Road atlas (trucker version), state maps (free at state rest areas), and city maps did the job for me. When google earth came along, I would confirm my route, or look to see if I could confirm a re-route ‘through the woods’ to, for instance, dodge a city at rush hour.
I’ve seen plenty of CDL drivers backing out of deadend streets or roads with low overpasses because the gps map was inaccurate, or lacking vital information.
I’ve met a lot of drivers that would be lost without gps. No sense of direction. They don’t know clues like mold on the north side of buildings, position of the sun or moon, let alone just knowing the route in advance.
In my pre-trip planning (into unfamiliar areas), I would write the route and street names/numbers down on a ‘cheat-sheet’, and have it clipped to the dash. The CB is also a big help in strange areas, where local truckers can give advice.
I remember we took some dirt roads in NC, that were on the maps.
Dirt roads. There’s maintained dirt roads, and then there’s find out when you get there. Gullies, big rocks, crumbling edges, loose gravel slopes. The map didn’t make the distinction, but I learned it matters.
I remember the case some years ago where a family was following a navigation app in SW Oregon in the winter. They got stuck in snow; the wife and children stayed with the car and were rescued after several days, but the husband tried to walk out and died. I don’t know if they were using Google Maps or some other app.
Google Maps is wrong about the road we live on. I would never trust it in a remote area.
But so much better than those antiquated paper maps.
I see no road where they got stuck. Why would they camp for a week before deciding to walk to safety? Other than don't trust G-Maps, their story makes no sense. i don't trust any mapping devices. Once it said I was driving 10 thousand miles per hour. Driving home from work always shows me in the middle of the river miles away. Your destination is usually on the other side of the road or a case of you can't get there from here.
Google Maps recently changed and put an address on my standalone garage. I kept getting blink camera notifications of people walking into my side yard. It seems they were trying to deliver packages to the new address, which belonged to a house on a lot beyond us. This is in an established neighborhood... our house was built in 1930 and the other house has been there since the early 1990s.
Cape York is NOT a place to go without a trusted guide and armed.
Saltys everywhere and way out in the middle of nowhere.
Pretty but dangerous from wildlife.
Paper maps....
I have great fun with my nephews showing how to use a map and compass.