In the past few days, lots of IT news are covering the death of James Kim, an editor at CNET, the news site I read everyday. I admit that I didn't follow the story too much though. But I was stunned to read a piece of blog entry from Valleywag. You can read it below.
BOGUS: Google takes flak for James Kim's death
You'll probably come across this story a few times, because it is superficially compelling. The short version: the death of James Kim, the CNET editor who died this week in the wintry mountains of southwest Oregon, was Google's fault. The argument: Kim may have put too much trust in the search engine's online maps. Do we know he even asked Google for directions? No, but he might have, according to the authorities. And, while a rival mapping service from Yahoo suggests a longer, safer route from Grants Pass, Google Maps recommends a shortcut that's dangerous in bad weather. People: it's a decent search engine, not the omnipotent being.
I was a heavy user of Mapquest and then Yahoo Maps a few years ago when I was in the US. I travelled quiet a lot driving with my family. We drove almost accross the continent. Must be thousands of miles of roads... Wherever I go, I asked those online map service to "give me directions". I either printed them or store it in my HP Jornada PDA. I never bought a real map, why should I? I think, almost 90% of those electronic computer-generated directions have been right, the rest 5% was just a tiny fraction of mistake, and most mistakes are minor.
After reading that blog, I was just feeling very lucky and blessed by the One up there. What can I say, if Google Maps were around at that time (year 2000-2002), I would have been used it, I trust Google, just like everyone did. Gosh... thank God I am now still alive.
Now, I feel safer, I use no maps anymore. I live in a small city, I know every single street in it, no maps needed. Hopefully it will save my life a little longer, amin...
Source: Vallewag
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