Midchuck, fly 800 miles in an open-cockpit airplane
over varied terrain with dodgy weather, using only
NDB navigation, or trying to get cross-bearings
on VOR (VHF Omnidirectional Range) vectors some
time. Do this while thinking about your fuel and
wondering whether that highway down there is 31
or 29, or if maybe you missed the railroad track
that ran from NE to SW through a small town. Oh,
and keep hold of that chart and the bit of paper
with your waypoints and log, lest it fly up and
out of the cockpit and land on a cow somewhere.

Meanwhile you wonder if you're at the edge of, or
into, restricted airspace.

Then tell me that those of us trying to navigate to
keep ourselves alive should use our brains more.

GPS removes the ambiguities. Yes, in the air and at
sea, you still log your waypoints and times in writing
in case the technology comes up lemons. And on occasion
you still cover up the GPS screen with a post-it note
to make sure you can still do dead reckoning by compass
and watch.

GPS provides similar benefits for ground-bound individuals.
"Did I take the wrong fork on that 5-way crossroads where
the road-signs are turned around?"