Several Apps!

My car's Sat Nav went doolally yesterday morning. It worked fine to the local shops. I don't use it as such, but I leave it always on because we get a lots of roadworks detours round here, and this means I can glance at the visual map in front of me, and know know instantly I can take a better route for me.

However, coming home from the shops the Sat Nav screen was black, this has Sat Nav and other of the car's functions on it. It has been very cold so, I thought it was having a little hiccup and would right itself.

Ah, good I thought when it decided to hiccup itself back into life. But when it finally lit up properly, and the Sat Nav came on, the little red arrow which normally stays on the road you are driving on had gone completely bananas.

It was not on the road at all, but the red arrow was wandering through parkland, meadowland, through houses, wandering up streams, and wandered away from the road I perceived I was driving on.

I tried to turn the Sat Nav off, but the screen was not responsive.

I was transfixed watching it. I was experiencing dissonance with the red arrow showing me where it thinks my car is driving, and me driving on a hard tarmac road 'knowing' that I am driving the correct route home.

I am driving up a hill by now. At least that is my perception of my route home. But then the red arrow turns around and wanders here and there towards the river. Then the red arrow takes a left turn and it's going up on the railway line. My brain goes OMG you're going to meet the Holyhead train. But before that disaster happens, the red arrow does a sharp right and aims for the river. And accordingly to my Sat Nav I am now driving on water ...

According to my visual perception of things, I am still on a hard road, and have got to the top of my hill, and am turning right into my road. It is very disconcerting positioning my car so that I can back into my driveway, because the red arrow on the Sat Nav is still showing me doing a 3 point turn on the river.

I turn the engine off, wait a few minutes, then turn it on again. The red arrow is still not where I perceive my car to be. I move forward a few feet, and then the Sat Nav red arrow does a right turn, wanders through a hawthorn hedge, and into the ancient meadowlands at the end of my road...

I turn the engine off, tentatively put one foot outside the car, because my brain is considering alternative universes by now...

I have no idea if there is a malfunction yet or a magnetic disturbance which surely would affect the sat nav and directional arrow. My internet is playing up a lot as well.

And I am thinking of cars controlled by computers or self driving cars. I think human error over computer error would have a greater safety aspect to it...

I googled my car's Sat Nav, but it is an integral part of the car. So, I cannot do a reset myself.

I have checked on my car this morning. It is still in my driveway (I did wonder when I looked out of the window). I turned the engine on. The Sat Nav screen came on, and the red arrow was not in what I perceive to be my driveway by my bungalow. It was still wandering around the pond in the ancient meadowlands. I have no idea what this car has been up to in the night.

It took me over 3 hours in the early hours this morning to figure out how to do this morning's 'painting'.

So here is a representation of yesterday's adventures with the red arrow on the Sat Nav parking me on water...


UPDATE: Apparently a few other people in this area reported malfunctioning Sat Navs. Someone told me that you need at least 3+ satellites working in the sky for the Sat Nav to get an accurate fix.

This doesn't bode well...