They can do that, BUT, they need the right maps loaded and the right settings and .....

The last conference I attended related to emergency vehicles was interesting. They were fitting GPS because local "yoof" often think it's funny to send the police the wrong way or will simply want to pick a fight with anyone in uniform while others want paying for directions or send everyone past their brothers shop. Then there are the people who live in the village but work fifty miles away and couldn't actualy find the pub themselves, but won't admit it, old people who want to chat for an hour...etc etc. Then there were the local councils who assumed everyone had GPS, so didn't maintain road signs and companies who don't put signs up to reduce the number of cold callers. All in all, the world is becoming set up for GPS at the expense of other ways of navigating. I'd hate to try and find anything in a UK city without GPS these days.

In the desert I loved playing with the sun compass etc., but give me a nasty sand storm and a vehicle short of fuel and a nice simple GPS that doesn't require me to be 10m away would be a real bonus.

One I do find useful is Google maps. Get basically a satelitte photo to help you in the last few miles. Up to you if you memorise it, print it or get it sent to a PDA thingy.

Andy