John C Dvorak is not a fan of GPS systems:

The Nokia promotions for the company's new GPS phone, not to mention that every new car is being equipped with GPS, should give the technology a boost, yes? Maybe, but I've come to the conclusion that of all the unnecessary and expensive geegaws in the world, the GPS device is at the top of my list.

His proposed alternative to depending on this hot technology is: "Why not just ask for directions?"

That certainly works in most cases, like when you're in a familiar town or driving to somewhere that's relatively simple to find.

But what about this: a colleague of mine just called me to find out the name of a restaurant we ate at 6 months ago in a city over 1000 miles from his house. I remembered the name, and I quickly found the address for the restaurant on Google. With that information in hand, not knowing my colleague's current coordinates other than the city he's in, and being just as unfamiliar with the city he's currently in as he is, should I really be giving him directions? Instead, I sent him a quick SMS message with the address. He'll enter that into his trusty Garmin Nuvi 350 in under a minute, and have custom turn by turn directions from wherever he currently is to the restaurant's door.

Better yet, if he manages to get off course for some odd reason (detour, avoiding a road blocked by a train, locusts, flood, etc.) the Nuvi will automatically recalculate his directions on the fly.

That covers convenience. What about safety? Should he be constantly referring to directions dictated by me to him while driving in an unfamiliar city at night? How safe does that sound? Why not focus on the road and let the GPS system worry about directions instead?

So while GPS systems may be unnecessary if the only goal is finding a destination, the value derived from driving independence, peace of mind, and safety is what Dvorak misses but consumers buying GPS units clearly understand.