Google maps provides electronic access to locational and satellite imagery, which can be found just about everywhere on the internet. While increased access to advanced imagery has been a boon to wilderness recreationists, it has also increased the severity of inaccuracy-related consequences, due to the widespread distribution of these maps and the proliferation of GPS-devise use.
 
Take the following example from last summer: Possibly following road recommendations from a GPS unit, a mother with her 6-year-old son and family dog drove onto a closed road leading into the Death Valley Wilderness. The vehicle became stuck in the bottom of a gravel wash and her son died of heat-related causes during the several days they were stranded in 117-degree desert temperatures.
 
Following this tragedy, Charlie Callagan, wilderness coordinator for the
Death Valley National Park, identified errors on Google Maps which showed the closed road as a valid route. By January, Callagan had worked with Google to facilitate the removal of 50 closed roads, ensuring that maps across the Internet which use Google's imagery, including the ones on Wilderness.net and those accessed by GPS units and mobile devices, no longer contribute to wilderness visitor safety concerns.
 
Callagan adds, "I have continued to work with Google Maps the past five months to facilitate the removal of all remaining roads within the park's boundaries that continue to be shown as 'open roads' on Google Maps but no longer exist, are signed as closed and are located within the Death Valley National Park Wilderness. It has been a slow process in which Google has generally been cooperative, but I still have four old roads to be removed from the Google maps."