SKIRMISHER

Previously-alive CNET technology analyst James Kim and his family went on a Thanksgiving roadtrip to Seattle and Portland from San Francisco. They took a short cut to the Oregon coast. The problem was, the road they took was “unused, unplowed during the winter,” which was listed anyway on their GPS device. They were lost on Nov. 25.

Kim, a senior editor for the technology media company CNet Networks Inc.; his wife, Kati; and their two daughters, Penelope, 4, and Sabine, 7 months, went missing Nov. 25 when they left Portland and headed home after a holiday trip to the Pacific Northwest. Sometime along the way, they missed a turnoff and got lost.

They ran the heater in their car until it ran out of gas, and then they burned the tires to stay warm and attract attention. On Saturday, James Kim left to find help, heading about two miles down the road into Big Windy Creek.

Wife Kati and the two kids have been saved, except James. They found his body today.

Kim’s case rankles us because it’s possible the navigational system or online maps they used led them astray. The route Kim’s family took, which the locals know as normally impassable in winter, is recommended by at least three major online maps.

Which drives home the point: many things locals know are being missed by online map services, and it’s an oversight that has been proven both hilarious and heartbreaking.

Kim’s last CNET video on Nov. 22 can be viewed here (although the sense of mourning may be momentarily distracted by breathtakingly beautiful Veronica Belmont).

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