I was recently on a short road trip with someone who I assumed knew where he was going. Unfortunately, he thought I knew were I was going to... After chasing a dot in Google Maps for a while, we got where we were going. Not nearly as slick as voice guided directions, but we got there.
Two summers ago we got caught in a massive freeway traffic jam in an area we were unfamiliar with. Being somewhat impatient, I decided it would be faster to hop off the freeway and take local roads around the jam instead of waiting things out...
I have been using GPS software on my Cingular 8125 from a company that will remain nameless (not one of the more well known manufacturers anyway), but it has left much to be desired. On a recent trip from Pennsylvania back to New Jersey, it couldn't find the destination address. I tried every possible way to even get me back somewhere close, but unless I knew an exact address, it wouldn't do it. The address I was trying to get to has been there for many years in a well established neighborhood. At least I had the phone number to call so I could get some good old fashioned verbal directions from an actual human being. Of course there is also a road right in my neighborhood in Georgia that hasn't existed for over 5 years, but that doesn't stop this wonderful GPS software from trying to direct me down that road every chance it gets. But hey, technology is great, right?
Anyway, I'm looking forward to trying a real GPS package from a more well known manufacturer such as CoPilot.
Well, I actually have GPS navigator software for my Windows Mobile devices, but the software is getting really old and the databases are out of date. Half the restaurants I look up in it our out of business, although the roads don't tend to move. I've been looking at updated software off and on, I just haven't purchased anything new to replace the old stuff.
I have been using desinator on an Ipaq for 3 years and it has been a life saver. Not only can I use it with the bluetooth GPS but running it through the radio for the mp3s makes the long road trips a lot easier
I must frequently travel to Atlanta and GPS on my phone/pda would have been great numerous times when I have had to get "creative" to avoid the daily afternoon traffics snafus.
Last month, I traveled to Maine with my supervisor for a meeting. We flew up in the morning, checked into our hotel, then headed off to lunch. After lunch, I realized that I left my organizational ID in my room. My supervisor got out at the building where our meeting was and I headed back to the hotel in the rental car. I've been there a few times, but I haven't driven. My instincts were wrong and I took the wrong turn and realized I was heading the wrong way.
I pulled into a 7/11 parking lot and took out my iPaq 6945. It turned out that I hadn't reinstalled Google Maps since the last time I hard reset (which averaged about every 6 weeks or less on that phone), so I connected to AT&T's EDGE network, downloaded Google Maps, and ran it. I told it to use my GPS and center on my current location, then did a search for the hotel and asked Google Maps to give me directions from my location to the hotel. I then held the phone in my hands while I followed the line on the map back to the hotel, got my badge, and drove back to the meeting.
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Current devices: iPhone 3G. Previous devices: Samsung Epix and 1st gen 32GB iPod Touch BlackJack II, iPaq 6945, iPaq hx4705, Dell Axim x30 high, iPaq 3765.
Coaching youth soccer is tough. Some of the kids want to do cart wheels, others are there because they want to wear the spiffy looking kit, and a few want to play the game. The hardest part, though, is finding the soccer field in some far away town. Half the time, the field doesn't even have a proper street address. What's a poor coach to do except get lost and barely show up on time for every away game. Really, every away game, five times per season.
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