Is it weird to hate using a GPS? (unlimited, engines, compared)
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1) Sends you onto a gridlocked expressway, in the middle of a construction zone with two closed lanes.
2) Ignores a perfectly normal surface street running parallel to that expressway.
3) Tells you to take three turns to go a certain direction (make a loop), when only one will do (just turn).
4) Sends you five miles out of the way, when a fully-functional direct route is right there.
5) Tells you to get off an expressway and get right back on at the same damn street.
6) Screams "recalculating!" when you try to drive the normal person's way instead following its prompts.
Need I say more?
P.S.: Yes, I know they came from crappy, possibly outdated, GPS software, but they're still mistakes. Asked and answered.
Just quite irrelevant. Current version of Google map navigation does none of those things. Does not even say recalculating nowadays. Simply picks up how to get you on track. If you like you can simply turn off the voice and do it visually. I prefer the voice in traffic as it is less distracting.
I think you suffer from an unreasonable view that is coloring your thinking beyond good sense. Try a newer smart phone and google map navigation. You will likely find a much better solution than you expect.
Yes, you need say more. If you know that this came from one specific crappy, possibly outdated, GPS software then why are you making this allegation about GPS in general? That's intellectually dishonest.
Bingo. That's the gist of OP's whole argument. OP is still using old outdated technology (which OP freely admits to) and using this as his argument against all GPS systems even though many people here using modern systems (yes there were growing pains, nothing is fault proof but the technology is mature now) don't have the same issues OP has
I rarely use it but I don't use maps either. It is handy to have for when you need it.
I have spent many hours driving around trying to figure out how to get unlost. That does acquaint one with an area, but the GPS is a useful tool at times.
However you want to do it is fine. I am not a good mapper at all. I am a get-loster but I still have a good sense of how to get unlost, though it might take time.
Some people are excellent mappers and it just takes a look before you go to know exactly how to get to your destination. My husband was like that. If you can do that then it is better then using a navigator because your mind knows the whole picture not just 'Your destination is on the right'.....
1) Sends you onto a gridlocked expressway, in the middle of a construction zone with two closed lanes.
2) Ignores a perfectly normal surface street running parallel to that expressway.
3) Tells you to take three turns to go a certain direction (make a loop), when only one will do (just turn).
4) Sends you five miles out of the way, when a fully-functional direct route is right there.
5) Tells you to get off an expressway and get right back on at the same damn street.
6) Screams "recalculating!" when you try to drive the normal person's way instead following its prompts.
Need I say more?
P.S.: Yes, I know they came from crappy, possibly outdated, GPS software, but they're still mistakes. Asked and answered.
1. And a map will warn you about that
2. And which one is better assuming it's outside rush hour. And if it is jammed then a modern GPS will ask you to get off the expressway.
3.
4. I have no idea what you are talking about. Explain more please.
5. It really depends how you have configured your device. There "must" be a reason why it is asking you to do that.
6. If you are not following it has to recalculate, right? However if that is a deal breaker for you then buy a new one it won't say that.
This is an issue my friend and I get into headbutting matches over. I can't stand using a GPS. I know the Chicago street grid, and most suburban areas, and prefer to navigate the old-school way: with my knowledge of streets, a road atlas or Google Maps, landmarks, written directions, and a compass. Plus---and correct me if I'm wrong---I find the GPS voice prompts whiny, aggressive, and patronizing. I like knowing that I'm good with navigation and using that to find my way. Although I think what helps is my photographic memory for locations: I have to drive somewhere once, and I'll remember how to get there for a long time. Even if I go somewhere new, I will print out maps and directions before even looking at a GPS device.
My friend is the opposite. Great guy; I respect him to pieces. But he will say "how high?" when a GPS says "jump!". I've driven with him, on his GPS system. He's taken multiple weird turns when only one turn will do, got off the interstate and got right back on, sat in nasty traffic and refused to detour around it, all because a GPS sent him that way. When I'm driving him, I pretty much order him to "put that damn thing away". Conversely, if he's driving, I just grin it and bear it; because his car, his rules. That said, when I suggest deviating from the GPS goddess (the voice is usually female), he takes my words into account, as he knows my hidden talent of being good with directions.
Now, I'm not a complete luddite. If I know I'm lost and can't find my way back onto a familiar road, or if I find myself somewhere completely unknown, I'll eat crow and turn on the GPS on my phone. Also, if I'm using Uber/Lyft and the driver prefers to use a GPS, I don't complain, either, since I'm the one going to him for help.
GPS varies. Once (before 2009), my nephew wanted one, so I got out my Garmin and he was vastly disappointed. He wanted one that talked, that told how to get there while with my Garmin, I use it for checking my position, getting a fix, and plotting my course from there.
I'm a navigator and prefer moving on the Earth service using one of the methods I've been taught.
IF IN ANYTHING ELSE, one should remember what their primary purpose is when they have the controls in their hands. Fly the plane, drive the car. If they are fixated on their navigation, then they aren't doing that.
GPS varies. Once (before 2009), my nephew wanted one, so I got out my Garmin and he was vastly disappointed. He wanted one that talked, that told how to get there while with my Garmin, I use it for checking my position, getting a fix, and plotting my course from there.
I'm a navigator and prefer moving on the Earth service using one of the methods I've been taught.
IF IN ANYTHING ELSE, one should remember what their primary purpose is when they have the controls in their hands. Fly the plane, drive the car. If they are fixated on their navigation, then they aren't doing that.
Not really true. No one actually steers long haul boat. Even on a small one you rig an auto pilot and let it steer. Keeping a lookout is still important...the damndest things pop up out of no where. But mostly you watch not steer.
Airplanes are different but similar. You suffer from the increased dimensions. Have to maintain course and altitude and look out so you dont run into something.
Nether though requires the attention needed to drive a car. The human supervises but is not in the control loop.
GPS was of course the great breakthrough in Marine navigation. Things that you just did not do become simple. One dares enter dangerous harbors in the dark or storm conditions. Something not doable 35 years ago. And it has become practically impossible for a pilot to get lost...that is unless he trusts his vision more than the GPS.
And it is clear that GPS will replace the IFR systems including the ILS. So we should all learn to love it.
And a recent gizmo has been developed that provides accuracy of a few inches. Uses local satellites to provide high accuracy over a 12 mile or so radius. That is tight enough to hold lanes.
It is all falling into place. GPS will end up running your lawn mower.
GPS varies. Once (before 2009), my nephew wanted one, so I got out my Garmin and he was vastly disappointed. He wanted one that talked, that told how to get there while with my Garmin, I use it for checking my position, getting a fix, and plotting my course from there.
I'm a navigator and prefer moving on the Earth service using one of the methods I've been taught.
IF IN ANYTHING ELSE, one should remember what their primary purpose is when they have the controls in their hands. Fly the plane, drive the car. If they are fixated on their navigation, then they aren't doing that.
As we say in the flying world...Aviate, navigate, communicate. In that order.
Very true. I haven't seen a Rand McNally road atlas in Walmart in years.
Saw one 45 minutes ago. They don't sell as many maps as they used to, obviously, but for people who prefer them they still work just as well as they always have.
It is all falling into place. GPS will end up running your lawn mower.
See, that's the whole problem I have with this, in a nutshell. Why would I want GPS to run my lawnmower? How much better can a lawnmower be?
This whole "anything that's new must be better" mentality is out of hand. I'm an avid bicyclist, and for many years I used a pump with an air gauge. The seals wore out about 15 years ago, so I went to my bike shop to get a new pump. I wanted one with a simple analog air gauge, but they didn't have any. Every pump they had came with a digital gauge, with a computer chip in it. I didn't want that, because I knew that when the chip failed, the whole pump was unrepairable, but it was all they had, so I bought one.
Sure enough, a few months later the chip failed, and the 30 dolllar pump went straight to the dump. This time, i bought an analog pump online, and have been using it ever since. The addition of a computer chip was a completely useless weak link, but everyone was ga-ga for them because somehow a digital readout is better than a dial gauge.
It's crazy. There's no point to it. Not every single aspect of daily life needs to be computerized, or for that matter necessarily even benefits from it.
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