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Old 03-22-2017, 09:22 AM
 
4,833 posts, read 5,671,589 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by oregonwoodsmoke View Post
AAA always wants to see my membership card, so I suspect that maps are for members only.

Maps allow you to see the bigger picture instead of following a very narrow path without any awareness of what else might be in the area. There are almost always multiple roads to get you where you want to go and a map will let you see those.

GPS shows a very small area and my experience with GPS is that it often does not send you on the best route. It will occasionally send people into areas that are dangerous and people have even died by blindly following their GPS.

GPS is also worthless if you haven't decided where you want to go. You can look at a map and see that if you follow that road there is a lake up there. Can you ask your GPS to find you a nice lake for a picnic?
Yes. And GPS (along with points of interests) are exactly made for times when you don't know where to go and want to just "wing it". Type in "restaurants" or "parks" or "hiking" and it will find it for you.
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Old 03-22-2017, 09:47 AM
 
Location: Southern California
12,713 posts, read 15,393,156 times
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They better not. I don't want to be paying for giving free things to people who don't pay in.
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Old 03-22-2017, 09:52 AM
 
Location: Saint John, IN
11,583 posts, read 6,664,706 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by HappyRider View Post
Absolutely not! I didn't become a paying member for them to give away free stuff to everybody. There was a time that gas stations had free maps, but that was way back.
This exactly! That's why it's a membership. Anyway, use your phone. Many apps on it for directions. OR BECOME A AAA MEMBER!
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Old 03-22-2017, 10:07 AM
 
5,151 posts, read 4,480,705 times
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Geeze, it's not that expensive to join AAA, they offer a lot of services. They were invaluable when I lived in CA & had DMW issues .

The last time I relied on GPS was when I was looking for a 4WD specialty store & was guided to a dead end street with a 12' high retaining wall. Yep, that worked.
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Old 03-22-2017, 10:21 AM
 
4,833 posts, read 5,671,589 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by MarciaMarshaMarcia View Post
Geeze, it's not that expensive to join AAA, they offer a lot of services. They were invaluable when I lived in CA & had DMW issues .

The last time I relied on GPS was when I was looking for a 4WD specialty store & was guided to a dead end street with a 12' high retaining wall. Yep, that worked.
Would you have scoffed at a map if it led you through a street closed for construction?
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Old 03-22-2017, 10:24 AM
 
Location: Tip of the Sphere. Just the tip.
4,540 posts, read 2,739,305 times
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To be fair, in the hands of somebody who can't use simple technology... a map *is* superior
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Old 03-22-2017, 10:28 AM
 
9,868 posts, read 7,587,895 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by V8 Vega View Post
I like maps, you can see where you are and where you want to go and see the best route. Also can estimate the time it will take. Also have a sense of where your going instead of blindly following spoken direction without a clue of where you are.
Same here.

GPS has been wrong on too many things, from what I have seen other people puzzling over as they stop on the road, wondering where they are.

The first time I noticed this was a really bad error in the device of a neighbor's car. We knew we had to take a left turn at an intersection where we could either go straight or turn left. There was no road at all to the right. Guess which way the GPS said to turn!

The place we lived in the last few years saw many rounds of people wondering why they could not keep driving down our dead end street. "But my onboard navigator says this goes through!" as they stare at a tiny foot trail up an extremely steep, overgrown slope.

Paper maps sometimes have mistakes (usually obvious typos), but not as many as electronic devices do, from what I have seen.
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Old 03-22-2017, 11:14 AM
 
Location: Gulf Coast
1,458 posts, read 1,159,201 times
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Lots of times gps has sent us to wrong places, long way around, etc. etc. One route we take won't allow us to get on the toll road we wish to take...though we have that option ok'd on the menu..

We find we need a rough estimate of how we want to get somewhere before we start. I suppose blindly following the gps would eventually get us to our destination, and that is good if one is hopelessly lost, but a map is a good thing.

I remember the days following the trip-tic all the way from PA to FL. Also, roads were more interesting in those days, lots more to see, but of course way slower. I sorta miss some of that.
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Old 03-22-2017, 11:18 AM
 
3,925 posts, read 4,090,105 times
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If you are on the internet you can make your own maps with Google Maps. If you have a current mac then you have a program called "Maps" that will do what AAA does.

I have a GPS for the car, and I always make up a specific map set, as well as have one of those Rand McNally USA map books. Sometimes the GPS will send you into weird places. But then again....

One time about 8 years ago I was heading west on Route 70 out of Washington. We got into the boonies of around Cumberland, Maryland. and we ran into a major traffic accident traffic jam. We got off, but had no map. So we headed south on these back roads and then headed west. Once we got beyond where the GPS tried to make us go back, it started giving us directions forward. We wanted to get back on 70 on the other side of the accident. 70 is a limited access divided highway.

The GPS started taking us on smaller and smaller roads, and finally had us on this dirt road with trees on all sides, with the statement that we would reconnect with 70 in 500 feet. We expected to run unto a chain link fence, but sure enough, there was this little dirt road that actually took us back on to Route 70 500 feet ahead. We did not have a back up map so we were at the mercy of the GPS.

I had another time where it confused a bridge over a road with a connection to the road, or where it wanted me to turn into a burger king from a side road to a locked gate for a PA turnpike rest stop.
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Old 03-22-2017, 11:42 AM
 
5,151 posts, read 4,480,705 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by turkey-head View Post
To be fair, in the hands of somebody who can't use simple technology... a map *is* superior
Uhhh...have you ever learned to read a map? Do you know what a "legend" is? Or a compass?
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