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Post by sherri on Jul 4, 2017 9:34:52 GMT
Just been having a bit of a smile at one news report about a tourist in Iceland. He made a spelling error when he typed in a name and the GPS took him over 400km out of his way, to a remote fishing village. It soon emerged that Santillan had typed in an extra R to his destination – a rogue letter that caused the GPS to direct him on a 430km route to Laugarvegur, Siglufjorour, instead of Laugavegur, Reykjavik, which was only 45 minutes from the airport.
www.traveller.com.au/tourist-makes-spelling-error-on-gps-gets-lost-for-six-hours-in-iceland-gmp89e
I didn't laugh because I can see how this sort of thing can happen.
My sister & her family were over in US a couple of years back, with a GPS & typed in some town they were heading for. It was a fair day's journey so they expected to be on the road a while, but my sister got the wind up after a while as she didn't recognise any of the town names they were passing through, so they stopped at a shop along the way and asked. Turned out there were 2 towns, same name, they were headed to the wrong one. They had only travelled about 100km or so I think, but the trouble was, it was in the wrong direction so they were over 250km from where they needed to be. 
Then there was our experience a few years back. Heading to a nephew's wedding in a country area over 100km away. My husband got onto the correct freeways but as we got close, we were directed off. My husband thought it might be a more direct route, off we went, soon were in the mountains, twisty turny road, husband cursing the GPS; road turned to gravel-unmade. But now only 6 km from our destination.
Then it said to turn right at Sailor Jack track. I took a close look at it & saw another gravel road but with a dip where there was water, tree roots. Decided no way. If we were late for the wedding, so be it, but we stayed on the better gravel road. Eventually made a main highway & got to our destination (which was a cricket club on a gravel road) in time.
Ever since then though my husband refuses to use GPS except in built up areas.
Anyone else had bad experiences with GPS?
PS I looked up sailor Jack Track on google maps next day. Goat track, hardy 4 wheel drive only.
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Post by DADDY O on Jul 4, 2017 9:50:04 GMT
Many of the GPS Instruments have built in maps with them, so it's easy to see where you are going, destination miles/kms and estimated time of arrival, assuming you drive the speed limit.
They are very handy instruments to have. Simply put in the street address, anywhere in the USA, Canada or Mexico, and it will take you right to the front door. For other countries, you can download the maps for a nominal fee.
These are some of the best selling ones in the US.
www.bestbuy.com/site/gps-navigation/portable-gps/abcat0301014.c?id=abcat0301014
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Post by joethenuts on Jul 4, 2017 10:24:21 GMT
one i wish i took a photo. one day a lady came to my factory to pick up here paint order , all well ,i go inside the office , about 2 minutess later she comes in to my office saying can you help me. i thought she dropped the paint can [no it did have a lid on it lol] well i go out the front were the carpark is , and there is her brand new car hanging in the air on a concrete edge.
i have2 carspots on either way of entry , when you drive into a car spot you cant go any further as there is concrete borders about 1/2 a foot tall, on the other side 2 feet lower level is another factory. and she went over the concrete bar and 1/2 her car was hanging between the 2 factories it was like an amy add on tv. but she was honest i said how did you go forward and she said the gps told her to. anyway the next door factory brought out the fork lift with a board on it and lifted and pushed the car back in my area and no damage she then came back and brought us a bottle of wine. she had only had the car for 2 days.
i will take a photo and show you guys the spot it happened
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Post by sherri on Jul 4, 2017 13:06:16 GMT
OMG Joe, you're the man on the spot.
How lucky was that woman, to have anyone working nearby who would help her out like that!!
Daddyo, over here, the GPS systems come with maps, destination/kms/estimated time of arrival etc. They are probably the exact same products. as you mentioned.
The problem here can be that they are usually great in built up areas but they are downright dicey in some others.
The real problem comes in if you can't set it onto made roads only. If you can do that, you're pretty well okay.
But if you are heading somewhere with unmade roads, they tend to send you on to 4 wheel drive tracks because they are 'shorter'.
When one of my daughters got married in 2013, her reception was not far from here, in an area called the Dandenong Ranges. The place gave us pamphlets with maps and advice in them and told us we should include them in the invitations, because around there, GPS tended to send people onto dangerous tracks.
The Dandenongs are not out in woop woop, they are in outer suburbia.
I know people still have to use common sense (as in, don't drive forward over a high edge just because GPS said to) but I can see how people end up on unfortunate roads.
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Post by granty on Jul 4, 2017 19:34:35 GMT
How did we ever get about without 'Sat navs'?
My sat nav is a Garmin, I bought it because it had the maps of the US in it, and I've had my moneys worth out of it, but it's got old maps built into it.
So now I use my I phone, it's got all the latest maps. Wonder if it'll work in the US? That's if the pound ever recovers, for me to go back.
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Post by DADDY O on Jul 4, 2017 19:49:01 GMT
Most Garmin's let you reload new maps to it.
Maybe you should ask Pilot? He was done in by a $19.95 floor model sold at Walmart.
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Post by beachbum on Jul 5, 2017 0:47:54 GMT
I bought a Magellan some years ago and from the first time I tried to check for updates, it told me there were none
There have been many that I know of because they are building a new international bridge in Windsor and the freeways on this side are already built.
Last year, when I was in Panama for the winter, I tried to find a satnav, but nobody sold them anymore.
They all use Waze on their phones, and it is updated much more efficiently than the average satnav.
This winter, I'm going to invest in some data time on my local phone number and use something I trust more.
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Post by sherri on Jul 5, 2017 0:58:14 GMT
My son used our GPS a few years back when he and his GF toured NZ. He said he would not have been able to find his way around Auckland without it, it was a great help.
I was surprised in a way as we have stayed in Auckland & had a cruise stop in Auckland and to me, it is only a medium sized city, the roads don't look difficult at all. Maybe they are tricky further out on the city fringes. My son drove through Europe no problems so if he says Auckland was hard, it must be, in parts.
It's easy on foot though. And public transport.
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Post by joethenuts on Jul 5, 2017 1:33:19 GMT
the biggest problem is this , young people have to use every new gadget , and sometimes they are not better, here is a photo of the carspot its got leaves on it now but you can see the scratch marks on it left from the bottom of the car she was lucky as it had a bottom plate under the car that protects everything . sorry cant fit picture having a mad day
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Post by DADDY O on Jul 5, 2017 12:29:41 GMT
My son used our GPS a few years back when he and his GF toured NZ. He said he would not have been able to find his way around Auckland without it, it was a great help. I was surprised in a way as we have stayed in Auckland & had a cruise stop in Auckland and to me, it is only a medium sized city, the roads don't look difficult at all. Maybe they are tricky further out on the city fringes. My son drove through Europe no problems so if he says Auckland was hard, it must be, in parts. It's easy on foot though. And public transport. The NavSat's must utilize a geo-synchronized satellite(means it is stationary in relation to the earth). And to be more effective, three or more satellites must be used to determine the X,Y and Z (elevation) coordinates. The satellites are expensive to put in the air and operate them, thus when you get into the Northern areas, there may be a limited number of satellites, or no satellites at all. I found this to be true in very rural parts of Mexico. The GPS programs that have navigation software on them utilize the communication towers to determine the location of the vehicle......but I believe all you get out of them is X and Y coordinates.....which is usually good enough. Thus, if you are in rural areas of the world, you're better off with your phone than a NATSAT. |
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