GPS - The good and the bad!!!

[gillumhouse]

We have had a problem with GPS. Our mailing address is different than our house address. I have had to change all of our documents to our house address. GPS cannot find the mailing address.
BBBBOB.

GPS cannot find the mailing address.
BBBBOB

Neither can search engines. This is a good reminder to all to make sure your physical address is on every page of your website too.
.

[

Neither can search engines. This is a good reminder to all to make sure your physical address is on every page of your website too.
[/quote]
NOR does UPS!!! For crying out loud...I have lived here for years and when I try to get UPS to ship they tell me my address does not exist...am I loosing it and making things up??

.

[/QUOTE]
I have lived here for years and when I try to get UPS to ship they tell me my address does not exist...am I loosing it and making things up??
I live in downtown, the house and address have been here since 1912, and UPS tells me the address does not exist. I guess they are right. I do not know where I live. I must be on a shadow planet...... But every time I see the UPS driver anywhere around the area, he calls me by name and says hello. HE knows where I live!

 

[wendydk]

My confirmations include driving directions from every possible direction as well as the comment "Vehicular Navigation Systems often have a hard time finding us, so I am attaching driving directions at the end of this email".
Although we are on a main highway attached to all other main highways, GPS systems will often take guests down every dirt road between their house and ours, and spit them out at the Catholic Church at the other end of town, where they call me for directions anyway. Often. the GPS takes them right past our place, sign and all. They're so busy watching the nav screen that they never even look out the side windows as they go by.

 

[gillumhouse]

My confirmations include driving directions from every possible direction as well as the comment "Vehicular Navigation Systems often have a hard time finding us, so I am attaching driving directions at the end of this email".
Although we are on a main highway attached to all other main highways, GPS systems will often take guests down every dirt road between their house and ours, and spit them out at the Catholic Church at the other end of town, where they call me for directions anyway. Often. the GPS takes them right past our place, sign and all. They're so busy watching the nav screen that they never even look out the side windows as they go by..

I wonder how the GPS deals with Chicago. I cannot remember which east/west street it is right now - been away too long - but it is a main drag street and has a freeway go through it near Cicero Ave (near Peterson I think) but it ends and you have to go a couple blocks around it to get an underpass to go the rest of the way on that street.

 

[Copperhead]

While we do have our address on each page of our website, if the GPS system(s) do not spell our street correctly, then what good is it for those users!!!! I wonder if there are different settings for use on these pieces of crap technology? Our son's TomTom is programed to first put in the city and state and then he types in the first 2 letters of our street name and bang a list of all the streets appear - ours included!!!! So his is very easy!

 

[JBloggs]

While we do have our address on each page of our website, if the GPS system(s) do not spell our street correctly, then what good is it for those users!!!! I wonder if there are different settings for use on these pieces of crap technology? Our son's TomTom is programed to first put in the city and state and then he types in the first 2 letters of our street name and bang a list of all the streets appear - ours included!!!! So his is very easy!.

While we do have our address on each page of our website, if the GPS system(s) do not spell our street correctly, then what good is it for those users!!!! I wonder if there are different settings for use on these pieces of crap technology? Our son's TomTom is programed to first put in the city and state and then he types in the first 2 letters of our street name and bang a list of all the streets appear - ours included!!!! So his is very easy!

Yes it is the software.

 

[JBloggs]

While we do have our address on each page of our website, if the GPS system(s) do not spell our street correctly, then what good is it for those users!!!! I wonder if there are different settings for use on these pieces of crap technology? Our son's TomTom is programed to first put in the city and state and then he types in the first 2 letters of our street name and bang a list of all the streets appear - ours included!!!! So his is very easy!.

While we do have our address on each page of our website, if the GPS system(s) do not spell our street correctly, then what good is it for those users!!!! I wonder if there are different settings for use on these pieces of crap technology? Our son's TomTom is programed to first put in the city and state and then he types in the first 2 letters of our street name and bang a list of all the streets appear - ours included!!!! So his is very easy!

Yes it is the software.
I just mapped out a short getaway. Google maps, yahoo and mapquest all gave me totally different routes and totally different drive times. I did not specify OFF highway or anything. Google maps of course has it segmented to each turn or city so you can just grab them and lift and move to a different route and it recalculates it all for you. I did this on google maps until I found what was, truly, the quickest route to take.

 

[MooseTrax]

While we do have our address on each page of our website, if the GPS system(s) do not spell our street correctly, then what good is it for those users!!!! I wonder if there are different settings for use on these pieces of crap technology? Our son's TomTom is programed to first put in the city and state and then he types in the first 2 letters of our street name and bang a list of all the streets appear - ours included!!!! So his is very easy!.

While we do have our address on each page of our website, if the GPS system(s) do not spell our street correctly, then what good is it for those users!!!! I wonder if there are different settings for use on these pieces of crap technology? Our son's TomTom is programed to first put in the city and state and then he types in the first 2 letters of our street name and bang a list of all the streets appear - ours included!!!! So his is very easy!

Yes it is the software.
I just mapped out a short getaway. Google maps, yahoo and mapquest all gave me totally different routes and totally different drive times. I did not specify OFF highway or anything. Google maps of course has it segmented to each turn or city so you can just grab them and lift and move to a different route and it recalculates it all for you. I did this on google maps until I found what was, truly, the quickest route to take.
.

What we've found with MapQuest is that is generally sticks to main roads, interstates, highways and the like. Even if it would be faster to take a right turn and go slightly north to get on the highway it will take you on the main road that goes south, all the way through town because you are ultimately going south and it won't take you north even for a 1/4 mile.
Maybe the software is better now but I don't like how MQ works and use Google maps whenever I can.

 

[Copperhead]

While we do have our address on each page of our website, if the GPS system(s) do not spell our street correctly, then what good is it for those users!!!! I wonder if there are different settings for use on these pieces of crap technology? Our son's TomTom is programed to first put in the city and state and then he types in the first 2 letters of our street name and bang a list of all the streets appear - ours included!!!! So his is very easy!.

While we do have our address on each page of our website, if the GPS system(s) do not spell our street correctly, then what good is it for those users!!!! I wonder if there are different settings for use on these pieces of crap technology? Our son's TomTom is programed to first put in the city and state and then he types in the first 2 letters of our street name and bang a list of all the streets appear - ours included!!!! So his is very easy!

Yes it is the software.
I just mapped out a short getaway. Google maps, yahoo and mapquest all gave me totally different routes and totally different drive times. I did not specify OFF highway or anything. Google maps of course has it segmented to each turn or city so you can just grab them and lift and move to a different route and it recalculates it all for you. I did this on google maps until I found what was, truly, the quickest route to take.
.

Yes it is the software.
I just mapped out a short getaway. Google maps, yahoo and mapquest all gave me totally different routes and totally different drive times. I did not specify OFF highway or anything. Google maps of course has it segmented to each turn or city so you can just grab them and lift and move to a different route and it recalculates it all for you. I did this on google maps until I found what was, truly, the quickest route to take.

My peeve with these internet maps lies in the way driving descripsion are worded. I kept wondering how (some) people were turning the wrong direction off the interstate to get to me....after reading and re-reading the directions over and over again...what I found was that most of them tell you to turn Right at the exit...(in some form or fashion) what they are telling the driver is to take the ramp (to the right) at the exit. Then it states to turn left on X hwy.... What people were doing was turning right at the end of the ramp then looking (some times for miles) for the X Hwy to turn left on...trouble is they are already ON that road, traveling the WRONG directions... At least NOW I know what directions they are using when they call and are lost... GRRR so it is not that these are wrong but the wording is missleading. Of course the best of these is Google so you can alter the directions to get you there the best way....This is of course you know the area at least partially.
Lets just stay none of this technology is perfect and the best way for people to find us is to use OUR own directions!!!!

 

[JBloggs]

There was a news story this morning of a semi truck following his GPS into no man's land and I just loved one of the lines from the article that had signage to warn them to turn back now!
Not only "Sharp Curves Ahead,“ but, “GPS routing not advised.”

 

[user 26]

i love my gps. because i usually have no sense of direction. was driving to someplace i know how to get to (but only one way) and suddenly the road was closed due to construction. i found a place to pull over, plugged in my little inexpensive garmin, and waited. it kept searching for a satellite and not finding one so i went by my instincts. for once, found the place on my own. and as i pulled in, the gps said 'arriving at destination'. haha.
if someone tells me not to take exit 34 but to wait and take exit 38, i do so, even though the gps is chirping away to take exit 34. the gps immediately starts recalculating route. i ask if i should follow my gps and what exact address to plug in. then i'm fine. it amazes me that people will ignore road signs ... road closed ... etc. the gps CANNOT see the caution signs!! construction, bad weather, road closed, flooding .... these are not things to ignore. people need to use their heads that a gps is a tool ... it's not infallible and it might take you down a little, tiny dirt road that suddenly dead ends at a newly reopened railroad track. happened to me.

 

[gillumhouse]

i love my gps. because i usually have no sense of direction. was driving to someplace i know how to get to (but only one way) and suddenly the road was closed due to construction. i found a place to pull over, plugged in my little inexpensive garmin, and waited. it kept searching for a satellite and not finding one so i went by my instincts. for once, found the place on my own. and as i pulled in, the gps said 'arriving at destination'. haha.
if someone tells me not to take exit 34 but to wait and take exit 38, i do so, even though the gps is chirping away to take exit 34. the gps immediately starts recalculating route. i ask if i should follow my gps and what exact address to plug in. then i'm fine. it amazes me that people will ignore road signs ... road closed ... etc. the gps CANNOT see the caution signs!! construction, bad weather, road closed, flooding .... these are not things to ignore. people need to use their heads that a gps is a tool ... it's not infallible and it might take you down a little, tiny dirt road that suddenly dead ends at a newly reopened railroad track. happened to me..

The folks this week who found me on their On-Star were surprised we were on it. Asked DH how we managed that - he said 'I don't know, she does all that."
What surprised me was that they drove past 2 other B & Bs (one right on the road they were on!) before they got to me. Weren't they on there?

 

[wendydk]

I added our GPS coordinates to my driving directions, and have had at least two people say that they used them to get to us. I swear, people are getting more and more helpless. They call me from the other end of town, saying that their GPS did not find us. Nearly 100% of the time, they drove right past us on their way, and walk in with my driving directions in hand.
It's like "Idiocracy".

 

[One Day]

i love my gps. because i usually have no sense of direction. was driving to someplace i know how to get to (but only one way) and suddenly the road was closed due to construction. i found a place to pull over, plugged in my little inexpensive garmin, and waited. it kept searching for a satellite and not finding one so i went by my instincts. for once, found the place on my own. and as i pulled in, the gps said 'arriving at destination'. haha.
if someone tells me not to take exit 34 but to wait and take exit 38, i do so, even though the gps is chirping away to take exit 34. the gps immediately starts recalculating route. i ask if i should follow my gps and what exact address to plug in. then i'm fine. it amazes me that people will ignore road signs ... road closed ... etc. the gps CANNOT see the caution signs!! construction, bad weather, road closed, flooding .... these are not things to ignore. people need to use their heads that a gps is a tool ... it's not infallible and it might take you down a little, tiny dirt road that suddenly dead ends at a newly reopened railroad track. happened to me..

The folks this week who found me on their On-Star were surprised we were on it. Asked DH how we managed that - he said 'I don't know, she does all that."
What surprised me was that they drove past 2 other B & Bs (one right on the road they were on!) before they got to me. Weren't they on there?
.

The folks this week who found me on their On-Star were surprised we were on it. Asked DH how we managed that - he said 'I don't know, she does all that."
What surprised me was that they drove past 2 other B & Bs (one right on the road they were on!) before they got to me. Weren't they on there?

Just so you know......I check out Sperlings Best Places all the time.....in one of the demographic menus is a link for "for sale".....meaning properties........Your website came up as #1 in their found "search" window...
Seen this with other B&B's for a specific location.

 

[gillumhouse]

i love my gps. because i usually have no sense of direction. was driving to someplace i know how to get to (but only one way) and suddenly the road was closed due to construction. i found a place to pull over, plugged in my little inexpensive garmin, and waited. it kept searching for a satellite and not finding one so i went by my instincts. for once, found the place on my own. and as i pulled in, the gps said 'arriving at destination'. haha.
if someone tells me not to take exit 34 but to wait and take exit 38, i do so, even though the gps is chirping away to take exit 34. the gps immediately starts recalculating route. i ask if i should follow my gps and what exact address to plug in. then i'm fine. it amazes me that people will ignore road signs ... road closed ... etc. the gps CANNOT see the caution signs!! construction, bad weather, road closed, flooding .... these are not things to ignore. people need to use their heads that a gps is a tool ... it's not infallible and it might take you down a little, tiny dirt road that suddenly dead ends at a newly reopened railroad track. happened to me..

The folks this week who found me on their On-Star were surprised we were on it. Asked DH how we managed that - he said 'I don't know, she does all that."
What surprised me was that they drove past 2 other B & Bs (one right on the road they were on!) before they got to me. Weren't they on there?
.

The folks this week who found me on their On-Star were surprised we were on it. Asked DH how we managed that - he said 'I don't know, she does all that."
What surprised me was that they drove past 2 other B & Bs (one right on the road they were on!) before they got to me. Weren't they on there?

Just so you know......I check out Sperlings Best Places all the time.....in one of the demographic menus is a link for "for sale".....meaning properties........Your website came up as #1 in their found "search" window...
Seen this with other B&B's for a specific location.
.

Thanks for the info. I figured they were just looking for B & B (my city is too small to make the map eve!).

 

[Proud Texan]

I used my Garmin to get our GPS coordinates. I sent these coordinates to Google Maps. Our place now shows up correctly on Google maps with a neat little bed icon. Most importantly, it show us in the correct location so it is accurate for getting driving directions from Google.
For our guests, I send step by step driving directions coming from multiple locations. I include the actual GPS coordinates for those who know how to use them.
I was also able to use Google Earth to see what my address should be. Our physical address is 9004, but you have to use 8247 or you will end up in our neighbor's pasture.
When guests plug in the bogus address, it brings them right to our gate.
Since I've implemented these steps, we have fewer "losties".

 

[Morticia]

i love my gps. because i usually have no sense of direction. was driving to someplace i know how to get to (but only one way) and suddenly the road was closed due to construction. i found a place to pull over, plugged in my little inexpensive garmin, and waited. it kept searching for a satellite and not finding one so i went by my instincts. for once, found the place on my own. and as i pulled in, the gps said 'arriving at destination'. haha.
if someone tells me not to take exit 34 but to wait and take exit 38, i do so, even though the gps is chirping away to take exit 34. the gps immediately starts recalculating route. i ask if i should follow my gps and what exact address to plug in. then i'm fine. it amazes me that people will ignore road signs ... road closed ... etc. the gps CANNOT see the caution signs!! construction, bad weather, road closed, flooding .... these are not things to ignore. people need to use their heads that a gps is a tool ... it's not infallible and it might take you down a little, tiny dirt road that suddenly dead ends at a newly reopened railroad track. happened to me..

We had a guy here who insisted his GPS told him how to get to the park and that was the way he was going. I still have no idea why the GPS did not know the INTERSTATE cut off the end of the road the guy insisted on going down. You can see the other half of the road, but you can't get there. Haven't been able to for a LONG time.