For the “directionally challenged” like myself, technology has made our lives easier. While there have always been maps, lazy people like me have never wanted to look at a map and actually analyze it. We have always wanted to know how to get from point A to point B with specific directions, turn by turn.
In the mid-nineties, Mapquest fulfilled our dreams — well, sort of. Mapquest was not always 100 percent accurate as I learned when going to a job interview in Costa Mesa while living in downtown Los Angeles. The directions, which I printed out and dangerously looked at while driving, brought me into Costa Mesa safely. However, I ended up stalling at a dead end street. Oops!
The days of printing out directions and bringing them with you soon ended in the middle of this decade with the arrival of affordable GPS navigation software for laptops or PDAs. While these systems would get you to your location most of the time, they did so by sending you in weird routes. But I also became convinced that the makers of GPS systems were possibly conspiring with the health care industry to kill us before we start draining the system.
In 2004, I bought my first GPS Navigator, the Garmin IQue 3600 Pocket PC for $500. It looked really nice, but it would have been nicer if it had actually worked. It often took ten minutes to find satellites and when it did, the machine behaved as if it was conspiring to get me lost. In Newport Beach, California, the robot-like female voice wanted me to drive in the ocean when going to a liquor store. In Anaheim, it sent me in the opposite direction of my important job interview and when I went the right way, it kept telling me, “Make a U-turn in 30 seconds.”
In 2005, I heard of a software company called TomTom, which made GPS systems for PDAs. I paid $250 for software and a Bluetooth GPS receiver that was just as small as a bar of hotel soap. It seemed to be my dream come true by showing 3D maps wherever I was driving and giving me a choice of what voice to tell me when to turn right or left. After the initial lust wore off with this product, I realized that TomTom was conspiring to kill me as well. Sometimes, I would get in my car and have peace of mind knowing that TomTom would lead me in the right place.
However, just as I got on a highway or just as I was about to make a major turn, the software would freeze even though I had a lot of RAM available on my Ipaq Pocket PC. I thought that getting a new Pocket PC Smartphone would change my luck. However, TomTom had a policy in which you can only activate a registration number ONCE on each device. Calling their customer service number was a nightmare and I was left without a system for a month until I finally heard back from them. Unfortunately, I experienced the same freezing problems I had with the Pocket PC as I did with my new Windows Mobile Smartphone. For the most part, the TomTom navigation software became useless.
Article comments
1 - Destiny
I have the TomTom ONE XL and I am completely attached to it! I don't drive anywhere without it anymore. The best part is that it is easy and you can use it right out of the box!
2 - Ty
I agree you need more than half a brain to use a GPS. People who can't use a map AT ALL may still have trouble with a GPS. The problem with GPS is that most people who rush to get them for a car are the complete ditzes when it comes to directions/maps/etc. instead of GPS right away, they need to learn how to use maps, plan out routes, etc.
If I am going to an unfamiliar place, even though I have built in navigation in my car, I hit up yahoo or google maps (or both) and plan out my drive. I try to memorize the major turns and be on my way.
Only if I were to get lost (and I don't) do I use GPS, or if there is a traffic jam coming up and I want to see if I can get around it.
And long trips should be planned out in advance without the GPS. Just use the GPS to get around cities with which you are totally unfamiliar.
Also
"Most GPS systems come with a suction cup attachment that allows you to attach your GPS to a position on the lower side of your front window or dashboard."
In California, the most populous state in the country, it is illegal to mount anything (besides a fastrack responder for tolls) to your front window. People do it but tickets are being issued at higher and higher rates.
3 - Ty
"The days of printing out directions and bringing them with you soon ended "
When I go to work, I still see many people in cars with yahoo driving directions printed out on their laps.