Use your GPS.......

Correct it is an aid NOW.

I can see that down the road, maybe 10 years or so,

the way things are going.............

A driver won't be able to find Texas without a GPS..................

and in 20 years, noobies will make fun of the word Map !!!!

 

I cannot stress this enough, and a few of you have touched on it:

A GPS IS NOT THE GOSPEL!!

I do have one, and it is a car GPS, but a little comon sense goes a long way. There are too many super-truckers and just plain idiots accepting the route given as Scripture.

Why you do think truckers hit so many low bridges nowadays? Most common answer: "I was following my GPS."

 

my gps is used to tell roughly how many miles i have left to go on a trip and as far as shippers or receivers i always make it a habit to call them if i dont trust the directions besides that way i know if i can park there or get there earlier

 

I use satellite view a lot. Only this time there were several buildings that COULD have been it. For some reason Google maps and my GPS don't recognize a difference between N. Pan American Expressway and S. Pan American Expressway here in San Antonio, lol!

I didn't see a number for the address on the frontage road for the little industrial park it ended up being at, which would have helped. A gentleman who has a business in that area gave me the right directions though.

 

that happened to me in san antonio took some potatoes down there and missed the exit thanks to driver directions ended up going around a huge circle then turned into a empty industrial park 50/50 chance i was wrong but it was the right place needless to say thats the day i started calling the receiver for directions

 

Always call the shipper and receiver for directions as they should have the best truck designated route. I have been to many shippers and receivers where there was several streets that a truck was not allowed on, low bridges, etc that would have caused some big issues. I use my smart phone in addition to maps, notes and my brain to plan best route, mileage. Satellite views are great but keep in mind they are old photos also and things can change. Keeping notes on places I have gone is the best thing as I always have info on a place for next time. Hard part is trying to organize it so I can find it again, LOL

 

I think of a GPS as a PGS: Pretty Good Sometimes

 

I do the same thing then screw down on the location they give me, onto the GPS screen to pin point where they said they are located then click Route to Here function. Compared to the actual address inputted, this location is usually on the back side of the building for the docks as opposed to the front door which is typically not truck friendly.

A lot of people are skeered of GPS because it is not paper. Using your finger to move the map around seems voodoo. Zooming in and out, seeing where the truck stops, rest areas and scalehouses are located along your route is too much information to absorb. They'd rather spend half their 10 hour break poring over truck stop maps and atlases to figure possible fuel stops and end of day scenarios.

With mine, I can cast a net to see what truck stops are near me or rest areas if I need to go to the restroom for example. Feel like throwing the dice? Has an app for that as well. Grocery store, hospital, taxi service, CAT scales, has an app to find the nearest ones to my location and many more points of interest- along with phone numbers. Old timer gets on the CB other day and asks if there is parking 500 miles down the road where he is delivering. I say "standby". I drag my screen over 500 miles and look for truck stops and click on the one showing. Give him the phone number over the CB and he calls. He thanked me profusely for the help.

If you're on Elogs you can drag over a few hundred miles to see where you want to stop. The GPS will tell you when you will arrive. If the time is past when your clock runs out, drag closer til you hit the time you want. Max out your time and max out your paycheck!

 

I mostly used a GPS to know how many miles were left and what approximate time I was going to arrive. I liked to try and see how much time I could knock off.

Directions from receivers and shippers don't always pan out. Some of them just tell you how they get there in their car. I've even had a receiver send me down a road that had been closed for 3 months. Sometimes I don't speak enough Spanish to translate their directions either.

GPS, Atlas, shipper's directions, Google Earth are all just tools that should be used in conjunction with each other. You can use each of them to see where there may be problems ahead of time when they don't line up and such. Relying on any of them solely makes no sense.

Now I don't have GPS and I don't get directions or a phone number from my company half the time, just and address. Pretty much have to rely on Google Maps and the Atlas to find my own way there. We go to the same places mostly so once I go there once I'm good, but the first time is quite an adventure.

 

a gps is an electronic map, that is zoomable, to individual streets, or just highways... very useful tool.

One must still use the space between their ears and read the signs.