Don’t put your trust in google maps

To stay on paved roads using Google maps, simply engage your brain, pay attention to where you are headed, do not select Avoid Highways as a route option, and verify your route by checking the Route option.

 

People have always been AT LEAST the same amount of stupid, maybe more in the past. The real issue is that we now see every example of stupidity in real time as it happens .

 

I mostly use Google Maps to look at the satellite view and see what businesses are nearby

The navigation builtin to the Qualcomm works well most of the time and I use Smart Truck Route 2 as a backup. Usually if one of them is screwy the other is right on the money.

 

I thought that it was a given that all truckers knew not to use Google for truck routing. I see that I was mistaken. I don't even trust my RM truck GPS half the time and they literally wrote the book on truck routes.

 

There’s a difference between using and trusting!

 

Don’t have those problems when you use a Rand McNally truckers atlas. I like the laminate, but the paper one lets you make notes and changes.

 

A very wise man once said "Trust, but verify".

 

I use it everyday in mine but know better to look at the map like an old school map for roads. One option it has that a paper map doesn't is street view. Nice to zoom in and see those "No Truck" zones signs. Or to see the plant to know what street to turn on for shipping. It has cop alerts and real time traffic flows as well. However, it isnt set up for trucks and just knowing that SHOULD have the not so brightest drivers aware and to plan a head. The driver who drove into a river must have been a Swift driver and doesnt need to drive period. Use your head not your hands drivers.

 

Google maps is the only program I have ever used to get around. Never felt the need to buy an actual trucker GPS. The turn by turn audio assistant and display does come in handy if you are looking for a local street or driveway in an area you are unfamiliar with. But you can easily use the satellite view beforehand to double check for potential problems once you get onto local streets. I even use the street view to spy on posted overhead clearances. That is helpful if you are trying to negotiate crappy areas like Chicago or NY boroughs/Long Island

 

Reagan used that line during a negotiation with those slippery Russians.