always check google maps

I use hand-drawn maps and a compass. Sometimes just the Northern Star. Anything more is overkill.

 

I"m not better, I just don't worry about it. You've been driving a few years. You should be able to handle whatever situation comes your way too.

Most of this country has wide open space. And is no problem getting in to. The tight spots are northeast and california. I mostly go to california. Where there is no space for trucks. Google isn't going to help me out. Cuz it can't tell me what the area looks like at the current moment.

Narrow streets. Dead end streets. One way streets. Cars parked. Freeway exits that are constantly closed for construction or no longer exist. Sometimes google can help. But most times it can't. Becuase it's not LIVE and CURRENT. Things that are out of our control and there isn't anything we can do about it.

You get there, and simply make the best of it.

Trucking has been around for decades. THEY didn't have google to help them out. Which has only been around a few years. And THEY managed.

I like technology just as much as the rest of you. But technology can only do so much. In order for google to do anything for me. I need to know what the situation is like at the present moment. And I only have to worry about california. All the other states, have been no big deal. Worse case scenario, drive down the street and turn around. I can count the number of times on one hand that i've had to come in from the other direction.

I"m not a super trucker. I just don't worry about it. My bro in law never worried about it. His dad never worried about it. We get there, and just deal with it.

 

It'll tell you delay. It won't tell you if the road is shut down. It can't even tell you if the road still exists. It can only do what it's database contains.

 

Another good thing about it is you can see when the GPS address itself is not lined up to the correct place on the road. You can use Google Maps satellite view to see when Google Maps is wrong. Last week I had a delivery going into a skinny road / residential area. The satellite view showed an empty field near a trailer park. It turns out the business was across from a very low weight limit bridge and passing it would've led to a bad situation also. One where you'd have to back out over a mile. The satellite view made me be sure to call the consignee ahead of time.

So sometimes satellite view can show you where Google Maps (and every other GPS unit) is wrong. And prevent some costly mistakes.

 

For us city drivers it is very useful. Apparently you have never been to chicago. You would not do very well here without a plan, can't just show up and hope you make it.

 

Thanks for the great photo. But the rub is this guy cannot operate a truck! No satellite or photo can fix stupid. He did not set up for a corner he had plenty of room to take. Best to remove drivers like this from the driving pool any way possible.

What did we all do before the internet satellite view. 53' have been around since the 80's and doubles since the start of trucking. Google maps has been out since 2004 and I don't know when satellite view was added. What did drivers do in the decades before?

Nothing wrong with a tool, but a driver needs to be able to cope with a situation. This is a simple situation and this guy is a failure.

 

Google maps is awesome awesome....combine it with Google Earth and u can get a street view to see where the low bridges r at. Just drag the little guy down to the street and you can read the street signs

 

You can set the terrain 3x in Google earth and "fly" the route. In Google maps on the laptop there is an option to look at a graph to see the terrain changes. I use it while planning fuel stops. It try to do most of the climbing before I fill the tanks if possible. Every tiny thing to save fuel. It all adds up over time.

 

it takes time to go thru all that, y'all sound way to quick for me,

hats off !

 

Psh. I just swing out into the oncoming lanes if I need to...