GPS or Route Planning Apps

Copilot has new app version out. You download the maps one time and don't use much data after that. Copilot is off on the street address. You can try it for 30 days for free I think. One20 app is also Copilot the the older version and it's free. None of the truck GPS are 100%. Smartruck is ok

Try Copilot is on Google play store. Not sure why they all seem so crappy after all these years. Google Maps is still one of the best GPS but it not truck specific. Copilot will sent you down local are are not really truck ok. They all are good for highway routing. It getting off for pickup and delivery is were they all fall short

 

Back in my day we didn't use GPS. We used a sextant and compass.

 

I still like to look at the big picture on a traditional map/atlas. The gps is nice to let me know when the streets I need are approaching. But I still have a good picture in my mind of where I'm going.

 

buy a truckers atlas and use it.

 

My advice is to use every tool available.

 

Everything you got is a tool. The MCRA (Motor Carriers Road Atlas), the GPS, the phone, the tablet and any other device you use.

The MCRA holds a lot of valuable information about restrictions, main routing, etc.

The Truck GPS will use what it has stored on its internal maps and will try to keep you on a truck legal route. Note,, if you deliver 1 mile off the National Highways, change your trailer info on your GPS to 48' and 96". This is considered Non-STAA by the National Highway Act. STAA is considered a 53'/102" trailer.

HazMat, no matter what the GPS tells you, you have to go around the city. Reason being the map data does not have HazMat around the cities build in yet.

Height restrictions - Map data has come a long way since 2008 when the Truck GPS started making it highlight into trucks. BUT, some data is still missing. If the sign says 11' 3", then believe the sign.

New York has this odd thing about overpasses. SOME are shown 1' less than actual. The GPS will always go by what the state has given them and that is normally the lower height. There are Yellow/Black and White/Black signs. One is actual and the other is 1' less. I cannot remember which is which.

NYC DOT - Trucks and Commercial Vehicles

If in Colorado and you decide with HazMat to go off the National Highways use this as a guide for a legal route - http://dtdapps.coloradodot.info/staticdata/downloads/StatewideMaps/HazMatMap.pdf

Google Maps are great for looking at the "Last Mile" and seeing any restrictions or the route you need to take.

Maps are never 100%. This is the nature of construction and map updates.

Just because another truck is on the road does not make it a Truck Legal Route off the National Highway.

Speeds on the Truck GPS - obey the posted signs. Not all truck speeds are in the map data, thus normally they will show car speeds.

If you run into routing issues, put it into car mode - if it routes it is a truck restriction, if it does not route then it is a Map issue.

When doing searches on a Truck GPS they find the locations "By the way the Crow Flies", that is a straight line approach. ADD about 15% to get close to your actual distance.

ALL in ALL, everything is a tool to assist you in making proper decisions, but you and you alone are the final decision maker in how or where you put those steer tires.

 

I have a Rand McNally 730 and I also run Google maps concurrently on a dash mounted Tablet. Google maps isn't truck specific so I don't follow it when driving. It's main purpose when routing is to cross reference the 730's routing as it will sometimes give me some wacky routings. If Google maps roughly matches the GPS then I'm good, but if Google shows a significant difference then I check whether it's a truck legal route issue or the GPS is just having a bad hair day. Google also gives me much more accurate travel times as it will account for traffic etc.

If either the tablet or the GPS died, I would replace them immediately as I find both work better than either alone. I hesitate to get a truck specific routing app for the tablet as I find the satellite receiver in the tablet is not as sensitive as the Rand as I will sometimes lose signal lock on the tablet while the GPS is still locked and running. If I could only have one, then it would be a standalone gps unit all day long.

 

Google Maps is hard to beat as long as you don't rely on it's routing ALL the time due to truck limitations. Best part of routing to the extent you can with Google is it's good about seeing major traffic backups and routing around [and alerting you to what it sees and is doing]. And 8 out of 10 times the alternate route chosen by Google will be truck-friendly anyway because Google tries to stick with the major through-routes as much as possible, at least while still in "cross-country" part of a trip and not too close to the destination.

The key is knowing when Google will be prone to put you on routes you want to avoid like parkways, and in areas where lots of low clearances are everywhere.

 

List of things required to properly navigate a truck from pickup to delivery:

1. A Working Brain - This is essential to gathering and processing information from all other sources and making intelligent decisions about choices you might make on the road. Without this, all other physical items on this list are useless.
   
2. Gut Instinct - Along with a working brain, being able to accept what your "gut" is telling you and taking it's advice is the key to success. More often than not, it's right and whatever you might "think" is completely and utterly wrong (trust me, experience has taught me this).
3. A Map - The Rand McNally Road Atlas is considered by most to be the best map for truckers, but there are plenty of other sources of information out there like Google Maps and Google Streetview/Satellite that sometimes offer more up-to-date and relevant information. And being able to see what your customer's building looks like before getting there is the best thing ever.
   
4. Customer Advice - The worst thing you can do is just assume whatever directions you've been given by someone else (i.e. dispatcher) are correct. Find someone at the location you are going to that knows how to get there and ask them for advice. Don't take it as gospel though! Use it to temper the other information you have with you.
5. Writing Materials - Pen/pencil and paper. Don't put it in an app on your phone, on a computer nor print it off a computer. Get out your writing utensil, put it to paper, and get involved in the planning process. That organic connection you have with the planning will help you remember parts of the route without having to refer to your notes all the time while driving. That, and batteries die and you may lose your charge cable.

Relying on a GPS or app to tell you how to do your job can get you into serious trouble (see: Twisted Truckers). NEVER trust a computer to know better than you, and never rely on it to do the hard work for you. Ever. Your brain and instinct are far better equipped to make you a successful truck driver than anything else.

 

I'll play devil's advocate here -
This, in light of the fact computers are flying aircraft, rollout to stop. Computers are driving and parallel parking cars in metro areas. Computers are taking craft into orbit and returning them to a safe stop back on earth. In a way, you might be saying you're better off trying to memorize the NYC phone book rather than doing a computer search of a specific name, when you need it. Computers can fail but why do computers fail? Typically because of flawed programming by a human brain.

A GPS might be accurate and truck-route correctly only 90% of the time. But that's a lot more accurate than a new truck driver operating on a wing and a prayer with no technical support.

But yes, having confirmed written directions from a "trusted local source" is always the best place to start from. And it's good that most companies today have stored directions for all their regular accounts that are provided along with the load information, but even these are prone to error and becoming outdated and no longer correct.