Is there anyone left who just gets in their car, picks a place they are going to and just goes?
Sure, a map is in the glove box but unless absolutely needed I don't pull it out.
Sure, sometimes I'll do a quick glance on the PC before heading out to get some bearings.
I learned the surrounding area I live in that way. I can remember being Sixteen and had a full tank of gas. Someone told me there was a great Bar 25 miles away that served underage for carry out. I didn't have a map. Maps cost money and the Twenty I had was for the Beer. I scribbled down some half ass directions and off me and the guys went after school on a Friday.
I think it was two hours later we found the place out in the middle of nowhere. Then it took forever to get home. (Cold Beer you know) and life was good.
What happened to our sense of adventure? Or is this it? Hoping the technology we trust so much actually works correctly. Or that the roads haven't been upgraded or changed since the last 2.09 download.
And all that said I know what I'll end up getting for Christmas this year, a Garmin, not that I want it, the wife wants it. She so hates when I tell her, "Let's just head that way and see what we see."
This is how my wife and I have traveled the NA continent over the past four years. Pick a turnaround point, usually only because of convenience, head there, or not, and eventually return to the starting point.
It's a neat way to see the world, honestly. We have all the travels mapped on a PC in MS Streets & Trips by using GPS and an antenna, but that was just so we could see where we'd been.
Referencing a paper map would have been quite useful in avoiding the dirt National Forest Service road, at night, in Idaho. We travel in a 40' diesel motorhome, and at the time were pulling a '99 Suzuki Grand Vitara, so 'bout 58', total.
@lilwillie: I did until I got lost where no one should ever get lost. You lose that sense of adventure real quick when you fear for your life and for that matter your car. #googlestreetview
The time issue can be solved easily for long trips using a technique I already implement with Google Maps.
My wife uses Google Maps in a way that would make a 300 mile drive into a 4 hour virtual drive video. She punches in the destination, punches in the starting point, and prints out turn by turn directions from our driveway to the destination... on the other end of the state. Printing a map is secondary to those turn by turn directions.
This works fine until you take a wrong turn, or ignore the directions 'til you get close at such time as you've forgotten which turn you're on. You end up hopelessly lost on some logging road, roaring through someone's hunting camp at the intersection of nowhere and Timbuktu because you didn't have the information you really needed.
Here's what I do: If my journey is 5 miles of driving from my house to the freeway, 300 miles of freeways, and 5 miles from the freeway to my destination I don't need 310 miles of turn by turn directions, I need 6 to 8 miles of map surrounding my destination. Google Maps has a great feature after you've looked up your destination. You can pan around 'til you find a freeway or familiar landmark, right click and select "directions from here". It gives you the 5 miles you weren't familiar with and skips the 305 you could drive with your eyes closed (figure of speech... don't drive with your eyes closed).
A virtual drive would be less help to me than a plain ol' road map. But then, I'm an engineer and Eagle Scout... spacial awareness and navigation aren't really a problem for me.
I've been known to use Google streetview to take a virtual trip through my old neigborhood. It can be rather entertaining, but not much use when planning a trip.
I use MapQuest almost exclusively when planning a trip to anywhere I haven't been. The text directions can be sometimes turn you in the wrong direction, so comparing it to the map is a good idea.
This seems like the logical next step in the evolution of online mapping, but I'm not sure that it adds enough functionality to justify its existence. Not that an amalgamation of Streetview and MapQuest is a bad thing, just unneccesary.
@Pete Gaines: I have to agree. Living in the land that defined the Michigan Left, Bing makes it easy to find a turn around on Woodward that won't be clogged.
@Pete Gaines: Bird's eye is very cool indeed, but there's currently far less coverage than Street View, which just substantially expanded its own coverage. Rural areas are pretty much left out of bird's eye so far. Looks like Google is also starting to reshoot streets that earlier had fuzzy low-resolution pictures. The recent high-res photography is spectacular. I can see Google offering animated street views before long.
@Dr.Danger: ::You are awesome:: Are you hiring? I'm only interested if you're going to have a razor wire perimeter to back up those skull and crossbones. Maybe they should be changed to the driveshaft through skull logo.
@Dr.Danger: ::You are awesome:: Of course, I would be willing to start at the bottom for an opportunity like this. Henchmen don't wash windows, do they? cuz i'm not so big on heights...
Great, how am I gonna squeeze this in between MySpace Mafia and Facebook Farm Town? I'll have to cut out eating, sleeping or Jalopnik... NoDoz here I come.
10/14/09
Sure, a map is in the glove box but unless absolutely needed I don't pull it out.
Sure, sometimes I'll do a quick glance on the PC before heading out to get some bearings.
I learned the surrounding area I live in that way. I can remember being Sixteen and had a full tank of gas. Someone told me there was a great Bar 25 miles away that served underage for carry out. I didn't have a map. Maps cost money and the Twenty I had was for the Beer. I scribbled down some half ass directions and off me and the guys went after school on a Friday.
I think it was two hours later we found the place out in the middle of nowhere. Then it took forever to get home. (Cold Beer you know) and life was good.
What happened to our sense of adventure? Or is this it? Hoping the technology we trust so much actually works correctly. Or that the roads haven't been upgraded or changed since the last 2.09 download.
And all that said I know what I'll end up getting for Christmas this year, a Garmin, not that I want it, the wife wants it. She so hates when I tell her, "Let's just head that way and see what we see."
10/14/09
10/14/09
This is how my wife and I have traveled the NA continent over the past four years. Pick a turnaround point, usually only because of convenience, head there, or not, and eventually return to the starting point.
It's a neat way to see the world, honestly. We have all the travels mapped on a PC in MS Streets & Trips by using GPS and an antenna, but that was just so we could see where we'd been.
Referencing a paper map would have been quite useful in avoiding the dirt National Forest Service road, at night, in Idaho. We travel in a 40' diesel motorhome, and at the time were pulling a '99 Suzuki Grand Vitara, so 'bout 58', total.
10/17/09
10/14/09
My wife uses Google Maps in a way that would make a 300 mile drive into a 4 hour virtual drive video. She punches in the destination, punches in the starting point, and prints out turn by turn directions from our driveway to the destination... on the other end of the state. Printing a map is secondary to those turn by turn directions.
This works fine until you take a wrong turn, or ignore the directions 'til you get close at such time as you've forgotten which turn you're on. You end up hopelessly lost on some logging road, roaring through someone's hunting camp at the intersection of nowhere and Timbuktu because you didn't have the information you really needed.
Here's what I do: If my journey is 5 miles of driving from my house to the freeway, 300 miles of freeways, and 5 miles from the freeway to my destination I don't need 310 miles of turn by turn directions, I need 6 to 8 miles of map surrounding my destination. Google Maps has a great feature after you've looked up your destination. You can pan around 'til you find a freeway or familiar landmark, right click and select "directions from here". It gives you the 5 miles you weren't familiar with and skips the 305 you could drive with your eyes closed (figure of speech... don't drive with your eyes closed).
A virtual drive would be less help to me than a plain ol' road map. But then, I'm an engineer and Eagle Scout... spacial awareness and navigation aren't really a problem for me.
10/14/09
I use MapQuest almost exclusively when planning a trip to anywhere I haven't been. The text directions can be sometimes turn you in the wrong direction, so comparing it to the map is a good idea.
This seems like the logical next step in the evolution of online mapping, but I'm not sure that it adds enough functionality to justify its existence. Not that an amalgamation of Streetview and MapQuest is a bad thing, just unneccesary.
10/14/09
10/14/09
10/14/09
10/14/09
09/09/09
09/08/09
09/08/09
09/08/09
damn housing market.
09/08/09
GM Renaissance Center will be mine!
MWUAAAAHAHAHA
MUUUUUAAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAA!
09/08/09
09/08/09
+1 for the Venture Brothers reference!
09/08/09
09/08/09
09/08/09
(The #24 has been retired)
09/09/09
09/08/09
09/08/09
09/08/09
09/08/09
09/08/09
@Dhillaz 2.0: As long as the dog looks like this.
09/08/09
09/08/09
09/08/09
09/08/09
09/08/09
09/08/09
08/05/09
Google Driving is very dangerous!