Nov 20, 2007
If you haven't yet equipped your car with a GPS device, you're missing out on the greatest motoring (and travel) advance since automatic transmission
Pardon me for seeming technologically backward, but I just experienced -- for the first time, two days ago -- the use of a GPS (Global Positioning Satellite) device while driving. And I am still exhilarated by what it did.
We had landed at night, my daughter and I, at the airport of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and rented a car to reach our downtown hotel. When she slid behind the driver's wheel, Pauline whipped out her Garmin (a three by four inch little navigational box) and affixed it to the windshield. Quickly, the Garmin accessed a high-altitude satellite, figured out where we were, super-imposed our position over a map of the confusing criss-cross of airport-area highways, and directed us by arrow and spoken commands along the correct route to our hotel.
When a right turn or left turn or U-turn was needed, the arrow indicated that turn and a female-mimicking robotic voice advised us that the turn was coming up in such-and-such a distance. When we were within a few hundred feet of the correct turn, the voice again reminded us to make the turn.
In the midst of frightening traffic whizzing along an absolute jumble of both parallel highways and crossing highways, we found our way effortlessly to our hotel. The next morning, when Pauline had to appear on various TV programs broadcast from the Fort Lauderdale area, she used the Garmin to get correctly and almost effortlessly to all three stations within a total of two hours.
Pauline and her husband had bought the device (which is simply one of the many brands of GPS devices) through eBay, and I do not know how much they paid for it. On the internet, the Garmin sells (in its most modest version) for $219. Earlier this year, they took it with them on a trip to Scotland, where they also rented a car and drove to a number of locations. The Garmin worked perfectly even in that foreign country.
I assume that readers of this blog have already used some version of a GPS system for a number of years now, and I must seem a complete innocent in my enthusiasm for the comfort and efficiency it beings to our travel lives. But if you haven't used it, ask a friend who has one to demonstrate the device, and I'm willing to bet you'll rush to acquire a GPS for your own car.
Write and read comments about this post.
We had landed at night, my daughter and I, at the airport of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and rented a car to reach our downtown hotel. When she slid behind the driver's wheel, Pauline whipped out her Garmin (a three by four inch little navigational box) and affixed it to the windshield. Quickly, the Garmin accessed a high-altitude satellite, figured out where we were, super-imposed our position over a map of the confusing criss-cross of airport-area highways, and directed us by arrow and spoken commands along the correct route to our hotel.
When a right turn or left turn or U-turn was needed, the arrow indicated that turn and a female-mimicking robotic voice advised us that the turn was coming up in such-and-such a distance. When we were within a few hundred feet of the correct turn, the voice again reminded us to make the turn.
In the midst of frightening traffic whizzing along an absolute jumble of both parallel highways and crossing highways, we found our way effortlessly to our hotel. The next morning, when Pauline had to appear on various TV programs broadcast from the Fort Lauderdale area, she used the Garmin to get correctly and almost effortlessly to all three stations within a total of two hours.
Pauline and her husband had bought the device (which is simply one of the many brands of GPS devices) through eBay, and I do not know how much they paid for it. On the internet, the Garmin sells (in its most modest version) for $219. Earlier this year, they took it with them on a trip to Scotland, where they also rented a car and drove to a number of locations. The Garmin worked perfectly even in that foreign country.
I assume that readers of this blog have already used some version of a GPS system for a number of years now, and I must seem a complete innocent in my enthusiasm for the comfort and efficiency it beings to our travel lives. But if you haven't used it, ask a friend who has one to demonstrate the device, and I'm willing to bet you'll rush to acquire a GPS for your own car.
Write and read comments about this post.
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