GPS (Page 2): There are definite foul ups in GPS systems. Last September we made a road trip to Wheeling, WV from Tampa with an overnight in the Carolinas. I put the street address of...

nimbushopper Loc: Tampa, FL

There are definite foul ups in GPS systems. Last September we made a road trip to Wheeling, WV from Tampa with an overnight in the Carolinas. I put the street address of the motel in the GPS( brand new 2017 car with Garmin built in). When we got to the address it was a county jail!! The hotel we wanted was 5 miles away, which we found by putting the same address in the cell phone google maps, go figure!

Manglesphoto Loc: 70 miles south of St.Louis

jim quist wrote:

I was in WI and wanted to go to Farm & Fleet. It took me to a farm.

That's because the Fleet had already sailed

Last Tues. I was delivering some supplies and machinery to a job site, the delivery driver was a no-show, since I know the area pretty well, I entered the address into my Garmin, had a followed the gps driections it would have doubled the mileage and more that doubled the drive time. I use gps mainly to locate the actual job site, these fancy subdivisions can get quite tricky.

bobmcculloch Loc: NYC, NY

Our newer GPS from Garmin flashes up traffic warnings for us, connects to one of our cell phones, has dash cam recording too.

pecohen Loc: Central Maine

jerryc41 wrote:

I love traveling with a GPS in the car, but I wond... (show quote)

I'm just guessing, but when it does a search for the shortest route, the GPS will choose one route over another if that route is only one yard shorter. You may think you are starting at the same place on two consecutive days but the GPS will take note of the fact that you are a few yards away and that may cause it to choose a different route. Similarly, on a return trip, you may be exactly where the GPS tells you you have reached your destination - but if you are like me then you probably only started looking for a place to park at that time. And the GPS may well think your home address is a few yards from where you actually started, earlier in the day.

pecohen Loc: Central Maine

nimbushopper wrote:

There are definite foul ups in GPS systems. Last September we made a road trip to Wheeling, WV from Tampa with an overnight in the Carolinas. I put the street address of the motel in the GPS( brand new 2017 car with Garmin built in). When we got to the address it was a county jail!! The hotel we wanted was 5 miles away, which we found by putting the same address in the cell phone google maps, go figure!

I recently punched in the address of a hotel in Georgia and my GPS told me it could not find a route to that address. No doubt the GPS likely had a sense of humor and knowing I was from Maine, it was trying to tell me "ya can't get theyrr from heeya".

incognito

jerryc41 wrote:

I tried WAZE once, and it worked fine, but the cell phone screen is so small, and I have to pay for data on TracFone.

I saw a video recently that if you use Duct tape folded over on itself and put on the back of the cell phone case that it blocks the signal that lets your cell phone carrier know how much data you are using. Don't know if it works, don't know how illegal it would be. Here is the link try it and let us know. I would try it but don't have a data plan. https://youtu.be/DOkIqzIPp5E

CA_CanonUser Loc: Friendswood, TX

I know it may be just a matter of semantics to most, but when people refer to their GPS providing them guidance, they are really referring to the particular unit (Garmin 650 for instance) that is providing them the directions. GPS is simply a set of satellites that are providing position and time information to those units -- totally passive system so the satellites have no idea where you want to go or where you are. I am somewhat sensitive to this because as a young engineer, I worked for a few years at the Naval Research Laboratory for the father of GPS (Roger Easton). We were in the development phase of the system at that time, but the basic design of the modern GPS is just as we planned it at that time -- with the exception of the military vs. civilian sidebands. Initially the military systems received much more accurate information from the satellites than civilian units; now the satellites send exactly the same information to both. It is the algorithm in the GPS unit itself that determines the ultimate accuracy of the information provided to the user.

donrosshill Loc: Delaware & Florida

Hi Jerry, Your post started me thinking of all the past years of doing weddings, going to the Grooms house, the Brides house, the Church, the park, the Reception. How did I ever do it without GPS. Trying to find locations on large folded Maps.Now I have to use it just to go out for Dinner.
Don

One Rude Dawg Loc: Athol, ID

They are great toys, lots of people get in real trouble with them. Like the latest one to follow it out into the desert, ran out of gas and got lucky. She was found after 5 days. What ever happened to thinking for yourself.

Ka2azman Loc: Tucson, Az

One Rude Dawg wrote:

They are great toys, lots of people get in real trouble with them. Like the latest one to follow it out into the desert, ran out of gas and got lucky. She was found after 5 days. What ever happened to thinking for yourself.

It isn't not 'thinking for oneself' it is 'familiarity breeds contemp'. Blindness when it comes to electronics. How many people do you see crossing the streets and don't even look out for their own safety. People have the concept that cars are to stop for pedestrians because it is written that they have the right-a-way. They wind up being Dead right!

Big Bill Loc: Phoenix, AZ

bobmcculloch wrote:

Consumer GPS units are deliberately less accurate than the possible, wouldn't want them to be used as part of a weapons system.

Currently, in the US, GPS accuracy is "limited" to 4 meters. The days of it being more limited are long gone.
As far as military uses, when using a bomb, 4 meters can be a clean miss. Or, for a building, not so much.

Big Bill Loc: Phoenix, AZ

incognito wrote:

I saw a video recently that if you use Duct tape folded over on itself and put on the back of the cell phone case that it blocks the signal that lets your cell phone carrier know how much data you are using. Don't know if it works, don't know how illegal it would be. Here is the link try it and let us know. I would try it but don't have a data plan. https://youtu.be/DOkIqzIPp5E

Right under the video screen: "NOTE - This video is a joke,..."

Big Bill Loc: Phoenix, AZ

jerryc41 wrote:

I've always liked Garmin, but I had a car that I installed a Pioneer radio into and then added the GPS feature. When I sued both on a trip, the Garmin gave me better directions.

You had to sue to get better directions? Wasn't it a bit late by the time they settled?

jiminnee

I've had 2 GPS units for some time now. One is a Garmin & the other is a Tom-Tom. They are both a bit out dated now,but work OK for the most part. The Garmin seems much easier to use & easier to program a route. The Tom-Tom is probably a fine unit;has lots of features......but is harder to use. The main reason I got it was because the Garmin was getting outdated & the new-at-the-time Tom-Tom advised free lifetime map updates. Never could get that "feature" to work & the company is virtually impossible to deal with,so I really won't recommend the Tom-Tom to anyone. Hopefully,someone has had better luck with that brand than I have.

JoeBiker Loc: homebase: Houston, TX

Big Bill wrote:

Currently, in the US, GPS accuracy is "limited" to 4 meters. The days of it being more limited are long gone.
As far as military uses, when using a bomb, 4 meters can be a clean miss. Or, for a building, not so much.

Yes, Selective Availability which limited accuracy to 100 M, was turned off in 2000, and the feature has been removed from modern GPS satellites, so it is extremely unlikely that it will be turned back on. However, the speed at which consumer GPS receivers can operate is limited to something like 180 MPH (if memory serves me correctly). That make them fast enough for a car, but too slow for a bomb.