That is what I use. Most state department of transportation web sites will have a link for free maps.
Anyone who thinks he can drive in limited visibility, protected by his GPS has issues much more serious than just his ability to operate a motor vehicle.
And should have there drivers license revoked.
My wife has the ideal situation when she gets lost, she calls ME. Seriously, I’ve never used a GPS and the few times that I’ve been a passenger in an auto equipped with it, I have found the display to be confusing and distracting. This may be due to the fact that I’m very good at map-reading and am most comfortable with a “north-is-up” orientation. A good sense of direction is also an asset.
Paul, I agree with you. Having a good sense of direction and a good map make it easy for me to navigate. Of course, having the sun shining during the day helps in knowing direction, especially if the road is winding. As to the direction of a map, did you ever see a highway map with South at the top, printed for people who have trouble orienting themselves to a ordinary map and going south? Such a map is somewhat confusing to me.
Incidentally, where I now live, in the Avenues section (NE) of Salt Lake City, is confusing to some map providers, since the east-west numbers do not coincide with the east-west numbers of the rest of the county, which uses the intersection Of Main Street and South Temple as the zero point for N, E, S, and W numbering. Also, the north-south numbering here is a bit confusing to some since the numbering from South Temple to First Avenue is 0-50; the numbering from First Avenue to Second Avenue is 51-100; and so forth.
Reminds me of a movie in which the protagonist figures one older woman is batty because she climbs up on her roof to talk on the phone. Turns out she has a forgetful friend who occasionally gets lost on her way over to visit. So the woman heads for the roof, from which she can see some distance, and talks the friend in…
I normally can stay oriented, but I hate trying to navigate on a cloudy day, especially in areas with many curvy streets. Had a heck of a time in Albany once, and only the friend on the phone who knew her way around got me where I needed to be.
Johnny I always loved Salt Lake City’s street and address system. It was difficult to not be able to find places. Unless you were in N Salt Lake at the county line. Of course try explaining 2100 South sometime. On another note. When I was teaching navigation and maps to new drivers the first thing I would say is always check your route. I can not tell you the number if times someone came to grief not reading their route. Most routing software not designed for trucks. And the worst example I can think of is the Hutchinson River Parkway in Bronx, NY off I-95. Every truck in the last 10 or 15 years that has gotten off I -95 onto the Hutch has been following their GPS right thru the cloverleaf and under the I-95 overpass (12’6"). With Microsoft’s Streets and Trips there is a feedback to tell Microsoft of errors. And over the years I have sent in many. Unfortunately my experience is it takes Microsoft 2 years to correct errors. I can not say about commercial GPS with mapping. When I was driving I would generally copy paste then edit the directions to my taste. Then print it all out. I could usually get it all done in about 10 minutes of work. And if I was going someplace I was unfamiliar with I could print out a local map. Having the ability to print out a detailed area map saved me a lot of grief on many occcasions. Thx IGN
Johnny,
I don’t think there is any county in the US that has it’s street numbering system more messed up than Oakland County, Michigan. Part of it-Woodward Avenue of the cruise fame- is numbered from Detroit’s system resulting in numbers in the 45,000’s in Pontiac where the rest are three digit numbers. The northern part of the county is numbered off Flint’s system. In between is a total mishmash. You’re in the 4,000 block one moment and in the 100 block the next.
Chicago is noted for being laid out on a grid with a first-rate street numbering system, except for Archer Avenue. The suburbs are a different story. Some south and southwest suburbs just extended Chicago’s street numbering system into their areas but most suburbs have their own numbering system with their own base line streests. It helps to plan your trip before you go.
Even the “Mile” roads don’t seem to have helped.
We lived at 12690 West Highland Road (M-59) in Hartland at on point - I have no idea where that numbering started, possibly Pontiac.
The rest of the addresses I remember were all in the village of Milford.
Oklahoma City has a pretty good system. All the east-west streets are “number” streets. You have to learn some of the main N-S road names but once you do, you can usually get pretty close to where you want to go fairly easily.
All the numbering systems made sense to someone at the the time they were implemented - times have changed!
My house in in the 7700 block - the houses on the streets in front and in back of me are in the 7400 block???
One state (New York, I think) is getting so tired of bridge strikes from trucks using GPS meant for cars, that they are thinking of passing a law requiring all units sold in NY to be truck friendly… That said, I carry a large-scale truckers’ atlas, and will not hesitate to call customers for directions. The GPS on the phone is nice for giving street names, as sometimes street signs are not readable, and I double check bridges…
PA has a truck route map available at their various welcome centers and rest areas.
Bringing this back to railroads - while the national “track plan” is more or less stable, this does point up the maintenance that will be required to keep the overlay maps up to date.
Lest we think that “low bridges” are solely a truck problem, not a few double stacks have turned out to be too high, including one train that got a trim job in the Detroit/Windsor tunnel (I think it was international containers, while the tunnel will only clear doublestacks of domestic containers). One would think that perhaps this type of parameter might be included in the overall scheme of things.
Larry,
IIRC, the Detroit-Windsor tunnel and Port Huron tunnel as originally built would not clear tri-level auto racks. They dug a new one in Port Huron but I don’t think the Detroit tunnel has been modified. Single stacks only. There has been some local chatter about building a new one, but no progress yet.
One, the maps aren’t up to date, many GPS units in cars have an update disk about once a year that you have to buy. Two, GPS can be off, sometime by a lot. Three, this person is an idot, how do mistake RAILS and BALLAST for a ROAD? Granted people have follow their GPS and have accidentally turned onto a boat ramp (see where this is going?) and driven into the water. How you are that stupid is beyond me.
I have an enhancement for my GPS that helps a lot. It’s called "“looking out the window”. Anyone who is driving faster than looking out the window permits is a fool. GPS is for VFR navigation, not collision avoidance. It does not claim driving blind accuracy.
Railroad knew the clearances involved. Operating and mechanical dept failed to notify the DS that they were running a stack train through the tunnel. Human failure. (and a tell-tale’s warning was ignored)
Had another one today at he crossing i referred to above. Moving van with belly boxes. One of my employees saw him coming about 100 feet away from he crossing, hit his light bar and literally turned in front of him forcing him to stop. He blamed it on his Gps. When asked if he say the signs leading up to the crossing he said he did, but that he trusted he Gps unit, and that we simply put up to many signs. Go figure.
Good point however at night with a crossing paved either with asphalt or the new concrete panels how is a person to know for sure that it is not the road and turn on same.? Then they are on the ballast & ? ? ?
Again all GPS should announce cross the RR tracks & then ---------- ?
Will not prevent all mistakes especially when GPS miscalculates but -----------?. One thing that is bad about GPS is that many units show you to be on a road even if not on a road. On my trip my GPS would place the unit exactly on nearest road instead of on the RR. If instead it had announced me on a RR that would be much better. Not fool proof but better.
You guys are insinuating a level of precision that GPS does not have and has never claimed to have.
You would have to be a moron to turn into a railroad track because your GPS said “turn right”.
Bob Newhart, in one of his comedy routines was portraying a driving instructor. He said “turn right”. After a slight pause he said “now that was my fault. I should have said at the next street”.