Hehe, so my scanner just came in the mail today, as well as a GPS for my laptop. Now, couple that with an aircard and you have your live GPS position in real time on google earth as you drive (or at least in THEORY, I haven’t tested it yet!) And combine that with the ATCS Monitor software to see what the dispatcher does - what do I see? A very nice day of high tech train chasing and railroad exploring! I’m really looking forward to finding backroads close to the tracks easily having a live satellite map in the car at all times! Now why am I posting this here? Seeing as how my family or friends don’t really consider chasing trains to be fun, I’d like to put the offer out there if any railfan in the Chicago area is willing to drive and chase trains while I’m riding shotgun hunting down all the trains and tracks on my laptop. I’m hoping to head out west - possibly as far as the mississippi - get some good chasing in on the UP Geneva Sub, possibly the old Rock Island Main, BNSF Transcon, and the old CB&Q Main, possibly also the CN Iowa Division or the IC&E Main. Any volunteers?
PS - Your car must have a working cig lighter or my comp will run out of battery!
I have done what you are proposing, but using DeLorme Street Atlas instead of a wireless internet cnx, and I was by myself.
DO be CAREFUL about following GPS maps… some have some really silly errors in them… from roads that do not connect or dead-ends that actually connect somewhere… to roads that will take you right into a lake or river…
I went to Florida one time to visit my Sister-in-law and bragged to her about using my GPS to get there. She whipped out a newspaper article about an elderly couple, visiting FL via a rental car that had GPS installed. They used the GPS Trip feature to plot a route for them. They apparently were from the country where “low water bridges” are common to cross creeks (a “low water bridge” is just drain tiles layed lengthwise in a creek and concrete poured over it to form a hard surface… normally the creek flows through the tiles, but after a rain the creek can flow over the road for a while and folk are used to just driving across where they are used to crossing). They followed the map instructions to the letter and and it had them drive down a boat ramp directly into the Miami River! They had to be rescued by the Fire Department.
The moral is, PAY ATTENTION! I always generate a route and then zoom in close enough to see some detail and then “walk the route” on the map to get a feel for the layout and look for stupidities before I go driving. Then when I am driving, I PAY ATTENTION to road signs and what situations I am getting into. I often have to alter my route to fix problems with what the computer is telling me.
Conversely, I have used the GPS maps many times to get me out of a traffic jam on the Interstate by having it create a route that bypasses the cause of the jam. Few Interstate highways blazed a new route someplace, most just followed existing U.S. Highways and the old highways are still t
[quote user=“Semper Vaporo”]
I have done what you are proposing, but using DeLorme Street Atlas instead of a wireless internet cnx, and I was by myself.
DO be CAREFUL about following GPS maps… some have some really silly errors in them… from roads that do not connect or dead-ends that actually connect somewhere… to roads that will take you right into a lake or river…
I went to Florida one time to visit my Sister-in-law and bragged to her about using my GPS to get there. She whipped out a newspaper article about an elderly couple, visiting FL via a rental car that had GPS installed. They used the GPS Trip feature to plot a route for them. They apparently were from the country where “low water bridges” are common to cross creeks (a “low water bridge” is just drain tiles layed lengthwise in a creek and concrete poured over it to form a hard surface… normally the creek flows through the tiles, but after a rain the creek can flow over the road for a while and folk are used to just driving across where they are used to crossing). They followed the map instructions to the letter and and it had them drive down a boat ramp directly into the Miami River! They had to be rescued by the Fire Department.
The moral is, PAY ATTENTION! I always generate a route and then zoom in close enough to see some detail and then “walk the route” on the map to get a feel for the layout and look for stupidities before I go driving. Then when I am driving, I PAY ATTENTION to road signs and what situations I am getting into. I often have to alter my route to fix problems with what the computer is telling me.
Conversely, I have used the GPS maps many times to get me out of a traffic jam on the Interstate by having it create a route that bypasses the cause of the jam. Few Interstate highways blazed a new route someplace, most just followed existing U.S. Highways and the old highways are still there (and often nearly empty!).
Enjoy your t
Haha I just tested it and it all works beautifully! 