[gps-talkusers] My Latest Experience with GPS
- From: Joleen <cjferg@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: gps-talkusers@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Sun, 14 Oct 2007 18:08:36 -0700
Hi All,
Let me share my latest experience with GPS.
Yesterday I was traveling to a camp site where my driver had
forgotten to bring his map.
With a sense that I could be of real help, I took out my GPS and
created a route from Yakima to Camp Ghormley. I was able to give
directions. At one point, we turned onto a gravel road. It
turned out to be a very poor road with wash-out areas. After
traveling several miles on this "path" my BN announced that we
had arrived! Where were we? No where! The camp was not
anywhere around there.
With my hopes dashed, we turned around and made our way back to
the road more traveled. Eventually we found the right turn and I
put a user POI at the camp entrance.
My bad luck again. The actual camp entrance was 3.48 miles from
the GPS location. After this and previous experiences, I now am
shy of using my GPS to do any navigation for others.
Still eager to make GPS work for me, I took time to fire it up as
I was shown from the cabin to the main lodge. Confident that I
had learned well how to create a manual route, I set out. I put
in a series of way points along the trail. All seemed well.
However, after dinner and when it was dark, I found someone else
who was also staying in my cabin. She was not sure of the
direction. Again, I suggested that my GPS could help us in the
dark. I started it up and had to pair the receiver due to a
spontaneous BN crash and reset earlier in the afternoon.
Eventually I was successful in getting the BN and receiver to see
each other. Then there was a long wait for a fix. My friend
remained patient. Eventually there was success. Now, all I had
to do was to reverse the route. All I could get from it was that
I could not recalculate the route. It was only after I gave up
and followed her guesses that we made our way to the cabin.
There, I worked with it until I realized that I had probably
exited the main lodge at a door different from the one I had set
as a way point. Both doors would have been on the same side of
the building, but I suspect that they were more than 30 feet
apart.
One more try. When I was ready to come home, all I needed was to
get my luggage from the cabin. My driver had not been to the
cabin and there seemed to be no one to ask. Again, I tried my
GPS. This time, I knew it could help because I had a user POI.
It must have taken ten minutes to acquire a fix. Meanwhile, We
got into the car and he drove around trying to spot the cabin.
As we pulled up to it, my GPS announced that we had arrived. It
was too late to be of any benefit this time. He had seen the
sign far earlier than the GPS.
I am afraid my GPS is becoming a source of great humor. No one
will trust it. I am afraid that in my circumstances, I have
little confidence that it can be relied upon for much of
anything.
I am grateful that Tele Atlas is looking at the major
discrepancies in my home town. However, the wilderness areas of
Washington state also seem to be questionable as my trips to two
different camp sites in very different parts of the state have
both yielded errors of 3.5 miles.
Trying to be enthusiastic about my GPS.
Joleen
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