The perils of following the GPS

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The perils of following the GPS

January 07, 2022, 07:05:50 am

You have, no doubt, been directed on a sketchy route by your GPS. Every time I fail to verify the suggested route to a paper route I am setting myself up for grief.

This sets the bar higher.
Chinese truck dangles over the edge of a cliff after getting lost on sat nav...

Re: The perils of following the GPS

Reply #1 – January 07, 2022, 03:06:55 pm

A few months ago I was riding on one of my favorite twisty back roads in the mountains and found a semi tractor and trailer completely stuck in a hairpin turn. His trailer was wedged between a big boulder on the inside and the drop off on the other. He had to unhook and a wrecker pulled his trailer out. I have no idea how.
The driver said he wasn't from the area and was following Goggle map instructions.
The road in the article looked like a wonderful motorcycle road.
Harold

Re: The perils of following the GPS

Reply #2 – January 07, 2022, 06:23:00 pm

WARNING! I went to Don’s link and shortly got all sorts of garbage and then a big warning that my device (iPad) had been infected with malware. Don’t think it is as after reboot it seems ok, but proceed with caution. — Jon

Re: The perils of following the GPS

Reply #3 – January 07, 2022, 08:24:47 pm

Like so many others, our Garman has tried to take us down cow trails multiple times. Paper maps are superior most of the time.
The Chinese trail looks interesting, if you like shelf roads. What we consider 4X4 or Jeep trails are everyday roads in much of the world.
We have a few stories about encountering big rigs in places they do not belong.

Checking the paper maps now, planning tomorrow's Death Valley drive.
Larry

Re: The perils of following the GPS

Reply #4 – January 07, 2022, 08:57:21 pm

We were driving West on SR 4 West of Markleeville on a July 4 day trip in a driving thunderstorm and met the following parade: a CHP SUV, another CHP SUV, a big rig wrecker, a lowboy carrying a 40+ ft motor yacht, and another big rig wrecker. We carried on and found where he got hung up on a hairpin turn East of the crest.

Haven't tried the rig on that routr, towing or not.

Re: The perils of following the GPS

Reply #5 – January 07, 2022, 10:47:04 pm

"We were driving West on SR 4 West of Markleeville..."

That has to be the series of switchbacks that parallel Silver Creek!

Re: The perils of following the GPS

Reply #6 – January 08, 2022, 10:02:21 am

The very reason we don't have a GPS!

Re: The perils of following the GPS

Reply #7 – January 08, 2022, 11:09:38 am

I've driven Hwy. 4 over Ebbetts Pass a couple of times in the 24' TK; I suggest a route "re-think" for larger vehicles, particularly if one is not mountain driving savvy. Yes, the road can be done in a larger vehicle, but appreciation of the surrounding "scenics" is pretty much lost as one navigates the very narrow road, sharp curves, switchbacks, rock overhangs, and non-existent road shoulder. Add in meeting oncoming traffic, including vehicles which are far too large and/or long for the road and often driving way too fast for conditions, and the "fun level" declines quickly.

YMMV; just hope it's not measured vertically!

Re: The perils of following the GPS

Reply #8 – January 08, 2022, 12:26:56 pm

My experience is Google or my old Gamin do a fine job of picking routes. Now, 15 years ago, that wasn't true, but guidance has improved tremendously since then. Both will alert me to road conditions as I'm driving that I might want to avoid, and paper maps will never, ever do that. But, if you drive a huge rig, whether it's a tractor/trailer or 40 ft RV, you should use a GPS or paper maps intended for that purpose. Driving a 25' Class C with a 35 ft glider trailer? No problems with the aforementioned Google or Garmin. If we had to drive the motor home with paper maps, my wife would never drive it again.

Re: The perils of following the GPS

Reply #9 – January 08, 2022, 02:40:23 pm

Quote from: Eric Greenwell - January 08, 2022, 12:26:56 pm

My experience is Google or my old Gamin do a fine job of picking routes. Now, 15 years ago, that wasn't true, but guidance has improved tremendously since then. Both will alert me to road conditions as I'm driving that I might want to avoid, and paper maps will never, ever do that. But, if you drive a huge rig, whether it's a tractor/trailer or 40 ft RV, you should use a GPS or paper maps intended for that purpose. Driving a 25' Class C with a 35 ft glider trailer? No problems with the aforementioned Google or Garmin. If we had to drive the motor home with paper maps, my wife would never drive it again.

RVTripwizard I have been using, it is supposed to figure out the route based on your vehicle.

Re: The perils of following the GPS

Reply #10 – January 08, 2022, 10:35:18 pm

Any other suggestions for RV trip apps for Android? I've been using Google Maps, which is usually OK, but sometimes tries to route me onto auto-only parkways. I found RV Co-Pilot. Any thoughts?

Thanks,
George & Jo Ann
2017 MB

Re: The perils of following the GPS

Reply #11 – January 09, 2022, 11:14:14 am

Quote from: George Kaplan - January 08, 2022, 10:35:18 pm

Any other suggestions for RV trip apps for Android? I've been using Google Maps, which is usually OK, but sometimes tries to route me onto auto-only parkways. I found RV Co-Pilot. Any thoughts?

For the past few years we've been using CoPilot RV on an iPad Mini. I like it because it has offline maps that are updated frequently, you can specify the size of the RV, and has a traffic subscription option. On the road we'll also use Google Maps and Waze. For travel planning, I'll often use Google Maps satellite view and street view for roads I'm not familiar with off the Interstate system. A lot of people just use Google Maps and download maps for offline use for navigation when cell signal availability is unknown. I only wish Google Maps could route based on RV size and weight! Does your Android device have GPS? Sometimes I wish the iPad Mini was a bit larger as some of the text on the maps (like town names) is hard to read.

Art

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