Do You Use GPS While Driving?

[fcgamer | 4,730]

Okay, so as the question title suggests, do you generally use GPS while driving?

My brother and I took about three large road trips around the local areas over the past week or so, and for me, it's always obvious to see which drivers are GPS "dependent" and which aren't. I never use GPS when driving in areas that I am roughly familiar with, and when moving into uncharted territory, the most I will use GPS is just to check my progress, usually while parked at a convenience store and taking a break. For awhile I even had a physical map of Taiwan in my scooter and would just use that if I became unsure of the route!

It drives me crazy when people use GPS when traveling in areas they should be familiar with, and I know a lot of people like this (both in Taiwan and back in the States). I used to suck with navigating roads before I had gotten a driver's license, but once I started driving I realized that the problem came down to the fact that I didn't pay attention to how to get places, and once becoming more cognizant of the issue, I learned to navigate the roads and get places based on memory alone. With the GPS-dependent folks, it's immediately obvious as the drivers are often so undecisive about where to turn, often messing up the traffic flow and pulling some sort of dangerous stunt in the progress, and I just can't understand why people would use GPS to drive someplace across town. Places where you rarely (or never drove) before, I can give that somewhat of a pass.

So how about GPS, let's find out about the VGS crowd.

[Mega Tank | 967]

8 minutes ago, fcgamer said:

It drives me crazy when people use GPS when traveling in areas they should be familiar with, and I know a lot of people like this

It's all about being aware of accidents and congestion. It's the same reason radio stations have traffic reports every morning. You want to find out what routes to take to avoid being stuck in a traffic because people are rubber necking due to a minor accident. I always use Waze and file reports as I drive as there may be objects on the road, stopped cars and so on.

[Gloves | 11,800]

I don't drive.

[Bearcat-Doug | 5,105]

I use it if I'm going somewhere that I've never been, but I rarely check it otherwise unless there's traffic, construction, etc.

[SNESNESCUBE64 | 541]

5 hours ago, fcgamer said:

It drives me crazy when people use GPS when traveling in areas they should be familiar with

Why? With modern tech like Google Maps it warns you about accidents, slowdowns, and even speedtraps. No need to get upset over someone using something to their advantage. Consider this, if they have trouble navigating even with GPS, perhaps they aren't great drivers.

Personally I use it when I am going somewhere I don't know the route to. I also use it when I start noticing slowdown on my commute to and from work. I also use it to get to locations I know are pains in the ass to get to during rush hour as it will give me the fastest route. 

[ThePhleo | 2,185]

Always. Even in familiar areas.

I don't always use it to navigate, but I do use it to spot traffic and speed traps as @SNESNESCUBE64 suggested.

Checking your route ahead of time is a modern miracle. It's foolish not to use it.

[Gloves | 11,800]

7 minutes ago, ThePhleo said:

It's foolish not to use it.

Fully agreed.

[LeatherRebel5150 | 1,056]

Only to somewhere Ive never been. I don’t live/go anywhere on a regular basis that I would ever have to worry about traffic or speed traps.

[fcgamer | 4,730]

1 hour ago, SNESNESCUBE64 said:

No need to get upset over someone using something to their advantage. Consider this, if they have trouble navigating even with GPS, perhaps they aren't great drivers.

I strongly disagree about this point. I reckon a large percentage of those people can't navigate well due to being hooked to GPS. Even if you have a person sitting next to you in the passenger's seat giving directions, there's still going to be a bit of lag between hearing the instruction, interpreting it, and applying it, hence the "messing up the traffic flow and pulling some sort of dangerous stunt in the progress" part I mentioned above.

Drivers that know where they're going don't generally have this issue.

[Brickman | 3,995]

I use it if I'm going to unfamiliar areas but I wouldn't use it if I'm going to work or something 20-30mins away.

I think if I lived close to the city or in a congested area I'd probably use it more to check for roadworks/delays etc. It is handy knowing if there's a 20min delay on one freeway vs taking some highways and backstreets and not getting delayed.

[Code Monkey | 2,011]

If my route involves the highway, I always use it. I have my choice of 2 highways I can use to get just about anywhere in the city and I want to know if there's a bad accident on one which the GPS will tell me.

Side note, there's no GPS in Taiwan, their system is called something different. The world wide term for it is GNSS (I work in geopositioning).

[Tanooki | 4,939]

2 hours ago, ThePhleo said:

Always. Even in familiar areas.

I don't always use it to navigate, but I do use it to spot traffic and speed traps as @SNESNESCUBE64 suggested.

Checking your route ahead of time is a modern miracle. It's foolish not to use it.

I was about to post this, but that's it.  I don't need it to get around, I need it to get around other peoples stupid driving mistakes, construction problems, and people tend to love to snitch out cops on google map and tag them as a warning.  I've been saved repeatedly being late to picking my kid up or even my second job I have now twice too so far.  When I see red or crimson red, I seek another route people having mucked up yet.

A fool doesn't use it and waits to when it's convenient, red lights are boring, use them wisely.  A fool also uses it while looking at the road passively until they slam into something or someone.

[FireHazard51 | 2,047]

This reminds me of a time where a soldier refused to use a knife to open up an MRE because he didn't "need" to use a tool.  I then watched him struggle to get the thick plastic cover off the MRE.  I then took my knife and easily cut mine open in 1/10 the time an 1/100 less the effort.  I then reminded him that tools is what separated humans for from animals.  Don't be a dumbass and refuse to use a tool that helps you do a task faster and easier.

For work I constantly have to go to places I've never been and don't have an address.  Once I tried using printed directions for going to a rural locations and halfway I got lost and had to use my GPS.  It was more to see how hard thing use to be.  I know I could use a big ass map to find my way around but that would cause me to take the "simple" routes to get somewhere and over all be harder and take longer.  

I use GPS all the time for work and I usually try to use it when I expect there may be a crash and should take a different route home.

[Tulpa | 3,517]

I took a big road trip to see the eclipse this weekend and Google Maps was useful at alerting speed traps (other users can input them when they spot them, alerting others.)

I also live in a state where the state tree is the concrete freeway support, so knowing traffic conditions is very useful.

[Ankos | 445]

I voted no since I will stop whenever I pull out the GPS and never have it running during the drive

I prefer to plan out a route with GPS ahead of time, that way I don't have to use it while driving since I prefer to drive in silence. If I get lost it usually isn't too hard to find a place to stop and come up with a new plan. I'd rather figure out a route I'd enjoy driving than find the fastest one possible, which is usually the default for using GPS during the drive

[Kguillemette | 1,545]

Always when in an unfamiliar area or when I have limited time to find my destination. And then rarely when I know my area well. I also enjoy exploring so sometimes I will give myself extra time to take and learn side streets or back roads.

[Code Monkey | 2,011]

22 hours ago, FireHazard51 said:

I then took my knife and easily cut mine open in 1/10 the time an 1/100 less the effort. 

1/100 is not much less effort.

[Reed Rothchild | 9,550]

22 hours ago, FireHazard51 said:

This reminds me of a time where a soldier refused to use a knife to open up an MRE because he didn't "need" to use a tool.  I then watched him struggle to get the thick plastic cover off the MRE.  I then took my knife and easily cut mine open in 1/10 the time an 1/100 less the effort.  I then reminded him that tools is what separated humans for from animals.  Don't be a dumbass and refuse to use a tool that helps you do a task faster and easier.

For work I constantly have to go to places I've never been and don't have an address.  Once I tried using printed directions for going to a rural locations and halfway I got lost and had to use my GPS.  It was more to see how hard thing use to be.  I know I could use a big ass map to find my way around but that would cause me to take the "simple" routes to get somewhere and over all be harder and take longer.  

I use GPS all the time for work and I usually try to use it when I expect there may be a crash and should take a different route home.

 

14 minutes ago, Code Monkey said:

1/100 is not much less effort.

 

[RH | 4,924]

Back in 2004-05, I had a job where I traveled a lot and I was gone 2-3 weeks out of the year month and some where new every week.  These were rural towns mostly and back then we had MapQuest.

I’ll never go back to printed directions and maps if I can help it. I got good at reading road signs but there are some times many roads are without signs or some  are covered or grown over.  Obstructions can be anywhere in cities, towns or back roads. I rarely had issues but I had enough that caused major headaches when the roads weren’t clear to learn that if you can have a device that can give you point by point  instructions that can update your route in 5 seconds if you miss a turn, then it’s a no-brainer tool.

 The traffic warnings and ETAs are a nice bonus for everything else. I kept Waze on all the time when I lived in a city, and I did know where I was going.  When I moved out to a small rural town, I stopped using it on a regular basis, unless I’m going somewhere I’ve not been too 1-2 towns over.

Edited October 17, 2023 by RH
Fixed calling a “month” a “year”. 🙄

[fox | 1,668]

My mum told me I was giving her directions from my car seat...so I have always had a natural sense of direction and spatial awareness.  If I have been to a place at least one time, I should be able to find my way there again.  If I'm going someplace new, GPS sure beats printing out like 5 pages of instructions.

Strongly disagree with the OP's implication that GPS makes drivers worse.  Telling you the name of your exit which you prob don't know the exact name of, the lane you need to be in, traffic patterns, and alternate routes you never considered, and more are huge helps to your driving ability.

This is a gaming site, let's make it simple...GPS is pretty much a mini map for IRL

[fcgamer | 4,730]

7 hours ago, fox said:

Strongly disagree with the OP's implication that GPS makes drivers worse.  Telling you the name of your exit which you prob don't know the exact name of, the lane you need to be in, traffic patterns, and alternate routes you never considered, and more are huge helps to your driving ability.

This is a gaming site, let's make it simple...GPS is pretty much a mini map for IRL

In theory it should work like this, but in a similar way, in theory translation devices should be better than human translations, calculators better than minds, etc. Using it to aid is one thing, but sadly too many use it as a replacement, from which the problems begin.

[Bearcat-Doug | 5,105]

8 hours ago, fox said:

This is a gaming site, let's make it simple...GPS is pretty much a mini map for IRL

I got lost in the woods once and the GPS said to go North, West, South, West which put me back in the clear even though I was just South of a graveyard.

[fox | 1,668]

1 hour ago, Bearcat-Doug said:

I got lost in the woods once and the GPS said to go North, West, South, West which put me back in the clear even though I was just South of a graveyard.

Follow Geno’s route there