When I got my new car, I gave my old Garmin to a friend who drives in and around DC often but lives in Annapolis. We both get a good laugh when the unit tells us to turn onto "Q Saint NW" instead of Q ST(reet) NW or when it gives a route name such as "I Four Hundred and Ninety-Five" instead of I-495. I used it to find my old work address once (Bldg E4455) that translated to "Four Thousand, Four Hundred and Fifty-Five". As to accuracy, all the maps consulted to date (GPS, Google, Yahoo, et al.) say my friend lives one block away from the street where he's resided for over 6 years. It would want me to turn around as I drove up to the house but would say "arriving at destination" as I parked. On the other hand, the postal service never fails to deliver the bills to his mail slot. When I used my Garmin to visit another friend in Harrisburg, the unit told me I was 500 feet from his house even when parked at his front door. Once again, even Google maps pinpointed the wrong house for that address.
GIGO rules! YMMV ---- Rita Rudner - "When I eventually met Mr. Right I had no idea that his first name was Always." I've got a Garmin and have generally been amused, but somewhat disappointed > by what it thinks it knows and doesn't know. > > It knows where Home Depots are located, just not the one that's 15 minutes > from me (that's been in the same location since the late 1980s). It > suggests I drive 2+ hours to find one. The same goes for Trader Joes and a > slew of other places. A local hospital moved 2 years ago and last year's > map didn't know about it. It doesn't even know where the Costco that it > came from is located. > > On the amusing side, it knows the abbreviation "SC" stands for South > Carolina. I programmed in a location for a business with "SC" in the name. > It tells me, "now arriving at South Carolina...." > > It knows how to read street names for the most part. Expressway is...well > Expressway, but Expwy is "ex-pweee" > > Also, it is rather amusing that if you program it for "shortest distance", > the directions will take you off the freeway, onto the exit ramp and then > back onto the freeway again. Apparently that's .0001 miles shorter than > just staying on the freeway. > > I called Garmin and the kind person I spoke with (after waiting on hold for > 30+ minutes) didn't understand how it doesn't know the various locations. > That was with updated maps too. > > I suspect businesses have to pay to have their locations identified? > > Larry > > ************************************************************************* ** List info, subscription management, list rules, archives, privacy ** ** policy, calmness, a member map, and more at http://www.cguys.org/ ** *************************************************************************
