Monday, March 5, 2012

To GPS or not GPS, that is the question..

I've had a GPS unit in my car for about three years now and I've noticed a few strange things about it.
Most people have a name for their units depending on the voice they’ve chosen for the unit, mine has the standard female voice that’s one of several that came with it, so I haven't named her; though I'm sure selecting a female name also activates some kind of female gene in the unit, let me explain…

Leaving several hours before sunrise I had to travel 400km on a highway I knew well, then 70km on secondary roads I didn't know at all. From the last well known town I programmed the GPS to take me to where I had to go. Even though I knew there was a secondary highway straight to the town I was traveling, she took me in a zigzag fashion through tertiary country roads including several km of dirt roads. I began to consider the femaleness of her route…
Business over and from my parking spot where she'd led me I asked to go straight back to the same town on the highway. She started by leading me in a completely different direction.
She seemed to be leading me to the direct highway between the towns but had me go straight past it. Over an hour later and having traveled 100km we at last came to our finishing point. From here it was still 400km to home and so it was that we arrived home very tired and well after sundown. . but that’s not what I'm on about here.
Is it not female to lead you 70km to get somewhere and 100km to get back to the same point?
I'm not sure how they did it but Garmin seem to have embodied the very essence of the female spirit into their GPS units, I wonder if that will change if I change it to a male voice?
I have to admit I find it strange and intriguing as well as a little annoying; I wouldn’t mind so much except she keeps bugging me to stop and ask for directions! 


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12 comments:

Magsx2 said...

Hi Tempo,
I haven't got a GPS, but of course friends have them, and I have heard some horror stories, it sort of turns you off wanting one.

I don't know if it's the female voice of not, but I have always been good with maps, and maps I will stick with, at least I will find the quickest rout to my destination. LOL.

St Jude said...

Hmm maybe you should have asked for directions, might have saved yourself 30km. I travel a lot and I don't trust my GPS for anything other than finding it's way from the driveway to the garage.

Belle said...

Our GPS leads us astray if there is roadwork being done or if there are new roads built. Usually it is very reliable. My hubby tends to listen to the GPS while I rely more on the map. One time when we were geocaching it gave us the wrong directions.

When we come close to the Canadian border from the U.S. the GPS leads us to a quicker route through a narrow winding road through the mountains. It does save a half hours drive, but there is no cell phone service there and you never see anyone, so if your car breaks down you are screwed. We don't go that way any more.

Pearl said...

Can't help you here. I still drive by sight -- and, sometimes, by smell...

Pearl

p.s. Just reading a book about Ned Kelly and WOW. I thought the American Wild West was crazy...

Windsmoke. said...

A GPS certainly can't be trusted. You're better off with a good map or street directory :-).

The Jules said...

I thought you only had two roads in Oz? An uppy and a downy.

Tempo said...

Hi Mags, Most of the time it gets me where I'm going, but rarely by the fastest or best route. I was a maps man for many years but this is more convenient and faster(and I'm lazier)
Hi St Jude, and welcome. It's amazing how many people dont rust their GPS' As a Geocacher I learned that GPS units were very very accurate..I'm thinking the problem is in the software that explores and confirms the maps.
Hey Belle, I've got a few 'GPS got me lost' stories. It once led me right through some poor farmers homestead, through his backyard and out through a bush track...it did get me to where I was going though...
Hi Pearl, You forgot driving by sound...My EX used to park by sound.
Ol' Ned was a nutter, the truth is always more boring than the cool stories. He's considered a hero here in OZ but we're kind of short on hero's here.
Hey Windsmoke...so let me see if I've read you right...I'm better off with a woman next to me reading a map and telling me where to go than I am trusting the GPS?
Hey Jules, We do only have the two roads..but it's REALLY confusing as to which one to use. I NEED my GPS unit mate..

Sarah said...

I have a Garmin GPS too & she NEVER steers me wrong. Well hardly ever & when she does she gets defensive & tells me it's the "scenic route".

Interesting that people name the device...I just call her GPS bitch! I name my cars though, is that weird?

Tempo said...

Hi Sarah, Apparently it's not unusual to name ones car, though I never have. In most cases I'd be calling my things names that you couldn't use in public anyway, so it's just as well I don't huh?
Bitch would be about right for my GPS I think... LOL

River said...

I had a similar experience years ago with a taxi driver. I needed to get through the hills to a tiny country town, then out to the farm, a 30-40 minute drive. I rang and got a quote, plus reassurance that the driver would know the way. (I don't drive) She didn't and after looping all the way around, out of our way as far as Strathalbyn, we finally reached our destination almost two hours later. I rang the taxi company the next day to complain and the driver turned up on my doorstep with a full refund.

Tempo said...

I wish there was a refund due every time your GPS takes you astray River... Imagine the money.

KaLynn ("MiMi") said...

At least yours got you to the right place, albeit, a roundabout way! RitaMay's didn't even get us to the correct place! Except it was in Houston and it was by the airport! That is about it......