Latest grab by auto manufactures

[buckeyefarmer]

I will never have onstar again.

 

[paulfun9]

OK we get it….you think an atlas and paper map is better than up to the second live traffic alerts and electronic data from a GPS.

No actually you don’t get it or you wouldn’t be assuming you know what I am saying.


Have a good day and maybe a beer or 3 it’s Friday!

Janet

 

[slckeys]

As I sit here with our new driver, waiting to be unloaded. I just wanted to update. Her GPS tried to take us off the highway and down a tight country road that is not for Trucks pulling 53ft trailers. Ge that atlas was spot on again.

Janet

Are they using a truck GPS? I laugh when I see people at work using their phones for trucking here. Common sense goes a long way... When you have that trait.

 

[Snezzy]

Spent the day observing a new driver in one of our trucks. Gave her the Bol and asked if she needed directions. She was confident she could get there with her GPS, so off we went.

... %snip%

Janet

I'm a great fan of electronic stuff and computers and all, but I try to avoid the "single point of failure" problem that crops up in poorly engineered solutions. To my mind GPS is an obvious point of failure.

We do pony rides for birthday parties, and of course have to get there with a trailer full of ponies. We don't want to have a GPS send us the wrong way, making us drive an extra ten miles just to turn around. I print out on paper the directions that I get from Gargle Maps, but check carefully with the customer to make sure we are heading the right way. "It looks like you are the first left turn after Snotright Way. Is that correct?" "No, no, that goes to a dead end. It doesn't connect. You have to take the third left."

Even maps can steer you wrong. 30 years ago my wife was driving her horse carriage through backwoods New Hampshire, planning to cross over a stream. The bridge that was shown on the map was simply not there!

 

[Jstpssng]

My wife's 2017 Hyundai Accent, came with free Sirius Radio for a year.
We never tuned it on, never considered it a feature of benefit, but got junk mail every other week, for two following years asking us to sign on.

As I mentioned previously, I bought a receiver and used it for a couple of years. FM radio is touch and go in places and it was nice to have something to listen to. Yet after a while you realize they keep playing the same songs over and over and over again... sometimes at the same time every day. I could be mistaken, but I believe that the Rolling Stones, The Who, and Roy Clark all produced more than three songs in their careers.
Funny, I've never been a fan of Willie Nelson but his station is one which I listened to a lot. They played a lot of good, older country songs there.
I used to long for the good old days of underground rock... somebody needs to explain the term to "Little Stevie", and that the Beatles do not belong in that format. At one time yes, but that ship sailed a long time ago.

I had Sirius in a couple of my company trucks and it was OK when it was free. They also have "Free Weekends" occasionally when you can listen without paying. One day I jumped into a coworker's truck, who didn't realize they had it on for a free weekend. We were going up the road listening to the local station when I smacked the radio "Fonzie" style while saying "This sucks", and then switched to a satellite station. It took him aback but he quickly realized what had happened.

I was coming out of the woods in a new truck one night and was a long ways from getting into cell phone range. Suddenly the phone started ringing. It took me a minute to realize it was the OnStar phone, which I believe also had a free trial period. I answered it and believe it or not it was somebody trying to sell me an extended warranty! I have no clue how they got that number, I didn't even know what it was.

 

[paulfun9]

Are they using a truck GPS? I laugh when I see people at work using their phones for trucking here. Common sense goes a long way... When you have that trait.

Yes it’s a truck GPS and it is interconnected with her phone to give traffic updates.
Spent some time working with it today and must say it does have some useable options and when it works it seems to do a good job. I can see advantages to having one but must say don’t completely rely on it because it’s not always correct. my post the other day started in the afternoon when the internet was having difficulty loading every online map and traffic update I tried. It wasn’t till the next morning that anything loaded on my I pad, phone or her phone. That’s not an acceptable format in my opinion to be dependent on. The traffic back up was on warning signs and the CB but her phone didn’t warn her as advertised! Again not acceptable or as advertised up to the minute!
One exit too soon and a 53 footer down a tight, twisty road in the dark is also not acceptable.
Add to those problems what I see the most which is the weakening of the person’s ability to use thier own brain as they allow themselves to become dependent on thier electronics as being the worst.
I won’t comment on if you should use them or not but will say not everyone is going to be able to continue to use thier own brain effectively once they start to become lax because some things are so easy! Think about it this way some people drink and become alcoholics and some don’t. The problem is there are just too many weak minded people in the world who would fall into the electronic pitfalls and loose thier common sense, basic memory, and critical thinking skills.
Don’t think I have a point? Just start paying attention to what people do and ask yourself why did they do that? Ask simple questions and watch them look to thier phone for the answer. It’s actually amusing!
My favorite is those who read but don’t comprehend because how something written didn’t spell each and every thing out for them but instead required them to think about multiple things as they read to get an understanding.

Hopefully this makes my point a little clearer but I have had a couple beers!

Janet

 

[Richard001]

As a former Boy Scout, I used to poo-poo GPS. I can use a map and compass.

Then after my first use of a GPS, I realize a GPS is just a really good map and compass! It’s all right there. Better maps than are in my book of maps, and, it can suggest a place to eat, where to shop, road congestion ahead, alternate routes….

It’s just a really good tool!

Until the battery dies !

 

[Jstpssng]

Until the battery dies !

Or something happens to the signal. I was laying out a harvest block a few years ago, flagging out the 75 foot buffer along a stream. All of a sudden my GPS showed that I was a full 1/2 mile away from where I knew that I was, and nothing that I tried would bring it back to being accurate. It was about noontime on Friday so I took it as a sign from God that it was time to go home.
The following Monday it was accurate again. I don't know if it was sunspot activity throwing the thing off or what.

 

[ruffdog]

Would I buy a new vehicle with onstar? Maybe. Would I renew the subscription beyond the initial 3 year term...probably not. I'm fine with using the fob for what I need.

 

[deserteagle71]

Garbage in, garbage out.
GPS accuracy starts with information in Google Maps. If you were to input my address (or that of any of my neighbors) into Google Maps you WILL NOT end up at my address but a few miles away. Been that way ever since I've owned a GPS unit and I have no idea why the discrepancy.

I have a box full of GPS units, and teach GPS techniques to our Search and Rescue units. They are extremely handy tools - when offroading in an unfamiliar area I generally have at least two running simultaneously on my dash, each showing different data. If our SAR unit has contact with someone who needs help/rescue, if that person knows how to "drop a PIN" (use the GPS circuitry in their smart phone to locate themselves on this old earth) we can go straight to them, no problem. But as far as entering a street address into a GPS unit and having the GPS determine the best way to get there...be VERY skeptical.