Helping others with GPS

Trying to keep this from being the shortest topic ever!

I have loaned my c330 to several folks who took it on vacations. They ended up buying one when they got back. What sold them was on the way to their destination they needed an emergency stop at Walmart and were able to find one on the way.

My in-laws just got a nuvi 660 ordered this weekend. We were on a trip together last Memorial day. The switch on my brakes that activate the rear lights, shut off the cruise and allow you to shift from park went out. He was impressed that we could find a store along our way, call to check if they were open, check to see if they had the part and have it waiting for us when we pulled in 10 minutes later.

I know that I don't travel as much as some on the list, but my c580 I got last december has been almost 25,000 miles now. I don't leave home without it.

Might be second shortest thread now....

Daniel

The person that I have helped so far has been me. I have shown others the capabilities of the GPS

Well, since I got the 680, and switched up to the 760, 3 people that I know went out and bought one after riding around with me in the van with mine.

Also, helped out 2 people that were looking for a place nearby our work... nothing as great as helping out someone lost, but it has been one hell of a handy thing to have around for the past month and a half.

I recently stopped a older couple from buying a tom tom, the bb guy was no help at all. So after owning 4 garmins I put my sales talent to work. The ended up purchasing the Streetpilot 580. The best buy offered my a job. Also likewise when people ride in my car they love all of the capabilities of the Nuvi 680.

Nothing life altering, but the third day I had my 765T, a coworker needed to use a local ATM for money for lunch, and the only one we knew of within walking distance was out of order. He called my cell phone, and I was able to direct him over the phone to another one close enough to walk, and still have time to eat during his lunch hour.

I addition, I guess you could say I was the recipient of help. As I was mulling over the need for a GPS prior to my purchase, a different coworker offered his 760 to me for a trip from Pittsburgh to South Carolina to a casino in North Carolina, and the return to Pittsburgh. Part of that trip I was familiar with, but the last leg I was not. Not only did it make the trip a breeze, especially helping me through some very heavy fog in the Great Smokey Mountains, but it convinced me to join the ranks of nuvi owners and Poi-Factory members.

luv this thing, and luv this site

I can't think of anyone I help right at the moment, but I assume it helped them later. Several people have seen how mine worked and ended up buying a GPS. I think I should be getting a commission from Garmin.

At a gas station, a couple were looking for some location, so with the GPS I was able to give them directions within seconds. They were very happy, since nobody they had asked knew about the street they were looking for, I'm sure a GPS is on their X-mas wish list.

Also responsible for a few people getting their own GPS, all satisfied customers! but no commissions there.

...when I knew how to get back to shore and they didn't. It was within sight, but knowing just which hunk of land has the dock is the critical part, especially when it's midnight and all landmarks are as black as ink.

GC

I like to visit the GPS area when I'm at CC or BB and listen to the salespeople explain the various GPS units to the 'not yet converted'. After the salespeople leave, I give a quick demo and sales pitch on the Garmins on display (which I have) and the people are always very appreciative. People in the market to buy are often times newbies and just looking for some basic practical information - something which current owners can easily provide. POI Factory is another great example of how we can share practical experiences.

So did you split your winnings with him as a thank you?

I used my winnings to jump from buying a 760, the model he loaned me, and which I was sold on, to the 765T instead.

I did buy him lunch though.

Jim

I has helped out the local police departments in my county with GPS from time to time. I am a deputy sheriff and one particular time our dispatch aired an address for a medical emergency. The problem was it was a cell phone 911 call and the home builders did not have an address for the new home site and it may not have even been assigned one yet at that point. The communications center gets GPS coordinates, but the PD does not have GPS. I could hear them having problems locating the victim, so I went to the call on our CAD computer and entered the coordinates onto my Garmin StreetPilot 2730 and led them into the scene. The address was confusing enough that I had to drive back to a known location, meet the ambulance, and then have them follow me back to the patient.

that must have been a great feeling

Friendly help...
I've done this as well..

Last time was when I was at a gas station. While fueling I started talking to a guy. He was looking for a hospital to visit a friend. He had asked me where it was. I wasnt sure, so I grabbed the nuvi out of its cradle and punched it up.

The guy was very interested in the unit...so I gave him a quick run down.

Ya know? Anytime a noob has been introduced to some basic functions of gps(garmins by my obvious experience) they always seem amazed about what they do. They always seem to walk away saying "Gotta get me one of those"..

My son was visiting us when my wife started experiencing medical problems. I rode in the ambulance and asked my son to bring the car so we would be able to get home. He didn't know where the hospital was - at least driving there. I had recently purchased my Nuvi 200 and told him to punch in where to, points of interest and medical. The hospital would show up in the list.

After he got dressed, he followed my instructions and later said the Nuvi helped him navigate a tricky intersection along the way. When he got home, he bought himself a GPS, although it was a Tom-Tom because it was all they had in the exchange on his base.

This is more like it! Thanks everyone for your stories! This is a very helpful community in a lot of ways. With all the bad news in the world, it's great to hear of people helping each other out, no matter how big or small the problem.

As I mentioned in an earlier post, I am a deputy sheriff. My particular assignment in not on patrol, so I am in an unmarked car and I wear civilian clothing. I do, of course, have my Garmin StreetPilot 2730 with me in the car. Earlier today I monitored the local PD for the city I was in get multiple wireless 911 hangups from an unsubscribed cell phone. Because it is not subscribed, there is no way for our communications center to call back and check out the reason for the call. The communications center airs the call location as southwest of two intersecting streets. Since I was in the area, I thought "what the heck" and I went to the CAD on the laptop computer and obtained the GPS coordinates. It took a few extra seconds because I normally have my coordinates configured as decimal degrees because that is how our county property records are listed. The 911 system, at least in our area, displays degrees, minutes, seconds. I switched formats and entered the coordinates for the call. I was able to determine a street address for the wireless 911 call, but as luck would have it, it was a multi-story apartment complex and we were unable to determine which apartment the call may have come from. Thus, I sort of felt like I was "geocaching" on duty. I would have thought that considering our communications center is only a year old, that they would have software that would reverse geocode an address from the coordinates. I suppose it is not as simple as it sounds, however, because what from what I know about reverse geocoding may not always give us the correct address. On the other hand, the way they air the calls now is not very precise either. Does anybody here happen to know how precise the coordinates I am being given from cell phone GPS are likely to be? For example, if I drive to the point that my StreetPilot takes me to, should I be looking in an area 100 feet in any direction? Or should I be looking in a much wider area? That, of course, presumes that the caller isn't in motion.

As an aside, it was kind of fun doing this today. Most of my fellow officers don't have GPS in the car with them. Of the few that do, I don't think most are familiar with enter locations by coordinate.

Jim, as a 911 dispatcher, I can tell you that it depends on what type of call is being received.

The cell phone carriers claim it to be within 100 meters. But, from experience, if it's a Phase II call, it is usually less than 500ft. It is possible for it to be much more than that. There is usually a probability factor on the 9-1-1 screen that indicates how accurate the coordinates are. If dispatch gets an open line call, they can normally "ping" the phone again to get an updated location. This would possibly narrow your search down. You could then triangulate the location based on the various coordinates.

I think that was great how you used your GPS to help pinpoint it. We have mapping software tied into our system that would do that also, but it's hard to relay that information over the radio to responding units.

> I would have thought that considering our
> communications center is only a year old, that
> they would have software that would reverse
> geocode an address from the coordinates.

I hope that your dispatchers have access to the
internet. Introduce them to the "reverse geocode"
(ers) avail on the internet.

> I suppose it is not as simple as it sounds,

It is very simple.

> reverse geocoding may not always give us the
> correct address.

Perhaps. Perhaps not. E911 and dispatchers
ought'a know how to do this stuff. Here is one
example:

http://www.batchgeocode.com/lookup/

> Does anybody here happen to know how precise the
> coordinates I am being given from cell phone GPS
> are likely to be?

It depends.

Many (unscrupulous) sellers intentionally confuse
the E911 triangulation/signal-strength features
with "GPS". Grrrr.

If the cellphone has a real/std GPS receiver, the
CEP (circular error probablility) in a difficult
environment (city, bldgs, multipath reflections,
etc) ... the error should be in less than 20 meters.
95% of the time. Hint: Take Garmin's EPE (est
position err) and multiply by 2 ... and there's a
~95% chance that the fix is within a circle of that
RADIUS.

If the receiver is DGPS (USCG) or WAAS (FAA)
capable, the CEP is < 2 meters, 95% of the time.

The next generation of GPS satellites and receivers
that take advantage of the new features will be
capable of CEP's measured in a few centimeters.

On a completely unrelated matter; introduce your
detectives to Google's "Alert" features. It can be
quite helpful in "watching" eBay for specific items
within XX miles of a specificed zipcode.

I agree with 99 percent of the response except that not all comm centers have internet access. I know this sounds strange. From experience working in comm centers in Texas, many of the comm center's systems are maintained by the actual CITY and not the POLICE DEPT. Many of the cities don't allow internet access and/or they offer a small amount of time users can access the internet (1 hr/day, etc.). I agree that all should have access to the internet, but it's not reality. Where I'm at now, for instance, they block one media traffic reporting service but not the other one in our area. Even poi-factory is blocked on our system. So, it could be they just have it blocked.

Depending on the E911 system used, these often have a built-in map of the county/city the agency is located in. Because 9-1-1 cellphone hangups are so common in our area, if we just get a quick hangup, we don't map those and try to find the person. Now, if we hear something of concern, we will attempt to have officers locate the caller. Point is, in a busy comm center, dispatcher's don't have time to go to the internet and reverse geocode every call that comes in. Our center gets, on average, 400 calls per day, so we are usually busy with true emergencies and don't have the time to track down someone's 3 year old playing with the cellphone.

I've assisted others on the street that "looked lost" - both with and without my GPS. It's easier with it though, because they can actually see on the screen to get a visual idea.

I've made subtle comments in a store before to a prospective buyer that didn't know what to buy and the sales kid was obviously pushing the most expensive unit they had. One time, I guided them to a unit that I would not have purchased for myself, but it suited their needs.

I've had others actually playing with my GPS device and many have then gone out to purchase their own.

I've donated a couple of units to others in the past when upgrading or changing units.

So, I don't know if I've actually helped anyone in a big way, but would be glad to offer the assistance.