Business Men/Women....Just Curious

Well I tend to travel much of Canada, and personally since I got my GPS C330, I use it all the time to find my clients locations, Hotels nearest to my clients and of course places to eat (I do surveillance as such we tend to stick close to the clients). If we get some free time, we use it to find entertainments such as night clubs or bars.

I also use my laptop to find any information about places before we go to eat, like prices or types of food or what types of bars/night clubs we are going to.

what about backup directions? or do you totally depend on the GPS? I would like to NOT have to print out directions from Mapquest or the client to get there.

If you are a serious road warrior, a laptop computer with a wireless internet aircard is a must. I typically stay in one county and because new streets are constantly being built, it is not unusual to find addresses not in the database. For those I check the county property records webpage and select the GPS coordinates listed there and enter them directly into the GPS. Once in a while I actually have to back track from the map shown on the property records database, and trace a block or two back until a dead end street shows up on the GPS and then I can create a route to it, if necessary. I also occasionally like to have the laptop computer displaying a map so that I can see an overview of my destination.

My laptop, but I haven't had the GPS fail yet, with the exception of really really new areas (under construction) to which i try to get an intersection near the area, even then most backups wouldn't help anyways. IF all else fails, then there is the good old gas station attendant or Taxi Driver, and absolute backup to all backups, call my partner back at head office to get me directions.

I no longer print maps and directions like I used to. Save a tree. I trust the GPS but I do have the laptop with a GSM card but haven't used it for this purpose. If I run across a client location that the GPS can't find, I call the customer. I also have a crackberry...I mean blackberry that has Mapquest or Google access.

I use mine daily for travel and certain POI's (Starbucks). I use it a lot to get around Atlanta and to try and avoid traffic in around the perimeter

Thanks!

I travel almost weekly and have just quit printing out maps since Jan. I have a laptop with a wireless card if I get in trouble but if I take the time to check the addresses before I leave home it's all been fine so far. Recently I even found Compound W, (George W's ranch).

When you use Maquest is when you really need a backup. For backup for my GPS I keep an atlas in my car, but my Garmin has yet to fail. The best backup would be a second GPS.

I haven't bought paper maps or printed directions in a couple of years. My 60CSx (and my 60CS before it) would always get me there and back. In fact, when someone gives me their address, I pull up MapSource on my computer and put the address in, then I save it as a waypoint and drop that into my GPS. That way the GPS will route me straight to their door!

I cover four states, but 75% of my time is spent in the Atlanta metro.
I have been covering this territory for four years. But, now with the use of my C340 have found many shortcuts from point A to B to C. And, I hope this will save me gas in the long run. I have set the GPS for the shortes route. And, this in most cases keeps me off the interstate, which is good if you know what Atlanta traffic is light. Especially with daily road closures.

I cover a large territory, everything East of the Mississippi, except I also cover some just west up in the Great Lakes area. I have been using GPS guidance for finding customer sites, Mobile Telephone Switching offices, and cellular radio base stations (lat/long info only, they usually don't have a 'valid' street address). I think I've been using GPS now for about 12 years, and up until a few months ago always printed my directions and routes prior to traveling.

I used Street Atlas and DeLorme's USB GPS antenna. On my boat I've used a Garmin eTrex for several years also.

I broke the habit of using the laptop when I bought my Mio C310x. I drove from just north of Charlotte, NC, up to Richmond, VA, then New Jersey, then Manhattan, then half way to Indianapolis the laptop went into the trunk and hasn't come back out since, except for emails. I found the Mio to be every bit as accurate, but the maps don't have quite the granularity of Street Atlas. However, it has always proven to get me there.

Well, that was until Seattle two weeks ago. See, should never have gone to the left coast! My Mio freaked out and the battery died on it, while driving from the Seattle airport to my customer's office. Yes, that was due to 4 hours of watching movies on the darned thing on the way down, not realizing, uh gee dummy, you just used up the battery. So, since I didn't have written directions, out came the laptop... drum roll here... but only as a power source for my Mio!!!! lol....lmao....

So the moral of this story is, don't leave your cigarette lighter adapter in your car at home, but if you do bring along a laptop with a USB cable! Who the heck needs written directions???

Ha, that was a great story! That sounds like something I would have done, the laptop as a power source. Actually, I would have unplugged my phone (a razr) and used that CL adapter, but if I didn't have that, the laptop.

Although I do not travel outside of the county I work in often I use my GPSmap76 for locating road segments for work. It is tied to a program on my laptop called mapcapture. We use it to collect road condition information also I have all of our road signs culverts and bridges so that I can identify ones with defects. I also have used it with mapsource for directions some laptop also has a EVDO card my truck is my office about 150 to 300 miles a day. Hoping to use my new Streetpilot 7200 a lot for POI’s and routing.

Robin,

It is always nice to have you come back and visit us, I always miss you when you are gone and then as I am starting to really wonder what is going on, you pop in and give us an update.

Miss Poi

I use MapSource on my computer to find my clients. I usually check their business website and or Google Earth to verify the directions. My MapSource/Nuvi 350 GPS has yet to be wrong. Only a few new missing roads which I have reported NAVTEQ.

I used my Nuvi 660 for the first time while on a business trip to Chicago the other day.

Took the suction cup mount and power cable and put it in the rental car first thing. What a great experience! I added the addresses before hand that I would need (my clinet's office, airport, other sites to be visited)just to make it a bit easier.

What a pleasure! My Nuvi took me directly to my hotel and from hotel to client's office in the most efficient route. It was great not having to try and read directions or watch carefully for road signs or worrying about wether the exit was on the left or right. And it warned me about the red light cameras as well! How can you not love it??!!

I will always take my Nuvi with me.

Stan

I just experienced that. I was out of town in a place I had never been before. My Garmin c550 just died! I realized that I relied to much on the GPS for directions. You might want a map in the trunk as a back up.
Side Note: Garmin replaced the unit free of charge. They could not figure out what happened to the unit. Sent it in and had it back in 7 business days...They were Awesome!

Yeah, I can't wait to go on my business trip on Monday and use it for business for the first time. Thinking back, I can't imagine that I was able to do my work without it!

My site is also suffering from my absence..yeah, right... it's getting along fine without me. Our company just bought another company and my boss has been promoted to the company president, so now I'm picking up some of his duties, which require that I travel A LOT. So, in the last six weeks, it's been Dallas, Shreveport, Atlanta, Seattle, Las Vegas, Jacksonville, and Orlando. Needless to say I'm tired.

I leave Wednesday of next week for Dallas again, then Atlanta upon my return, then NYC, then DC, then Boston.....ugh..... well, good thing I have good POI's (thanks to this site) and a good GPS unit to guide me, since most of this is driving trips.

Found a good use for my Mio on a plane though, it's great with a set of headphones to watch a movie to while away your time...

Tired! I hear you. I like (unlike most of my coworkers) like to travel, but when it is back to back, it gets tiring! I want to travel now, now that I have a gps.