Life on the Road

There are certainly many travelers who don’t need an electronic map or funny GPS thingie at all. They are dedicated map-readers who have no trouble plotting a course from point A to point B and knowing exactly where they are when a new road suddenly appears in between A and B and you don’t know which way to turn.

I am not one of them. I have been known to get lost inside my own home. If I tell you to turn left, it’s a good money bet that turning right is the correct way to go.

We have a GPS in the RV. And it works mostly well, most of the time. The GPS has a built in database of places, so if we’re looking for a restaurant, we can find one.

The problem is, the database is at least a year old, and about 70% of the time, what we’re looking for isn’t in the database, or the database says something’s there and it’s not.  We need a system that’s updated all the time. Like a search engine. Like the search engine.

Did you know you can get Google Maps on your cell phone? You can. Go to Google Maps to have the Google Maps application sent to your phone. When you open the application, Google Maps will try to figure out where you are, based on which cell phone tower you are nearby. It’s not true GPS unless your cell phone is GPS-enabled. But it’ll do its best.

And then, you can search for restaurants nearby, get directions based on your current location (or on any other location), zoom in and out on your route, get the street address and phone number of the business you’re looking for, and generally be able to get around town just a little faster, more smoothly, and without having to remember to bring yet another electronic device along in the car.

I’ll add the standard disclaimer about digital use and cell phones. Obviously, if you have no signal on your phone, Google Maps is not going to be able to help you. Also, the maps are pictures, and there is a lot of data going back and forth. If you don’t already have an unlimited data plan on your phone, you should get one. It’s a crucial backup plan for Internet access on the road.