Golden State GPS Road Trip
Report
I just returned from my first
GPS enhanced road trip. Last weekend my wife and I bravely packed three
teenaged girls into a Blazer with enough clothes and stuff to fill a
Suburban and set out to discover El Camino Real and the Pacific Coast
Highway in California. Since we left on short notice I did not manage
to program any waypoints into my eTrex for the journey ahead of time.
Although the auto club map that we took showed rough longitude and latitude
I planned to purchase more detailed map or some sort of GPS companion
volume on the road. Some spare AA batteries and a cigarette lighter
power adapter for the eTrex combined with two road atlas books to complete
my navigational aids.
At first I used the state
AAA map to create a few waypoints for towns along my route. The waypoint
that I created for Santa Barbara, California worked okay until we reached
town and discovered that pursuing it too far would place us a couple
hundred yards offshore in the surf of the Pacific Ocean. Although I
had resolved to focus on missions, beaches, and other landmarks while
avoiding shopping especially at outlet centers and shopping malls I
made all four passengers happy by visiting a mall to get access to some
bookstores. I selected the Benchmark Maps Road & Recreation Atlas
because it featured GPS Grids for the state I was touring on the Landscape
and Metro maps it contained. Because of the grid lines marked on each
page I was able to determine the coordinates for any intersection, town,
or other location in moments by referring to the maps. The major increments
were in ten minute blocks so the grid lines were spaced from N 36°30'
to N 36°40' and W 121°50' to W 121°40' with tick marks to
further aid accuracy. It was simple to look up the map location of Salinas,
CA on route 101near the grid intersection of to N 36°40' and W 121°40'and
determine that Salinas is located at N 36°40'30" and W 121°39'.
My yellow eTrex was already set to the degrees/minutes/seconds data
format so creating my own custom waypoint was a breeze.
The system that was used
for waypoint creation was simple and straight from the eTrex manual.
Holding down the ENTER button on the eTrex caused the MARK WAYPOINT
page to appear with current coordinates and a default symbol and name.
After creating a waypoint in this manner I edited the coordinates, name,
and symbol to modify the waypoint into my unique Salinas waypoint. Once
the new waypoint was finished I selected OK and pressed ENTER to save
to memory and return to normal GPS operation. At this point of the procedure
I learned to call my passengers to get back into the car and buckle
up. I began my navigation by repeatedly pressing the PAGE button to
reach the MENU screen so that I could select WAYPOINTS. Pressing ENTER
thend the WAYPOINT screen where it was a simple matter to find
and select my new waypoint because of the name I just gave it. Next
a press of the ENTER key caused the REVIEW WAYPOINT page to appear with
GOTO as one of the options. I selected GOTO and pressed ENTER one final
time and we were on our way. The POINTER page appeared with my DESTINATION
NAME at the top above the waypoint DISTANCE from my current location.
Once we were moving the eTrex generated a wealth of information including
the travel times, current speed, average speed, and remaining distance
for the current navigation. The navigational pointer functioned continuously
to indicate both our direction of travel and the true direction to the
destination. Waypoints created in this fashion were precise with even
the altitude readings confirmed within 10' when I later visited the
area. Although the navigational ability of GPS is a major selling point
the plain yellow eTrex that I used did a great job of calculating other
useful figures like time remaining/ETA (estimated time of arrival) and
adjusting to changes in itinerary. The accuracy achieved in this manner
was fine for locating towns, roads, and landmarks. I never even fiddled
with the datum.
Although my on the fly waypoint
creation system worked a better way to get started with GPS navigation
is to first create a group of waypoints for towns and major intersections
that are near your home. These markers could then help you to evaluate
and improve personal navigational skills. Test your system by navigating
around your neighborhood just as a stranger would while relying on your
GPS rather than memory. After passing your self-test you could create
and save a library of waypoints in your eTrex for towns, intersections,
and landmarks along your planned travel route. Try to anticipate any
side trips that you might make so that you can save spare waypoints
for them also. One warning about this system: Your maps must be detailed
enough to give accuracy to the coordinates that you select. If the scale
of your map provides less detail this system will not be so accurate.
The scales of the Landscape and Metro maps in the Benchmark Maps Road
& Recreation Atlas were 1:300,000 and 1:157,895 respectively. If
this particular company does not make maps for your travel area you
should be able to find maps or web sites that can yield similar or better
accuracy. Microsoft Streets and Trips is a fast PC based solution that
can do this for American automotive destinations. Other tools can simplify
waypoint and route creation or improve the operation of your GPS. OziExplorer
is a fine program that can work with maps to organize or created waypoints
and routes. The DC to DC power adapter extended my first set of batteries
through the entire trip. Even though the eTrex was used away from the
vehicle every day and occasionally left on the standard alkaline AA
batteries survived back to the waypoint marked HOME.
By the way, it was FUN using
the eTrex to navigate on this family trip. It helped in many ways and
enabled me to travel like a local resident in unfamiliar areas. An unexpected
bonus for GPS equipped outings with children is the shift of power back
to the front seat. Finally navigators around the world have definitive
precise answers to the two most dreaded back seat questions of any road
trip. Gone are the days when the enemy behind could prompt entertaining
episodes of map shuffling and argument with those fiendishly simple
questions. Now "Where are we going?" and "How much longer
will it take to get there" have lost their cherished ability to
confuse and demoralize the front seat team. Mute acceptance was the
only possible response when "Gilroy, California the Garlic Capital
of the World!" or "37 Minutes!" came down from on high.
Once I had the atlas and a system for using it with the GPS planning
and navigating were simpler and practically foolproof.
Don
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