Foretravel Owner's Forum For owners and Fans of Foretravel Motorcoaches July 02, 2024 ...

Yes, you can have too much information

February 17, 2018, 02:56:24 pm

Back in the old days we got paper maps from gas stations and planned our trips. We looked at what highways went from where we were to where we wanted to be and decided which ones would be the best routes. That meant deciding whether we wanted to follow the red US highways that didn't always go in a straight line or take the black State highways that were narrower but went directly from point A to point B. Later on we got a GPS that told us where to go. Now we have map programs on our phones, the old GPS, and apps that can even tell us what sort of grade we will encounter between here and there.

Yesterday we went from one place to another. As usual, I put in our destination on my iPhone, plugged it into the coach's radio, and away we went. The audible directions come out right over my head and my Apple Watch beeps shortly before the voice speaks. Jo Ann follows the route on her iPhone but also uses her iPad to check other things - like what grades we will encounter. That's where we got into trouble. As she was going back and forth, trying to figure out the flattest route for us, we managed to get off on a pretty narrow State highway. Beautiful scenery (would have been prettier with sunlight instead of rain) but NO shoulders and no place to turn around. Eventually we got to a town where we could pull over and figure out what to do to get back on a main highway. We were about 10 miles away from the route we should have been on, so we got back on course and stayed on main highways from then on. The next drive WILL keep us mainly on the Interstate or at least major US highways! Narrower roads are for the Jeep.

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Re: Yes, you can have too much information

Reply #1 – February 19, 2018, 12:44:44 pm

I understand.. I have the map apps and 2 gps but i never leave without the oldest verson of Rand Mcnaly paper map. That's all we had when I started trucking in 1970. I stopped traveling for a living probably 12 years ago and never had a gps in my diesel trucks but I will admit I would have put it to some use along with the paper map.

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Re: Yes, you can have too much information

Reply #2 – February 19, 2018, 02:15:32 pm

I add the weather channel temp forecasts, NOAA wind forecasts( thanks to Wolfe10), weather radar during the drive, all stays up on my iPad on its stand while driving and my vpms running on the dash hp stream11.  Plus a old Garmin on a weighted base that shows the local speed limit and is never reset so it tracks the total trip mileage. 

The VPMS setup I use so far has three separate trip screens.  One is since my major mods and show 12k miles and 8.1 mpg and another is the total trip miles and fuel info and the third is the current fuel tanks info.

We are normally flexible so the wind and temp and rain and the Allstays campground info ahead can and has altered  our route.

Adding to the electronic convenience is to use my EarPods and Apple phone to use the all stays generated phone numbers to call ahead for campsite availability.

Also use gas buddies phone number generating ability to double check the quoted prices on fuel.

If the tightness of the possible gas stop is a concern bringing up google earth and zooming in can show the exact layout.

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Re: Yes, you can have too much information

Reply #3 – February 19, 2018, 02:47:25 pm

I don't climb behind the wheel or get into a pilot's seat without using Windy: Wind map & weather forecast (also known as Windyty). It shows current and future winds for the whole world and easy to zoom in on your location and destination. Lots of hidden features so to get full use of it, a primer is necessary. Apps for droids and iPhones also. The southwest can be nasty for crosswinds where it's easy to tip a coach or truck on it's side so nice to see what you are headed into both today and tomorrow. Check the features on the site and view the video.

Website: Windy: Wind map & weather forecast (also known as Windyty)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BiEfUnvYBBQ

Another good tutorial: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L3gxLv5psp4

Pierce

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Re: Yes, you can have too much information

Reply #4 – February 19, 2018, 02:54:24 pm

Thanks great addition to the database

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Re: Yes, you can have too much information

Reply #5 – February 19, 2018, 02:54:53 pm

Add gasbuddy to that so you know where you want to stop for fuel.  Googleearth the station to make sure you want to stop there.

BTW, what you look at before leaving is a LOT less than in a sailboat when headed offshore (if you know what you are doing and want to have a safe passage).

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Re: Yes, you can have too much information

Reply #6 – February 19, 2018, 04:10:06 pm

In an emergency, a paper map could be used for TP, not recommend for smartphone.

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Re: Yes, you can have too much information

Reply #7 – February 19, 2018, 07:14:58 pm

Our last trip, we pulled my collection of maps and navigated by paper map.  If was pretty relaxing.

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Re: Yes, you can have too much information

Reply #8 – February 19, 2018, 07:21:34 pm

I downloaded the toilet paper app.

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Re: Yes, you can have too much information

Reply #9 – February 19, 2018, 09:05:46 pm

IRC that app uses technology developed by NASA for the Uranus orbital project.

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Re: Yes, you can have too much information

Reply #10 – February 19, 2018, 09:42:53 pm

Brett, Windy has a lot of nautical info. I love the slider so you can check the winds, waves, etc for the next few days, even hour by hour. Currents moving against the wind make for steep seas.

Paper maps like Indian Country are not only good for planning but come in handy to refer to as you go.

The GPS is great for lunch time and dinner arrivals but meandering on back roads without much of a plan is the best.

Not many gas buddy fueling stops where we can't figure out how to squeeze in to fuel if it's the least expensive. Just watch the overheads. Some don't.

 All the radar images you see on your apps or TV are 5 to as much as 20 minutes delayed. It takes that long to gather all the returns and put them online. Many people have been killed by violent fronts moving faster than the radar images indicate. Tornadoes are a prime example for folks on the ground or in the air.

Piece

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Re: Yes, you can have too much information

Reply #11 – February 19, 2018, 11:07:59 pm

I like the old fold-out large-scale color coded Maps. It's easier for me to wrap my head around and endeavor. As an engineer I have a U-shaped desk, two 32 inch monitors, and 3 walls I can hang large-scale plans on. This helps immensely for me to wrap my head around and entire project and see the spatial relationships. I do use a lot of computer tools like Google Earth, bluebeam, 3d cad software and many others. there are no perfect all encompassing tools. Each tool has its high and low points, but they all seem to lead to tunnel vision written in code by software engineers who have never been there, or done that.

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