Trucking and Google Earth

[Videodrome]

Parked at a Pilot about a half hour away from the delivery. This receiver has not direction on the Qualcomm and no answer on the phone presumably because of Memorial Day.

Got the address plugged in and looked on it in Satellite view. Was surprised to find this area even has the street level view after zooming that lets you pan around and zoom. Just seems so cool to see the area and parking possibilities. I can see it's a warehouse district so I guess the receiver is probably renting a space in one of them.

Just wondered if anyone else uses this regularly to find places and if it's been reliable.

[allan5oh]

Yes I started using it when I got an aircard a few weeks back. It's also fantastic for finding wal-marts to park in. You definitely don't want to come in the wrong way with a wal-mart. Last one I noticed you could go all the way around back(some you can't) and that way you're facing the right way when you park.

Also for many customers it's fantastic. I was doing John Deere deliveries and I could see the tractors with the satellite view.

[Syncrosonix]

google freaking rocks! i've been using for many months now. i've switched to that from mapquest. mapquest is okay, but you cannot get the street view like you can with google. google's satellite images are also much more clear. it's much more easy to tell which driveway you may have to enter from, and like above, which entrances to take if you're going into walmart. i also use it for other store deliveries. it's been a total nerve-saver.

[LightsChromeHorsepower]

google freaking rocks! i've been using for many months now. i've switched to that from mapquest. mapquest is okay, but you cannot get the street view like you can with google. google's satellite images are also much more clear. it's much more easy to tell which driveway you may have to enter from, and like above, which entrances to take if you're going into walmart. i also use it for other store deliveries. it's been a total nerve-saver.

+1

I use it to scope out parking at delivery locations regularly

[Glad Hand]

Yes I started using it when I got an aircard a few weeks back. It's also fantastic for finding wal-marts to park in. You definitely don't want to come in the wrong way with a wal-mart. Last one I noticed you could go all the way around back(some you can't) and that way you're facing the right way when you park.

Also for many customers it's fantastic. I was doing John Deere deliveries and I could see the tractors with the satellite view.

I have a Verizon aircard and do the same thing you do, except I do it with Streets & Trips with the add-on template called the Truck Stops Plus, which has all the truck stops, wal-mart Supercenters, and other trucking specific POIs on it.

I zoom in on the ones I’m routing to, and then hit the windows live local button. A browser window appears with a bird’s eye view of the wal-mart and I can easily see which is the best way to enter that particular wal-mart before I leave. Pretty cool.

I also use the windows live feature to locate virtually all of my shippers and consignees before I ever go to them, and especially when I don’t have final directions. I can usually locate them beforehand with the windows live local feature and then mark them with a pushpin on my trip map. I hate having to call for directions, because I usually end up getting a clueless girl who doesn’t know north from south. Plus it is nice to be guided to the exact pinpoint location and also to know beforehand which side of the road they are on and where best to enter.

I do check for google street level photos on occasion when for some reason there are no aerial photographs or if the facility I’m searching for was built after the aerial photographs were taken, since the google street level photos are usually only a few months old, and I have located several shippers and consignees I couldn’t find otherwise this way. The moral of the story is to use all the tools available at your disposal.

[ssoutlaw]

Goggle earth sat. Pics were taken back in 2005, so if the company is new and has a new building you may not see it!!! I use it to check out properties down in sw fl I am looking to buy. I found a house that had no neighbors within 500 or so feet on the goggle earth pic. but pics from the reality company now shows houses all over the place!!!....lol

[Videodrome]

One example I saw is it looks like the Pilot in Laredo Tx is on the map but not the FlyingJ and TA on the other side of the overpass.

[cdswans]

. . I find it especially helpful when scoping out hotels with "truck parking". I have been burned a couple of times by those who advertise but don't deliver it.

[wildkat]

Yes I started using it when I got an aircard a few weeks back. It's also fantastic for finding wal-marts to park in. You definitely don't want to come in the wrong way with a wal-mart. Last one I noticed you could go all the way around back(some you can't) and that way you're facing the right way when you park.

Also for many customers it's fantastic. I was doing John Deere deliveries and I could see the tractors with the satellite view.

allan who are you running for now?

[matcat]

Google earth is a wonderful tool, but beware some satellite images can be years old. They get their pics from various civilian and government satellites. Areas in the news that have something going on will most likely be getting images updated every few hours, versus a ruraral middle of nowhere that has only ever had one image taken 10 years ago. The average satellite image age is 3 years.