GPS vs. mapping software vs. ???

[silvan]

After years of talking smack about GPS and the idiot drivers who rely on it, I might be ready for a change. In my new job, I have to go to a vast number of places I've never been before, and it's pretty challenging finding the best route to some gas station in West Possum Piss, or figuring out whether to hit West Possum Piss or Sheep Shagger first. Then there are diversions where the load won't fit, and I've got to adapt directions from somewhere to somewhere else relative to where I am now, and figure out how to get there from here.

I have an Android phone with Google Maps and rudimentary GPS. It has proven a lot more useful than I would have ever thought, but it also sucks in various ways. It's slow, it doesn't work where there's no signal, the screen is really tiny, and the navigation stuff is so clunky I've never gotten it working in time to do myself any good. I'm basically just using it as a portable miniature city map of everywhere, and getting the map into my head before I pull out. Occasionally I may stop to take a reading of where I am, and gauge how far I have to go, but this information isn't useful in real time while driving.

I'm trying to decide how to go on upgrading this. One school of thought is to get a tablet and pay $20 a month to use my phone as a hotspot to feed it internet for Google Maps. That would get me all the satellite images and street view on a bigger screen, but it would probably be slower than piss, and pretty costly. I do love the satellite images and street view though. I can't tell you how often I've seen one of our trucks parked on the drops in those images, which is just a great clue what to do when you roll in somewhere.

Another school of thought is to get a netbook or small laptop and Street Atlas USA or Streets & Trips and just do this stuff old school, the way I grew up. I used to do all my route planning before I left from home, and I'm pretty comfortable with not having GPS to tell me exactly where I am. I could also add a GPS receiver for not too much extra. I don't really need internet on the big computer on the road if I store the maps on my computer.

Finally, I'm thinking about just getting a GPS unit like the Rand McNally TND-710. It wouldn't be so easy to browse around and look at the map with that thing the way I'm used to doing, it doesn't look like, but I might just get used to sitting back and punching in an address and having it tell me where to go, like all the other drivers do these days. "Don't give me directions, just give me the street address." (Of course that guy ripped the top out of a trailer too.)

What do y'all use? What do y'all think? I'm kind of stuck figuring out which way to go, and I could lay out a lot of cash playing with different options.

Loving the new job so far, incidentally. This is the happiest I've been since that company laid me off in 2007, and I think I finally landed somewhere I can hang out a good while.

[Malaki86]

I use 2 pieces of software on a daily basis to plan my day/trips:

Microsoft Streets & Trips 2009: This software is great at planning out a long trip. I've imported collections of truck stops, rest areas, company terminals, etc into it, which are visible on the map. You can also schedule your starting time, how long at each stop, etc. This makes it REALLY easy to find a place to park before it's too late.

CoPilot Live v8 Truck: This software is for the driving end - it shows a great map and you can put in multiple stops. It show's a lot of information you need, such as your ETA, Estimated Travel Time and miles to your next stop, plus estimated travel time & miles to your final destination. I also paid the $9.99 yearly subscription for local information, such as the weather & traffic. If you're coming up on traffic, it will not only show you on your map, but also suggest detours if it's a lengthy delay.

Using the 2 pieces together, I can plan a trip from my home in Mannington, WV to City of Industry, CA, along with where I'll stop for fuel and my sleeper breaks, and I'll arrive within 15 minutes of my original estimated time (unless I run into issues along the way). Total time to plan a trip like that is in the neighborhood of 5-10 minutes.

Not only will it do the cross-country, but it shows very detailed local information, as well.

One thing that helps my setup is that I have a 7" touchscreen monitor mounted on my dash (good double sided tape) that connects to my laptop, which stays in the sleeper. The monitor cost under $189. CoPilot was created to be used from a screen of this size, plus the touchscreen (large buttons, on-screen keyboard, etc).

I've yet to have CoPilot attempt to run me somewhere I shouldn't be, whether it's height, length or when I'm under HazMat.

Take note: I *ALWAYS* get directions from the customers and don't rely completely on the GPS software. If the directions I'm given don't match what the software says, I put extra stops along the route to force the software to run me the way the customers tell me to go in.

Also, with CoPilot, it can be set to let you know when you're approaching specific points-of-interest while driving. I have mine set to show me truckstops, rest areas and weigh stations. It lets me know 30 miles out and if I want to stop there, I simply hit 'Go' on the alert and it inserts that location as the next stop.

For my data, I have the WiFi hotspot through my Sprint EVO. It's unlimited data and runs me $29.99/month (can hook up 5 wifi devices).

[Malaki86]

BTW - my laptop has a 17" screen, so I also have a TV tuner in it, as well as the dvd player. That, along with the regular everything you can do on a computer, plus a hard drive full of movies & tv shows, well, that makes the laptop my entertainment system while out here as well. The only extra thing I did for that was add a set of external speakers for when I'm parked beside a truck that has to run @ 1,500rpm when it's 65 outside at night. And, yes, the laptop came with a 'normal' wireless remote control (similar to your tv's) for controlling the media side of things.