this post was submitted on 30 Aug 2023
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[–] fauxerious 131 points 10 months ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 44 points 10 months ago (4 children)

Ditto.

Traffic can be very heavy and very random in my city. You never know when a road is blocked.

[–] [email protected] 34 points 10 months ago

Every time I don't use GPS I regret it.

[–] [email protected] 17 points 10 months ago

I found a ridiculous road closure last week, and GPS routed me through a ton of backroads I had never taken before. It was only marginally faster, but I'm glad I was constantly moving, and not on a highway-turned-parking-lot for those 2 hours. Also, we got to experience some new scenery that we may never have seen otherwise, which is at least interesting.

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[–] [email protected] 106 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (7 children)

It blows my mind talking to my grandpa. His first question is how was traffic and the next is how did I get there. Then he'll say well next time take the 5 for 3.9 miles, then hop on 78 until you see the 420 then do a triple lane change to the 69 then you're home. And then I'm like sure thing grandpa I'll remember that for sure, as I'm tapping the home button on google maps lol.

[–] [email protected] 42 points 10 months ago

My uncle was visiting a few months ago from overseas and I was driving him somewhere in my home town, and he off-handedly mentioned a different route he'd taken to get there in the 1960s lol

[–] samus12345 38 points 10 months ago (2 children)

"How did you get here?"

"I dunno, I just did what my GPS said!"

[–] [email protected] 26 points 10 months ago

"I followed the blue line until it told me to stop"

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[–] [email protected] 22 points 10 months ago (2 children)

Then he’ll say well next time take the 5 for 3.9 miles, then hop on 78 until you see the 420 then do a triple lane change to the 69 then you’re home.

Without even knowing where those roads are I see you are on the West Coast.

[–] [email protected] 14 points 10 months ago (2 children)

Is this that "Californians" SNL sketch?

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[–] comador 11 points 10 months ago

Gen X and prior used a lot of landmarks to get from A to B where routes were commonly used. Landmark navigation is still heavily used today in places like India and Mexico where routes change hourly sometimes due to road closures and accidents that gps mapping cannot account for.

I once had to drive pre-google from Paris, France to Madrid, Spain and then to Valencia, Spain with nothing more than a AAA Auto Club map and a Philips Road Atlas. Not fun in many eays, but it was an adventure.

[–] Agent641 6 points 10 months ago

When grandpa asks "how did you get here" its a trap. Whatever answer you give will be wrong and will correct you with a lecture

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[–] [email protected] 61 points 10 months ago (5 children)

Honestly they should just be pleased we don't have to spend as much effort and brain space as they did just for transit.

[–] samus12345 31 points 10 months ago

"Wish I'd had that!"

[–] residentmarchant 23 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Sadly it's almost never the case where people say "oh, life is better for you! Cool!"

[–] [email protected] 11 points 10 months ago (1 children)
[–] cypherix93 8 points 10 months ago

Life is better for you! Cool!

[–] Koraboros 11 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Studies have shown that using your brain to navigate once you get used to a route is beneficial.

[–] [email protected] 31 points 10 months ago (4 children)

Yeah well, studies have also shown that I'm a lazy fuck, so there's that

[–] [email protected] 18 points 10 months ago

I heard that study was peer reviewed too. Pretty definitive stuff.

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[–] [email protected] 8 points 10 months ago

More time to doomscroll

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[–] telllos 47 points 10 months ago (3 children)

For some reason, I like to know when I will arrive.

[–] [email protected] 21 points 10 months ago

Yeah GPS is equally about traffic now and not just navigating

[–] affiliate 6 points 10 months ago (2 children)

i like to hear the voices guide me on my journey

[–] [email protected] 11 points 10 months ago

Not me. I like the directions, but I turn the voice off.

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[–] BonesOfTheMoon 35 points 10 months ago (1 children)

I'm almost 50 and I never remembered my way anyplace pre map apps. I'd far rather be navigated for.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 10 months ago (1 children)

I drove for a little while before gps was a thing, and I'm so glad to have it.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 10 months ago (3 children)

I used to print out mapquest directions if I was going across town.

[–] Speculater 5 points 10 months ago

God forbid we miss a turn.

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[–] [email protected] 32 points 10 months ago (1 children)

And then google tries sending me through backcountry roads because iT sAvEs EiGhT mInUtEs in a 5 1/2 hour drive, not realizing its hard to travel 80kph on dirt roads cutting through hilly residential areas.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (1 children)

Oh my god when we moved from Oklahoma to a town in the mountains of Vermont this issue made the last day of driving hell! It's my fault for not checking the route on such a big trip though.

We had visited this town several times and always drove in on a major interstate with no issues. Well when we were finally loaded up with the 26' U-haul and towing a car behind, I just selected the default route to our new address in VT.

It was fine up until the last day when we started to get to the mountains and to my horror it was taking us on these tiny one lane roads up extremely steep mountains and super narrow roads.

When going downhill I was braking as hard as I could and the U-Haul was barely even slowing down and the brakes would be smoking at the bottom. And on the way up I was flooring it and barely getting up to 20 mph sometimes.

It's a miracle the truck made it through the dirt roads at the end. We finally rolled into town on what I now know is a historic, scenic route that the leaf peepers like to take.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Note for future - even with an automatic transmission, you can shift into a lower gear (2 or even L) on a downhill to have the engine slow you down and save your brakes.

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[–] mkhopper 29 points 10 months ago (2 children)

I'll use Google maps to check for traffic on my route before leaving, but that's all.

If I'm going somewhere I've been more than two or three times, I don't use GPS.

[–] [email protected] 32 points 10 months ago (2 children)

I just like to have a little minimap following me like in a video game.

I use Waze whenever I drive, it also keeps me informed about accidents, cops, and other hazards.

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[–] [email protected] 18 points 10 months ago (2 children)

But...what if the traffic changes after you leave?

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[–] [email protected] 22 points 10 months ago (1 children)

In my defense, I use it not because I don't know how to get where I need to go, but because it shows real time traffic info that could help me find another route to avoid said traffic rather than being stuck in that traffic. Driving through local roads to get to work sucks because sometimes it's fine but other times there are accidents or roadwork that causes backups.

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[–] [email protected] 18 points 10 months ago (1 children)
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[–] schmidtster 18 points 10 months ago

Guy at work always wonders how I get to the jobsites before him and he’s stuck for 15 minutes sometimes… I look up the traffic using maps first.

[–] Leviathan 18 points 10 months ago

I used to be really proud of being able to get anywhere without a GPS until I moved to the city. You could've been somewhere a million times but when they close streets seemingly at random a GPS becomes nearly impossible to drive without if you care about your time. Fast forward five years and now I use the GPS even to go to work every morning.

[–] MedicPigBabySaver 11 points 10 months ago (1 children)

I use Waze any time my wheels roll. In the Boston area there is a huge input of data for the quickest route from A to B.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 10 months ago (2 children)

Are we getting native advertisements on Lemmy now too?

Or do you just genuinely like it that much?

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[–] [email protected] 11 points 10 months ago (1 children)

A trick to "learn" routes.. put the GPS in your pocket, and only listen to it... this way you start to spot the landmarks we used to use to navigate by.

[–] [email protected] 19 points 10 months ago (1 children)

But I like watching the little arrow

[–] [email protected] 7 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Fun fact: If you use Google Maps, and press on the arrow (while the navigation is started), you can change the arrow to 3 different cars.

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[–] FartsWithAnAccent 10 points 10 months ago (3 children)

Ultimately nobody survives anyhow, enjoy the time you have while you can.

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[–] [email protected] 9 points 10 months ago (7 children)

you need GPS to go to the place youv'e been multiple times, because you have GPS. Your brain does a funny thing where it doesnt feel like it has to remember shit when you have the answer infront of you on a computer/phone/device cause it is basically using that device as its short term memory.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Same with phone numbers. We used to remember them, or at least a handful of the most important ones.

Nowadays it took me years just to memorise my own.

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[–] [email protected] 8 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (2 children)
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