What Else Do You Use Your Gps For?

[+Team Cacheopeia]

We just moved, and I have important locations (the place we're staying, my grandma's nursing home, my dad's house) marked. I tend to get lost easily.

 

The other night I was driving home late and the exit ramp I needed was closed. I was very grateful for my GPS!

 

My husband and I use it while driving long distances. We program in the next large city and watch it count down and estimate how long it'll take us to get there. The down side is when you run into traffic jams... and it says you won't arrive until the next day at your current speed!

 

My kindergarten students used it while running around the playground to discover how many miles per hour they can run.

[+Markwell]

Testing speedo on everything you own? Don't think I have seen a speedo on a GPS

C'mon...

 

It's not THAT hard to imagine.

 

[+Team Perks]

 

Usually it's the fat, hairy GPSr's that are wearing the Speedo though.

[Fakk 2]

Um I noticed that you put the speedo on the top (head) of the gps, is this anything like wearing a bra on your head? Is there some freudian subconcious motives with that picture?

 

Fixed typoes

Edited June 30, 2004 by Dream Alchemist

[Pto]

Um I noticed that you put the speedo on the top (head) of the gps, is this anything like wearing a bra on your head? Is there some freudian subconcious motives with that picture?

 

I had the same thought. If its on his head, what covering his . . . er . . . Her.. . . .

er. . . .

[Rubbertoe]

Um I noticed that you put the speedo on the top (head) of the gps, is this anything like wearing a bra on your head? Is there some freudian subconcious motives with that picture?

 

I had the same thought. If its on his head, what covering his . . . er . . . Her.. . . .

er. . . .

Yeah, that "pointer" is just sticking right out there for everyone to see.

[+Stump]

We just moved, and I have important locations (the place we're staying, my grandma's nursing home, my dad's house) marked.

We recently moved as well and the 60c has been a real blessing. This town has streets going everywhere and many 6 way crossings (lot of diagonal streets). Not sure how I'd get around and find stores/restaurants without my 60c.

[+Riddlers]

I use mine for work, being a fireman I use it for giving cords to helicopters to land at to pick up patients, my location or the location on a wildland fire that I need a water drop or assistance.

Mine is going with me to the wildfires this year to locate helicopter landing sites for air transports of injured firefighters and for locating escape routes and anything else that might come in handy. Last year I used some that others had brought and wanted to get my own for this year and then I discovered geocaching and so far that is our main use but it is getting to be warm weather again.

[+Markwell]

Um I noticed that you put the speedo on the top (head) of the gps, is this anything like wearing a bra on your head? Is there some freudian subconcious motives with that picture?

Actually I just thought it just looked better like that (and was easier to draw with my meager skills as a computer graphics person).

[lisavemt]

I use mine for work, being a fireman I use it for giving cords to helicopters to land at to pick up patients, my location or the location on a wildland fire that I need a water drop or assistance.

I use mine for coords for helicopter pick ups aslo.

 

I recently got posession of our police departments garmin and updated the software on it and then entered all the helicopter coords along with other coords that they find useful. The chief was impressed and from now on I'm in charge of the gpsr's that they use . (they're buying more whooopie!)

[+SamuraiJack]

I use mine on my bike. Its fun to check elevation profiles and such. It also helps to know "how far is it!" I haven't seen many other people doing this yet, but as they catch on, I'm sure they will.

 

 

On my way to the Mt. St. Helens Visitor Center.

[+Niss Feiner]

I use mine for Geocaching of course, also it gets great use on the boat, and in the plane when were flying cross country, or just trying to figure out how strong that headwind is.

 

Niss

[+bobbyrockstar]

Several of the comments here, and a personal experience, lead me to ask a serious question. Does your local Fire/Ambulance have GPSr's in all their units? Especially if you are rural, far from a population center? If the answer is no and you have any kind of Geocacher's club or organization...........

 

I'm not trying to be a social engineer but it would be a great way to contribute to the community for the betterment of all. You don't have to buy all their units, and you don't have to do it yourself- you could be the driving force behind a community drive or event. Run a booth at your local fair with proceeds to be used....Place change jars at the favorite food and gas joint, etc.

 

Oh -I use mine for marking favorite campsites in the National Forest, ocassionally for street directions, a lot to keep tracklogs of offroad drives, and I really like the ETA feature on road trips.

Edited July 1, 2004 by bobbyrockstar

[+bblhed]

I got my first GPSr before they turned off error and used it on long distance road rallys. I used to plug in the entire route to be sure I was still on the right track. Then I used it to get from place to place. Next error was turned off and I did a web search for GPS games. 4 Gps's later I still have my first GPSr and still use it in union with my palm pilot to get to the parking spots for caches. I have a broken GPS antena that I keep because it won me a rally, I have a primary that I actualy cache with, and I have a buddy unit for taking friends caching.

 

As for the police/fire thing, the last local cache event here in CT they were teaching police & Fire personel how to find people in the woods by GPS location. Remember equipment is useless without traning.

[lisavemt]

Several of the comments here, and a personal experience, lead me to ask a serious question. Does your local Fire/Ambulance have GPSr's in all their units? Especially if you are rural, far from a population center? If the answer is no and you have any kind of Geocacher's club or organization...........

 

I'm not trying to be a social engineer but it would be a great way to contribute to the community for the betterment of all. You don't have to buy all their units, and you don't have to do it yourself- you could be the driving force behind a community drive or event. Run a booth at your local fair with proceeds to be used....Place change jars at the favorite food and gas joint, etc.

 

Oh -I use mine for marking favorite campsites in the National Forest, ocassionally for street directions, a lot to keep tracklogs of offroad drives, and I really like the ETA feature on road trips.

No, we don't have gpsr's in all our units. We've got 2 ambulances. If I have to request that Theda Star come to me, dispatch has all the coords already in a book and tell their dispatch where to meet us. BUT like I said earlier, the chief was extremely impressed with the work I did on the one gpsr they have and will be buying more to put in the police cars. Often the officers are our liasions for calling the helicopter. I'm too busy to have my gpsr in my hand telling someone where to go. I'd rather be working on the patient. But like I said I carry mine with me everywhere, so if one of our officers needs it, it's in the cab of the ambulance. Now, if I'm not one of two emt's responding and respond to be an extra set of hands, then yeah I'll whip the puppy out if they need the helicopter.

[+Pen-mawr]

I got my GPSr a couple of weeks ago for street mapping, I really didn't think I would have much use for it but it was offered to me on Father's Day and I jumped at it, (I have fully accepted my inner Geek and love new electronic gadgets). I felt street mapping was probably all I would use it for until that same evening a friend asked if I had heard of Geocaching, one Google later my wife and I were hooked, 5 caches and about a dozen benchmarks in the last week.

 

I do actually use it for street mapping and navigation (I bought the MapSend software to go with it) and constantly have great fun just watching current speed, position, altitude etc - can't wait until my first chance to take it on a plane in a couple of weeks!

 

One thing I have been wondering, if you are in an unfamilliar area and really have no idea of where you are, could you just give the dispatcher your coordinates if you were unfortunate enough to need to dail 911?

[+Cache Viking]

I was mountain biking on the Fort Ord property near Monterey once and our group came upon a guy who had crashed real hard. We used cell phones and my Garmin to get the rescue there as well as the Coast Guard chopper. Pretty exciting time for my kids who were impressed with seeing the Chopper fly over them then land in the distant valley only to find out I was right there.

[+GentleWhisper]

I used mine to find a local geocacher's house so I could drop off a yellow jeep travel bug... I really appreciate knowing someone who can give the exact coordinates to her house... and they say women can't give good directions...

[+Riddlers]

Where I came from before, they were mapping each driveway and adding information about size of trucks that could get in, low clearances and gates, etc and were going to put units in all of the fire trucks and ambulances. Where I now live they don't understand the need for such things. They seem to think street directions are all they need. Now in Wild Fires there are no streets and gps is used commonly, it is where I first learned about it. And yes if you were lost in the woods and broke down and called 911 they could find you even if you didn't have directions. It doesn't make sense to leave home without your gps unit, does it. And who knows there might just be a new cache nearby that you could get too.

[J.T.]

use it while scouting new hunting spots, finding the right spot while icefishing. a hunting buddy used it to find his tailgating friends at a collage football game. and for when the kids ask "are we there yet" they can see how far away and how long it should take.

[+marmetion]

I work for an CABulance service, and we "deliver" patients anywhere, in state, out of state, across country, and if you are willing to pay, other countries !!!! (if we can get the visas ). Throw my vista in the window, drive the route, watch the caches go by, go home, load into my mapping software, look at all the different caches I could have gotten, if I didn't have a patient.

[lisavemt]

I work for an CABulance service, and we "deliver" patients anywhere, in state, out of state, across country, and if you are willing to pay, other countries !!!! (if we can get the visas ). Throw my vista in the window, drive the route, watch the caches go by, go home, load into my mapping software, look at all the different caches I could have gotten, if I didn't have a patient.

Dern patients!

[+marmetion]

mostly trolls where I come from.

[+5]

Work - Marking boating collision scenes, marking bouys, navigating.

 

Play - Elk and Deer hunting

[tholt4]

I decided to get a GPSr last year AFTER attending the GA-FLA football game in Jacksonville, FL. We parked our vehicle on a side street about a mile away from the stadium in the afternoon and visually marked it with some nearby storage silos that could easily be seen from the stadium. The game ended after dark and the silos were not visable at all. After walking and backtracking for 45 minutes, we luckily stumbled onto the vehicle. We saw many others who also had no idea where there vehicles were. On the way home, we mistakenly went 20 miles north to where we thought our west exit was. I've sense used it several times to locate my vehcile when attending large events and to make a track of how I got there.

[+Barnacle Bear]

I use my gps to record the locations of permanent MetroPark benches. Don't know why they want that info, it's not like they are moving around a lot.

[+rrules]

I am a fishing fanatic. I have taken my GPS with me when I charter a fishing boat for the day. I create a route on the path the Captain takes for the day. I also get waypoints when we nail a fish. That way I can go back and fish it on my own.

[EL34]

hiking and mountain biking.

 

I bought my maps76S for mapping out trails in the pisgah national forest that's right out my back door. 100's of miles of trails, not all of them on the map.

 

Bushwacking cross country in the mountains here can get you into trouble. My GPS is loaded with custom maps of all the tracks, waypoints etc for this whole area.

 

Very handy.

[+GPSKitty]

I got my eMap about a year and a half ago strictly for work. I frequently need to know what street and block number I'm on at a moment's notice. L.A's a big city and this was mostly impossible for me to do unless I was familiar with a particular area. Garmin saved the day.

Then about a year later I heard a short mention of geocaching on the radio. The rest, as they say, is history.

I also use it when I'm not working to find addresses, and to mark my car at events with large parking lots. I'll be flying on Monday and I'll be using it for the first time on a plane.

 

Now, the one thing I absolutely cannot remember is how I first learned about GPSr's. I'm sure glad I did, though. It's one of the best toys I ever bought.

[+The Blind Acorn]

Traveling. I use it to keep an eye on the highways etc. It's nice to anticipate exits etc. From what I understand, I can buy software that will have more information to download to the unit (Magellan Meridian Gold w/ 16mb memory).

 

When I was volunteering with EMS, I kept it handy incase of a search and rescue ever came up.

[Dinoprophet]

I often use mine to measure distances. I've been running, and I've measured all the streets I run on so I know how far each is.

[+we3dements]

The local rocket club has put Garmin Vistas in some of the larger rockets to get stats from the flights.

 

My father-in-law and I went out for around of golf and marked all the holes on his GPS III+, so when he goes back later he knows how far he is from the pin (and if in the rough, where from the pin). Makes it easier to pick the right club. (:

[HawkesNest]

We have a moving GeoCache that gets placed some where new each time it is found. So far we just have four famlies doing this together. I also had three rocks engraved that say GPS Rock #1 and 2 and 3. I take them out and place them and then let the kids go find them.

We got a birthday present for a neighbor and made him go find it with the GPS. He had a lot of fun doing that.

[+Nero]

I'm a HAM Radio Operator and i originally bought mine for APRS. which is basiclaly a system where your transmitting your position over the radio and people can map your position and see where you are..

 

heres an example...Where Am I?

 

and while looking up info on gps' and such found a map page that said find geocaches near here. which peaked my curosity and here i am..

[+archeangelsk2002]

i use my legend to help my friend when hes on the road. hes an over the road truck driver. i use the gps and the map source to aid him in finding places such as rest areas, exit ramps, and truck stops in otherwise unfamiliar ares he has to deliver to. i send any info i have from my GPSr and my pc to his cell phone.

at one point his truck broke down on in a very isolated area of baja california, using my GPSr and points of interst map source application i was able to direct a wrecker service to his location( by the way he bet me i couldnt do anything to help, now he owes me a very large pizza next time i see him)

regards

archie

[+archeangelsk2002]

Testing speedo on everything you own? Don't think I have seen a speedo on a GPS

C'mon...

 

It's not THAT hard to imagine.

 

im fat and hairy, but i dont wear speedos....however....i believe i recorded a waypoint where i lost my boxers.....