CopperBrompton
Bicycle: a means of transport between cake-stops
- Location
- London
Only if you are spectacularly incompetent at operating your GPS. Just like a map, a GPS is only a tool, and you have to know how to use it.psmiffy said:
Sat Nav v Maps
- Thread starter YorkshireBiker
- Start date
Page may contain affiliate links. Please see terms for details.
slowmotion
Quite dreadful
- Location
- lost somewhere
Ben, I'm really not knocking GPS, and I thought the GoogleEarth pics that you posted were wonderful, especially the LEJOG one with that beautiful curving swing towards LE. As many have said, both paper and electronics have a place. It is just a matter of personal taste really. Spreading out the paper maps in the bar of the overnight ferry to the Hoek was a magic moment for me. The prospect of getting lost made it even better.
Best wishes.
Best wishes.
CopperBrompton
Bicycle: a means of transport between cake-stops
- Location
- London
Away from LE, in this case :-)
And yes, I don't think we're disagreeing much. I love maps. I just think there's quite a lot of prejudice against GPS on the part of some who don't have experience of both.
And yes, I don't think we're disagreeing much. I love maps. I just think there's quite a lot of prejudice against GPS on the part of some who don't have experience of both.
Cathryn
Legendary Member
- Location
- Marlborough, Wiltshire
Ben Lovejoy said:
You're probably right, if I'm honest. I recognise the benefits of sat nav (in cities, for example). But my heart hankers for maps in the way it hankers for books, rather than an very practical but totally soulless Kindle, for example.
CopperBrompton
Bicycle: a means of transport between cake-stops
- Location
- London
Again, to me it's both, not either/or. ebooks are fantastic when travelling: I can have 30 or 40 books on my phone without adding a gramme to the weight of my baggage, or taking up a single cc of luggage space. I can read in bed with the light off when my partner wants to sleep. But yes, I'm fairly keen on the paper kind too. :-)
Rhythm Thief
Veteran
Arch said:
Agreed. Don't tell anyone, but I've even managed to turn the map over on the move
. Although it is a good excuse to stop and have a breather.
slowmotion
Quite dreadful
- Location
- lost somewhere
Ben Lovejoy said:
No surely, it's the GOJEL isn't it????
summerdays
Cycling in the sun
- Location
- Bristol
I mainly use OS maps on my PDA ... I might plan a route on it but I don't use it like a Sat Nav - I refer to it as I need to. Mr Summerdays just wants the more Sat Nav like maps - just wanting directions at each junction as he gets lost very easily - where as I explore
As a result of my explorations I know a large part of Bristol - I once tried to work out which roads I had every cycled on in Bristol - including little dead end side streets. I started covering a map in lines ... soon it looked very red.
As a result of my explorations I know a large part of Bristol - I once tried to work out which roads I had every cycled on in Bristol - including little dead end side streets. I started covering a map in lines ... soon it looked very red.
srw
It's a bit more complicated than that...
At the risk of using up my personal allowance of agreeting-with-Lovejoy moments, I agree with Ben.
We bought a GPS earlier this year because we're doing a big tour in a month or so and wanted something especially to help us get out of French cities. (And we wanted a toy to play with).
But we're taking a big pile of maps too, because you don't get a sense of place without a map. The GPS got us very effectively from home to Cambridge last week - at least until we realised we didn't know exactly where in Cambridge we were headed and had to follow our noses. But although we could get a sense of the changing landscape (hilly, less hilly, rolling) we couldn't contextualise that landscape (we thought we were going to go through Hitchin, until we discovered we were past Hitchin).
It's also a pain in the neck doing route planning. I tried planning a route last night between Bucks and Portsmouth using only bikehike.co.uk and the GPS maps. It's horrible - you get no sense of the big picture, only of the small detail. When someone invents a portable 40" high-resolution waterproof screen I might be persuaded to ditch the paper, but not until then.
We bought a GPS earlier this year because we're doing a big tour in a month or so and wanted something especially to help us get out of French cities. (And we wanted a toy to play with).
But we're taking a big pile of maps too, because you don't get a sense of place without a map. The GPS got us very effectively from home to Cambridge last week - at least until we realised we didn't know exactly where in Cambridge we were headed and had to follow our noses. But although we could get a sense of the changing landscape (hilly, less hilly, rolling) we couldn't contextualise that landscape (we thought we were going to go through Hitchin, until we discovered we were past Hitchin).
It's also a pain in the neck doing route planning. I tried planning a route last night between Bucks and Portsmouth using only bikehike.co.uk and the GPS maps. It's horrible - you get no sense of the big picture, only of the small detail. When someone invents a portable 40" high-resolution waterproof screen I might be persuaded to ditch the paper, but not until then.
YorkshireBiker
New Member
- Location
- Leeds
Thanks for all the comments - there seems to be quite a lot of people suggesting both, but maps seems to be the most popular of the two - I've got the bar bag with the map holder and disected a AA road map into about 80 sections and I'll just throw them away each time I move onto a new page. I just hope i don't have to change my route - or I will be stuck!
The GPS may just have to be a nice to have - hadn't considered the battery life on the iPhone - so i think it counts that out...as I'll be cycling for up to 8 hours a day...
It would have been nice to plot the route, maybe next time......
The GPS may just have to be a nice to have - hadn't considered the battery life on the iPhone - so i think it counts that out...as I'll be cycling for up to 8 hours a day...
It would have been nice to plot the route, maybe next time......
CopperBrompton
Bicycle: a means of transport between cake-stops
- Location
- London
The eTrex Vista HCx battery-life is around 25 hours on a pair of AAs.
ComedyPilot
Secret Lemonade Drinker
- Location
- The Kingdom of Yorkshire
GPS compared to a map is like comparing Babelfish to speaking a language.
Map reading (believe it or not) is a skill, being shown the way via a gizmo is not a skill.
Map reading (believe it or not) is a skill, being shown the way via a gizmo is not a skill.
CopperBrompton
Bicycle: a means of transport between cake-stops
- Location
- London
Heh - anyone who thinks that simply doesn't know how to use a GPS properly.
Yorkshirebiker - I'm no expert at all but I have seen on at least one website recounting a group LEJOG and link to all their GPS date to download to your own device. If the happen to be going a similar route to you it might give you a start to tweak rather hours of entering all the points?
Just googled - http://www.pewseys.eclipse.co.uk/ and click GPS link - it reads as below. There's overview of route so you can check it out on screen to see if it's useful
IF YOU DO HAVE A MAPPING PROGRAM AND/OR GPS
You can download a copy of our LEJOG route in a format that can be loaded onto a mapping program such as memory map, or a GPS. Just click on the appropriate link below that matches the file format you require and hopefully you will be prompted to download the appropriate route files. Any problems, send me an email.
Just googled - http://www.pewseys.eclipse.co.uk/ and click GPS link - it reads as below. There's overview of route so you can check it out on screen to see if it's useful
IF YOU DO HAVE A MAPPING PROGRAM AND/OR GPS
You can download a copy of our LEJOG route in a format that can be loaded onto a mapping program such as memory map, or a GPS. Just click on the appropriate link below that matches the file format you require and hopefully you will be prompted to download the appropriate route files. Any problems, send me an email.
