My first GPS was an entire laptop sitting in the passenger seat with a card adaptor. Then I upgraded to a PDA (remember those?) with a card adaptor (may have been the same one, I can’t remember). Motorcycled over 3000 miles with that setup before smart phones became a thing.
I used a dedicated, very expensive, handheld unit when on a canoe trip through the backwoods in Ontario in 1997. It was much more expensive and less accurate back then. When the Bush Administration opened the larger military GPS network to public use, things changed in an instant.
I remember how tedious using maps to get anywhere was.
Last week I traveled through some rural desert backroads and Apple Maps got me there no problem, but it had taken me on an indirect route. As I was driving I discovered that it was because a number of the roads were completely closed. If I had been using maps I would have had to stop and figure out the detours on my own.
actually rarely do. Sometimes with google but really I just want the map. Biggest feature to me is downloading a section of map and its annoying they kinda hide it.
I couldn’t tell you the specifics, but back in the 1990’s, we had GPS devices that just had an LCD read-out of your latitude and longitude, so you could find your position on a paper map. They were on the market as survey devices, but were also useful for wilderness travelers.
It’s hard to recall exact dates, because the devices developed incrementally, and navigation mode on Google Maps didn’t spring into existence ask at once.
I can’t remember the exact first trip, where from/to etc, but I do remember when it first dropped and I was sitting in a room with a few friends just looking up places and basically saying “RIP Mapquest lol” for a few minutes, then we probably played xbox or walked to the mall to eat and bum cigarettes off of adults lol.
Yup, was a Garmin. Part of me has been a little worried cause i can’t find my way anywhere without GPS anymore, and Google has been getting shittier every day.
Hell, I remember the first time I used maps on a computer to plan and print a route, and the first time I could do it online with MapQuest.
Those were moments that the Internet really felt like the future.
I used to tape maps to the gas tank of my motorcycle on trips.
Then mapquest became useful and I taped printed directions. Made it a lot easier.
Then I got a Garmin waterproof, handlebar mounted GPS and it was glorious, though you had to buy map updates every couple years.
Eventually phones were actually able to be used for directions and I kept a phone connected to a homemade battery pack in my jacket pocket, with an earbud under my helmet, so I just listened to directions and music.
Finally got a phone connected to a handlebar mount, plugged into the bike power, with a Bluetooth headset built into the helmet. Probably the least safe of the options, but I can listen to podcasts, audiobooks, music and see the maps while it directs me with audio, just like a car display would.
I rode from the UK to northern Italy with nothing but an early hiking go’s unit that had no map. Just an arrow pointing to Torino. The trip over the Alps was very random.
Didn’t mapquest get sued for routing people through a dangerous neighborhood? Then they started putting a disclaimer?
Garmin nuvi 250, and then shortly after that a Garmin Nuvi 500, which I still use almost every day when I drive.
Almost 20 years old.
Alternate question: do any of you (maybe a bit older than 35) remember the last time you bought an updated paper map for your area, or one for a road trip? They used to be at most checkout lanes in many stores.
I can already hear the “maps on paper? How could you find anything?”
Maybe five years ago?
I like having paper maps in the “oh shit” bag
No, because if I need information I stop at information places at the border and get a map for free. Sometimes you can get whole guidebooks full of maps and directions and interpretive information for free. I picked up maps or guidebooks multiple times this year.
It tells you which direction something is in, but can’t help plot a route to get there.
I still use my Garmin Geko even now. Useful as a basic device recording a track I can geocode photos with, and runs for days on two AAA batteries. In a pinch you can reverse a track and go back the way you came too 😅
That’s such a good idea. My camera has to pair with my phone to get GPS readout and it’s a nightmare app. Going to look into this
Nice device!
In 2001, I rented a van in Japan. Digital mapping is essential for Japan, because most streets have no names, and house numbering is almost completely random, often based on the year they were built rather than any linear sequence.
It was incredible to me to be able to punch in a destination and see the map. At the time, I don’t think it could speak the directions to you. And you could search for nearby restaurants and gas stations too!
I still remember printing out google maps directions, then missing one turn and then being completely lost.
The number of times I had to stop and recalibrate with the paper map was high!
I used to geocache this way because I couldn’t afford a GPS. Finding caches took some time!
No, but I remember buying my first smartphone (SymbianOS) without a data plan and being terrified that using the GPS function with pre-downloaded maps would accidentally run up a thousand dollar phone bill.
Internal thought process: “psh, it’s not just over-35’s who remember the dawn of GPS, I’m only… thirty… six…” 😩
I don’t have deeply shocking memories about using GPS for the first time, it was just this gadget my dad got for road trips so we didn’t have to deal with an atlas. However, I still remember being a passenger in a moving car using my first smartphone, watching our progress on Google Maps and feeling like I had gained the ability to see around corners. Technological progress seemed unambiguously positive and my phone just kept getting more useful.
Yep. Seemed pretty shiny compared to printing off directions from MapQuest. Then we figured out how to customize the voice, and it was shenanigans from there.
Man, TomTom had some kickass ones. Vader was on mine for too long.
