Hired off the street as a "cut route" driver -navigation worries

[Brownslave688]

I know this is a never ending argument, but i still say the phone is better. I use it for a map, maps are downloaded to my phone so they work whether i have service or not. I do exactly what @Brownslave688 said, look at the map on the phone to map out the next street or two, or next few stops. I'd say it's faster since you don't have to get your bearing and if needed you can just type in a street rather than hunting around for it.

For in town it's close to a push.


For more rural areas have to have a map to see the Large area.

 

[Dumbo]

I find myself rarely using my GPS. I knew the area fairly well beforehand, I bought a map book and copied the area to 200%, highlighted the address number ranges and memorized them, as well as drove the route on my days off for a couple weeks. Now I have the entire route down by heart. Every once in a while I'll use my GPS if it's an address I cannot find but thats about it. I've been driving for about 4 weeks now and am only over allowed by a few minutes.

 

[Dumbo]

I do think it's more important not just having a map book but learning the tricks to how the streets run. North/South my route has 5 digit address that get bigger as you go south, East/West they are 4 digit address that get bigger as you go east. A phone won't show you that. So when you are driving you know that you are going the right direction based off if the numbers are getting higher or lower.

 

[OrioN]

Let's assume that you have 100 stops and that it takes you 15 seconds to enter each address in to your phone. 60/15 = 4 addresses per minute. 100/4 = 25 minutes (of wasted time) that you would spend in total entering addresses in to your phone.

So if UPS is downloading the Orion trace to smartphones for PVDs, and u have tablets of your area with the stops downloaded why not do it for cover/utility drivers???

Heck, take it a step further and upload the stops into a Garmin GPS, like what FedEx HD is doing. Cellphone reception is spotty at some rural areas like mine, but the GPS satellites are always in the sky...

Also, can u printout the stops for the day, to get the big picture, and u can quickly see where to break Orion trace to meet time deadlines?

 

[UpstateNYUPSer(Ret)]

Yes, we can download and print out our manifests for the day.