That’s a question I used to ask quite often before services such as MapQuest and Google Maps. My sense of direction is only slightly better than my parallel parking skills. I am probably a person that should have a GPS unit in their vehicle. I had some budget constraints to work with on my recent minivan purchase, and GPS was not one of the included features. Perhaps I will add GPS at a later date or subscribe again to Verizon’s VZ Navigator. For now, it’s MapQuest, Google Maps, BlackBerry Maps and my BlackBerry Curve’s semi-functional GPS (no thanks to Verizon’s limits on GPS service).
Speaking of MapQuest and other online mapping services, I know people often talk about getting routes that, in hindsight, were clearly not the best way to get from here to there. I haven’t had that problem too often. My biggest problem is discovering a few miles into the ride that the printed maps and directions are still sitting in the printer tray at work or home. I overcompensated for my recent trip to Columbia, MO. Not only did I double check to make sure the printed sheets actually made it into the car, I also made sure the directions were loaded into my BlackBerry.
On Verizon’s non-Storm BlackBerrys, GPS works fully only with BlackBerry Maps. This is probably to encourage subscriptions to VZ Navigator, which is a great service, but quite pricey at $9.99 per month (smartphone users are not offered the $2.99 per single use option that is also available for regular cell phones). BlackBerry Maps is pretty basic, but usable, especially in a major urban area like Chicago.
For my Columbia trip, I mapped the routes in both Google Maps and MapQuest on my laptop, printed out the sheets, and also loaded the routes into my BlackBerry.
Unfortunately, there is no way that I could see to sync driving directions created with Google Maps online with Google Maps for BlackBerry, so adding the driving directions to the mobile version required re-entering start and end points. This didn’t take much time and you can save addresses and directions for future use within the mobile version.
If you have created a “My Places” account in MapQuest online, you also have access to your saved maps and directions via MapQuest 4 Mobile, so that was a little easier. Unfortunately, screen capture doesn’t seem to work with this app, so you don’t get to see what I was seeing.
I used both the printed and mobile versions of the directions and maps during the trip. The printed sheets were easier to read during the day, due to the small screen size of the Curve. But when it got dark, the backlight on the Curve allowed me to read the directions without pulling over or turning on interior lights.
One thing that would have been a great help, especially since I was alone in mostly unfamiliar territory, was a mapping program that could speak the directions. None of these free applications offer that feature (nor did I expect it) but it would have been a wonderfully handy addition. After returning home, I thought about using BlackBerry Voice Notes to record the directions myself. I will give that a try for a future trip and report back. Other than the pain of listening to my own recorded voice, I think it should work.
The combination of printed directions with the mapping applications also available on the BlackBerry really worked out well for the Columbia trip. I look forward to further improvements in the mobile mapping applications, and keep hoping that Verizon will fully unlock GPS capabilities for all of its phones. We’ll see what happens before the next road trip!