Remove a road?

Joel wrote:



I'll give you an example. Beasly Point bridge in New Jersey. Crosses Egg
Harbor.

The nearby NJ Turnpike is a no go for cyclists. The Beasly Point bridge
*was* the only direct way for cyclists to cross the Egg Harbour river.

It is now closed to even cyclists/pedestrians. If I had let the GPS get
me to the bridge, find out that out is closed, the GPS wont tell me what
to do. There is no way for me to ask it to find the best alternate
route from the northern end of a bridge that is closed. I would have to
look at maps and choose one for myself and then hope the GPS accepts it
(aka: GPS becomes useless).

But what do I do at the bridge ? Turn right ? turn left ? go back ?

As it happens, the alternate route required I take a TOTALLY different
route from way further north and pass west enough to cross that river
when it was small (at Egg River City).

Allowing me to get to the bridge to find out it was closed would have
required a very large detour.

On a car, you don't care. (besides, on a car, you can take the
turnpike). But on a bike, large detours are often a show stopper.

Why do people think GPS is the end all be all of traveling
directions. GPS was always and probably will always be an
assistance tool.
IT TELLS YOU WHERE YOU ARE, not where you should be, or want
to be. The added maps, and mapping tools are THE same maps
you buy in paper.

Clay

JF Mezei wrote:


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        If the bridge is the only way to get to the other side, and there is no
other route near by. Then it's telling us that the bridge or the other side
isn't that much important to just close 1 side of the bridge while repairing
the other size.

        Or something is terrible wrong with the bridge that they have no other
choice but to blow it up.

        About your GPS, you don't have to look at the (paper) map or even built-in
map, but just get a GPS with the DETOUR option and it should take care of
the problem for you. Just incase you don't know what the DETOUR option is,
it's just telling the GPS to use the *different* or next street etc.
(avoiding the *current*) And if you see or feel that it will lead to the
current broken bridge then just continue to the next further street. And I
can warrantee you the paper map won't tell you this, as well as the GPS has
pretty good map itself (pretty close to paper map).

        IOW, many of you guys are trying to find an easier way to make thing
harder for yourself. And what do you think you may do when you have to
drive through states been effected by the hurricane Katrina few years ago
when most streets, hi-ways etc. were destroyed, no detour sign etc..?

        I actually didn't see any sign because I was traveling at NIGHT when
everything was so dark to be able to see very far. Lot of places the street
and current pointer (car icon) was off, so I guess I was driving on newer
temperary built roads?

        And I made all the way to Florida with very little problem (to almost none
besides little worrying and few wild turns to make sure I head to right
direction). Again, it was so dark that I can't see very far

Joel wrote:

etc.

Very cogent, your insight has enabled me to simplify my mental
model.

FWIW my Garmin GPSMAP 276C has both the AVOID function and
the DETOUR function. For those of you not familiar with the
earlier Garmins, it is an older technology marine based unit
having road based navigation as a secondary function which may
explain why it contains both functions.

Having both functions available greatly simplifies both the
planning and the execution of a journey.

Just a quick example: If you were in Nashville, TN a few months ago and
asked your GPS to route you to Winston-Salem, NC it probably would have sent
you east on I-40 as the fastest route. The only problem was that I-40 was
closed by a landslide in the gorge at about the state line for quite some
time. If you had the ability to indicate to the GPS that closure
information it might have decide that the fastest route would be down
through South Carolina and back up--since the detour through the Smokies was
not a very quick trip, especially back right after the landslide. (BTW,
both eastbound and one westbound lanes are now open! Still lots of work
going on but it is passable!)

--

Gary
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