How useful are GPS systems?

summie · #1 (**permalink**) 04-08-2006, 09:24 PM

Has anyone really had any real use for GPS systems? I mean, I'll put my hand up, I find them very difficult to interprete and let's face it, you don't want to be taking your eyes off the road at regular intervals whilst your driving - that's a good way to have an accident! Maybe I'm missing something. Are there any GPS-reading gurus out there? Give me a few pointers if you've got any...

hhope1 · #2 (**permalink**) 04-10-2006, 01:08 AM

It's true that many GPS systems are placed so that you have to take your eyes of the road to glance at the screens while driving, but I think they can be extremely useful. Especially when driving in an area you aren't familar with.

There are also a lot of new GPS systems coming out that will give you vocal directions so that you can simply listen to the systems driving directions rather than trying to interperate what's on the screen. :)

akylesh · #3 (**permalink**) 04-10-2006, 09:59 AM

I would have agreed with summie, that it's not really important for people to have GPS, mainly becoz it affects your driving, but then again, if we have those talking ones as mentioned by hhope1, i think it's fantastic to have a GPS then, I travel a lot in my work and most of the times, i had to go thru maps and all to finally get to places I need to be at, so, voice/talking GPS system, two thumbs up, any good recommendations?

summie · #4 (**permalink**) 04-10-2006, 01:40 PM

Well, I suppose voice GPS systems are a good idea if you like the sound of a computerized/robot-like voice giving you instructions and directions while your driving. If you ask me, nothing beats just asking folks for directions or doing some research as to where you're going in the first place. right?

humpty · #5 (**permalink**) 04-13-2006, 07:27 AM

Hei I heard there's an alternative to that

As posted by summerbreeze88...

Quote:

Imagine, Mr. T giving you directions lol
It's a Navtones car navigation system produced by Wanderlust Media and Tele Atlas.

Mr T will not only guide u in a boring sick-of-it way, he'll threaten you, for example, “Pay attention to what I’m saying,” he bawls. “Mr. T gonna get you there in one piece … you gonna be there safely, or else!”

and I heard they've got better voices lined up too
celebrity voices, hot models I hope lol

sugarglider · #6 (**permalink**) 05-19-2006, 01:50 PM

I wonder if it will ever be possible to beam a virus into a GPS computer, so that no matter where you want to go, the GPS takes you to McDonald's, or a brothel, or your ex-boyfriend's new girlfriend's house.

I think I've been staying up too late too often.

llfwjr · #7 (**permalink**) 05-23-2006, 01:55 PM

That's funny about the virus. But you might be on to something here. I wouldn't be surprised if big marketers like McDonald's at some point worked out deals with the GPS data providers to give their restaurants some sort of priority. They're doing it more and more in movies and TV - it's called "product placement." A good example is American Idol - all three judges have Coke glasses prominently displayed in front of them.

sugarglider · #8 (**permalink**) 05-23-2006, 02:09 PM

A friend of mine in the advertising industry told me that someone once pitched to him the idea of putting ads in live theatre productions - so before you see a performance of 'Macbeth' or 'Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?', you get a little play performed by the actors featuring some product.

It wouldn't be surprised if it happened one day. When it comes to advertising, it seems nothing is sacred these days.

llfwjr · #9 (**permalink**) 05-23-2006, 02:40 PM

It's been around for awhile. Remember the Back to the Future movies? What did Michael J. Fox drink in them?

(Whistling Jeopardy theme . . . )

sugarglider · #10 (**permalink**) 05-24-2006, 09:33 AM

I seem to remember in one of those 'Back to the Future' movies (must have been the second one, where they're actually in the future), they order a pizza from a well-known pizza franchise outlet, whose name logo is clearly displayed to the viewing audience, and it magically reconstitutes itself from a tiny pizza into a full-blown one, by means of some unimaginable marvel of future fast-food technology.

I clearly remember thinking 'Oh puleeeeeease!' :?

llfwjr · #11 (**permalink**) 06-08-2006, 08:23 PM

I guess, in a way, we're just coming full circle. The radio shows of the 30s and 40s were all sponsored by manufacturers who worked their advertising into the programming. "Soap" operas got their name from the fact that they were sponsored by soap companies.

sugarglider · #12 (**permalink**) 06-09-2006, 07:05 AM

The familiar version of the Australian folksong 'Waltzing Matilda' is a jingle for billy tea.

(For anyone who doesn't know it, it's the national song of Australia - you'll hear the crowd singing it when the Socceroos play in the World Cup next week.)

The song was originally written in the 1880's as a protest song for workers' rights, but somehow in the 1920's it was adapted slightly (the tune was simplified), and became the jingle. Part of the lyrics go -

'...and he sang as he watched and waited 'til his billy boiled -
You'll come a Waltzing Matilda with me!"

i.e. he was brewing tea over a campfire, while living homeless and destitute - what an obvious product placement!