Sunday, Sept. 30, 2012

GPS tracking devices….  Oh…how messed up their instructions can be!

Seems like a simple enough process for programmers to plug in the information—maps, routes, directions, etc. into a GPS device.  Then, as those who use said devices, it would make sense that we’d be able to type in an address where we want to end up and have the GPS plot a route for us to take.

But then there’s the willful GPS that just loves to mess with us….  LOL.

Case in point.  A few days back, I went to pick my Canadian girlfriend up from the airport—an airport I’d never been to.  I’d been told it was a super small airport and easy to drop and pick up passengers from.  As such, I was encouraged that I’d have no trouble finding it.  But just in case, I printed a set of instructions from Google maps and had directions on my smart phone as well as on my GPS device.  One would think that was enough to cover my bases to avoid a mishap….

Everything went fine and dandy till I had to leave the freeway.  All my sets of directions gave me a different off ramp to take.   I decided to go with the instructions from my verbal navigator system.

Big mistake!

As soon as I exited the freeway, my GPS told me to head north into the mountains.

What?!  There’s no airport up there….

I disregarded that instruction and headed the opposite directions, my GPS immediately informing me that it was recalculating my route.  It then told me to turn on the next street.  I did and found myself led into a little airport.  Only problem was, I didn’t see a single full-sized commercial jet.  The only planes on that field were two to four-person planes.

Hmmm….  Well…I’m at an airport….

Driving a short distance further, I found a visitor’s center for the airfield and decided to ask directions, since my GPS wasn’t being any help.  I found a couple of older men in the rear of the building who informed me I was about two miles from where I needed to be.

All righty then….  LOL.

Getting back in my car, I followed the directions the men gave me and arrived at another airport…least, I was fairly sure it was an airport.  Only problem was, I wasn’t sure it was the airport I wanted.

Seriously, how many tiny airports can this town have?!

I drove around, not recognizing a single landmark my friends had told me would let me know I was at the right airport.

Hmmm….

Not only that, but I couldn’t find a single sign that told me how to get up close to the building that I suspected was where passenger drop offs and pick ups took place.  Driving past the main—and only building—I continued on, hoping to find signs that would tell me where I needed to go.  There were none…until…I left and was heading towards the freeway—a different freeway.  

This just isn’t working out….

Since I was sure that wasn’t the way I needed to head, I opted to turn back and retrace my driving path, hoping I’d see a sign I might have missed the first time. 

Sure enough, going that direction, I immediately found the sign I sought and turned into the main building area.  Looking back, I noticed there were no such signs marking the entrance from the direction I’d originally come….

Did I mention that this tiny little airport, a mere speck, had just been rebuilt?  And though it was still very small—a single building—it looked nothing like what I’d been told to expect.  On top of that, on the particular day I was there, all the landscaping was being put in.  Due to that, the signs I’d been looking for were covered with tarps, I suppose so nothing would happen to them.

Hmmm….guess they expect those who go to that particular airport to know how the heck to get in and out of it all on our own….

All’s well that end’s well.  

I managed to get where I needed to go.  Took a bit longer than expected and my GPS was no help.  But I managed to figure things out and pick up my girlfriend.  Am still wondering though why every single set of driving instructions were dead wrong.  Wonder if it had anything to do with the airport having just been completely rebuilt...?