Locating the Casual Gigs by GPS.

Billy Tonnesen · Post by **Billy Tonnesen** » 21 Jun 2010 3:12 pm

How many of you active players have the Global Positioning Satellite hook up in your Car ? I recently rode in a car with this hookup and it practically led you up the driveway where you were going. Back when I did Casuals 30 and 40 years ago you could spend hours trying to find the place you were supposed to play at. As you progressed, the Steet numbering system would change as you went thru
one City to another or you found you were looking for numbers on the West end of a street when it should have been East. I got incomplete directions once for a gig in Hemet, Ca. and never did find the place. It was in a Mobile Home Park and there must have been hundreds of them in Hemet !

Mitch Drumm · Post by **Mitch Drumm** » 21 Jun 2010 4:06 pm

Billy;

I'd be spooked.

Not long ago, I saw something in the news about a truck driver who had relied on a GPS and ended up in some goofy situation and needed to be towed out of it.

I think the moral of the story is that GPS units aren't always accurate.

At a minimum, I think they have to be updated frequently for the latest data, new roads, lower clearances on overpasses, etc.

Rick Campbell · Post by **Rick Campbell** » 21 Jun 2010 4:39 pm

Bob Hope said he was going to the Opry but he couldn't find it. So, he rolled down the window and asked someone walking down the street: "He buddy, can you tell me how to get to the Grand Ole Opry" the guy said............ "Try singing through your nose".

Bill Hatcher · Post by **Bill Hatcher** » 21 Jun 2010 7:11 pm

i have a little tom tom unit. takes me to the gig all the time!! before i leave home i just write the address down and put it in and go!! has saved me several times from getting lost.

Graeme Jaye · Post by **Graeme Jaye** » 21 Jun 2010 7:33 pm

I only do local gigs these days, but I do have a TomTom and I know it would have been of incalculable use - had it been around 30 years ago - in finding all those out-of-the-way venues we used to get booked into. I could write a book on the problems we had finding some of them.

Today, I think one of these devices is as much an essential part of a gigging players equipment as his instrument.

Andrew Roblin · Post by **Andrew Roblin** » 22 Jun 2010 2:54 am

I use one to get to gigs, and it works fine about 99% of the time. Along with directions, it provides traffic info and estimated arrival time, which helps me.

Ideally, I also like to have directions from the client plus Mapquest.

But I'm completely hooked on GPS.

Mike Neer · Post by **Mike Neer** » 22 Jun 2010 4:18 am

I used GPS on a European tour and thought it was the greatest thing since sliced bread. I contemplated buying one when I got home and came to the realization that if I was to start relying on GPS, I would no longer know my way around. Same thing happened when I got a cell phone and put everyone's number into my contacts. The problem now is that I don't know anyone's phone number other than my own and my wife's. I just know how my brain works and it has to do things the hard way in order for it to stick.

Bob Hoffnar · Post by **Bob Hoffnar** » 22 Jun 2010 6:32 am

I am new to freelance gigging in Texas and find the GPS in my phone (google/andriod type) to be very helpful. Works great. For touring the Tom Tom type GPS is amazing. I would never go back to the old way. If you know a better way then ignore the GPS. But they get you there real well most all the time. Super easy.

Post by **Dave Mudgett** » 22 Jun 2010 6:49 am

Used with some common sense, I think they're great. My Android phone does most GPS functions via Google Maps. The advantage is that you're always using the latest map info without having to do anything special. It's real useful when you're in unfamiliar territory. Usually it's easy to just read a printed map and get close, but it takes a detailed map to get to exactly the right spot.

I don't generally rely too much on the 'voice directions' feature - nothing is perfect, and I think it's a good idea to have a visual image of the map in mind. I've had the thing say "turn right now" and there's nowhere to turn. I never leave for parts unknown without scoping out where I'm going beforehand, e-map/directions or not. I know people who just get in the car and absolutely rely on the GPS directions - it generally gets them there, but sometimes only after several 'walks around the park'.

Jim Smith · Post by **Jim Smith** » 22 Jun 2010 11:13 am

I use mine a lot to find first time gigs. It is also very useful to help you find your way back home after a long, stressful gig.

Richard Sinkler · Post by **Richard Sinkler** » 22 Jun 2010 7:13 pm

I use one for gigs I have never been to before. It works pretty good, but sometimes it wants to take me out of my way, thinking it knows best. A couple weeks ago, I played a gig North of San Francisco. There are 3 bridges across the bay before the one I really wanted to use, which was the most direct route. It kept trying to get me to cross the bay and drive through San Francisco to the Golden Gate Bridge. Going from the south side of SF to the bridge is on a city street with a lot of stoplights and can take forever. So, I always use the GPS, but I look at mapping software and actually look at Google Maps so I can get a street view of the area so it is easier to recognize the venue.

Also, last Saturday, I was going back to the freeway after a gig and the ramps were closed for construction. You had to use city streets to get across the city, and without the GPS, I would probably still be trying to find my way home.