Sat-Nav versus Road Atlas - johnnyrev

On the journey home from our family holiday yesterday I planned our route using the trusted AA Road Atlas. I found what looked like the most direct route using A roads, no need for M-ways as the journey was only 40 miles from the Peak District back down to North Birmingham. We had used a combination of maps and sat-nav on our hols, the map for fun and heading out to days out, and the sat-nav to make sure we got back!

Satisfied that I had planned the best route home I turned the sat-nav on anyway to see what route it came up with. The first route took us across to the A38, the second to the M6! I scrolled through a few more alternative routes but none matched our planned route.

Never mind I thought, and chose the first route on sat-nav and set off on our planned, more direct route. Poor sat-nav kept asking us to turn around and kept replanning and trying to send us back to the original route and only got with the programme around Lichfield.

My question/query is, is it better to plan my own journey than leave it to sat-nav (I like to have some idea of my route anyway)? How do sat-navs calculate their routes? My old device had an option for quickest or shortest route but not my newer Tomtom. What do people think in the sat-nav vs road atlas debate?

Sat-Nav versus Road Atlas - jamie745

I find Sat Navs are most useful in towns, on motorways how to get there is pretty self explanatory, but ive saved hours of trekking round towns asking directions by having a sat nav. The only problem with them is if they build a new road *studio laughter at such a sensible idea* and you havent updated the Sat Nav and it thinks you're in a field.

Sat-Nav versus Road Atlas - Ethan Edwards

Most Sat Navs don't just produce a route and 'take it or leave it'.

You can select the fastest route (usually a default), the shortest etc, some have the best for fuel economy and so forth. You can set it to avoid toll roads etc. So a lot of options will change what a Sat Nav recommends. I know it's not a guy thing but you should read the stuff that comes with it when you buy one. That way you get the best out of it.

Second...make one wrong turn on your atlas route and you'll probably get lost. whereas a Sat Nav will usually automatically re route you back on track. It's a great bit of kit but your in charge so go the way you want and take advice from a Sat Nav but not orders.

Some will also pick up hold ups on your route and route you around them (traffic master info). No atlas can do that.

I use both but I really like my Sat Nav.

Sat-Nav versus Road Atlas - Sofa Spud

I used a sat-nav for the first time a few days ago. I was in an unfamiliar town and the sat-nav showed me the way out so simply. I was in a borrowed car. From that one experience, in towns and cities, if you don't know the way, sat-nav is a god-send.

For travel generally, away from unfamiliar urban areas, I think a road atlas is sufficient.

Sat-Nav versus Road Atlas - jamie745

I have a Navman as the Jag's own sat nav doesnt work (it thinks its parked on the M6 now) and first time i used one i was skeptical but i gave it a chance and it helped me find a car dealer in a town i'd never been to and i just know that without it, i'd have been driving round that town for three hours instead of the 15 minutes i actually was. They really are fantastic things.

Sat-Nav versus Road Atlas - daveyjp

Satnav is excellent, but a basic knowledge of the UK road network is still a good idea. They work on algorithims and if a route using a wierd road saves as little as 100m or 15 seconds (using the speed limits it knows about!) it will send you that way. I also find it better to follow an official roadsign, rather than satnav which may advise you to turn off a main route to cut a corner, but the alternative route may be much slower, although it still has an NSL limit as it is narrow.

An alternative is to use google maps, plan your route, save it and download it to your satnav.

Sat-Nav versus Road Atlas - jamie745

Mine has this annoying feature of flashing red lights when im going too fast (not that i ever do) and it brings the speed limit up on the screen. Yeah, if it knows im going too fast, distracting me to stare at a screen is not a good idea!

Sat-Nav versus Road Atlas - RickyBoy

I pretty much know my way around the UK but will often go on the RAC site to get the approx distance/time between starting-out point/destination.

Always carry a small road atlas in the motor just in case I get snarled-up en-route and require a sharp exit/quick detour NEWS.

To get to my precise location (the exact street/area that I require in town/city) I use StreetMap then transcribe the screen offering onto A4 paper to make an attractive (highlighter-pen) hand-crafted coloured rendering.

Hours of fun/old habits (Graphic Designer) die hard I guess ...

Sat-Nav versus Road Atlas - Bobbin Threadbare

I work out any unfamiliar places on Google maps or the AA routeplanner website and make a printout of the list of directions, which I put on my passenger seat or ask my passenger to read to me. This helps if the passenger is a teenager as they don't look where they're going but most can read.

My phone has GPS and will direct me using Google maps too, which is great if you can keep a GPS signal. I've tested out a proper satnav on a journey I already knew; Preston to Manchester airport. It suggested I go via the M61/M60 on the way there, and then when I was due to drive home, it told me to get on the M56 and M6. I really have no idea why as traffic conditions and time of day were identical either way!

If I'm going somewhere unfamiliar in busy traffic I'll put the traffic alert from local radio on. I always have a UK atlas in the car too. The UK is pretty good for signposts to be honest; having driven on Greek islands and Cyprus you do come to appreciate that Britain isn't so bad!

Sat-Nav versus Road Atlas - Roly93

In a nutshell, sat-navs arent perfect, but I'd rather have them then not.

Sat-Nav versus Road Atlas - Hamsafar

Sat nav could save lots of arguments on driving holidays bewteen driver and co-driver.

I remember as a child the "I said left" etc...

Sat-Nav versus Road Atlas - jamie745

As mentioned earlier the Jag's sat nav is broken and im considering making a thread featuring daily updates on 'where Jamie's sat nav thinks it is'.

Anybody interested?

Sat-Nav versus Road Atlas - Bobbin Threadbare

Anybody interested?

No.

Sat-Nav versus Road Atlas - jamie745

Really? Still thinks its parked on the M6 today.

Sat-Nav versus Road Atlas - bathtub tom

Should've bought a Fiat Panda. ;>)

Sat-Nav versus Road Atlas - jamie745

I dont like Fiat's

Sat-Nav versus Road Atlas - bathtub tom

I dont like Fiat's

Fiat's what?

Sorry, for the the sake of the illiterate, jamie 745 (sic) put an apostrophe in Fiat's (sic), but not in don't.

Sat-Nav versus Road Atlas - jamie745

And they say i make pointless posts?

Sat-Nav versus Road Atlas - Avant

This thread is about satnav v. road atlases: an interesting debate so let's stick to it.

I agree that satnav is very useful in strange towns, and I find it also a boon on busines trips or at night when one hasn't got the time / energy to read the map. But there are times when it's fun to navigate the old-fashioned way, and it would be a pity if the noble art of map-reading were lost.

Road atlases are very good now, especially the Navigator ones which are almost as detailed as the Ordnance Survey one-inch maps which I still like. How many of us can still find places with the 6-figure map reference?

Edited by Avant on 13/08/2011 at 02:03

Sat-Nav versus Road Atlas - jamie745

Im probably of the last generation brought up to read a map, all the kids born today will grow up to have sat navs in every car as standard but when i was a kid and my family would go on holiday my job was to read the map in the back, and due to a good angle i could get from behind the drivers seat i could see when the road was clear on a straight B road to overtake so i was useful :)

Sat-Nav versus Road Atlas - Ethan Edwards

Don't they do orienteering in the Scouts anymore? Silva compasses etc? Best training there is for mere road maps. I still like Sat Navs as I can't drive and map read at the same time.

Sat-Nav versus Road Atlas - johnnyrev

In the days before sat-navs, if we were travelling somewhere unfamiliar, then I, as the driver would make a point of not looking at the route so that my wife would work out the way to go. This way we avoided a row as I had no idea of the route and had to rely on her navigation.

I agree that sat-nav can be brilliant, I often use it to find an unfamiliar address or navigate an unfamiliar town. Map reading is still a very useful skill to have though!

Sat-Nav versus Road Atlas - unthrottled

I hate the concept of Sat-Nav with a passion, but I have to accept that they work brilliantly. Every time I plug the damn thing in, I feel that I have capitulated to electronic gadgetry. But I'd be (literally) lost without it!

Sat-Nav versus Road Atlas - Hamsafar

"Don't they do orienteering in the Scouts anymore? "

No they do 'modern' stuff, such as internet, anti-bullying, drugs, sex, eating-disorders, self-harm, diversity and get given free condoms and Chlamydia testing kits.

Sat-Nav versus Road Atlas - Bobbin Threadbare

We juat did map reading, baking fairy cakes and dodgeball when I was a Guide. How times have changed. Never fear, Duke of Edinburgh Award is still going!

Sat-Nav versus Road Atlas - Ethan Edwards

We did Orienteering, Hiking, Abseiling, Canoeing and lots of stuff with knots, knife and axe stuff. Building stuff, lashing it together. Best time of my life. It's a crying shame to think that kids don't get to do that kind of thing anymore.

We even sank our Transt van on a tidal causeway.

I loved it.

I got my advanced scout standard and was working on my chief scouts award. All round good outdoor manly fun.

Sat-Nav versus Road Atlas - Big John

My Tomtom 930T has quickest, shortest and IQ routes as well as RDS traffic with re-routing.My favorite facility is the itinerary planning that allows me to plan a route both using maps, previous knowledge and the satnav. When using it this way what is stored in my head always matches what is pre-planned in the sat-nav. The RDS traffic then warns me of traffic on route and ask me if I want to divert - This once saved me 1hr 42mins! when driving through Switzerland.