Letters to the Editor

[PlanMan]

I recently was on vacation in Pennsylvania in a rental car that did not have a GPS.  No problem, I have the TripTik App that has the Co-Pilot function.  I enter my destination, let it find where I am, and set off.  I take the exit as directed by the nice Co-Pilot voice and get to the end of the ramp to a busy arterial road.  The Co-Pilot gets unfriendly, and directs me to "Turn Northwest".  Uh, nice Co-Pilot lady, I don't have a compass, the car doesn't have a compass.  Which way is Northwest?  I guess wrong.  After a few more compass directions, I give up and turn the nice Co-Pilot lady off.  Then I use Google Maps, and look at the map at decision points - by then I was so frustrated with the TripTik App, I didn't want to use it for the map.

I have been in cars with GPS devices, and all the ones I have heard use "Left" and "Right" - not compass references.  I urge AAA to adopt this standard. Fortunately, my misdirection were in the daytime, and not in a "bad neighborhood" - hate to think what could have happened in such a case.

[StephenW]

I've not had that experience with the TripTik app but, ironically, I did have a similar issue with the Google Maps app. I was in Boston, driving in a part of the city where the highway tunnels went underneath. Google Maps wanted me to take a road that was not there! I guess the GPS couldn't distinguish between the street level and underground. Very bizzare situation, but eventually I figured it out without asking for directions—just like in the old days (before GPS).  

[PlanMan]

Do AAA folks look at this message board?  That is, AAA folks who could do something?  Or are we members just talking amongst ourselves?

[StephenW]

Yes we do, and yes we do.  

But some of the best requests/suggestions do come from members talking among themselves. That's part of the reason we established AAA Community. Thank you, and everyone, for your input!

Stephen Wheeler

AAA Community Manager