GPS - The good and the bad!!!

[Copperhead]

Our B&B is what most would consider 'off the beaten path' and so in the past would never have thought of the last minute walk-ins UNTIL GPS and internet phones came along...
This week alone we have had 3 last minute calls for rooms for multi night stays - this being our slowwww season (with August being our slowest month) we were very happy to be full mid week. So how did they find us - GPS brought them straight to our door! Thankfully, they all called first!
So for the bad... while I just mentioned those 3 others finding us using GPS, our guests arriving this evening could not get their GPS to find our address or use our name to find us as a place of interest, nor did they remember to print our directions including our address info we ask all guests to print in our confirmation..GRRRR Of course they also took the long way around to get here after me telling them the most simple (less traffic) directions. "oh no, we are closer the other way...we will see you in an hour not an hour and a half." Two hours later (and 4 calls) they arrive at our door. GRRRR
GPS is only as good as the person that inputs the address....When giving them directions to a restaurant this evening, they type in the name and low and behold the system started with 'from Copperhead B&B' take .....

 

[BBBBoB]

We have had a problem with GPS. Our mailing address is different than our house address. I have had to change all of our documents to our house address. GPS cannot find the mailing address.
BBBBOB

 

[gillumhouse]

Our daughter gave us one so we decided to use it to find a new B & B we were visiting as perspective members (I was going to sponsor them with the Assoc). The GPS took us around the same 2 blocks at least 3 times before we found the right street - it had us turning at the wrong place - one block further up the hill!
I cannot tell you how many times guests have said they could find the stables with their GPS - they did not need me to guide them in. GPS needs an address. I just tried our Garmin and it would not find it. We are not all numbered yet.
Edited to add that I am also getting guests traveling up I-79 who are finding my with their GPS. It surprises me becausethere are a ton of hotels/motels right on the Interstate exits.

 

[Tim_Toad_HLB]

Oh boy, have you hit on a very sore subject with me.
Not two hours ago, I spent over 45 minutes coaxing a guest who was at the MOST 1.5 miles from our door because of his infatuation with his new little toy. We get this crap ALL the time.
Its a major reason we don't do self-check-in. Cranky, lost guests who might then poison the well the next morning projecting their ineptness onto us is not our idea of fun. Much of it is very passive aggressive too, which turns them into victims in their eyes and us into perpetrators of some big joke at their expense. Like we moved the frickin' house just to mess with them.
Forget about the written directions and map we put together and send out with every single confirmation whether it be email or snail mail. The new dashboard genius knows better.
Now I've added verbage to both our confirmations and on the phone that "The directions and map we supply are THE most reliable way to find us.
You would think that we were located in the depths of some wilderness area the way some folks wander around. We are in a bedroom community halfway between a city of 75,000 and a city of 15,000.
It is so easy to find us, its almost embarrassing to admit I share the species with some folks. You leave the city we are near on a big four lane highway that has every exit, road number, etc. clearly marked on it. You proceed on another four lane highway for another three miles and then if you even read any of the directions we sent or is on our webiste, you turn right on our road and 1/2 mile on the left, BINGO!
I challenge any of you who know our identity to go look at our "directions and map" page and with a straight face tell me it looks really hard to find.
Do not get confused by the projecting sign in front of our gate, the big 12" red cutout numbers I made and affixed to the wall next to the gate under the sign.
I have literally been out at the gate waving my arms while on the phone with GPS-heads and had them drive right past me, the sign, the gate while glazingly staring at that damn thing and keep driving themselves into another lost mess.

 

[swirt]

We have had a problem with GPS. Our mailing address is different than our house address. I have had to change all of our documents to our house address. GPS cannot find the mailing address.
BBBBOB.

GPS cannot find the mailing address.
BBBBOB

Neither can search engines. This is a good reminder to all to make sure your physical address is on every page of your website too.

 

[JBloggs]

We have had a problem with GPS. Our mailing address is different than our house address. I have had to change all of our documents to our house address. GPS cannot find the mailing address.
BBBBOB.

GPS cannot find the mailing address.
BBBBOB

Neither can search engines. This is a good reminder to all to make sure your physical address is on every page of your website too.
.

GPS cannot find the mailing address.
BBBBOB

Neither can search engines. This is a good reminder to all to make sure your physical address is on every page of your website too.

The websites I happen upon that do not tell me where they are...I have to search and search. Good reminder, every page, just like phone # every page.

 

[SweetiePie]

Oh boy, have you hit on a very sore subject with me.
Not two hours ago, I spent over 45 minutes coaxing a guest who was at the MOST 1.5 miles from our door because of his infatuation with his new little toy. We get this crap ALL the time.
Its a major reason we don't do self-check-in. Cranky, lost guests who might then poison the well the next morning projecting their ineptness onto us is not our idea of fun. Much of it is very passive aggressive too, which turns them into victims in their eyes and us into perpetrators of some big joke at their expense. Like we moved the frickin' house just to mess with them.
Forget about the written directions and map we put together and send out with every single confirmation whether it be email or snail mail. The new dashboard genius knows better.
Now I've added verbage to both our confirmations and on the phone that "The directions and map we supply are THE most reliable way to find us.
You would think that we were located in the depths of some wilderness area the way some folks wander around. We are in a bedroom community halfway between a city of 75,000 and a city of 15,000.
It is so easy to find us, its almost embarrassing to admit I share the species with some folks. You leave the city we are near on a big four lane highway that has every exit, road number, etc. clearly marked on it. You proceed on another four lane highway for another three miles and then if you even read any of the directions we sent or is on our webiste, you turn right on our road and 1/2 mile on the left, BINGO!
I challenge any of you who know our identity to go look at our "directions and map" page and with a straight face tell me it looks really hard to find.
Do not get confused by the projecting sign in front of our gate, the big 12" red cutout numbers I made and affixed to the wall next to the gate under the sign.
I have literally been out at the gate waving my arms while on the phone with GPS-heads and had them drive right past me, the sign, the gate while glazingly staring at that damn thing and keep driving themselves into another lost mess..

We used to have the luxury of not being that easy to find; therefore avoiding most gawkers, looky loos and excess traffic. However, it caused other problems when they would bother the local gas station for directions or even the neighbors. Now, with GPS, luckily that has diminished.
However, as you say, it has created new problems. We send directions to every guest which are straightforward and easy to understand with the caveat; if you choose to use GPS you are on your own.

 

[MooseTrax]

Oh boy, have you hit on a very sore subject with me.
Not two hours ago, I spent over 45 minutes coaxing a guest who was at the MOST 1.5 miles from our door because of his infatuation with his new little toy. We get this crap ALL the time.
Its a major reason we don't do self-check-in. Cranky, lost guests who might then poison the well the next morning projecting their ineptness onto us is not our idea of fun. Much of it is very passive aggressive too, which turns them into victims in their eyes and us into perpetrators of some big joke at their expense. Like we moved the frickin' house just to mess with them.
Forget about the written directions and map we put together and send out with every single confirmation whether it be email or snail mail. The new dashboard genius knows better.
Now I've added verbage to both our confirmations and on the phone that "The directions and map we supply are THE most reliable way to find us.
You would think that we were located in the depths of some wilderness area the way some folks wander around. We are in a bedroom community halfway between a city of 75,000 and a city of 15,000.
It is so easy to find us, its almost embarrassing to admit I share the species with some folks. You leave the city we are near on a big four lane highway that has every exit, road number, etc. clearly marked on it. You proceed on another four lane highway for another three miles and then if you even read any of the directions we sent or is on our webiste, you turn right on our road and 1/2 mile on the left, BINGO!
I challenge any of you who know our identity to go look at our "directions and map" page and with a straight face tell me it looks really hard to find.
Do not get confused by the projecting sign in front of our gate, the big 12" red cutout numbers I made and affixed to the wall next to the gate under the sign.
I have literally been out at the gate waving my arms while on the phone with GPS-heads and had them drive right past me, the sign, the gate while glazingly staring at that damn thing and keep driving themselves into another lost mess..

The last guest experience where a faulty GPS (or faulty user) was concerned was about 2 weeks ago. Guest called from the other side of the highway (2/3 of a mile away) saying the road dead ended. I knew just where he was and said I would help him get situated. Proceeded to explain where to turn, he insisted the GPS was telling him to turn the other way. This went on for a few seconds. I asked calmly if he wanted to get here in the next hour? He got sarcastic with me and I said, 'Turn the GPS off.' He refused. I told him again, 'Turn the GPS off or I hang up the phone.'
He turned off the GPS. He was here in 5 minutes. We had a good laugh about "technology". I put all the blame on the GPS unit and how back roads are sometimes mislabeled. (That particular "road" has been a driveway since the highway went through here 15 years ago.) How he got where he was to start with I don't know. Although, thinking about it now makes me realize he followed the exact directions to here, just in reverse. Everywhere he should have gone right, he went left and for the same distances.

 

[Country Girl]

We had our first walk-in, in a very long time last week. They found us by using their GPS. Unfortunately we were not prepared for guests and had to send them elsewhere. If they had called an hour before they arrived we could have been ready. I guess I should be more prepared for this in the future.

 

[paulavery]

I have a fondness for GPS location and mapping technology. It is fairly easy to find latitude and longitude for any location.
Once you have this you could post on your contact us page. Then you are not relying on address -> lat/long lookup which is often in-accurate for rural areas.
Here are couple of tools to find latitude and longitude
http://www.gorissen.info/Pierre/maps/googleMapLocation.php
http://geocoder.us/
http://www.pillowsandpancakes.com/map.php

 

[gillumhouse]

I have a fondness for GPS location and mapping technology. It is fairly easy to find latitude and longitude for any location.
Once you have this you could post on your contact us page. Then you are not relying on address -> lat/long lookup which is often in-accurate for rural areas.
Here are couple of tools to find latitude and longitude
http://www.gorissen.info/Pierre/maps/googleMapLocation.php
http://geocoder.us/
http://www.pillowsandpancakes.com/map.php.

I do not want them to find the stable via GPS - I charge $20 for the guide service plus there is more to it than just finding a place. We have a hill that is 2-way but with parked cars - one-lane. I floor it to get to the top quickly to stop traffic so the vehicle hauling the horse trailer does not have to pray for space to get in to if a car is coming down the hill (downhill has right-of-way).
GPS only knows directions. It does not acknowledge that the fastest way in from the Interstate from the north is a 2-lane twisty road with no shoulders and several blind spots and is a busy commuter route for locals in daylight but even locals avoid it at night - when many guests are arriving.

 

[MooseTrax]

I have a fondness for GPS location and mapping technology. It is fairly easy to find latitude and longitude for any location.
Once you have this you could post on your contact us page. Then you are not relying on address -> lat/long lookup which is often in-accurate for rural areas.
Here are couple of tools to find latitude and longitude
http://www.gorissen.info/Pierre/maps/googleMapLocation.php
http://geocoder.us/
http://www.pillowsandpancakes.com/map.php.

We added the lat/long last year to our site. What we find is that not many guests look at the directions page even though that contains multiple mapping sites, a map we had made for us, written directions, distances and the GPS coords. We all try our darndest but sometimes guests just want to do it their way until they are lost.

 

[Breakfast Diva]

I have a fondness for GPS location and mapping technology. It is fairly easy to find latitude and longitude for any location.
Once you have this you could post on your contact us page. Then you are not relying on address -> lat/long lookup which is often in-accurate for rural areas.
Here are couple of tools to find latitude and longitude
http://www.gorissen.info/Pierre/maps/googleMapLocation.php
http://geocoder.us/
http://www.pillowsandpancakes.com/map.php.

I have a fondness for GPS location and mapping technology. It is fairly easy to find latitude and longitude for any location.
Once you have this you could post on your contact us page. Then you are not relying on address -> lat/long lookup which is often in-accurate for rural areas.
Here are couple of tools to find latitude and longitude
http://www.gorissen.info/Pierre/maps/googleMapLocation.php
http://geocoder.us/
http://www.pillowsandpancakes.com/map.php

I have the longitude & latitude numbers on my direction page. I've also tried to give them to guests who are on the phone and want our address...every time I've tried to give them the exact coordinates, people don't want them. They don't know how to put them in their unit. They want an address. Most GPS units will take people past our place, around a big corner and when they get to the spot the GPS tells them we're at, they are looking at a forest. Because people with these units don't think for themselves, they haven't even seen that they passed us. We have a small sign and you must be looking for it to be able to see it. Nope, they just keep going. Oh yeah, and to make matters even more difficult, we don't have cell service here either, so they can't call us and ask where we are.
If they just take and use the directions I provide them there's no problem. Last week a couple using a GPS passed by us, couldn't find us, drove 15 minutes to our nearest town to call us. I told them to drive back where they just were and look for our sign!
I also hate that we've gotten people just pulling in at 11:00 at night looking for a room because they found us on their GPS. Oh yeah, invariably it's a car full of people and multiple children. Nope, I'm not a fan of GPS!

 

[paulavery]

i argue with my GPS all the time. When I am in area I know the GPS hardly ever knows best.
I think Google will start (or already is) to incorporate local user knowledge within its own maps for directions.

 

[Proud Texan]

Our county very wisely decided NOT to go along with the rest of the planet using the U.S. Geodetic Survey to create their grid for 911 addresses. Instead, they came up with their own grid system using a blind retarded monkey using push-pins on a map.

The result? Now, there is not a GPS nor Internet mapping service anywhere that will find any address in our county. BRILLIANT!!
I have to provide detailed written instructions using landmarks because the county is also too cheap to provide road signs.
I was also able to get the correct coordinates from my Garmin GPS and provide those so that people who know how can get here by GPS.

 

[paulavery]

I'm certainly a minorty. I know how to put lat and long into my GPS. On my last vacation in Sedona we put the trail head lat/long (we had a hiking book with them listed) into our GPS and we got there every single time without fail.
I also use to do geocaching as a hobby. http://www.geocaching.com/

 

[Proud Texan]

I'm certainly a minorty. I know how to put lat and long into my GPS. On my last vacation in Sedona we put the trail head lat/long (we had a hiking book with them listed) into our GPS and we got there every single time without fail.
I also use to do geocaching as a hobby. http://www.geocaching.com/.

I'm certainly a minorty. I know how to put lat and long into my GPS. On my last vacation in Sedona we put the trail head lat/long (we had a hiking book with them listed) into our GPS and we got there every single time without fail.
I also use to do geocaching as a hobby. http://www.geocaching.com/

This is called having a brain.

 

[JBloggs]

I'm certainly a minorty. I know how to put lat and long into my GPS. On my last vacation in Sedona we put the trail head lat/long (we had a hiking book with them listed) into our GPS and we got there every single time without fail.
I also use to do geocaching as a hobby. http://www.geocaching.com/.

I'm certainly a minorty. I know how to put lat and long into my GPS. On my last vacation in Sedona we put the trail head lat/long (we had a hiking book with them listed) into our GPS and we got there every single time without fail.
I also use to do geocaching as a hobby. http://www.geocaching.com/

Our first GPS was a Garmin boating model and you could only put in the coordinates and the satellites were all gvmt so they would get you "kinda close to" where you wanted to go. But it was fun at the time.

 

[Samster]

i argue with my GPS all the time. When I am in area I know the GPS hardly ever knows best.
I think Google will start (or already is) to incorporate local user knowledge within its own maps for directions..

I tell her to shut up all the time when I use it when traveling...."Checking for traffic.." What? I'm on a country road in a rural part of a State. They have traffic here? Oh, wait...there's a tractor in the field... haha!

 

[mooseberry]

We have had a problem with GPS. Our mailing address is different than our house address. I have had to change all of our documents to our house address. GPS cannot find the mailing address.
BBBBOB.

GPS cannot find the mailing address.
BBBBOB

Neither can search engines. This is a good reminder to all to make sure your physical address is on every page of your website too.
.

[
[/quote]
Neither can search engines. This is a good reminder to all to make sure your physical address is on every page of your website too.
[/quote]
NOR does UPS!!! For crying out loud...I have lived here for years and when I try to get UPS to ship they tell me my address does not exist...am I loosing it and making things up??