Tomtom Gps

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A TomTom shows there are 325 yards to go before the car it is in must make a left turn followed by another left turn to make a U-turn in direction. Photo by Ron Laytner, Edit International

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By Ron Laytner
Copyright 2009
Edit International

When I was a young journalist I was lucky enough to know famed author and syndicated columnist Jim Bishop.

One day he told me at his home in Miami, “The column I wrote today (which would appear in 1,200 newspapers) is the most important I have ever written.’ He described for the first time something called satellites. Jim said they would circle the earth and change the history of mankind.

He was right. Nowhere in the world is beyond communication. Satellites watch and help us, spy on us and make weapons all powerful because they can’t miss. Airplanes, rocket ships, ocean vessels, television crews and networks – almost every modern device or industry somehow depends on satellites.

But the only thing satellites have done for me so far is to get more accurate weather reports. That is – until now!

Satellites have finally changed my life. They’ve cured my secret weakness, the awful fact that I have no sense of direction.

I’ve been getting lost for years. I lived 12 years in my former home and still can hardly find it. When I drive somewhere I let my wife do the navigating and just turn off my brain and let her do the work of finding destinations and knowing where we are.

But no longer.

I now can confidently drive by myself - and am still never alone..

With me is calm and cool Brenda, my upper class Englishwoman, near me sitting up on the dash showing me how to get anywhere – that’s anywhere in North America – anywhere in Europe. And she goes with me from car to car.

If I tire of Brenda (she does sound stuck up after a while) I simply switch over to Lucy, my brilliant American girl who speaks to me from inside a tiny round box and never lets me get lost.

Of course I’m talking about GPS – The Global Positioning System. And how it lets people drive anywhere without getting lost. I’ve been fascinated since it was first made available to the public several years ago.

I’ve waited until they finally got installed in automobiles and thought they were neat but expensive – finally getting down to about $1,800 installed in new cars. There are all kinds made by Garmin, Magellan, Outlook and others; boat positioning units, walking, hiking, fishing-finding-marker units and of course auto units.

I was waiting for something for cars that would really be portable, that could be taken from car to car, something to prevent me from ever getting lost again.

I found it last week in a Circuit City store in Florida. It was a third the price of units found in cars. And as soon as I held it and turned it on I realized that fixed GPS units in cars will soon go the way of earlier cell phones permanently fixed in autos.

The unit is a masterpiece of engineering and though it comes from England it has a strange North American Indian sounding name: TomTom. I bought it for $699 and spent a lot of time trying to figure out how to use it.

I was totally lost in the first hour, watching thousands of street names and visual tour maps speed by in the almost four-inch color screen. I was lost again, drowning in my direction handicap.

I hadn’t driven a foot and I was more lost than ever. This good looking GPS was beyond me and I felt like turning it back in

Instead, I went to my computer and turned on the TomTom website (www.tomtom.com). I read a few instructions and downloaded a complete instruction manual. After a half hour of concentrated study – I was good. Now, after a week driving with it, I am an expert..

I can find any address in just minutes. I feel like a veteran jet fighter pilot, a big game hunter in Africa who knows everything about the mysterious Rift Valley, a New York taxi driver. A NASCAR winner, maybe even an astronaut.

I am now a driver who never gets lost – never worries about driving. I’m better or as good as any cabby in any city. Put gas in my car and I can find anything.

That’s because I finally figured out how GPS works. The secret is that the machine knows exactly where my car and I are at all times.

If I want an address in Miami about 14 miles to the south, I just type on the touch sensitive screen MIA and up comes Miami. Then I put in the beginnings of the street address I want to visit.

The two-gigabyte hard drive in the TomTom spins silently and the satellites surrounding the earth place the name of all similar-named streets in my drive reachable area onto my screen. I see my destination street name n the screen. I touch it and then go to numbers and place the street address. That’s all there is to it.

Then I sit back and relax. I never look at the machine until I get where I am going so I can turn it off.

I just listen and drive, listen and save gas and time. Driving without the worry of getting lost is fun and relaxing. It’s a whole new driving experience.

I begin my trip when the voice (there are 50 to choose from in many languages) doesn’t say anything. That means I’m already heading in the right direction. But when the voice says, “in 900 yards prepare to turn left.” I listen and folow orders. The TomTom knows exactly how fast I am driving and waits till I am close to the turn – then says, “Turn left”.

If I make the slightest deviation from heading in the right direction the voice on my dash sets me right and it knows exactly where I am, how fast I am driving and even indicates ,if I look at the machine, how many miles to within a foot or two I am from where I want to be.

The satellites hundreds of miles up in the sky even warn me of detours and road construction. They tell me where the nearest gas station is located or where to find a restaurant. I can choose toll roads, small street routes without using highways or scenic tours. I have my own guide sitting on the dash. If I want to take a bicycle ride it shows me bicycle paths.

When I buy a new camera or palm pilot I often take it to bed with me for the first couple of nights. (To study of course) I hold it in my hand and finally let it stay the night under my pillow. Not so with TomTom. Brenda, my English woman guide, has already made a mistake. She could cause trouble at home.

Last week my wife and I went to a party at a home in Boca Raton, Florida where I have gotten lost three times on previous trips when I had to phone the host and be desperately talked in by cell phone like a plane making an emergency landing. This time we got there with no hassle, no worry at all.

And later when the host made a toast, someone made a second toast by asking “Why are we here?”

We all began to laugh and then went silent in awe when Brenda in my little TomTom, sitting on a coffee table where I had been showing it off, suddenly announced, “You have reached your destination.”

Having a portable GPS system is also a great way to meet people.

Yesterday I was in the parking lot of a supermarket when a beautiful woman stopped beside my car and asked, “What is that thing in your windshield?”

“Do you want to see my Tomtom?” I asked.
“Gee, I hardly know you,” she replied.

Copyright 2009
by Ron Laytner
Edit International

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