Pre SatNav.....what did you do??

Bulletguy1Bulletguy1 Posts: 18,429
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Just been having a clear out in my desk drawers i came across this 'blast from the past' which brought back memories. :D My 'self navigation system' from pre-GPS days!

http://oi59.tinypic.com/id4pwg.jpg

I used to print out route directions on paper, stick it on a piece of cardboard (this was an old Cornflake packet!), then stick it on the car dashboard with a lump of Blu-Tack! :D

Obviously i always carried road maps and still do, but driving 'solo' as i've done for years now, i just wondered what ideas others came up with pre-GPS?
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  • idlewildeidlewilde Posts: 8,698
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    A - Z

    I remember trying to show my wife how to use the A - Z pre sat-nav because she is hopeless at navigation. We're sat in this street and I point out where she is

    "Look, we're on Harrison Street here see. There's the street sign out my window, and there it is on the page. Over there on the right is Duke Street, and there it is on the page, that little line going off to the right"

    She looked up, then at the page, then up again

    "That's amazing!" she exclaimed.
  • coughthecatcoughthecat Posts: 6,876
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    Bulletguy1 wrote: »
    Just been having a clear out in my desk drawers i came across this 'blast from the past' which brought back memories. :D My 'self navigation system' from pre-GPS days!

    http://oi59.tinypic.com/id4pwg.jpg

    I used to print out route directions on paper, stick it on a piece of cardboard (this was an old Cornflake packet!), then stick it on the car dashboard with a lump of Blu-Tack! :D

    Obviously i always carried road maps and still do, but driving 'solo' as i've done for years now, i just wondered what ideas others came up with pre-GPS?

    I used to do a similar thing, but mine were more like rally notes with symbols for key junctions etc. In fact, I was initially inspired by a friend who was navigator to a rally driver.

    Didn't go as far as sticking it onto an old cornflake packet though! ;-)
  • floogfloog Posts: 981
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    I still use an A to Z.
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 9,720
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    One used a road atlas and followed the signs.
  • Shady_Pines1Shady_Pines1 Posts: 1,608
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    Don't have a Sat Nav. Still use an AA Road Map and A-Z, also google map directions sometimes before we leave. Common sense really.
  • CosinCosin Posts: 765
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    I just use my bearings if I'm being honest. I know where I am as far as NESW are concerned, so I know I'll get to where I want to go if I head in that general direction.
  • Tim_WilkesTim_Wilkes Posts: 435
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    I actually prefer to use an A-Z. It's nice to look at and you can see for miles :)
  • EStaffs90EStaffs90 Posts: 13,722
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    I don't drive, but my parents do the same post-satnav as pre-satnav: with an atlas and look up the directions on the internet beforehand.
  • Syntax ErrorSyntax Error Posts: 27,735
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    Did the world exist before satellite navigation?:o:p
  • barbelerbarbeler Posts: 23,827
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    Drove dangerously with a map on the dashboard and got lost all the time.

    Alternatively, I printed out the step-by-step instructions from the Green Flag route finder...


    and got lost all the time. It's no good knowing which road number to look for when you get to a big roundabout and it doesn't make it clear which of the two directions to follow.

    Another big problem is when the road numbers are written on the road itself - not much help when there are several big lorries in front of you.

    The sat-nav is one of the greatest inventions of the 21st Century (or thereabouts). Sat-nav deniers remind me of Keith out Nuts In May :D
  • Jean-FrancoisJean-Francois Posts: 2,301
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    Don't have a Sat Nav. Still use an AA Road Map and A-Z, also google map directions sometimes before we leave. Common sense really.


    Pretty much the same for me, I've never had a sat-nav, or ever used one in any vehicle, but no doubt they are very handy.
    As someone who has lived in London virtually all my life, and was a black cab driver there for years, there aren't many streets in the capital that I don't know, (aside from little side streets.)
    If I was going to another country, e.g. for a holiday, I'd download a map plus Route-Planner, print it, then sit in the passenger seat telling my wife what exit to take from the freeway/autobahn/autostrada/autovia, when to turn left or right etc.
    My elder son, who has lived in Germany for years, uses a sat-nav.
    I was with him one day, travelling from Bielefeld to Hamburg, and the disembodied voice said, " Nächste Abfahrt, funfhunderd Meter." ( Next exit, five hundred meters.)
    I said to him, "Can't you switch that to English?"
    He said, "It was in English, but it was a guy with a northern accent, drove me nuts."
  • FizixFizix Posts: 16,932
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    Personally I used a compass, chose a direction and kept to it, then getting back, choose the reverse direction. It was hit and miss tbh.
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 1,556
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    Some people didn't drive off down into a river/into a ditch/down a one way road etc etc because their satnav told them to! :-D
  • killjoykilljoy Posts: 7,901
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    I remember the old days when you could buy a printed route from the AA, especially for foreign journeys; every road junction listed between London and Venice.
  • be more pacificbe more pacific Posts: 19,061
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    I would print directions from AutoRoute in a large font, so I could glance at them while driving. That seems pretty dangerous, looking back at it.:o
  • Bulletguy1Bulletguy1 Posts: 18,429
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    Cosin wrote: »
    I just use my bearings if I'm being honest. I know where I am as far as NESW are concerned, so I know I'll get to where I want to go if I head in that general direction.
    Done that a few times both pre-GPS and with.

    In Serbia my GPS gave no co-ordinates so drove mostly from sense of direction. Happened in Bulgaria too which proves even more fun as minor routes there are signed in cyrillic only!

    Did the world exist before satellite navigation?:o:p
    It won't for some. Feels weird when i think once my Grandchildren are old enough to drive, they probably won't even have seen a map! :o
  • LaceyLouelle3LaceyLouelle3 Posts: 9,682
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    We don't have a sat nav, we use AA route finder and write the directions down.
  • Cissy FairfaxCissy Fairfax Posts: 11,782
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    Exactly the same as I do now, use a road map.

    Never used a sat nav once, never been in a position where I needed to, although do use my phone for the map sometimes.
  • Richard46Richard46 Posts: 59,830
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    Some people didn't drive off down into a river/into a ditch/down a one way road etc etc because their satnav told them to! :-D

    No one does that now either. They may blame the Sat Nav of course
  • grumpyscotgrumpyscot Posts: 11,343
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    Meilie wrote: »
    One used a road atlas and followed the signs.

    And that's something I still do, even though my car has a sat-nav. I find that committing a map to memory, and having a good sense of direction helps - especially knowing if you're heading north, south, east or west!

    I used the sat nav once, and it took added 20 miles to my journey. I discover a B road that cut across the "triangle".

    Sat Navs are not so good as highlighting single track main "A" roads either (there are plenty of these in Scotland!)
  • benjaminibenjamini Posts: 32,066
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    Don't have sat nav. Used an A to Z . Now I use route planner. Works for me.
    Tho trying to get to Manchester Airport jet park 2 car park was a challenge :o
  • Si_CreweSi_Crewe Posts: 40,202
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    I used to get lost a lot.

    Used to be a wonderful and magical experience when a motorway was closed and you got diverted into the wilderness, only to discover quaint little villages where you could stop for a bite to eat and then ask for directions back to somewhere useful.

    Really, it's all very well saying "I used an A to Z and planned my journeys" and that did work as long as things went according to plan but when things didn't go according to plan relying on a predetermined route meant you had to have a rethink.
    I guess it wasn't the end of the world if you did have an A to Z or map with you 'cos you could pull over and figure out a new route but if you'd just scribbled down a bunch of directions on a bit of paper and one of those roads was closed you'd be completely boned.

    Course, it was a great excuse for skipping a day in the office, cos you could always claim that diversions meant you had to find your way to your destination.
  • gomezzgomezz Posts: 44,505
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    Some bikers used / still use a list of route directions on a map scroller strapped to the petrol tank.
  • howardlhowardl Posts: 5,120
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    Always use to meticulously do my route to my destination and chart it down,
    Now, got a sat nav and tells me if there's an obstruction ahead and gives me an alternative route...no contest sat nav all the way,
    I still look on google maps to see my route and always keep a road atlas in the car.
  • c0boc0bo Posts: 6,443
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    I used A to Z.
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