Forget sat navs, Google Streetview surely has got to be one of the best modern tools for drivers these days?
Just thinking today how much I rely on it. I use it all the time to scope out every new drop I do before going. Can’t imagine how much stress it has saved me, can even make sure I approach places from the right direction so the entrance is on my good side in case it’s a reverse job. Satellite view is useful as well for easily identifying service yards & seeing what you might be up against inside places.
Most of my deliveries are to farms and I find both satellite and street view invaluable for both finding the way in, and whether I can turn round in the farmyard.
Can only echo what the original poster says, work out roughly where you’re going with maps and then find the specific place with Streetview. Who needs a Sat-Nav…
Yep Google Maps and streetview are the only way to go ! Use the streetview to check bridge heights near new addresses, dont have a SatNav, the amount off time I get a new address and when I check it on Google maps, I realise that I 've been to a premises nearby so thats all the mapping I need
I wouldn’t say ‘swear by it’, but I use it a good bit and it has been useful.
The image can be out of date, and with companies coming and going, and new units going up etc, both that and google maps / earth can be a little behind, but still a massive help compared to when we didn’t have them.
Just general ability to do a search for a company on the internet, get a phone number and ring them has changed the job so much.
It’s great for me, I use it to even read parking/loading restriction signs. I love the fact I know what the bakery/shop etc looks like before going there for the first time.
On the rare occasions I’ve been shown it by the planners at work, it’s really helped me out. But now we have loads more motors and drivers, I’m jiggered if I’m coming home and firing up my PC for an hour to see what rubbish I’ve got for the following day, so I just wing it. All gets done in the end
One of the best tools for any driver and it’s FREE.
I don’t know if google will one day commercialise it as it must cost a considerable amount to collect and collate all of the images.
Looking at an address before you go and being able to look at road signs for bridge heights on your route is invaluable. I’ve even saved a few false delivery attempts as the premises didn’t match the type of goods going there. One quick call and you find out its the accountants address an you should be 5 miles down the road.
Maybe a better question would be ‘could you do without your smartphone?’
PaulNowak:
On the rare occasions I’ve been shown it by the planners at work, it’s really helped me out. But now we have loads more motors and drivers, I’m jiggered if I’m coming home and firing up my PC for an hour to see what rubbish I’ve got for the following day, so I just wing it. All gets done in the end
I only said the above due to the amount of drops I have. Our place takes orders until 6pm, but some days I can be back, done and dusted by 2. So if they run through my drops with me, or I choose to do it in my own time, I can jump in my cab the following morning and find out I have an entirely different run in a different part of the country.
For the record, out of a team of 6 transport planners, 2 have digicards, none have a HGV licence, and 1 has no licence at all
I use it periodically to check access or a junction that looks tight on the map, or to try and identify where that vague delivery address might actually be.
For those occasions it’s handy, but I managed the job before it was available and if it wasn’t there I’d manage again without.
its all built in to my s3 phone so when using the sat nav before you start off you can zoom straight into you destination and have a street view of where you should be ending up. been very useful when given the wrong post code and before blindly driving off down some deadend road you can see if you should be there or not
Same here, I’m going to new places everyday and i find google maps a godsend. I’m not great at finding places so I use it along with my sat nav and save myself loads of time and stress.
PaulNowak:
On the rare occasions I’ve been shown it by the planners at work, it’s really helped me out. But now we have loads more motors and drivers, I’m jiggered if I’m coming home and firing up my PC for an hour to see what rubbish I’ve got for the following day, so I just wing it. All gets done in the end
I only said the above due to the amount of drops I have. Our place takes orders until 6pm, but some days I can be back, done and dusted by 2. So if they run through my drops with me, or I choose to do it in my own time, I can jump in my cab the following morning and find out I have an entirely different run in a different part of the country.
For the record, out of a team of 6 transport planners, 2 have digicards, none have a HGV licence, and 1 has no licence at all
This may sound daft but if none of them hold an hgv licence then how have 2 got a digicard?
PaulNowak:
On the rare occasions I’ve been shown it by the planners at work, it’s really helped me out. But now we have loads more motors and drivers, I’m jiggered if I’m coming home and firing up my PC for an hour to see what rubbish I’ve got for the following day, so I just wing it. All gets done in the end
I only said the above due to the amount of drops I have. Our place takes orders until 6pm, but some days I can be back, done and dusted by 2. So if they run through my drops with me, or I choose to do it in my own time, I can jump in my cab the following morning and find out I have an entirely different run in a different part of the country.
For the record, out of a team of 6 transport planners, 2 have digicards, none have a HGV licence, and 1 has no licence at all
This may sound daft but if none of them hold an hgv licence then how have 2 got a digicard?
I imagine they can drive 7.5t on grandfather rights.
PaulNowak:
On the rare occasions I’ve been shown it by the planners at work, it’s really helped me out. But now we have loads more motors and drivers, I’m jiggered if I’m coming home and firing up my PC for an hour to see what rubbish I’ve got for the following day, so I just wing it. All gets done in the end
I only said the above due to the amount of drops I have. Our place takes orders until 6pm, but some days I can be back, done and dusted by 2. So if they run through my drops with me, or I choose to do it in my own time, I can jump in my cab the following morning and find out I have an entirely different run in a different part of the country.
For the record, out of a team of 6 transport planners, 2 have digicards, none have a HGV licence, and 1 has no licence at all
This may sound daft but if none of them hold an hgv licence then how have 2 got a digicard?
I imagine they can drive 7.5t on grandfather rights.
PaulNowak:
I only said the above due to the amount of drops I have. Our place takes orders until 6pm, but some days I can be back, done and dusted by 2. So if they run through my drops with me, or I choose to do it in my own time, I can jump in my cab the following morning and find out I have an entirely different run in a different part of the country.
For the record, out of a team of 6 transport planners, 2 have digicards, none have a HGV licence, and 1 has no licence at all
I guess that would really [zb] you off, if you’ve mapped your journey to find its all altered the next morning. Thats why I allways say to the planner when he starts altering stuff, and does apoligies for doing so, the run is not mine or complete til I drive out the gate, after that then I will get grumpy
For the record, 2 off the worst planners I’ve worked for were ex drivers, and the 2 best had never been behind the wheel off a lorry, but they had both been in the trffic office from the day they left school. I reckon thats the best way to be, I think that it is a completly different skill to driving, and learnt from the bottom up is the way to go
