Lebanon, New Hampshire Road Meet - September 21, 2013

[agentsteel53]

I for one really like the directions.  not for the macroscopic stuff - i.e. I know that in order to get from Denver to Columbus, I would likely want to take I-70 if I wanted to go quickly, US-40 if I wanted to see a thing or two, and for county-clinching purposes I'd better have US-166 on the agenda... but, how do I get out of a particular suburban labyrinth?  and when I reach my destination, how do I get to the precisely correct house of another seemingly-identical suburban labyrinth?

basically, I use my google maps app on the phone for the first mile and the last mile.  also, it helps with traffic, but that is a completely different topic of discussion.

[Alex]

I for one really like the directions.  not for the macroscopic stuff - i.e. I know that in order to get from Denver to Columbus, I would likely want to take I-70 if I wanted to go quickly, US-40 if I wanted to see a thing or two, and for county-clinching purposes I'd better have US-166 on the agenda... but, how do I get out of a particular suburban labyrinth?  and when I reach my destination, how do I get to the precisely correct house of another seemingly-identical suburban labyrinth?

I generally divert from the most direct route on trips to do road things. What is useful is when I go beyond where the GPS directs me, I get the distance to the next exit on a freeway most times. That is useful for knowing when to photograph or when to expect merging traffic.

The other aspect that I find to be a huge asset is the ETA. I can factor in what I can detour to see while trying to retain a reasonable arrival time based upon it.

Would love to attend this meet, but unlikely will be back up to the northeast so soon.

[agentsteel53]

The other aspect that I find to be a huge asset is the ETA.

Google Maps has gotten really good at this.  I remember about 4 years ago, the GPSes were all wildly off.  TomTom assumed I would drive about 5 below the speed limit, and Garmin was expecting me to do 85 through school zones.

I remember Dan and I using a Garmin on the AlCan and at one point we did ~100mph for a good 20-30 minutes, and found we gained ... one minute of ETA.

[deathtopumpkins]

Google had gotten really good until the new update. I checked it out on my phone and found that instead of estimating 35 minutes to work, it now estimates 30. It actually takes 34, slightly less if I drive faster.

But with the new app I can set the cruise control to 78 in a 55 and still have it lose a minute or two over a few miles.

[Alps]

But with the new app I can set the cruise control to 78 in a 55 and still have it lose a minute or two over a few miles.

"How you know you live in the Northeast Corridor"

[Laura]

If Mike and I can manage to get either the Friday or Monday off, this trip is a go for us. I don't know how successful that will be since we are taking a huge chunk of vacation time this month. But GIS mapping is right up his alley (I can't tell you how many dates we've had mapping things for Open Street Map! ) and I really enjoy learning the backbones of it. I am also not anti-GPS because it was a lifesaver when i worked a few years ago making truck deliveries of books to New Jersey churches! (Too many little streets and too many deliveries to properly memorize the routes.) We can also use the opportunity to visit some family friends in Massachusetts who are unable to attend our wedding.

[mtantillo]

Count me in for this! I've lost count of the number of ideas I've had over the years for imrpoving GPS devices...now I'll finally have a way to have my ideas heard! 

Thanks for organizing this, Doug and TomTom people. 

And for all those that are skeptical...this is a great opportunity to try something new and "mix" with people who also have an interest in maps, from a slightly different perspective.  We roadgeeks should be thrilled that people out there actually want to hear our ideas.  So I'm not worried at all about this being a sales pitch. 

[hbelkins]

I hope they'll do this again at a time when I can attend.

[jpi]

Since the festivities on Saturday I am now seriously considering going to this since I will be in central PA that weekend, I may have to cut out a little early but I think it's doable.

[froggie]

Since I won't make this meet due to being out to sea, I traded some E-mails with Adam Jackson, who's offered to give me a personal tour when I get back from sea.  Was thinking that this is possibly something we could roll into the Burlington, VT meet weekend, especially if Adam plans on attending the Burlington meet.

[hbelkins]

This might make me consider attending Burlington, depending on when it is, of course.

[froggie]

November 9 is the likely date, but not finalized yet.

[vdeane]

At this point, I've decided on November 9 and even have the estimated tour time; I'll make an official announcement between Labor Day and this meet.  Probably closer to Labor Day.

[jpi]

Done deal, I have booked a room in Rutland, VT for this meet since all of the other rooms around Lebanon are VERY high. Plan to get some NY and VT counties and of course at least one new county in NH Looking forward to seeing you all again and some for the first time.

[Janko Dialnice]

Jason: I was trying to get a hotel room in Sherbrooke, QC that same night, and they are very high as well. Luckily, I was able to get one in Brossard.
Anyway, this will likely be my last meet of the season, and the start of another mini-vacation ... and I am looking forward to going, and seeing you guys there.

[Janko Dialnice]

Since I won't make this meet due to being out to sea, I traded some E-mails with Adam Jackson, who's offered to give me a personal tour when I get back from sea.  Was thinking that this is possibly something we could roll into the Burlington, VT meet weekend, especially if Adam plans on attending the Burlington meet.

Will the Burlington, VT meet include the make-up TomTom tour? If so, please let me know by private message. My attendence at the Lebanon, NH meet seems more and more unlikely (I may end up cancelling my hotel reservation as early as the beginning of next week, at this rate), but I really wanted to check it out.

[froggie]

The make-up Tom-Tom tour would be a separate entity...it'll be around that same timeframe as Burlington, but I need to finalize some of my leave scheduling first (which, given world events, won't be happening anytime soon).

[hbelkins]

The make-up Tom-Tom tour would be a separate entity...it'll be around that same timeframe as Burlington, but I need to finalize some of my leave scheduling first (which, given world events, won't be happening anytime soon).

It's quite possible that I could come to this but skip Burlington and use the Burlington day as an additional travel day to or from home, depending on when it gets scheduled. Given the time of year and the shortness of the days, it'll no doubt take two days of hard daylight driving to get to Lebanon. And obviously I'd want to go and return via different routes, inasmuch as that would be possible. It'll probably be hard to avoid I-79 to I-68 to I-70 to I-81. 

And here's hoping that world events have no impact on your leave scheduling or anything else involving you.

[froggie]

It's quite possible that I could come to this but skip Burlington and use the Burlington day as an additional travel day to or from home, depending on when it gets scheduled.

As per another thread, Burlington has already been finalized for November 9.

[vdeane]

It's quite possible that I could come to this but skip Burlington and use the Burlington day as an additional travel day to or from home, depending on when it gets scheduled.

As per another thread, Burlington has already been finalized for November 9.

Official thread/announcement coming soon.  I won't be back to my apartment until tonight (posting from my chromebook), so sometime later this week.

[hbelkins]

It's quite possible that I could come to this but skip Burlington and use the Burlington day as an additional travel day to or from home, depending on when it gets scheduled.

As per another thread, Burlington has already been finalized for November 9.

Actually, I meant when the Tom-Tom makeup tour gets scheduled.

[froggie]

We can look into that...for now, it was a personal offer made to me since I'm at sea for the primary meet this month.  I was considering talking to Adam Jackson to see about incorporating it into "Burlington day", especially if Adam was planning on attending the Burlington meet, and to see if others could be included.  But I haven't traded E-mails with him about it yet.

[hbelkins]

Hope it works out. Melissa feels really bad about me having to miss the event on the 21st. (She'll be on her way home from Texas and I'm critter-sitting).

[adamjackson]

Hi everyone. Tons of positive feedback so far here and on Facebook. I need to solidify the food order by Friday the 13th so if you haven't RSVPed are are attending, please do so. I think the count now is around 15 people + 4 TomTommers.

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As for the personal tour, this building is full of map geeks and all we do all day is collect data, verify and then build it into the maps that go into cars, on the web and in various GPS devices so with that said, we LOVE to have people drop in who like maps as much as we do.

Just email me to setup a time if you're passing through and we'll show off some stuff. Also, we can view your home town on our back-end server and make edits using your local knowledge. We have guests come in every 2 weeks and our cartographers like chatting maps and showing off our tools.

The offer I gave to Froggy extends to anyone here that can't make it as long as the group size is 1-3 people and it can be during a work day. (9-5, M-F)

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I heard some complaints about hotel prices. Sorry about that. Dartmouth college keeps things in our area quite expensive. If you're a rustic individual passing through, you're free to pitch a tent in my back yard. I'm in Lyme, NH and have lots of global friends that stop by, average is about 2 people a week spending the night. My GF and our dog don't mind if you want. Reach out to me privately if that's something you need.


Thanks again everyone for joining us in this.

[Duke87]

Sorry folks, I'm out. Not going to have the time.