Sport Touring Corner By Norm Kern, TRO Contributor
“Should I buy
Why use a GPS when we ride?
I've spent more than half of my fifty plus years of riding using paper maps and thought that I did just fine. County maps showed every road but were too big and unwieldy to use on the bike, so I used state roadmaps. I tended to stick with the roads on them because they were easier to follow, mixing in a few locals roads from time to time.
It's database contains millions of cities, points of interest, food, fuel and other searchable locations, a level of detail no paper map can show. That's a lot of advantages over paper, but a GPS does something far more powerful- Routing. There are three levels of GPS routing: • Level 1- Get from where you are (point A) to point B- this is what most people are familiar with and use their GPS for.
That, however, changed big time once I learned to really use a GPS. I do not mean the vanilla “from here to a destination” point to point routing that Google Maps can do. I mean more complicated routes where it's not just the destination, but the individual roads traveled that are what's important. With GPS, I discovered lots of new fun roads which are not numbered and not particularly easy to follow without a GPS. An added huge bonus was that most of these back roads were free of traffic. GPS allowed me to get completely lost with absolutely no worries about finding my way back, finding gas, finding food, etc. I could also keep track of my time by directing the GPS to Go Home and wander around until the arrival time matched the time I needed to be back. A GPS gives the rider a pretty good idea of what the road is about to do ahead. I am rarely surprised by hairpins or unexpected turns like those on the roads of southeast Ohio. What does a GPS do for you that a paper map does not?
• Level 2- Multi-point routing with stops at points of interest, gas, food etc. • Level 3- Multi-point routing with all of the above plus "shaping" or via points that force the route to follow specific ROADS. Level 3 routing enables route creators to direct you on the enjoyable and interesting back roads that make sport touring the most fun style of motorcycle riding. That brings us to our next question. What GPS features do you need for use on a motorcycle? Here's my list • The device must be able to download and use multi-point routes. My favorite rides snake around from one good road to another. I need a device that is able to do that. • The device must have a large screen that is easy to read. • It must be waterproof. • The device must be glove friendly.
• It shows you where you are on the map
• Complete maps database must be stored on the device so it will still work when phone service and WiFi are not available.
• What direction you are going
• Being shock resistant is a priority.
• Keeps the map centered on where you are
• It must provide voice prompts that can be linked to a Bluetooth helmet headset.
• Allows you to zoom in to show every individual road including name info.
• Swapping rides with friends must be quick and easy. The GPX file format is an open standard and is most commonly used.
• You don't have to refold it, keep it dry, etc. • Turn-by-turn voice prompts and graphic displays make navigation through complicated urban areas easier. 2003-03.jpg 24 24
THUNDER ROADS® ROADS® OHIO OHIO MAGAZINE MAGAZINE THUNDER
• It must be easy to remove from the bike. If integrated, it must easily transfer route and track files back and forth between the bike and the computer.
THUNDERROADSOHIO.COM THUNDERROADSOHIO.COM
OHIO’S MOTORCYCLE MOTORCYCLE MAGAZINE MAGAZINE OHIO’S
