GPS for Dummies.pdf - Engineering Surveyor

202Part III: Digital Mapping on Your ComputerCreating a routeIf you’ve followed the chapter to this point, you can use the example map createdin the earlier section, “Finding an Address with Street Atlas USA.” SupposeI want to give my friends this map of Chinatown, showing where Sam Wo’srestaurant is located. Great, but that’s not going to be much help if they’vejust arrived at the airport and are driving into the city. For their needs, I useStreet Atlas USA to create a route for them to follow to noodle nirvana.1. Click the Route tab.2. In the Start text box, enter your starting address.I use a cool Street Atlas USA feature that lets you use the three-lettercode of an airport. I enter SFO, which is the code for San FranciscoInternational Airport.3. For the destination, enter the address in the Finish text box.Here, I enter Sam Wo’s address: 813 Washington Street, 94108.When you enter a ZIP code as part of the search, Street Atlas USA removesthe ZIP code from the Finish text box when the calculated route is displayed.The ZIP is required for the search but isn’t shown with the route.4. Click the Calculate button.Presto! A map appears with an outlined route from the airport to SamWo’s, as shown in Figure 12-5. The route distance is shown as well as anestimate of how long it will take to get there.Remember that your Calculate result is based on driving the speed limit witha normal amount of traffic. You can zoom in on the map to get more detail.On all street navigation software, you’ll find that the travel times for routestend to be conservative estimates. Nine times out of ten, you end up takingless time to reach your destination.Getting directionsMaps with highlighted routes are pretty cool, but sometimes it’s nice to havea set of plain old turn right on Main Street, then take a left at the light directions.After you create a route (see the preceding section), Street Atlas USA can provideyou with turn-by-turn directions to get to your destination.