According to an article a few weeks ago in the Wall Street Journal there are only 2 companies in the United States who do the mapping for all the GPS and online direction finding sites. The article even gave their web sites so that you call inform them if you discover an error.

That doesn't explain why there are differences in directions. I have one system in my car and my daughter has TomTom and we often double check with an online site and sometimes we get 3 different sets of directions. I'm puzzled too.

The GPS is reliant on maps as well. THat is, your GPS works from satellite to track your location and associate with the (usually preloaded)maps.

I'm not one for reading directions, unless it's a recipe.
So, when I put in an address in my Garmin, it takes me what I'd guess is the most direct route. I want to know if there is some way to put in the quickest route, so I don't have to go through downtown areas. I want to miss all the stop signs if possible.
Leslie

We also print out maps from Mapquest and then use GPS in the car.

Of course, we also carry an updated paper Rand McNally road atlas in the car....nothing like eyeballing a paper map if something just doesn't look "right", a traffic problem reported on local radio, or we change plans.

Leslie,

On my Garmin I have 3 options under Route Preference: faster time, shorter distance, and off road. Select Settings, then Navigation to adjust it.

Personally, I'd go with AAA rather than the other 2 options. I've gotten many sets of directions from AAA and they've never steered me wrong.

On the other hand....

When my accountant moved to a new office, I went to mapquest to get directions. According to them, his new place was about 5 miles away, UNDER some train tracks. When in reality, he's about a half mile from my front door.

And GPS? A friend got that for Christmas. Just for fun, she decided to use it to go to work. It had her going in the opposite direction, heading right into a very dangerous city. She's never used it since, for anything.

Someone decided to "gift" me with an AAA trip ticket for a trip to Fla...I tossed them away. I worked out a shorter trip by just reading paper maps.
Yes, with those trip tickets, you will eventually get where you're going.

well as a dispatcher for a company that ships via mostly semi's to busineeses from NC to the TX border i can say that there is no definitive, correct mapping program or GPS. my drivers have some of the most expensive commercial GPS units and i still get them maps galore when they go to a new customer. you just never know until you drive it which is best which can become VERY time consuming for semi-drivers. i use multiple map sites online and compare differences. when i drive for travel myself i always have road maps, internet maps and GPS (garmin). relying solely on GPS is not something i would do(unless you have all the time in the world), i can tell a zillion stories on drivers using that only lol they don't last long w/ me. ~ liz

If your planning a trip and going by interstate, you may want to check out travmatix.com. It uses mapquest, but will also tell you what's at the interstate exits as well, like which gas stations, motels, places to eat, etc.. I travel with a GPS, travmatix printout and an Atlas. There is still nothing like a good ole map in my book as back up.

what i like about the aaa trip tik is the up-dated sections on road work, the descriptions of the area you'll be driving thru, and city/county maps.

i also take my rand mcnally road atlas and always have the maps handy. it saved us once for an alt route (which we still use, lol..)

We don't own a GPS - do all our navigating by maps. Love the interstates because on the average after entering one, I will travel 200 to 300 miles before having to change highways.

For trip planning, AAA may be a better choice. It is my understanding that AAA keeps fairly up to date about road construction, closures, and detours, and factors these items into the suggested route. Others, like MapQuest routes by maps in their data base.

We do our trip planning with paper maps handling detours as we run across those. Usually, our local newscasters and newspspers keeps us informed of new detours on major highways within a 200 mile raduis.

A GPS receiver finds the location of your unit by satellite and displays that on maps in its data base, or maps stored in the unit.

BTW you can pull up individual states' DOT websites and get real-time traffic. i use it all the time both w/ my drivers who call when they encounter a back up and i check what the problem is or while drving myself i'll get on my PDA(has internet) and check on back-ups too. if you have satellite radio, i have XM, most larger cites have instant weather and traffic channels too, very handy. ~ liz

We have XM Satellite Radio in the car, and will take advantage of that.

When I use Mapquest it always shows for me to turn right out of my drive way and that is always wrong, I have to turn left. I made a short trip to another town and I knew exactly where to go but I tried my GPS and it went crazy telling me to turn left on a road that was not there, I turned around and came back to try again and turned right on another road and it directed me right back on the same road I was on but past the "unknown road" and then the directions were correct, that was confussing if I had not known where I was really going, but I had to prove it wrong.

We used the GPS for our Virginia trip. She did pretty well, but had one fatal flaw. When we came out of the Fort McHenry Tunnel, she told us to stay left on Route 95 when we've always taken the next exit out of the tunnel. We stayed left, then we almost passed the exit when she said, take the exit on the Right. My husband went all the way across and just made it to the exit ramp. We had a few choice words for her, then went on our way.

She did take us the fastest way, and we cut a lot of time off from our previous trips.