My GPS Navigator.
I had been buying and using road maps since I owned a car. Since roads and highways are being built every day I have to keep buying new and updated maps every now and then. I was tempted to buy one of the many GPS navigators being sold in the market but kept on postponing the decision. When I was stuck in a traffic jam in Klang more than a year ago on the way to a relative's wedding I finally decided the time was ripe to own one. It had been helping in my road travels ever since.
How big this little thing can help me was demonstrated in the past one and half days. I had to visit relatives staying in Selangor and Kuala Lumpur for the Hari Raya. I started my journey after Maghrib prayers on Friday 17th September 2010. The first stop was my son-in-law's parents' house in Shah Alam for a light dinner. To go there I rode on Federal Route 1, LEKAS or E21, Industrial Federal Route 3265 which was not in good shape, PLUS or E2 and ELITE or E6. Reaching Shah Alam was never a problem, but finding my in laws' house had been a problem for me all these years. Not now with my little handy friend.
I slept at my daughter's house in Sungai Buloh, Selangor. The next morning I went to visit my late brother's family in Selayang. The navigator guided my through Kg. Merbau Sempak and Kg. Kubu Gajah before joining Federal Route 52 and then to Selayang via MRR2.
From Selayang I used Federal Route 1 and MRR2 to visit one brother in law and two sisters in law in Taman Permata. From there I went to visit another brother in law in Ampang. Reaching his house had been a problem for me all these years. Again my little navigator helped me.
Finally I went to my youngest brother law staying in Putra Perdana, Puchong. This time I was advised not to follow the navigator strictly and use the Maju Expressway or MEX instead. Although the journey seemed longer I was not stuck in traffic jams.
At Putra Perdana I realised that a niece of mine is staying somewhere in Puchong. I rang up her husband but there was no reply. Luckily I wrote their house address in my mobile phone. By searching through Google Earth using my other little friend the laptop I was able to locate their house and coordinates. I entered the coordinates to my little navigator.
The navigator showed that my niece's house is only about two kilometers away from my brother in law's house. Fortunately she and her family were at home. So I killed two birds using one stone in Puchong.
I left Puchong around 9.30 in the evening. I had to override the navigator until I reached Lingkaran Putrajaya and drove towards KLIA and Seremban. When I reached ELITE or E6 my travelling in a big circle was complete. Thanks to my little navigator friend, for the first time in years of visiting my relatives in Selangor and Kuala Lumpur during Hari Raya I was not lost.
1 comment:
Brother Maarof, I first came across GPS system when I was studying aircraft maintenance back in 1972. Of course it took a long time before it can be mass produced for the people like us to use in our car. Even in 1972 the aircraft version was very accurate. The pilot only need to punch the destination coordinate and the computer would navigate the aeroplane to the exact runaway. If the pilot forgot to key in the coordinate the the computer would navigate the aeroplane to ground zero.Mshah
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