Here is the map view screen of my new Garmin Nuvi 1350t with my vehicle parked in a northerly heading.  The screen will rotate automatically, keeping the top of the screen oriented with the direction of travel while the little white arrow (lower left) always points North.  In the image below the screen has automatically adjusted for use after dark. 

VEHICLE GPS—
Amazing

I like maps and geography, and have managed to find my way quite nicely for about 70 years now.

However, with a slightly delayed nod to advancing technology, I recently bought my first vehicle GPS.

Don’t get me wrong, many years ago I was piloting light airplanes with Loran (a forerunner of GPS) in blind flying conditions and I still am perfectly capable of finding Pocatello with a compass and a map.

But, mercy! These new vehicle gadgets are amazing.

On my very first extended outing with this thing it was chirping about my arrival deep in the hills of Tuscarawas County as my friend’s very, very rural mailbox came into view. “Spot on” as the Brits might say.

I have already rolled through a major metropolitan area and was gleeful when this gadget pointed me to my correct traffic lanes far before I got trapped somewhere I didn’t intend to be.

We used it repeatedly recently to find our way back and forth between our motel and square dance venue even with near countless neighborhood-type streets needing to be negotiated.

Curious about how high you are in elevation. No sweat. Push a button or two.

It even knows the speed limit on seemingly all but minor roads; sometimes changing as the newly posted limit slides by your passing window. Exceed the posted limit by one MPH and the darn thing flashes red.

Have an emergency developing? Push a touch-screen button and the thing will tell you precisely where you are so help can find you quickly, or, how you can navigate to the nearest hospital, for example.

Hungry for Chinese food? Yup, it will direct you to the nearest restaurant of that sort.

On the downside, the first brand-spanking new GPS Garmin supplied me was inoperable.  Luckily I had made my purchase thru Amazon.com and they fixed my problem in a jiffy!

But, even when working properly they are perfectly capable of doing some really goofy things.

Once, for example, this gadget directed us off a major highway onto a county road which made sense from a compass heading point of view; then, it directed us onto a township road which quickly morphed into a one-lane gravel surface.

I was thankful I wasn’t driving a semi-truck when that happened.

I even get a kick out of ignoring its instructions once in awhile. The little lady who resides in there somewhere simply notices your geographic intransigence and politely informs you she is “Recalculating”.

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Image notes:  The small plus and minus signs in the images allow the user to adjust the zoom scale so the desired map size appears on the screen.  The circle with the red leaf shape in the lower right of the images is Garmin's ecoRoute feature.  That gadget uses acceleration, deceleration and speed data to estimate your fuel consumption and carbon footprint.  You should be embarrassed if that little leaf-like icon stays in the red while driving.  It rewards you with a green leaf when you are driving gently.