howard@gpu.utcs.utoronto.ca (Howard Lem) (02/05/90)
In article <33817@watmath.waterloo.edu> rbutterworth@watmath.waterloo.edu (Ray Butterworth) writes: > >The CAA maps are handy for planning the global aspects of a trip, >but really quite useless for the fine details of actual navigating. >e.g. you would use it to decide to take higway A to city B and then >switch to highway C, but don't rely on it to tell you how to get from >A to C once you have arrived at B. > You must be talking about the 'triptiks' ?sp) here. I agree, but it's used only to get you from one place to another. I use them to get from one major centre to another. When you get there, you should use local maps. > >The usual test for this type of thing is to get their information >for an area you are already familiar with. For instance, their >Ontario map is nowhere near as good as the free one issued by the >Ministry of Transportation. Look at their guide book for your >city and tell me if those are the restaurants and attractions >that you would consider visiting if you were a tourist in your >own town. > I can't speak for other outlets of CAA, but I use the one @ 2 Carlton St. in Toronto, and when I asked for a Map of Ontario, they hand out the same one the MOT hands. Other maps that you can get are regional, prov. and state maps, and map for most major cities in Can & US. Many of these maps are the same as those available at major books stores here. Their guide books should really serve a starting point for info. You should always try and supplement it with books from the library or info obtained from the chamber of commerce or tourist office of your destination. > >Most provinces and states have tourist information centres on the >main highways as you enter them. Their maps are usually much >better than those from the CAA. In particular, the CAA maps >don't usually show useful details such as exit numbers on the >major highways, and the symbol shapes for the various highway >numbers don't correspond to the shapes on the road signs. >e.g. you look out your car window and see two different highways >labelled 9, one on a square sign and on a state-map shaped sign, >but the one on the CAA map is in a circle. > Ah yes, Sounds like you should check the maps in advance and be sure to read the Legend for the map. Each map has one and one needs to read it before you try and decode the info on the map. Signs on the highway can't be duplicated on the map alot of the time. Exit numbers, I'm afraid you been spoiled by the Ontario Govt.'s Map > ... >On the other hand: >- The free CAA material is good for initial trip plans. >- If you are doing a lot of touristy type things, > the discounts offered by some attractions will save you a few dollars. >- If you need travellers cheques, the CAA charge is great (i.e. 0%). >- If your car ever breaks down and you need assistance getting it started > or towed, that will more than pay for the annual fee. Agreed, CAA membership is a very good deal. Much better than most/all of the other auto clubs. (The only association I have with CAA is that I am a satified member.) -- <<<<<<<<<========= ALL Usual disclaimers go here :-) =========>>>>>>>>> Canada Post: Howard Lem - University of Toronto Computing Services 11 King's College Rd., Room 201B
rbutterworth@watmath.waterloo.edu (Ray Butterworth) (02/06/90)
In article <1990Feb5.155733.23725@gpu.utcs.utoronto.ca> howard@gpu.utcs.utoronto.ca (Howard Lem) writes: >In article <33817@watmath.waterloo.edu> rbutterworth@watmath.waterloo.edu (Ray Butterworth) writes: >>The CAA maps are handy for planning the global aspects of a trip, >>but really quite useless for the fine details of actual navigating. > You must be talking about the 'triptiks' ?sp) here. I agree, but it's used >only to get you from one place to another. I use them to get from one >major centre to another. When you get there, you should use local maps. No. I'm talking about the provincial, state, or regional maps they give you when you say you want maps for that area. > I can't speak for other outlets of CAA, but I use the one @ 2 Carlton St. >in Toronto, and when I asked for a Map of Ontario, they hand out the same >one the MOT hands. Other maps that you can get are regional, prov. and state >maps, and map for most major cities in Can & US. Many of these maps are the >same as those available at major books stores here. Many CAA offices don't have the MOT maps. In particular any office not in Ontario probably doesn't have one. Most of the maps available for $ in major books stores are also nowhere near as good as the free government maps. >>... In particular, the CAA maps >>don't usually show useful details such as exit numbers on the >>major highways, and the symbol shapes for the various highway >>numbers don't correspond to the shapes on the road signs. >>e.g. you look out your car window and see two different highways >>labelled 9, one on a square sign and on a state-map shaped sign, >>but the one on the CAA map is in a circle. >> > Ah yes, Sounds like you should check the maps in advance and >be sure to read the Legend for the map. Each map has one and one >needs to read it before you try and decode the info on the map. >Signs on the highway can't be duplicated on the map alot of the time. But they can, and if they make the symbols the same, there isn't any need to refer to legend since they don't need to be decoded. Compare their Ontario map with the MOT map. Ask for a New York state map and compare it with the one issued for free by the NY tourist information centres. Given a choice between the two there is no reason for anyone to use the CAA map; it is less accurate, less detailed, and uses "standard" CAA symbols instead of those on local road signs. >Exit numbers, I'm afraid you been spoiled by the Ontario Govt.'s Map And that of New York state, and that of ... If we can be spoiled by the information and style provided by free maps, why shouldn't the CAA be able to provide something at least as good? I can't believe it would cost them that much more to produce good maps than it does to produce inadequate maps. > Agreed, CAA membership is a very good deal. Much better than most/all >of the other auto clubs. Definitely, but not for their maps.
sccowan@watmsg.waterloo.edu (S. Crispin Cowan) (02/06/90)
In article <33992@watmath.waterloo.edu> rbutterworth@watmath.waterloo.edu (Ray Butterworth) writes: [map comparisons] >And that of New York state, and that of ... >If we can be spoiled by the information and style provided by free maps, >why shouldn't the CAA be able to provide something at least as good? >I can't believe it would cost them that much more to produce good maps >than it does to produce inadequate maps. Ok, so where would one conveniently get one of these wonderful free maps? Sounds good to me. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- (S.) Crispin Cowan, CS grad student, University of Waterloo Office: DC3548 x3934 Home phone: 570-2517 Post Awful: 60 Overlea Drive, Kitchener, N2M 1T1 UUCP: watmath!watmsg!sccowan Domain: sccowan@watmsg.waterloo.edu "The most important question when any new computer architecture is introduced is `So what?'" -someone on comp.arch (if it was you, let me know & I'll credit it)
mason@tmsoft.uucp (Dave Mason) (02/07/90)
In article <1990Feb5.155733.23725@gpu.utcs.utoronto.ca> howard@gpu.utcs.utoronto.ca (Howard Lem) writes: > You must be talking about the 'triptiks' ?sp) here. I agree, but it's used >only to get you from one place to another. I use them to get from one >major centre to another. When you get there, you should use local maps. Triptiks can be useful. We've gotten them a couple of times. Once it worked out really well. The other time they weren't very helpful. >>- If your car ever breaks down and you need assistance getting it started >> or towed, that will more than pay for the annual fee. > Agreed, CAA membership is a very good deal. Much better than most/all >of the other auto clubs. I've been considering complaining about the recent set of radio ads which feature a CAA operator saying something like: ``CAA... can we help you'' ...(describing a breakdown) ``Yes sir, we'll be right there'' *I've* tried their breakdown service twice. The first answer was more like: ``CAA... hold please'' ...MANY seconds ``Yes, may I help you'' ...describe the problem ``OK, we'll send out a truck, but it will be a couple of hours'' ...frustration, followed by a 2.5+ hour wait. This wasn't in the middle of a snow storm or anything, it was a fairly pleasant June evening. It wasn't in the middle of no-where, it was at Eglinton and Bayview.... The second time was in Newfoundland! ...OK, we need a tow, let's call CAA. There's a listed number for CAA in St.John's so we call it: ``Sorry this number is not in service'' ...A call to directory service gets another number, but no answer on that number! So the ``Atlantic Canada'' AAA book (which CAA gives out and is not terribly helpful, but then I'm a Maritimer, so it's natural that I would find it rather sparse on information.) says, ``when all else fails, call this 800-number'' We call them, find them quite unhelpful, they give a recommended garage or 2 (for the whole province!) But they're no help. Eventually we find a towing company who can handle our car (we need a flatbed rather than a tow - the car is a 68 Lotus Europa) and everything works out fairly well. CAA did reimburse us for the tow charge. This was all ~15:00-19:00 on an August evening on the Trans-Canada. However it was definitely cheaper to have CAA+, we had $120+ of tows in one year (give me a break, I'm rebuilding the car :-) for our $50 or whatever membership. ../Dave
rbutterworth@watmath.waterloo.edu (Ray Butterworth) (02/07/90)
In article <34016@watmath.waterloo.edu> sccowan@watmsg.waterloo.edu (S. Crispin Cowan) writes: >Ok, so where would one conveniently get one of these wonderful free >maps? Sounds good to me. Well, they aren't exactly wonderful, they are simply more up-to-date and detailed than most of the maps you pay money for. Truly wonderful maps are available from the federal and provincial governments showing all the county and side roads, topological features, etc., but there is a charge for them. I haven't been there for years, but there used to be a Government of Ontario bookstore at 880 Bay St. in Toronto that had lots of interesting maps and brochures available (many free). The Ontario maps are available from most Ministry of Transportation offices (drivers licence, car licence), chambers of commerce, tourist centres (the service centre on the 401 between KW and Guelph used to have them, but I haven't been there since they became a McDonalds, and don't ask at the gas station or they'll try to sell you a map). You can probably mail to some tourism department for other province or state maps. Your local chamber of commerce might have some of them available, or would at least be able to give you the appropriate address or 800 phone number. The last time I got a New York map was from a service centre on the NY Thruway near Rochester (which is where I met someone who had driven from Pennsylvania and was wondering how much further he had to go to get to the Toronto airport. The clerk was having a hard time telling him that he should have exited the thruway at Buffalo and crossed the border there a couple of hours before).
clewis@eci386.uucp (Chris Lewis) (02/08/90)
In article <isu8j69g2@tmsoft.uucp> mason@tmsoft.UUCP (Dave Mason) writes: > *I've* tried their breakdown service twice. The first answer was > more like: > ``CAA... hold please'' > ...MANY seconds > ``Yes, may I help you'' > ...describe the problem > ``OK, we'll send out a truck, but it will be a couple of hours'' > ...frustration, followed by a 2.5+ hour wait. > This wasn't in the middle of a snow storm or anything, it was a fairly > pleasant June evening. It wasn't in the middle of no-where, it was at > Eglinton and Bayview.... I had a similar experience - it was explained to me by the Tow truck driver that CAA had only *one* tow truck at night at that time. Whereas, during the day they have CAA cars in at least every 1-mile square in the street grid. CAA's been trying for some time to get more trucks registered but for varying reasons weren't very successful. The CAA vehicles are franchises, the tow trucks are generally independent companies that have signed up. I didn't get a very clear picture of the reason why, but the driver mentioned the bankruptcy/merger of a *lot* of tow companies (including the company that he used to own) and I guess a relatively low payment (given expenses in this town) to the tow companies for each tow. There's apparently only a handful of tow truck companies left in the city. He said something to the effect that CAA was trying to start up it's own tow truck division in Metro to solve the problem. It's slow, but it works and is still worth the money. The CAA books may be sometimes inaccurate, but they've done pretty good in finding the occasional things that even the locals don't know about. (Like a personal tour of the Berkeley nuclear research labs - neat!). We always rely on the official maps - the CAA ones are much too coarse for our wanderings around... We don't "do cities". On the other hand, let me tell you about the Nasciamento road ... AAA on the other hand doesn't give any books or maps free to their customers. Our friends in California get a care-package of CAA books every year or two from us ... AAA charges something like $15 US for the same California book that we get for free. Not accepting currency is common - just ignorance in many cases. Such as the time US$ travellers cheques were refused because they had "Canada" (as in "Royal Bank of Canada US Traveller's Cheque") on them. -- Chris Lewis, Elegant Communications Inc, {uunet!attcan,utzoo}!lsuc!eci386!clewis Ferret mailing list: eci386!ferret-list, psroff mailing list: eci386!psroff-list
evan@telly.on.ca (Evan Leibovitch) (02/08/90)
Allow one voice of support for the CAA. Going to the same Washington hotel as Greg, a combination of CAA Triptics an maps were enough to get D'Arcy and me right to the door - on the first try. In retrospect, I'd have benefitted from asking for a Pennsylvania map (to get us around Harrisburg's maze of interstates), and I decided against their original route suggestion. But otherwise I have no quibbles with the route information and maps. I appreciated their warnings, stamped on the appropriate areas of the triptiks, where radar traps were more common (they were right). Thanks to CAA tourbooks, I have been able to find reasonably-priced hotels for Unix Expo in New York, and previous Uniforums in Dallas and San Francisco. In each case, the hotel was not part of a chain, was under $80/night, and within walking distance of the show. As these places did not have 800 numbers, the CAA placed the LD call to make the reservations. As for the tow service, it's saved my tail enough times that I can't complain. Response has been reasonable on all but the coldest days, and the tow truck drivers I spoke to have been generally pleased with the contracts the CAA gives them (less $$ per tow, but plenty of steady business...) There are many other reasons to like the service. In my two trips to Britain, it's been very helpful that both the AA and RAC honour the Canadian membership as if it was their own. All in all, to me, well worth the bucks. -- The Northwest Territories: | Evan Leibovitch, Sound Software Where men are men, women | Located in beautiful Brampton, Ontario are scarce, and caribou are | evan@telly.on.ca / uunet!attcan!telly!evan very careful how they walk. | (416) 452-0504
msb@sq.sq.com (Mark Brader) (02/11/90)
> ... the symbol shapes for the various highway > numbers don't correspond to the shapes on the road signs. > ... [the map] ... uses "standard" CAA symbols ... I would consider this a *feature*. I'd rather learn one symbol for "state/provincial highway" for all map-reading, and translate that into whatever I see locally. > e.g. you look out your car window and see two different highways > labelled 9, one on a square sign and on a state-map shaped sign, > but the one on the CAA map is in a circle. This situation is actually quite rare, and for it to happen before one had been in the state long enough to know that the state-map shaped sign was the symbol for a state highway is vanishingly rare. Besides, in many jurisdictions either there are two or three different shapes used to represent a state or provincial highway, or else signs for freeway exits to state highways only give the number and no symbol at all. (Ontario, for instance, has two different symbols for "King's Highways"-- one mostly used for freeway exits, one everywhere else.) Personally, I use the Rand McNally Road Atlas for "global planning" of what North American road travel I do. I'll be the first to admit that its detail is often inadequate for particular areas, because the need for portable size limits its scale, but I find the consistent symbols a virtue. Indeed, I was rather dismayed when they decided to redraft all the maps a few years ago; I had to relearn the legend (free freeways changed from green to blue, for instance). But I only had to do it once. And by the way, its maps do give exit numbers. -- Mark Brader "It's simply a matter of style, and while there SoftQuad Inc., Toronto are many wrong styles, there really isn't any utzoo!sq!msb, msb@sq.com one right style." -- Ray Butterworth This article is in the public domain.