Global Positioning System

Written by: Kate Snyder, Executive Assistant

Allow me to begin this post by saying that although I am of the techie-generation (my favorite label is "Echo-Boomer") and use computers, gadgets, widgets, ipods, PDAs, and other space-station-level devices as comfortably as I breathe, I do not understand how any of them work. At all. Therefore, I am utterly entranced by them with a sort of mystic awe usually reserved for beings from beyond the human realm. Which explains why I have spent the better part of this morning playing with (by which, of course, I mean diligently programming to achieve maximum efficiency) a fabulous new EECM toy – 5 GPS units. That’s right. We are now the proud possessor of five – count them five – Garmin StreetPilot c330 portable car navigation systems. We’re big time now.

The GPS units were a gift from a loyal EECM supporter and the plan is to use them to make our Meals on Wheels delivery system as volunteer-friendly as possible. As anyone who has ever spent more than about 30 minutes in Pittsburgh is aware, this city is not the easiest place to navigate. I think this is due to a variety of factors including the hills, the waterways, the fact that the same names get used over and over again, and the fact that our city government has decided not to label some streets at all. Because really, who needs street signs? Granted, if you drive around long enough you will eventually run into a bridge or a tunnel and since those are usually marked, you can thereby regain your bearings. But on the whole, it’s shockingly easy to get lost in Pittsburgh.

Enter our snazzy new GPS systems! Our Meals on Wheels program is entirely volunteer-based – from preparing the food, to packaging the meals, to delivering them to our clients. These clients, about 90 of them, are divided into 5 routes, based on address and the GPS units have each been assigned to a route and programmed with all the addresses for that route. The volunteers drive their own cars so we’ll just sign out a GPS system to the driver and away they’ll go!

And…if they get hungry along the way, that’s no problem at all! You can ask the GPS for restaurant locations, divided by type – American, Asian, British Isles, Barbecue, you name it! So if you suddenly get a Thai food craving, you can be at one in minutes. Not that we encourage our volunteers to make Thai food pit stops while on their routes. I’m just saying it would be possible…and I’m thinking I should probably test the capabilities of these fancy shmancy gadgets by tracking down the nearest hot dog shop. According to my unit, there’s one under a mile from here…