There were several times during our RV travels this year when we made arrangements to meet up with friends. You know the drill, we email them to say we should get there tomorrow. Then when tomorrow comes we call to say we’re on our way and give an ETA. Then, when we hit some really bad traffic, we call or text them again to say we’ll be late.
OR
We share our location via Google Maps and they can see exactly where we are and know when to expect us. When we did this, our friends were out in their driveways ready to meet us because they saw when we turned down their road. Another time a friend agreed to pick us up at a train station – both of us shared our location with the other. He knew exactly when we arrived, and we knew exactly where he was parked!
Here’s how you do it:
Editor’s note: Google Maps has been updated. In the video below, instead of clicking the three lines in the top left corner, you’re going to click your photo or image in the top right corner. Then, select location sharing and follow the steps from there.
By the way, if you need a beginner’s lesson on using Google Maps to navigate, check out Episode 178 of our YouTube show. How to navigate using Google Maps
Chris Guld is President and Teacher-in-Chief at GeeksOnTour.com. She and her husband, Jim, produce a free weekly YouTube show called What Does This Button Do? They have been Fulltime RVers, popular seminar presenters at RV Rallies, and regular contributors to RVTravel.com, for many years.
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We only give approximate arrival times as we have learned that the maps we have used forget about some geographical features or don’t know about some of the roads under construction. Our Google maps neglected to take into account the 15+ miles of narrow, windy road with 20mph curves or the 5 different hill pulls and resulting slower speeds. So, we don’t let folks know a definite arrival time until we are in town.
Do you have to keep the Google maps app open all of the time to send your location?