mapping and directional ?s

[sutures]

I'm a new EMT starting a new job 10/3. Systen status management is used at this service, (posting in peak areas at peak times calculated by a computer) as i understand it. Decent size metro area

of about 1,000,000 folks, (priority one's are 8:59 or less mandatory) as i understand it.

Want to hit the ground running on this for obvious reasons, know where the posts are but unfamiliar-long winded residential addresses can get confusing. "Over Thinking" this or what?

Any thoughts appreciated. Thanks

[ORmedic65]

You might be over thinking this a bit too much. I understand your desire to want to be "perfect" when you start, but your partner should understand if you are a little slow at mapping to begin with. Are you working for a BLS company or ALS? If it's ALS then I would imagine that you would be driving and your partner would be mapping, in which case you have a little less to worry about.

[Just Plain Ruff]

I use my garmin. If the ambulance service I work for doesn't have GPS then I pull out my gps device and use it.

I know a guy at Garmin and he says that the majority of the maps you see today printed by Rand MCNally and others, the maps are actually obtained from the same company that Garmin uses.

In a metro area like you said you are starting to work for, a GPS system should truly be standard but you should also be looking at the paper maps because those are usually updated by the crews with wierd streets and stuff that the map doesn't have.

I actually when I worked for MAST in Kansas city and AMR in Independence, I actually obtained my own system owned map and used it exclusive of the map that the truck had in it. I had it so updated and marked on that it did not look like the previous version.

Good luck on the new job. Started yesterday huh! Did you have fun?

[Vorenus]

In a metro area like you said you are starting to work for, a GPS system should truly be standard but you should also be looking at the paper maps because those are usually updated by the crews with wierd streets and stuff that the map doesn't have.

Right. I always try to take a quick glane at a paper map before drving after the navigations of a gps system, `cause they can easily fool you.