I was in Shoreditch earlier on today and was a bit lost to say the least.
I knew I wasn’t far away from where I wanted to be but was confronted with side roads wherever I turned.. this wasn’t going to be a happy ending, put a map in front of me and I turn in to Casper the not so friendly ghost.
For a while I walked around just taking in the sights and surroundings because I had a bit of time on my hands but that got a little tiring pretty quickly..
I found a friendly bus conductor who was stopped at the side having a smoke so I asked him where it was I was looking for.. he sent me in the completely wrong direction so after a while walking I stopped a lovely geeky chap who I thought would find me the way to my mecca.. and that he did.. hey I like to adhere to the geeky stereotype every now and then too you know.. He said he wasn’t entirely sure where it was but time was running out for me.. then he had a cunning plan and came to my rescue through the wonders of Google. Whoever said they were getting all evil!
He whipped out his iPhone and started up the Maps application. Genius I thought, why didn’t I think of that.. In the times I’ve used Google Maps in Milton Keynes it was really unreliable and you couldn’t trust the output so I didn’t tend to use it so much.. right there on the street we were having a bit of iPhone loving and sharing tips on cool apps, iPhone formatted sites etc.. I turned location services on on my iPhone (normally off to conserve batter) and pressed the button in the bottom left hand corner which magically located where I was with a nice flashing blue dot.. I whacked in the post code where I was heading for and it plotted me a line how to get there and directions!
Whereas I’ve had limited success with Google Maps previously, it absolutely was a lifesaver and took me exactly to where I wanted to be along with providing directions. I even had time to scope out where it was and then head back down the road to get a sandwich.. Perfect. It was quite a spectacle as your location updates itself on the map so you can see if you’re taking a wrong turn (which I did a few times just to try it out.. honest guv!) I was pretty impressed all in all.