When you need a UBD in your Tesla

[doggy1]

We were just in Canberra for a few days. On Friday, we dropped into a small suburban Cafe for lunch.

Afterwards, we were going about 12kms for my wife to visit a friend from Primary School days (over 65 years ago).

So, while we awaited the food, I pulled out by Tesla App and tried to put in the address. Icon spinning and eventually a message to "Enter address offline". I did this multiple times but continually got "address not found".

Then I discovered that my phone (with Telstra SIM) had no mobile signal.
Wife found the same.

Then returned to the car and also could not enter an address and find it. No LTE or 3G signal).

Then I decided to pan the map to manually see where to go. However, most of the map from where we were to the destination was missing and presumably not cached. There was about 1km in the direction of interest.

Now, my wife is very organised and has a Canberra and Sydney and NSW map in the car. So we pulled out the UBD and got much of the way there and then got a signal and used the car Nav for the final stages.

Could not continue our Podcast either....

So, moral of the story is to have a backup paper map of some kind in the car in case this happens. I surmise that one or more Telstra cells were off the air. Yes, I know, first world problem and probably quite rare......................

 

[meloccom]

That’s why my partner has a Telstra based sim and I have an Optus based Sim. If one network goes down we have the other.

 

[Maximillan]

Another back up plan is Google Maps allows you to download maps on your phone app, so you can access them in offline mode. I have the entire Sydney basin downloaded along with a couple of other destinations on my phone.

 

[Zoltrix77]

UBD? Urrrrg, as a Melbournian, that makes my skin crawl.

 

[Krisja]

I asked Google what UBD stands for...

What does UBD stand for?

Looking for the definition of UBD? Find out what is the full meaning of UBD on Abbreviations.com! 'Understanding By Design' is one option -- get in to view more @ The Web's largest and most authoritative acronyms and abbreviations resource.

www.abbreviations.com

 

[doggy1]

UBD? Urrrrg, as a Melbournian, that makes my skin crawl.

Sorry! (I was born in Melbourne and have a directory for there too and yes, it is not a UBD!)

 

[B3AU]

Another back up plan is Google Maps allows you to download maps on your phone app, so you can access them in offline mode. I have the entire Sydney basin downloaded along with a couple of other destinations on my phone.

Apple Maps does too

 

[dronus]

Nothing like a bit of "flying by the seat of your pants" adventure hahaha.

With Canberra, no matter how far you drive you can usually find a roundabout that will spin you around in a new direction, can be a bit disorientating ahah.
I was over there recently and booked an uber to take me to a little restaurant id heard was quite nice, lucky the driver knew where he was going as i got completely lost..

 

[doggy1]

I am a sailor and we have sailed more than the distance around the world in our 36' yacht.
I've always believed in a backup for every critical system and this policy has stood us in good stead in some dangerous and fraught circumstances.
As a result, we have never needed outside assistance.
For instance, despite electronics, we have always carried backup paper charts (which even the electronic chart-makers recommend).

So, having a SIM with a different carrier is definitely one way of having a backup and would probably have helped in my case (unless both carriers were down for some reason).

But, if I was in an area where bushfires were raging and Telstra, Optus and all the others were dead because of burned towers, I would rather have a paper map than an extra SIM. However, I'm not knocking the second SIM idea or maps downloaded to the phone. It surprised me that so little of the map data was downloaded/cached on the car. I'd always (mistakenly) assumed that in a place like the ACT, the whole lot would have been cached. Learning something new all the time!

I think the main awareness is that technology can and does sometimes fail and a backup can be handy.

 

[doggy1]

With Canberra, no matter how far you drive you can usually find a roundabout

I love roundabouts much more than traffic lights. Fortunately, I no longer have frequent bad dreams where I am taking a chainsaw around town in the middle of the night and chopping down all the traffic lights! Had that dream for over 20yrs.

 

[Quickst]

Nah the last time I used a UBD/Gregory was in the 1990s.
Since then car satnav and then apple car play, now Tesla online maps.
Generally when a mobile signal is down you only need to drive a bit and the signal will establish.
I suppose one can plan for the apocalypse, but that's like all the utes driving around town all kitted up with ARB accessories in the cities and orange Maxtrax that have never been used.

Rather than a UBD, keep a Starlink Mini in the car.

 

[dronus]

I am a sailor and we have sailed more than the distance around the world in our 36' yacht.
I've always believed in a backup for every critical system and this policy has stood us in good stead in some dangerous and fraught circumstances.
As a result, we have never needed outside assistance.
For instance, despite electronics, we have always carried backup paper charts (which even the electronic chart-makers recommend).

So, having a SIM with a different carrier is definitely one way of having a backup and would probably have helped in my case (unless both carriers were down for some reason).

But, if I was in an area where bushfires were raging and Telstra, Optus and all the others were dead because of burned towers, I would rather have a paper map than an extra SIM. However, I'm not knocking the second SIM idea or maps downloaded to the phone. It surprised me that so little of the map data was downloaded/cached on the car. I'd always (mistakenly) assumed that in a place like the ACT, the whole lot would have been cached. Learning something new all the time!

When i was right into 4wding id keep an older 2/3g nokia phone in my glovebox just incase my newer phone lost signal. Plus i had a satphone and HF on the back. Rarely used them but was always fun testing to make sure they still worked every month or so, and before venturing out. Maps were paper, or some people who splashed out got those HEMA 4wd mapping systems.

Sailing is life and death, you have done well! finding a cafe in Canberra not so critical haha. Glad to hear you overcame the adversity! Challenges like this keep the old grey matter exercised

I guess the moral to the story is, dont trust anything in Canberra haha, (flame suit on).

 

[doggy1]

you only need to drive a bit

six kilometers. More than "a bit". My father used to say: "A bit is more than a horse can eat".

 

[dronus]

BTW its called a Fullers

Fullers Adelaide Street Directory

Fullers Adelaide and Country SA Street Directory

mapshop.net.au

Latest version:

Fullers Adelaide Street Directory

 

[Quickst]

six kilometers

Minor in the scheme of things.
Just get a Starlink Mini

 

[dronus]

six kilometers. More than "a bit". My father used to say: "A bit is more than a horse can eat".

or something you put in a drill

 

[SalisburySam]

Sixteen posts in and with UBD mentioned eleven times, still no idea what it means. Interesting thread though…

 

[B3AU]

Sixteen posts in and with UBD mentioned eleven times, still no idea what it means. Interesting thread though…

Universal Publishers (Australia) - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

Universal Publishers produce the ubiquitous UBD-Gregory's street directories in Australia. The names of these publications have come to be used as a generic term for street directories in many Australian cities.

 

[SalisburySam]

Universal Publishers (Australia) - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

Thank you, thank you. Makes much more sense now.

 

[Vostok]

Thank you, thank you. Makes much more sense now.

I always thought UBD stood for Universal Business Directories but maybe that’s apocryphal…

Still slightly amazed that printed road directiories still exist. UBD still publishes directories annually for Sydney, but it seems Sydways has been defunct for a few years now.

I remember when Sydways was first introduced in 1994 and UBD mocked it on the basis that the Melways paradigm of drawing roads as a single line with the road name next to it “wouldn’t work with Sydney’s winding and twisting streets” . That was the best attack they could come up . But I switched to Sydways from the first edition - much better directory IMHO.