I'm lost and can't find my way home!

August 26, 2011 6:02 AM

We are having trouble entering our home address into our Magellan GPS Unit.

We are moving in a few weeks to my wife's old hometown, and I know it will take me a certain period of time before I know the roads well enough to do it without help.

The problem is, we cannot figure out how to enter our address into our Magellan GPS Unit... The street address is: 222 Rt. 222 (changed obviously)...

We are able to enter the state and town properly. Then it asks for the street name and this is where we get stuck..

We have tried 'Route', 'County Road' 'State Road' '22' 'Twenty Two' and basically went through the lists to find any possibilities but it will not give us an option that will take us to our house....

Are there any potential code words for 'Route 22' that I am not trying?
Trying to get through to anyone at Magellan has proved fruitless so far...
Thanks

posted by TwilightKid to computers & internet (12 answers total)

Can you use the GPS to determine your position when you're at the house using coordinates (latitude & longitude), then save that location for future use?

I don't have a Magellan, but my Garmin has that option. Sometimes addresses out in rural areas just don't happen on a GPS.
posted by pupstocks at 6:07 AM on August 26, 2011

Try finding the road on Google maps, and see if there isn't an alternate name for Rt.222. For instance, the road that fronts the neighborhood I live in is, technically, Co.Rd.450N. But, it's alternately identified as Royerton Road.

Or...Should there be a directional addition to Rt.222? As in, Rt.222 North?
posted by Thorzdad at 6:09 AM on August 26, 2011

Set your magellan for an address very close by that's on a street findable by the Magellan. If you know how to get home from there, you can figure out the rest by yourself.
posted by inturnaround at 6:10 AM on August 26, 2011

I second inturnaround, too. I do a nearby address or an intersection sometimes if my GPS doesn't know the real address I want.
posted by pupstocks at 6:13 AM on August 26, 2011

I would switch to map mode and select the point I want to drive to. Save it as a favourite.
posted by devnull at 6:14 AM on August 26, 2011

Highway or Hwy?
posted by ellenaim at 6:18 AM on August 26, 2011

Maybe you can ask the unit what's nearby when you are home and see some example addresses that appear.
posted by CodeMonkey at 6:23 AM on August 26, 2011

Cool. I will try a few of these out today and report back! Thanks!
posted by TwilightKid at 6:25 AM on August 26, 2011

This might be a dumb question: Did you try "Rt 22"?

I live in an area with a lot of Farm to Market (F.M.) roads and that is how you enter their addiress: "FM 238" or whatever.
posted by muddgirl at 6:39 AM on August 26, 2011

Use the latitude & longitude. If you don't know it, go here. If that can't find your address, go to Google maps, click on settings (the gear icon on the top right), click on maps labs and enable LatLng marker. Then zoom in on your house, and right click. It will show you the lat and long that you can use with your GPS.
posted by desjardins at 8:27 AM on August 26, 2011 [1 favorite]

Also try the state abbreviation as a prefix: TX-222.
posted by Gridlock Joe at 9:44 AM on August 26, 2011

I suggest 'State Route' or appropriate abbreviations.

Also try the ZIP tool on the USPS site. It'll give the official gov't address.
posted by DandyRandy at 11:38 PM on August 28, 2011