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Google Maps Hacks

simonweckert.com

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Re: Google Maps Hacks

#351

Post by stoobs »

bkor wrote: post #338
ferzul wrote: post #328

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Roundabouts are great for cars, and awful for just about everyone else. People, bikes, buses, trucks: all face difficulty or death in their presence.

> People, bikes, buses, trucks: all face difficulty or death in their presence. Roundabouts make my bicycle commute way faster. This in The Netherlands where we cycle a lot. Difficulty or death is entirely incorrect. Suggest to compare the designs across countries, maybe there's a huge difference in the design?

I think the issue comes when people try to circumvent the give-way priority - which gets worse when there are multiple lanes and multiple exits.

It certainly seems to be a people problem rather than a roundabout deign issue from my experience?

People trying to "beat" people out onto the roundabout rather than giving way, people not using proper lane discipline and squeezing/cutting into other lanes etc..

Re: Google Maps Hacks

#352

Post by specialist »

AlexandrB wrote: post #115

Navigation apps have mostly settled into a comfortable state of "good enough" mediocrity. In addition to the "red but no traffic" problems highlighted by others I find turn by turn directions are incredibly annoying while driving in areas I'm intimately familiar with and there's no way to say "I know what I'm doing when I'm in this area" or "pause giving me voice directions for 10 minutes". Additionally: * I can't co…

* Side trips, eg find coffee then resume main trip.

Re: Google Maps Hacks

#353

Post by aspz »

gregmac wrote: post #118
ryanianian wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is my common complaint with Waze and most driving apps - they optimize for "least time," not "least anguish". I would almost always prefer to spend an extra 5 minutes on my "normal" route (that I have on auto-pilot) instead of saving that 5 minutes by taking confusingly-named side-streets with lots of left turns onto other busy side-streets. I don't know if Apple Maps really gets this any better to be honest.

I had a dedicated GPS a decade ago (I don't remember what brand) that had route options for Fastest, Shortest or Simplest that were easy to pick when you were first putting in the address. With few exceptions, simplest was usually the best option, especially if driving in an unfamiliar area. I think it basically tried to minimize turns or number of different roads. That would be a nice thing to see on Google Maps.

Yes this is one thing that frustrates me about Google's navigation. Often it will take you off the main road through difficult and narrow side roads in order to save 2 mins. When I'm in an unfamiliar area I would rather save the stress and sit in traffic for those two minutes.

Re: Google Maps Hacks

#354

Post by marriedWpt »

Gene_Parmesan wrote: post #345
jrochkind1 wrote: post #297

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So I'm stuck in a traffic jam, and google maps is telling me I can take an alternate route to avoid it and save 25 minutes vs waiting in the traffic jam. Something that occurs to me as I sit in this traffic... what portion of all the other driver's around me also looking at google maps? Is Google Maps telling them to take the same alternate route as me? Are they all going to do it? If they all do it, does the alterna…

My third hand information frmo a coworker who is friends with people on the maps team is that some percentage of people will get routed into the traffic, and some percentage will get routed to alternate routes, of which there may be a few. Google appears to take a rather active stance on increasing total traffic flow, even at the expense of giving some number of drivers suboptimal routes.

I've noticed this too, and as a result I cannot trust Google maps.

Is there any competitor I can check to confirm best routes?

Re: Google Maps Hacks

#355

Post by feintruled »

bkor wrote: post #337
roblabla wrote: post #284

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I hate roundabouts. I live in France, and we have them everywhere. They're a huge clusterfuck that does not win any time, and when misused can be a lot more dangerous than a properly planned intersection. Of all the accidents I've driven past on my daily drives, all of them happened on roundabouts. I hate them.

> They're a huge clusterfuck that does not win any time Research shows the opposite. They can handle more traffic within a given timeframe. The bit about accidents seems strange. Not sure why you'd think that. I'm wondering if your roundabouts have some kind of design flaw.

Well, having driven on France on holidays, the problem seems to be with the driving culture. The roundabouts are very busy, and likely as a result drivers dart out in the shortest possible gaps in traffic. If you decide to play it safe, then the backed up traffic behind you starts honking at you, increasing the pressure and pushing you to make a bad decision. I found it very stressful indeed! (Perhaps all of France is not like this).

Re: Google Maps Hacks

#356

Post by michaelt »

dwighttk wrote: post #171
thaeli wrote: post #144

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Waze has settings for this.

do they have "how tall is your rental truck?" I had a friend I helped move and we had to deal with google continually routing us towards low bridges.

You can buy satnavs with that feature: https://www.tomtom.com/en_gb/sat-nav/truck-sat-nav/ and of course, many truck rental companies will also rent you such a sat nav.

Re: Google Maps Hacks

#357

Post by MiracleUser »

stevenhuang wrote: post #299
mindfulhack wrote: post #291

This video is a bit of a seminal moment for me. It's made me realise the information and tools we rely on and assume are true are actually just systematic fabrications produced by self-serving corporations, and are not necessarily the truth whatsoever. What does this mean for Google Search? (We had this discussion the other day: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22139421 )

What a predictably cynical interpretation. Your immediate reaction to the application of imperfect models to the real world need not be one of distrust as if slighted but rather simple acknowledgment that this is just the best we can currently do.

This is a perfectly concise articulation of my thoughts as well. I will add that it is still good to keep in mind that owners of the models are indeed self-serving, but it does not need to be a cynical thing. Most of the time, the self serving motivation is to simply provide the best service possible

Re: Google Maps Hacks

#358

Post by dreamcompiler »

roblabla wrote: post #284
andrepd wrote: post #116

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wish cities had roundabouts instead of intersections, so that would not be a problem :)

I hate roundabouts. I live in France, and we have them everywhere. They're a huge clusterfuck that does not win any time, and when misused can be a lot more dangerous than a properly planned intersection. Of all the accidents I've driven past on my daily drives, all of them happened on roundabouts. I hate them.

The research I've seen suggest roundabouts do indeed cause accidents, but they're always low-speed accidents where people don't die. Intersections on the other hand are more likely to cause deaths because speeds can be much greater.

Re: Google Maps Hacks

#359

Post by MattGrommes »

I can't wait until some rich neighbors get together to buy a bunch of phones to use this to keep people off "their" streets. I'm sure there will be some startup selling this service in parts of the Bay Area in no time.

Re: Google Maps Hacks

#360

Post by spookthesunset »

cgriswald wrote: post #216
ryanmcdonough wrote: post #119

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You mean pressing “end route” ?

Common scenario: I’m somewhere unfamiliar, going home, and I need to be home at a certain time. Once I’m on the freeway I no longer need the navigation, but I still want the en route traffic info and ETA.

> Once I’m on the freeway I no longer need the navigation, but I still want the en route traffic info and ETA.

Apple Maps on CarPlay added this feature and I love it. It works great for routes where I pretty much know the way but want a heads up for traffic and such.

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