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Google Maps changes a route after the drama of young people lost on a ghost road

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Re: Google Maps changes a route after the drama of young people lost on a ghost road

#261

Here's a link with an image of the highway of bones: https://elpais.com/internacional/2020-12-23/perdidos-en-la-t... Here is a video of a drive along it between the cities mentioned in the article: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J46vglp6g98 Insane cold in this area - I'd be curious what type of preparation they had for this, and why not turn back if things were impassable? Google in the USA maps lots of roads that a…

-54C?! I've been in places where it got to -30C and it's .. weird. Things sound different outside. It's crazy how there are animals that seem to be able to survive it fine.

Re: Google Maps changes a route after the drama of young people lost on a ghost road

#262

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>"That would require you to create some association between your personal and work account right?" Obtuse af. Is this default assumption that the user is the one who has to "create" associations in the company's systems based on anything? The big tech cos have been social mapping since before 2012 and they undoubtedly register when two accounts use the same IP.

So if I work from a coffeeshop all the other coffeeshop patrons would be considered Google employees? Creating a system to secretly map my work account and my personal account in order to prioritize my Maps suggestions seems like a huge amount of work for no benefit whatsoever.

This could be a little more intelligent.

E.g. a coffeeshop has a constant stream of accounts on its IP that appear only once or twice. So it might be considered "a public place". So no association is done over accounts arriving from that IP. Your home, OTOH, might have only two accounts on its IP for years, so the association here is stronger.

A cookie shared between two accounts is even a stronger indication, as a person used the same browser to log in with both.

The system might not be created "to prioritize Maps suggestions" only and has multiple benefits in other places. Most obvious of these is to prevent people banned from the service to come back with a different account.

(I don't work at G and never did, but worked at another place where we linked accounts.)

Re: Google Maps changes a route after the drama of young people lost on a ghost road

#263
post #34

Travelling from Durango Colorado to Reserve New Mexico, Google Maps routed me to a "road" that was simply a dry stream bed, in the middle of Navajo Nation, in high desert wilderness, many miles from human habitation. It happened gradually. First I was directed to a well maintained gravel road, then to dirt track, which forked and forked and slowly faded to nothing. I was driving a 4x4, had an almost full tank, a load…

This is why I desperately want a routing mode for 'easiest' drive. Surface streets only, no left turns onto busy highways just to save a minute, no weird shortcuts through neighborhoods, keep me on the highway. I've had so many times where google has had me drive through sketch areas of LA which ended up taking more time dealing with cross traffic. All they have to do is give up on quickest route.

I agree 100% and this is a more serious issue in other countries. I've seen Google Maps lead you down some extremely dangerous areas just to save like 5 minutes.

Yeah, there's a reason roads in that area are so open.

Re: Google Maps changes a route after the drama of young people lost on a ghost road

#265

This happened to me in the jungles of Indonesia.. [0] I literally followed google maps and rode my motorcycle into the jungle. It started off a reasonable road and quickly became dangerous and then deadly. I rolled down the mountain side with the motorcycle and got very, very lucky that I was only mildly hurt (on top of the brutal sunburn I got on the ride). I ran into the local village (more like hobbled) and the fi…

Happened to me in much same way in Malaysia, when I went there on a holiday from Singapore using a bike of my coworker.

It was a surprise to get into such thick jungle so close to civilisation.

Though, I myself though I will never get into such a stupid situation, and probably those two thought of the same.

As somebody who spent childhood in Russian far east, I think wasn't even told not to fare into forests for it being so obviously dangerous as shown by lengthy necrologues in style "Ivan Ivanov 1980.1.1 went to forest on 2000.2.2, never returned, presumed dead"

Re: Google Maps changes a route after the drama of young people lost on a ghost road

#266

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> You've used the suggest a change feature within Maps? I've done that several times and I think it always worked for me. I've had a road that is mis-named near me. I've used the "suggest a change" feature multiple times, but have never gotten a response other than the automated "it'll be reviewed". Road is still mis-named. Other changes i've suggested have gone through in hours.

Probably have to submit it to OSM and wait until Google loads their data into GMaps. /s

I think google don’t use OSM data.

Re: Google Maps changes a route after the drama of young people lost on a ghost road

#267
post #183

We see this fairly often with our Search and Rescue "subjects". It's a combination of target fixation and that hope that this is just a rough patch and the trail will open up again "just around the corner". Just a couple weeks ago, we located and brought back a middle-aged couple who went out on an afternoon e-bike ride in the backcountry. They found a nice 20 mile loop of singletrack and forest service road on the A…

Is there a place online where you can read more stories like these?

Re: Google Maps changes a route after the drama of young people lost on a ghost road

#268

The problem is - as a non-local you can't really distinguish between Google knowing what it's doing and not until it's too late. For example I've been taken to the following: AUSTRALIA - definitely not a "road" more like an unused hiking / herding path with nothing but lazy kangaroos in sight. CHILE - down an unpaved half-lane road making its way down the side of a cliff, marked "mucho peligroso" ITALY - completely o…

[deleted]

Re: Google Maps changes a route after the drama of young people lost on a ghost road

#269

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Probably have to submit it to OSM and wait until Google loads their data into GMaps. /s

I think google don’t use OSM data.

Well and yet this is what I did and it worked, after around a year of waiting.
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