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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

#371

Post by pestatije »

akiselev wrote: post #139
kzrdude wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Kind of insane that there's still a gap there.

It's not insane, it's rather on purpose. In the 1970s there was a huge concern that if proper infrastructure was built, it would cause foot and mouth disease to make its way from South to Central and North America, which stopped the USA's attempt to built a road across it. Within a decade, Panama turned much of the area into the Darien National Park and the UN classified it as a biosphere reserve & world heritage sit…

I read somewhere it was because they wanted to avoid the drug smuggling. The foot and mouth thing is new to me, it sounds odd.

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

#372

Post by throwaway0a5e »

paganel wrote: post #68
s0rce wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

huh, seems like there are numerous towns visible on the satellite/aerial imagery on the "old summer road". Are those towns cut off in the winter (by land)? Do they have an ice road? Seems unusual that travel is easier in the summer. In northern Canada summer travel is often not possible by land due to extensive mud and bogs. In the winter you can travel across the frozen tundra much more easily (although you need to…

It looks like their car (Toyota Chaser) was not fit for the purpose. I mean, looking at the car's wikipedia page I can see a city sedan that is definitely not adequate for off-road driving conditions at minus 40-50 degrees Celsius. Judging by a couple of photos I could find on Google Maps it looks like in the summer the road is barely accessible using vehicles like the famous UAZ-452, I'm talking about this photo [2]…

In the winter the road is packed ice and easy from the vehicle traffic and the rivers can be driven over rather than forded.

In summer there are sections of mud pit, swamps, river crossings because the road is unmaintained. Anything with at least three wheels and a heated cab is fine in winter.

If the vehicle was actually unsuitible they would have gotten stuck within walking distance of town instead of putting a branch through the radiator trying to make an N-point turn in the bush after going the wrong way (probably down some little side fork).

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

#374

Post by throwaway0a5e »

chaostheory wrote: post #209
xyzelement wrote: post #109

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…

There was a clue though. It was the nickname of Kolkma Highway aka “Highway of Bones”. Anything named as “Devil”, “Death”, “Hell”, “Tears”, or anything else sketchy I would either read about or stay away from. The problem in this case is that Google didn’t show the nickname.

It held that name back when it was a major highway. It's not a particularly dangerous road by the standards of the region.

The other commenters is right that the name comes from the prisoners who died building it. Allegedly they were buried in the road. I say "allegedly" because everyone who's ever built a road knows that the road base is key to longevity and that adding things that will decompose to it is the opposite of what you want to do.

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

#375

Post by alisonkisk »

jlangenauer wrote: post #317
Thorrez wrote: post #201

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>I’ve done the whole google maps support thing but no response and deaf ears. You've used the suggest a change feature within Maps? I've done that several times and I think it always worked for me. Full disclosure I work at Google, not on Maps, and I always did the suggest a change with my personal account.

It shouldn't be up to people to have to spend time and money to correct Google's errors, and to stop Google inconviencing them. Somehow, it has become completely accepted for Google/FB/et al to make profits while shifting costs and externalities onto society. Why do we allow these tech giants to treat us so disgracefully?

Tech giants have the same rights individuals do to spend boring but annoying misinformation ("rumors").

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

#376

Post by alisonkisk »

andi999 wrote: post #329
Bjartr wrote: post #202

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You've been downvoted, but I think you have a point. Maps support & "suggest a change" are two different sets of ears, and while one may be deaf to this problem, the other may be more responsive.

Normal companies forward wrongly addressed requests to the correct department.

Only companies with very few users.

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

#377

Post by alisonkisk »

maratc wrote: post #295
Thorrez wrote: post #250

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That would require you to create some association between your personal and work account right? I don't remember doing that. I guess they could match on first name and last name equality, but that sounds like a bad idea due to name collisions and impersonation.

I ... don't get it. You say you work for Google, so you must know that the company you work for amasses huge amounts of information on billions of people on the internet. It then uses that information to sell personalized ads to these people. Advertisers love that, and they pay the rates, and that's how Google makes money for your paycheck — and much more. What makes you think they "require" any action on the part of…

Because as a Google employee they understand what is and isn't done as a matter of privacy?

Do you have any evidence that Google spies on its own employees for the purpose of giving them privileged manual treatment when they don't ask for it?

Do you have any evidence that Google create associations between separate Google accounts to the extent of treating them as the same accountholder (asside from deleting duplicate spam accounts)?

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

#378

Post by howlgarnish »

dkdbejwi383 wrote: post #296
kilroy123 wrote: post #263

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

It’s another example of unintentional bias at play. Most “Googlers” living in safe, well-maintained suburban USA assuming the rest of the world is the same.

Anybody living on the Bay Area is painfully well aware that there are seriously sketchy neighborhoods. It's probably more an issue of data: there are no street-by-street crime maps for most of the world, and neither can Google feasibly collect this on their own.

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

#379

Post by alisonkisk »

prepend wrote: post #360
aikinai wrote: post #351

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You really think that Google spent the time to build a system that secretly links employees’ accounts to their personal accounts—something that Googlers would have to build and would also piss off those same Googlers—and then uses that system to prioritize feedback from Googlers just to make their own employees have a better Maps feedback experience?

No, I think Google built a system to link every email address used by an individual and all their browsing habits. Not specific to their employees but to do that on everyone in the planet. It also makes the simple connection that a user also has a google.com account without doing anything special. Although I suspect they do have something home built as every single company I’ve worked for with a broad customer facing…

You're misunderstanding as you speculating. You've now shifted to "Googler has a special friendly-spying apparatus, enabled by its core technology", to "every company has the same apparatus, and low level line employees are treated the same as EVPs", which is absurd as everyone here knows.

And saying "hobo hunt" shows you obviously aren't engaging in serious conversation.

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

#380

Post by SECProto »

visarga wrote: post #243
SECProto wrote: post #228

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

OSM uses a different, also incorrect, name for the road. At least the name OSM uses was correct at one point (about a decade ago - also when that feature was last edited).
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