Google Maps changes a route after the drama of young people lost on a ghost road • Hacker News Board

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

#211

Post by mark-r » Wed, Dec 30, 2020, 4:39 AM UTC

s0rce wrote: post #144

neffy wrote: post #136

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It seems like the obvious solution to this would be for Google to provide a sensible way to accept corrections to their maps. We had to get a change made to Google maps to prevent people getting killed here, and it took national news, and personal contacts within the organisation. Something is rotten in the state of Denmark.

In the US its pretty easy to submit corrections. I've submitted a few corrections on US public lands but now I usually don't bother and just update open street map instead.

I once submitted a correction for the exact location of a public park. The correction looked like it was applied, but when I looked later it had been reverted.

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

#212

Post by smichel17 » Wed, Dec 30, 2020, 4:39 AM UTC

Talanes wrote: post #175

zalebz wrote: post #161

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think the answer is to put up a gate with keypad and just provide the code to the landowner that has right of way. expensive but 100% effective.

Even a gate with just a rope latch would give most people pause.

Or even a "private property, no trespassing" sign.

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

#213

Post by thrashh » Wed, Dec 30, 2020, 4:45 AM UTC

smichel17 wrote: post #212

Talanes wrote: post #175

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Even a gate with just a rope latch would give most people pause.

Or even a "private property, no trespassing" sign.

Maybe just a dead end sign even.

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

#214

Post by thrashh » Wed, Dec 30, 2020, 4:53 AM UTC

manigandham wrote: post #170

AlotOfReading wrote: post #163

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Here's an example from El Malpais in NM: Streambed: https://www.google.com/maps/@34.991622,-108.0730561,94m/data... Lightly used dirt roads: https://www.google.com/maps/@34.9927729,-108.076162,158m/dat... As for the data issue, Google maps (by default?) caches the turn-by-turn directions when you start navigation. Spotty cell service isn't really a problem until you make a wrong turn.

Like I said, if you zoom out then you can clearly see the actual "Ice Caves" road #53 with lane markings, and a smaller "Ice Cave" dirt road that ends near that group of buildings. Everything after that is just dirt, no roads at all regardless of what Google says, which is my point. Zoom out, assess the terrain, look for markings, check for buildings, and compare paths to the destination. Unless you're visiting the b…

I’ve been on legit roads in the middle of nowhere and not seeing marking or roads doesn’t mean anything (western USA problems).

That said I do think people should carry a $15 paper map booklet if they plan on venturing outside the city. I both have offline maps of the whole US and paper maps in my car, but I also do this a lot.

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

#215

Post by ckdarby » Wed, Dec 30, 2020, 4:57 AM UTC

Triv888 wrote: post #187

drdavid wrote: post #141

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Where I live, they'll send you down logging roads and old, disused roads fit only for 4WD trucks. It's not just Google. Other GPS maps will send you to my house on a road that hasn't really been passable for 30 or 40 years - if you make the mistake of not telling it to avoid dirt roads. But, if you tell it to stick to paved roads, it'll have you park about 2 km away. I have no idea how to fix this, except to suggest…

Google tracks all Android phones all the time, they should be able to see that no one uses that road, they just don't care.

Plenty of people with their Android phones will still go over that section with their snowmobiles, four-wheelers, bike, etc.

How does Google tell the difference between someone on an electric bike vs a car going on a dirt road doing 20-30km/h to not have rocks flying everywhere?

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

#216

Post by gruez » Wed, Dec 30, 2020, 4:57 AM UTC

diogenescynic wrote: post #194

slickrick216 wrote: post #126

Google maps has marked my parents in laws drive way as a road. The drive way is quite long as they are on a farm. Due to a right of way for an owner of a field who owns an enclave within their land they can’t put a gate up. It’s quite unmistakable you are going into someone’s house though. This has led to countless individuals showing up and driving through their land past their home. Lots of people stop and ask for…

Submit a complaint to a state regulator. Someone at Google will wake up and sort it out once they get an email from their regulator to Google’s compliance team. If you can get a lawyer to submit the complain it’ll be even more effective.

What regulator would have jurisdiction here? Are maps even regulated?

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

#217

Post by mayneack » Wed, Dec 30, 2020, 5:03 AM UTC

hirundo wrote: 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…

I had a very similar experience in NW New Mexico. I expect to go off pavement for this sort of thing, but eventually we faded into what was very uneven dirt. Luckily we could tell someone had come that way in the last day because of an inch or so of fresh snow, so we made it through successfully to the destination where everything was well maintained. We went out the more common route south, but it wasn't that much better.

https://goo.gl/maps/EFik9xuw9o8j9SaM7

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

#218

Post by Noumenon72 » Wed, Dec 30, 2020, 5:06 AM UTC

JasonCEC wrote: post #81

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…

How did the "they asked for nothing in return" work out? Maybe in their social currency being able to say you helped someone generously is worth more than some money?

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

#219

Post by mav3rick » Wed, Dec 30, 2020, 5:10 AM UTC

diogenescynic wrote: post #199

Wookai wrote: post #97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's pretty weird, thanks for reporting this! I work at Google in the Maps org, I reported your bug internally and will update this once I have a resolution. In the future, if you encounter a similar situation, consider reporting it ( https://support.google.com/maps/answer/6194894 ). Any user feedback is greatly appreciated!

Why does Google not have these links accessible somewhere? It seems like you shouldn’t have to hunt through old forums to find the appropriate contact.... why can a Trillion dollar company not make this more easily discoverable?

It's in the app as well -

"Tap Suggest an edit or Report a problem."

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

#220

Post by hodgesrm » Wed, Dec 30, 2020, 5:11 AM UTC

rabidrat wrote: post #208

woeirua wrote: post #205

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not a Google Maps story, but a family died in Death Valley 24 years ago by following a map that showed a similar road that was not passable for their vehicle. Tragic way to die. https://www.strangeoutdoors.com/mysterious-stories-blog/2017...

Or CNET reporter James Kim in 2006: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Kim#Death

It appears that this and at least one other incident are why Google Maps no longer maps routes across Bear Camp Road, which is the most direct route from Grants Pass OR to the Oregon Coast. [1]

https://www.google.com/maps/dir/Gold+Beach,+OR/Galice,+OR+97...