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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

#71

Post by voisin »

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…

Same thing happened to me in the B.C. interior north of Kamloops. I stopped when the “road” became a dry stream bed blocked by a cow that seemed as confused as I was by my presence in that particular place.

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

#72

Post by ghaff »

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 think most sane drivers would have bailed at the first turn off of the pavement.

Well-maintained gravel road seems pretty reasonable in that area of the country. But I'd probably consult my paper map at that point which I would also always have for that area of the country (had I not done so already).

I'll mostly put my trust in Google etc. to find my hotel in Silicon Valley. Not so much to get me somewhere in the rural West.

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

#73

Post by gambiting »

random5634 wrote: post #3

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…

Is that not the road used by Ewan McGregor and Charlie Boorman in Long Way Round? Because if yes then that road was passable, but even in the summer they had to cross several streams and it looked like the only people driving it were locals in old 6x6 Kamaz Trucks.

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

#74

Post by random5634 »

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]…

WOW! I would not have expected that be the car used on the "Highway of Bones" with insane levels of cold! I hope they were running it with chains at a minimum.

If you dress right, have a good thermal sleeping bag, have calories in your system, you can do pretty well. A fair number of sleeping bags have survival temps as low as negative -40. I've done OK once or twice at surprising levels of cold (sleeping in the back of car / SUV on a ski trip other winter trek is not end of world, even without cars heater).

Not totally clear still why this is a story about google.

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

#75

Post by s0rce »

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]…

The 2nd pic is great

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

#76

Post by WWLink »

bww wrote: post #53

On more than one occasion while driving through Italy last year, Google Maps attempted to navigate me to the center of cities by driving through ancient, pedestrian-packed streets barely wider than the hatchback I was in—even as (I eventually discovered) most non-emergency vehicles are not permitted to actually drive there. In one such instance, I didn't realize what was happening until I had spent 45 minutes inching…

That sounds like every other episode of top gear, lol.

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

#77

Post by inetknght »

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 think most sane drivers would have bailed at the first turn off of the pavement.

Why? If it's an area unfamiliar to them then it's very reasonable to assume that Google might know it better than you.

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

#78

Post by crooked-v »

WWLink wrote: post #76
bww wrote: post #53

On more than one occasion while driving through Italy last year, Google Maps attempted to navigate me to the center of cities by driving through ancient, pedestrian-packed streets barely wider than the hatchback I was in—even as (I eventually discovered) most non-emergency vehicles are not permitted to actually drive there. In one such instance, I didn't realize what was happening until I had spent 45 minutes inching…

That sounds like every other episode of top gear, lol.

The difference, of course, being that the Top Gear guys have a full production crew and a bajillion dollars of insurance to smooth over any resulting problems.

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

#79

Post by at-fates-hands »

voisin wrote: post #71
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…

Same thing happened to me in the B.C. interior north of Kamloops. I stopped when the “road” became a dry stream bed blocked by a cow that seemed as confused as I was by my presence in that particular place.

I had a similar experience in BC, same area near Meadow Lake. I was going with a buddy to camp and fish. My other two buddies insisted we take paper maps just in case. Same thing. Caught a fork, then the road turned to a dirt road and that's when we stopped, got out the paper map, and realized we took two wrong turns. It was dark and we had been driving most of the day and were pretty tired already so missing the initial turn was not a surprise.

Had we continued using Google Maps on our phones, god knows how far into the interior we would've gone before being in real trouble.

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

#80

Post by crooked-v »

PurpleFoxy wrote: post #60
meirelles wrote: post #52

Google Maps always do that in Brazil, it's so annoying. It recommends alternative routes to "save" you a couple of minutes. Dirt tracks, unmantained roads and sometimes danger neighborhoods (favelas). They should fix the algo to prefer the main roads and streets. At least give a configurable threshold. It seems quite doable with all GPS data/street images they have.

Because then all the news and Twitter blue checkmarks explode after seeing google routes them around poor areas.

Generally it's the other way around, with people in residential areas (of any wealth level) unhappy if cars are routed through the neighborhood, for obvious 'this is not supposed to be a through street' reasons.
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