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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

#91

Post by PopeDotNinja »

inetknght wrote: post #77
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.

I’ve done enough naive exploring using only Google Maps to know that you have to use your best judgement. For example, Google Maps has guided down plenty of roads that end up being barricaded on the far end. Sometimes it guides me the wrong way on a one way street, which happened today (and I missed the no entry sign). And like this story, taking some suggested roads were at best calculated poor life choices.

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

#93

Post by PopeDotNinja »

Tostino wrote: post #89
PopeDotNinja wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just yesterday I see drove onto a Google Maps recommended muddy dirt road road (like a dumbass) with my rental car just in the Mexican jungle. I thought I could make it, until I couldn’t. I got stuck in mud about 5km, walked through mud to the highway, and learned all about hitchhiking in Mexico, and asking locals for help getting my car unstuck. Good times.

Had very similar fun in Costa Rica with my rental car and amazing Google Maps directions. Seems like a pattern.

Hehe.

In September, I was in Hunza, northern Pakistan. The mountains are so tall, like 7k to 8k+ meters tall, I couldn’t even get a GPS lock most of the time. Even with a downloaded, offline map, it Google Maps was less than useless for navigation (still worked OK as a “paper” map).

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

#94

Post by jacobajit »

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…

In these scenarios I usually make sure to pan over the map to see if the routing recommendation looks sane, and use satellite view to determine road conditions. I don't feel comfortable blindly following the turn by turn directions as if I'm being led by a malevolent AI.

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

#95

Post by Enginerrrd »

inetknght wrote: post #77
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.

Not for anyone that lives in rural areas. Trust me.

I'm a consultant in a rural area in the PNW and Google maps is literally unusable to access 80% of my client's properties.

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

#96

Post by kjs3 »

bamboleo wrote: post #19
ed25519FUUU wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The road is in disuse. Russian Yandex recommended a much different route that was 3 hours longer, presumably because their developers knew something different about Russia than Google.

It’s the data, not the developers.

Says every bad developer ever.

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

#97

Post by Wookai »

throwaway09223 wrote: post #64

I ran into a surprising problem with Google maps recently. "Ok Google, driving directions to Fremont Central Park" Google locates the park address as 40000 Paseo Padre Pkwy, Fremont 94538. The pin is dropped in a fine place, at the building by the Lake Elizabeth boat ramp. I mostly know where I'm going anyway, and as I come up Washington Blvd I notice it's asking me to turn early, so I follow just for kicks. Inexplic…

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!

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

#98

Post by bumbada »

There is something I don't understand.

A radiator is not necessary for a car to work, specially in a freezing place.

A radiator is needed to refrigerate the engine. In a very cold place the engine is refrigerated just by natural convention. Probably you will have to stop and open the car hood from time to time.

Without globes touching metal could be dangerous, but it is strange. Traveling to very cold places,what you notice is that globes are not accessories, they are vital elements.

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

#99

Post by andybak »

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…

That's a great story and worthy of a post on it's own.

I've forwarded it to a few people. It's also made me slightly sad about being stuck in the UK lockdown for at least the next few months. I love South East Asia.

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

#100

Post by [deleted] »

PopeDotNinja wrote: post #93
Tostino wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Had very similar fun in Costa Rica with my rental car and amazing Google Maps directions. Seems like a pattern.

Hehe. In September, I was in Hunza, northern Pakistan. The mountains are so tall, like 7k to 8k+ meters tall, I couldn’t even get a GPS lock most of the time. Even with a downloaded, offline map, it Google Maps was less than useless for navigation (still worked OK as a “paper” map).

[deleted]
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