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I had a terrible experience with Google maps recently. Re-routed me (and dozens or hundreds others) into a neighborhood that could not handle the traffic. Lit

I had a terrible experience with Google maps recently. Re-routed me (and dozens or hundreds others) into a neighborhood that could not handle the traffic. Literally we are now in bumper to bumper gridlock in the tightest residential streets, with no shoulders (imagine being stuck in your driveway due to this). What's more, the "short cut" ultimately ended up feeding into the main traffic jam anyway so even in best case scenario it would not have saved time. The real problem with the short cut is it was not announced or optioned in my g maps via Android Auto, instead given as a primary route. I noticed it was different (but started on a major highway) and didn't realize what was happening until it was too late. Also G maps had me cross over 4 lanes of traffic in rush hour over a 50 foot distance to make a left turn. Their algo has gotten more aggressive and not for the better.

cecilpl2 7y ago
Sounds like someone at Verizon messed up their BGP system.
- chillwaves 7y ago
  I'm not posting to complain but I was sympathetic to the neighborhood that had a flood of cars being directed by google. At one point, someone was either moving in or out and had one side of the road blocked and this caused a major problem for the hundreds of cars in the google short cut caravan.
hnick 7y ago
It frequently wants me to turn across a 4-lane road near my home here in Sydney. This is fine on Sunday morning or at night, not so much at other times. It also wants me to spend >$10 on tolls to save 2 minutes over a 30-minute drive on some routes. I wish there were a way to make it ignore tolls unless it saves a significant amount of time.
- erinaceousjones 7y ago
  On the maps app, when on the route planning screen ("from" and "to" with the map showing candidate routes), right of the "from" box there's one of those triple-dot menu buttons. "Route Options" modal lets you check "Avoid toll roads". On web maps, there's also an "OPTIONS" link that expands to show the same stuff. It has some useful features that can go completely undiscovered because they're hidden in screens you wouldn't go on if you're sitting in your car getting ready to drive. Waze has the same options and in my opinion are better presented, since it's much more tailored towards driving navigation. Also, reading this HN thread, I'm glad I'm on a small island with exceedingly well-documented road systems (UK). I think you'd have to be in the northernmost parts of Scotland to really have an issue with dumb route planning here. Had a fun experience when exploring the island of Gran Canaria, where maps wanted us to drive our small rear-wheel-drive rental car down what felt like a 60 degree hill, what was essentially a riverbed with tree roots sticking out of it. Some people on quad bikes had to wait for us to crawl down it with foot constantly on the brakes. Maps had marked it as not even a trail or a small road or whatever but a bonafide 2-lane road!
  - hnick 7y ago
    Yes I know about avoiding tolls and do use it sometimes - the trouble is, I forget to turn it back on next time! I'd like an option 'ignore tolls for this trip only' or a setting where saving 2 minutes is weighed up against spending $10. But that's probably not so easy. Speaking of the UK, I drove around The Lake District and I have so say some of those narrow village roads almost made me feel like I'd taken a wrong turn :) I've heard stories of trucks getting stuck between houses.

cecilpl2 7y ago

Sounds like someone at Verizon messed up their BGP system.

chillwaves 7y ago
I'm not posting to complain but I was sympathetic to the neighborhood that had a flood of cars being directed by google. At one point, someone was either moving in or out and had one side of the road blocked and this caused a major problem for the hundreds of cars in the google short cut caravan.

hnick 7y ago

It frequently wants me to turn across a 4-lane road near my home here in Sydney. This is fine on Sunday morning or at night, not so much at other times. It also wants me to spend >$10 on tolls to save 2 minutes over a 30-minute drive on some routes. I wish there were a way to make it ignore tolls unless it saves a significant amount of time.

erinaceousjones 7y ago
On the maps app, when on the route planning screen ("from" and "to" with the map showing candidate routes), right of the "from" box there's one of those triple-dot menu buttons. "Route Options" modal lets you check "Avoid toll roads". On web maps, there's also an "OPTIONS" link that expands to show the same stuff. It has some useful features that can go completely undiscovered because they're hidden in screens you wouldn't go on if you're sitting in your car getting ready to drive. Waze has the same options and in my opinion are better presented, since it's much more tailored towards driving navigation. Also, reading this HN thread, I'm glad I'm on a small island with exceedingly well-documented road systems (UK). I think you'd have to be in the northernmost parts of Scotland to really have an issue with dumb route planning here. Had a fun experience when exploring the island of Gran Canaria, where maps wanted us to drive our small rear-wheel-drive rental car down what felt like a 60 degree hill, what was essentially a riverbed with tree roots sticking out of it. Some people on quad bikes had to wait for us to crawl down it with foot constantly on the brakes. Maps had marked it as not even a trail or a small road or whatever but a bonafide 2-lane road!
- hnick 7y ago
  Yes I know about avoiding tolls and do use it sometimes - the trouble is, I forget to turn it back on next time! I'd like an option 'ignore tolls for this trip only' or a setting where saving 2 minutes is weighed up against spending $10. But that's probably not so easy. Speaking of the UK, I drove around The Lake District and I have so say some of those narrow village roads almost made me feel like I'd taken a wrong turn :) I've heard stories of trucks getting stuck between houses.