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I’ve lived in the same house for 17 years. I will still often use a map app to navigate home as it can know more about the traffic backups/delays than I can. I

I’ve lived in the same house for 17 years. I will still often use a map app to navigate home as it can know more about the traffic backups/delays than I can. It’s not just for getting home, but for getting home as efficiently as possible without added stress.

ElevenLathe 2y ago
It's helpful to gauge your arrival time as well.
cj 2y ago
True, although "back in the day" people used to memorize at what times during the day certain routes were busy, and they took alternative routes ("the back roads" in my area) to get around traffic that could be predicted. We've outsourced that to an app, too.
- yencabulator 2y ago
  In a big enough city that information is too dynamic to memorize. Car crashes, road work, sports events, presidential visits all caused their own microclimate that was not part of the everyday rush hour.
- medvezhenok 2y ago
  It also has information on store closing times/dates (some stores are closed on random days of the week, or close early on others), unexpected detours (construction, previously announced road work), speed traps (crowdsourced), and more. Some of it simply wasn't possible before the technology came along.
- tivert 2y ago
  > True, although "back in the day" people used to memorize at what times during the day certain routes were busy, and they took alternative routes ("the back roads" in my area) to get around traffic that could be predicted. I think "memorize" has the wrong connotation of rote memorization, like you were memorizing data from a table. I think it was more like being observant and learning from that. > We've outsourced that to an app, too. The technology lets you turn off your brain so it can atrophy.
ethbr1 2y ago
It's interesting, because maps (all of them) will reliably toss me onto a far more convoluted path home vs staying on the interstate. The former has ~15 traffic lights vs the latter ~2. Imho, one of the most corrosive aspects of GPS has been mystifying navigation, due to over reliance on weird street connections. Versus the conceptually simply (if slightly longer) routes we used to take. Unfortunately, with the net effect that people who only use GPS think the art of manual street navigation is impossibly complex.
- fat_cantor 2y ago
  *Fortunately* (for manual street navigators), people who only use GPS think the art of manual street navigation is impossibly complex. During heavy traffic, we can use maps to find out where those people are being herded, and manually navigate even more efficiently. Also: it's nice to know if there's an accident somewhere.
- consteval 2y ago
  I find Apple maps is very good in this regard and will keep you on the highway even if the traffic is higher and the route longer, because usually over average it's faster. I see a lot of people exiting when they see traffic come on and I can't help but shake my head. We've all tried it before, and it almost never works. The value of Apple maps to me is if there's HUGE traffic - like an accident closing 3 lanes. Often there's no indication of this otherwise, and you can be stuck for a whole nother hour. But Maps knows, and it'll put you on a longer highway to get away from it. I no longer use apple maps in my daily commute (1.5 hours one way). But, when I did, it caught quite a few huge accidents. Now I leave the office earlier and the likelihood of accidents is much lower, so I don't need Maps. Even so, once in a blue moon I'll be in a sticky situation.
- sokoloff 2y ago
  In the early 2000s, I had developed via trial-and-error a very convoluted typical route home, cutting through some neighborhoods to bypass interchanges that were typically heavily backed-up during the evening rush hour. It would shave 10 minutes minimum, and sometimes 15-20. Shortly after 2010, that route became much less useful [due to heavily increased traffic] and when a colleague told me that I should try Waze, I realized that Waze was now sending a bunch of traffic down "my" route home.

ElevenLathe 2y ago

It's helpful to gauge your arrival time as well.

cj 2y ago

True, although "back in the day" people used to memorize at what times during the day certain routes were busy, and they took alternative routes ("the back roads" in my area) to get around traffic that could be predicted. We've outsourced that to an app, too.

yencabulator 2y ago
In a big enough city that information is too dynamic to memorize. Car crashes, road work, sports events, presidential visits all caused their own microclimate that was not part of the everyday rush hour.
medvezhenok 2y ago
It also has information on store closing times/dates (some stores are closed on random days of the week, or close early on others), unexpected detours (construction, previously announced road work), speed traps (crowdsourced), and more. Some of it simply wasn't possible before the technology came along.
tivert 2y ago
> True, although "back in the day" people used to memorize at what times during the day certain routes were busy, and they took alternative routes ("the back roads" in my area) to get around traffic that could be predicted. I think "memorize" has the wrong connotation of rote memorization, like you were memorizing data from a table. I think it was more like being observant and learning from that. > We've outsourced that to an app, too. The technology lets you turn off your brain so it can atrophy.

ethbr1 2y ago

It's interesting, because maps (all of them) will reliably toss me onto a far more convoluted path home vs staying on the interstate. The former has ~15 traffic lights vs the latter ~2. Imho, one of the most corrosive aspects of GPS has been mystifying navigation, due to over reliance on weird street connections. Versus the conceptually simply (if slightly longer) routes we used to take. Unfortunately, with the net effect that people who only use GPS think the art of manual street navigation is impossibly complex.

fat_cantor 2y ago
*Fortunately* (for manual street navigators), people who only use GPS think the art of manual street navigation is impossibly complex. During heavy traffic, we can use maps to find out where those people are being herded, and manually navigate even more efficiently. Also: it's nice to know if there's an accident somewhere.
consteval 2y ago
I find Apple maps is very good in this regard and will keep you on the highway even if the traffic is higher and the route longer, because usually over average it's faster. I see a lot of people exiting when they see traffic come on and I can't help but shake my head. We've all tried it before, and it almost never works. The value of Apple maps to me is if there's HUGE traffic - like an accident closing 3 lanes. Often there's no indication of this otherwise, and you can be stuck for a whole nother hour. But Maps knows, and it'll put you on a longer highway to get away from it. I no longer use apple maps in my daily commute (1.5 hours one way). But, when I did, it caught quite a few huge accidents. Now I leave the office earlier and the likelihood of accidents is much lower, so I don't need Maps. Even so, once in a blue moon I'll be in a sticky situation.
sokoloff 2y ago
In the early 2000s, I had developed via trial-and-error a very convoluted typical route home, cutting through some neighborhoods to bypass interchanges that were typically heavily backed-up during the evening rush hour. It would shave 10 minutes minimum, and sometimes 15-20. Shortly after 2010, that route became much less useful [due to heavily increased traffic] and when a colleague told me that I should try Waze, I realized that Waze was now sending a bunch of traffic down "my" route home.