3 ms·

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 traffi

by 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.
- fat_cantor 2y ago
  Waze sure pissed of a lot of owners of million dollar homes in west LA and Santa Monica when they sent a bunch of assholes speeding through those neighborhoods at 60 MPH
  - ethbr1 2y ago
    I assumed that was just how everyone drove on LA surface streets, always.
tivert 2y ago
> 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. This, exactly! Many years ago I realized constant GPS use meant I had no idea how to get around the city I'd lived in for years, and had huge gaps in my knowledge of how it fit together. To fix that, I: 1) ditched the GPS, 2) started using Google Maps printouts where I manually simplified its routes to maximize use of arterial roads, and 3) bought a city map as a backup in case I got lost (this was pre-smartphone). It actually worked, and I finally learned how to get around.
- saagarjha 2y ago
  I find that having a GPS all the time in my pocket has really done wonders in my ability to understand how the city fits together. Not driving everywhere probably plays some part in that too.
  - ethbr1 2y ago
    The key distinction that prompts learning to me is switching to "north is always up" mode. "In front is always in front" deserves to die a fiery death. People should damn well know how to orient on a map.
    - saagarjha 2y ago
      I mean this view is nice when you are actually moving
  - tivert 2y ago
    > I find that having a GPS all the time in my pocket has really done wonders in my ability to understand how the city fits together. How? The problem is GPS routing takes you on all kinds of one-off shortcuts which are a poor framework for general navigation, and tend to lack repetition. It also relieves you of the need to think on the way from A to B. > Not driving everywhere probably plays some part in that too. I could see that as being helpful, but that's only really doable in a small area, like a city center. You're not going to learn a metro area that way.

by ethbr1 2y ago

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.

fat_cantor 2y ago
Waze sure pissed of a lot of owners of million dollar homes in west LA and Santa Monica when they sent a bunch of assholes speeding through those neighborhoods at 60 MPH
- ethbr1 2y ago
  I assumed that was just how everyone drove on LA surface streets, always.

tivert 2y ago

> 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. This, exactly! Many years ago I realized constant GPS use meant I had no idea how to get around the city I'd lived in for years, and had huge gaps in my knowledge of how it fit together. To fix that, I: 1) ditched the GPS, 2) started using Google Maps printouts where I manually simplified its routes to maximize use of arterial roads, and 3) bought a city map as a backup in case I got lost (this was pre-smartphone). It actually worked, and I finally learned how to get around.

saagarjha 2y ago
I find that having a GPS all the time in my pocket has really done wonders in my ability to understand how the city fits together. Not driving everywhere probably plays some part in that too.
- ethbr1 2y ago
  The key distinction that prompts learning to me is switching to "north is always up" mode. "In front is always in front" deserves to die a fiery death. People should damn well know how to orient on a map.
  - saagarjha 2y ago
    I mean this view is nice when you are actually moving
- tivert 2y ago
  > I find that having a GPS all the time in my pocket has really done wonders in my ability to understand how the city fits together. How? The problem is GPS routing takes you on all kinds of one-off shortcuts which are a poor framework for general navigation, and tend to lack repetition. It also relieves you of the need to think on the way from A to B. > Not driving everywhere probably plays some part in that too. I could see that as being helpful, but that's only really doable in a small area, like a city center. You're not going to learn a metro area that way.