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> I liken this to asking people who don’t use a GPS how they drive and if they have every intersection memorized. I find people who drive with sat nav often do

by tasuki 2y ago

> I liken this to asking people who don’t use a GPS how they drive and if they have every intersection memorized. I find people who drive with sat nav often don't learn almost anything about their route (they don't have to! is the whole point!) I at least orient my navigation north side up so I have a basic clue what I'm doing. A friend of mine looks at navigation before driving, then turns it off.

pbalau 2y ago
There is a route I drive at least once a week. I can do it without GPS (in my case is Google maps via Android Connect). Yet, every time I ignored the suggested deviations from the "standard" route, I ended up regretting it. As an example, last time I was 2h late for a meeting because I ignored the "scenic route" suggested and ended up stuck behind a car crash.
- mjrbrennan 2y ago
  Yes I find this is the main benefit of Google Maps GPS now, predicting and avoiding traffic whenever possible.
  - bdangubic 2y ago
    waze is far, far superior at that
    - mjrbrennan 2y ago
      I thought Waze was owned by Google though? I assumed they would use Waze’s traffic data.
      - bdangubic 2y ago
        as crazy as it sounds - they don’t. you can open them side-by-side and you’ll often see much different routes.
zdw 2y ago
I agree - I had a traveling consulting/repair job before digital maps were a thing. Every year a 50 page city-wide street map book would come out, and you'd buy one every few years from Costco, as needed. North was always up. I learned to navigate in that mindset and to this day maps that rotate based on direction facing (even in video games!) just don't match the mental model I have of driving. GPS's gives you a single track view of how to solve a problem, when it's either advantageous or required to react differently (ex: road hazards, opportunistic turns if driving diagonally across a grid), and when you deviate from the single track it creates annoying noise, especially if the road names are not phonetic or in other languages.

by tasuki 2y ago

pbalau 2y ago

There is a route I drive at least once a week. I can do it without GPS (in my case is Google maps via Android Connect). Yet, every time I ignored the suggested deviations from the "standard" route, I ended up regretting it. As an example, last time I was 2h late for a meeting because I ignored the "scenic route" suggested and ended up stuck behind a car crash.

mjrbrennan 2y ago
Yes I find this is the main benefit of Google Maps GPS now, predicting and avoiding traffic whenever possible.
- bdangubic 2y ago
  waze is far, far superior at that
  - mjrbrennan 2y ago
    I thought Waze was owned by Google though? I assumed they would use Waze’s traffic data.
    - bdangubic 2y ago
      as crazy as it sounds - they don’t. you can open them side-by-side and you’ll often see much different routes.

zdw 2y ago

I agree - I had a traveling consulting/repair job before digital maps were a thing. Every year a 50 page city-wide street map book would come out, and you'd buy one every few years from Costco, as needed. North was always up. I learned to navigate in that mindset and to this day maps that rotate based on direction facing (even in video games!) just don't match the mental model I have of driving. GPS's gives you a single track view of how to solve a problem, when it's either advantageous or required to react differently (ex: road hazards, opportunistic turns if driving diagonally across a grid), and when you deviate from the single track it creates annoying noise, especially if the road names are not phonetic or in other languages.