5 ms·

> GPS routing is awful compared to a person who knows their way around a city. Strongly disagreed. GPS has traffic information, a human driver does not.

guelo 12y ago
A human that drives the same roads everyday most definitely does have traffic information.
- the_mitsuhiko 12y ago
  I always use GPS even on the roads I use almost daily because the traffic information my GPS provides (Google Maps) works much better than me guessing what the traffic will be. Even if I know that traffic will be slow in the morning on certain roads, I cannot predict accidents and construction work.
- baddox 12y ago
  I've been in San Francisco for 3 years, and I still check traffic information every weekend. Community events, which are fairly common, can make the difference between "traffic will be fine" and "don't dare leave your apartment." Perhaps less anecdotally, local traffic is a major staple of local news radio and TV, which probably means it's important even for locals.
- Havoc 12y ago
  Not the kind that matter though: Is there an accident & associated traffic jam today on road X or not.
  - noselasd 12y ago
    A cab driver will get that information too.
    - Havoc 12y ago
      No he won't. This guy just spent 4 YEARS memorizing maps...his honour is not going to allow him to rock a GPS and any radio'd info isn't going to include the same second-by-second route computations that the GPS does.
deleted 12y ago
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- divegeek 12y ago
  True, and GPS navigation can have real-time traffic information while a cabbie can at best make an educated guess. What's _really_ valuable, though, isn't real-time traffic information, but future traffic information. What matters isn't the traffic right now, but the traffic as it will be when you arrive at a given portion of the journey. I suspect that at present cabbies have the edge there, but that edge will also be swept away by predictive algorithms incorporating knowledge of typical traffic patterns plus lots of inputs about events that may affect traffic. The latter point is particularly interesting if a navigation system acquires enough scale that it is directing a substantial fraction of the traffic. In that case, it knows not only what external events may affect traffic, but can further make decisions to control the flow, distributing and smoothing.
  - foldr 12y ago
    My point was that a cabbie doesn't have to guess if the GPS can provide the info. There's no rule saying that black cab drivers aren't allowed to use technology when it's useful.
    - dwd 12y ago
      A driver would actually be listening to the two-way radio fitted in the taxi to stay informed of traffic conditions and incidents; in real-time and with far more information to plan alternate routes. Sometimes the existing technology is still better.
foldr 12y ago
But a licensed cab driver can just as well use traffic information provided by a GPS device.

guelo 12y ago

A human that drives the same roads everyday most definitely does have traffic information.

the_mitsuhiko 12y ago
I always use GPS even on the roads I use almost daily because the traffic information my GPS provides (Google Maps) works much better than me guessing what the traffic will be. Even if I know that traffic will be slow in the morning on certain roads, I cannot predict accidents and construction work.
baddox 12y ago
I've been in San Francisco for 3 years, and I still check traffic information every weekend. Community events, which are fairly common, can make the difference between "traffic will be fine" and "don't dare leave your apartment." Perhaps less anecdotally, local traffic is a major staple of local news radio and TV, which probably means it's important even for locals.
Havoc 12y ago
Not the kind that matter though: Is there an accident & associated traffic jam today on road X or not.
- noselasd 12y ago
  A cab driver will get that information too.
  - Havoc 12y ago
    No he won't. This guy just spent 4 YEARS memorizing maps...his honour is not going to allow him to rock a GPS and any radio'd info isn't going to include the same second-by-second route computations that the GPS does.

deleted 12y ago

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divegeek 12y ago
True, and GPS navigation can have real-time traffic information while a cabbie can at best make an educated guess. What's _really_ valuable, though, isn't real-time traffic information, but future traffic information. What matters isn't the traffic right now, but the traffic as it will be when you arrive at a given portion of the journey. I suspect that at present cabbies have the edge there, but that edge will also be swept away by predictive algorithms incorporating knowledge of typical traffic patterns plus lots of inputs about events that may affect traffic. The latter point is particularly interesting if a navigation system acquires enough scale that it is directing a substantial fraction of the traffic. In that case, it knows not only what external events may affect traffic, but can further make decisions to control the flow, distributing and smoothing.
- foldr 12y ago
  My point was that a cabbie doesn't have to guess if the GPS can provide the info. There's no rule saying that black cab drivers aren't allowed to use technology when it's useful.
  - dwd 12y ago
    A driver would actually be listening to the two-way radio fitted in the taxi to stay informed of traffic conditions and incidents; in real-time and with far more information to plan alternate routes. Sometimes the existing technology is still better.

foldr 12y ago

But a licensed cab driver can just as well use traffic information provided by a GPS device.