Yes! Google probably thinks I live under the bridge by the highway onramp by now.
Lying to your GPS about where you live is also good security tradecraft, since it means a lost/stolen GPS/phone doesn’t reveal your home address.
ObAnecdote: I’ve found and returned phones twice. Once it was a ruggedized work phone found on a street. AT&T (the carrier) were useless, refusing to notify the owner, which seemed weird–obviously they aren’t going to tell me the owner, but they could notify them! There were only a couple of numbers in history; calling those found someone who knew owning company, let them know, and they came and picked it up.
The other time was a whole purse found in a street, complete with cigarettes and condoms. From styling and contents we were pretty sure it was from a teenager. No wallet, so no ID. While trying to figure out what to do–the phone was locked–it got a call labeled as MOM. Since the battery was also almost flat, I quickly told her to please call my phone, which she did, and she came and picked up the bag. We hoped that either she didn’t look inside or that the smokes/rubbers were ok with her! Family drama could have ensued…
I still get free map updates on my Garmin. Google Maps updates its maps regularly.
It’s pretty greedy for the Dealers to charge for map updates when it’s free on handheld devices.
I prefer Garmin. I only use Google Maps if I’m not in my personal vehicle.
None of my cars have built-in in sat nav.
This paper map preferrer/computer nav disliker stepped in it the other day. Picked my kid up from the airport. Traffic was heavy, so I took side streets home, just heading south, and figuring I could stairstep south and west as needed.
At one point, when the street I was taking south stopped, I turned west on another street - only to find after driving a couple of miles that it was closed due to construction. There were no alternative south streets, so I had to back track all the way to the street I was previously on…
No big deal. Just spent a little more time yakking w/ the kid. But if ONLY I had had my phone nav on! 
I’ll start keeping track. That makes ONE time that I ought to have used computer nav, and EVERY OTHER TIME UP TO NOW that I preferred NOT using it! 
One thing I hate is when the nav shunts you onto surface streets to save like 2 minutes of freeway congestion.
Whats worse is when you try it, and the nav doesn’t know there’s a roadblock, so now you get lost in a bad area trying to get back on the freeway.
In my are, there is an old frontage road that the Nav system directs people onto when I5 has an issue. But that means us locals cant get anywhere. Nor can emergency vehicles.
Sure, if you are gonna be stuck on the freeway for a loooong time, maybe a side street, but not to save a couple minutes. Poor programming.
Not car dealers. Car manufacturers. The dealer is just the store where you buy the manufacturers applications and updates.
There’s one section of highway my in-dash GPS must think is disconnected somehow, because it always suggests exiting, doing a u-turn and then getting back on the highway.
South Georgia roads are laid out like cobwebs. My car’s GPS tried to take me from a perfectly good paved road down a rutty dirt road to save 1882 feet. Nope. It was trying to take the hypotenuse instead of the other two legs, but if I have to slow to a crawl to prevent car damage from the corrugated dirt road, there’s no advantage.
I frequently override Google Maps if I know something about the route. Getting onto a highway near us is one common thing; Google wants me to turn and go past a major mall. That may be “shorter” but involves more traffic lights, and a screwy stretch of road where you never quite know what lane to be in.
We drive up to New England a couple times a year (from the DC metro area). The default route is up through New Jersey. Nope. Did that once. It was great, until I crossed into Connecticut - which was a parking lot. Wiped out the hour savings I was nominally getting by taking that route. Going via Pennsylvania (up I-81, then east on I-78, I-84, or even I-88) may take longer on paper, but is more scenic and has more bailout routes if traffic is looking bad.
There’s one highway exit near us where you go up a ramp, then turn left onto the road that goes very near our house. Without fail, Google Maps tells me to turn right instead. I’ve always ignored it - but I think what it would then have me do is go to the next exit off of that road, make a U-turn, and return to where I was.
I miss the old days when my dad would make numerous stops at gas stations, convenience stores and wherever he felt useful to ask directions when the paper maps were just not making sense.
Sometimes he would stop random people in the streets. Mailmen were always a good bet for local directions.
I still carry paper maps in my car although I never use them.
I will occasionally ask people for directions as I am someone who gets twisted up quite easily. Sometimes using the GPS in a foreign location and constant running in circles brings on a panic attack.
I have even used it to walk myself back to the hotel, especially in Europe.
My GPS has been wonky lately starting last year even though I bought a new one. I am loosing the signal more frequently than I ever have before or it is just announcing it out loud now.
I think there is something afoot.
Those are a good backup in any case. I was once on a trip with my daughter, where I was relying on my cell phone for navigation, only we had no signal. I had to guess at the best route back to where we needed to go. In hindsight it was fine, but it would have been nice to have a bit more certainty.
Oh, and I’ve told this before: we were once driving from Northern VA to Wildwood, NJ, for a Girl Scout event. One of the moms had printed directions to hand out. Another mom said “No need, I’ve got my GPS”.
When we arrived, I phoned her, saying “If you’re close, we’ll wait for you before feeding the kids”. “Nope, we’re waiting for the ferry right now”. Yes, she’d trusted the GPS, and it routed her to Lewes, Delaware. Total driving distance, 140 miles versus 200. Total time: several hours longer.
I know the areas you mention. I have family in Northern Virginia and Delaware. I’ve taken the Lewes Ferry a couple times. That’s some major redirection LOL.
It’s often a good idea to use the printed directions and compare with the GPS. I’ve used both and went with the paper directions several times successfully.
I agree about the maps being good backups. I need to update them as they are a couple years old but still good in a pinch.
I always use the city maps when walking in European cities even though I often have to stop and ask directions. Those twists and turns emanating from old town city squares have often sent me into major meltdowns.
Thanks for the blast from the past. I hadn’t thought of my dad looking for a good place to ask directions.
ISTR periodically being stopped while walking, and asked directions. Guess it hasn’t happened in some time…
I still stop and ask directions. I travel a lot and have poor situational awareness.
Sometimes you even meet some interesting people to hang with for a spell.
I frequently get stopped and asked for directions when I am traveling lol. Poor sods have no idea who they are talking too.
A few years ago I traveled to Belgium solo. Of course I got lost several times.
On one occasion I asked a young woman how to get back to the train station. Well she didn’t speak much English and my spoken French is dismal.
She sized me up at the end of our muddled exchange and decided that she would just walk with me to the station.
I must have appeared transparently but defiantly disoriented.
That is hysterically funny. And a bit awkward as well.
Glad you could make someone’s day.
I had a scary trip back to the motel after a Nashville concert.
Prior to cataract surgery, I had printed off a map from mapquest. It guided me to the venue in daylight.
Got out late and discovered I couldn’t read the damn street signs. I’m in a car and they’re 7 feet in the air with no direct lighting on them. Headlights were useless. Got lost in downtown Nashville until finally following another car to the interstate.
My troubles didn’t end there. Even at 50mph the headlights only illuminate a Interstate sign for maybe 2 seconds. Not enought time to read the I- numbers. I was very thankful to finally find my motel.
I bought a Garmin after getting home.
My vision is much better post surgery, but I don’t drive in strange areas at night.
Just adding my post without reading everyone else…
In a previous segment of my contract I was traveling 3 weeks out of 4. When I was in the New England states I soon noticed that I would have 3 primary routes and 2-4 secondary routes to drive to/from the job site every day. Some days I could see one of the other routes and the traffic would be at a dead stop. I don’t know whether it was due to general congestion or an accident holding things up, but I decided then and there that if I ever had to live in one of those states I would use Google Maps for any trip longer than a mile.
The other factor is vehicle size. My assumption is the coders rarely drive anything larger than an Accord, and this is baked into their routing logic. This isn’t a flaw, just an outcome.
As RV-ers, our length is that of 3 or 4 cars (3.82 Corollas, to be exact). Most nav systems’ urban routes are risky, as they expect I can go over high train crossings, or make acute angle turns onto narrow streets. I have to plan around this using visual and/or paper maps - then force the route I want by asking it “Go to [landmark]”. This continues as a series of stepping stones to force it on the path I need.
One thing I wish the nav system understood is asking for specific venues ahead of us only, not just the closest. Bio- and lunch breaks for us require only a big parking lot to stop in, since everything we want is a few steps behind us. Saying “Go to Walmart” is frustrating, as the system attempts to reverse progress to a closer one behind us. Ditto for “…rest stop”, etc. Asking for a common business like Walmart produces a table of choices, but no visual indications of ahead or behind. So I pick the first while driving down the highway and wait to see if time/distance counts down or up. If getting further, I try the next one – until my selection is one that’s growing closer.
True!
This…totally!! I don’t want to know about some gas station 20 miles behind me. 30 miles ahead is MUCH more useful.