I’m really having my doubts. I used to have a Garmin Nuvi until it died. I’ve run them both side-by-side & the Nuvi, despite it having a stall map database ended up being better than my phone.
This weekend I was away. I put in a local zip code more to give me an ETA on when I’d home than for directions as it was all interstate driving that I was familiar with. About 10 miles from home I noticed that it was still showing 25 mins ETA so I looked at the directions. It was taking me past my destination & suggesting I get on the Turnpike E for one exit, then get on the expressway N for one exit, get off, get back on S one exit & then take the turnpike W one exit where I would reach my destination - after an extra 16 miles of WTF driving! Even when I got off onto local roads to get home it kept rerouting me to take the turnpike West to get there, as if there was no other way in the world I could arrive at my destination w/o taking the turnpike West.
I’m now seriously contemplating a new Nuvi.
Has Google Maps failed you?
I don’t have a problem with them, but I’m (according to my wife) some sort of navigating genius so any odd issues like that I just ignore.
Google Maps has been scarily accurate with commute times for me. I once mapped a route from my apt to someplace I’d never been and was given total travel time of 26 min. So I timed myself from the moment I sat on my bicycle seat until the time I got off, and it was 26 min exactly. Next trip, just for shits and laughs, I asked Google maps how long it would take. It was off by one minute, so I dunno, maybe it’s pretty iffy.
Google Maps and I get along well (and their trip time estimates seem more accurate than Mapquest or Mapblast). I do have issues with the Navigate app on my Android phone, which is obsessed with putting me on the freeway to the point that it will route me miles out of any sane direction just to make sure I take a freeway.
I find Google Maps to be very good, especially when compared to Garmin’s offerings. Not perfect, mind you, but very good.
On one occasion, maps sent me a substantial distance from the place I wanted to go. Essentially they had mistakenly placed a business “off the end” of the street it was on, so it was actually closest to another street. I reported this to Google, and they fixed it within a week.
Have you considered making a report of the strange routing and seeing what they say?
I’ve never had an issue with Google Maps. It’s the best, most accurate navigation tool I’ve ever used. That I never have to worry about outdated maps makes it even more of a no-brainer for me.
I’m still amazed by its ability to suggest alternate routes based on current traffic volume.
I don’t understand why anyone uses standalone GPS devices anymore.
OP, you put in a zip code? That seems like asking for trouble.
I prefer Google maps to turn by turn type GPS devices. I use to see where my destination is then I put it away and drive there.
I can find practically all landmarks I know, even ancient volcanic calderas like La Garita. What I can’t find is Mt. Everest. :smack:
Obligatory XKCD
Personally, I’ve never had any trouble with Google Maps. (But then, I make a point of packing a torch for spectral wolf-related travel scenarios.)
I only use Google Maps to look up where things are, not to find out how to get there. Even so, I find a fair number of errors in its results. I’ll stick with paper maps as long as they’re available.
You’re sure you are not talking about apple maps, right?
It is very rare for me to find a bad google directions.
My Garmin always takes the most “local roads” route which is always slower due to lights (and yes, I have it on fastest route).
I don’t expect dynamically generated travel directions to be 100% perfect in the absence of AI. Although I have noticed some improvement over the years. What I don’t like is finding geographical inaccuracies on the maps themselves. I have written in to correct several errors I’ve found of where things are placed on the ground. They make the corrections and write back to thank me.
Maps has failed me, but it’s not the norm. I’ve used it for a combination of walking, bus, and driving directions (and I’m actually very impressed with how it handles the combination of walking/bus directions).
For a “free” service which includes rather accurate traffic and multiple routing information for my location, it really can’t be beat. When you take into account it’s integration with Google Now, it’s even warned me before I leave for my destination, in order to account for traffic.
That’s what I’m wondering. I wouldn’t expect great results from a ZIP code. At least give it a street.
Traffic conditions on Google Maps are usually more accurate than either the traffic website or the radio station website.
My (minor) complaints have been:
Once I put in the address of a K-Mart, and it directed me to a private house behind the KMart. Close - but the picture was of the house at least.
It has not figured out that a small road between two other streets is closed off. Can’t much blame it for that.
It usually wants to send you on the shortest route, even when you don’t want to go that way. This is especially bad when I want to take 101 instead of 5 to SoCal. I bet if my Map-fu was better I could work around this. On the other hand last week it directed me home a way I wouldn’t normally go - and it was absolutely right about it being a superior route.
Not Google Maps fault, but something to be aware of is when the GPS is a bit off, especially in a city. When we were crawling through San Francisco it often thought we were on a side street, not where we were.
Voyager, you can drag the path to change the routing.
I just ran into Yet Another Screwup with Google Maps.
Got the address, sort of know the area, got the company’s version of directions. Need to formulate them for Mrs. FtG’s way of following directions. Check with Google Maps.
The place is very close to a major freeway interchange. But GM gives a route that involves getting off onto another freeway, doubling back on a side road, crossing the original freeway and then coming up to the place essentially from the previous exit.
I tried dragging the route around to lead it to the right exit. But no, it then switches to getting off the next exit after it, doubling back down the freeway. Nice.
No amount of fidgetting with the route seemed to fix it. In fact, at times it would decide to route two exits past the right one. Egad.
Tried Map Quest, Yahoo! Maps. Same problem. Bing Maps? Same problem at first but then in dragging the route around I got something a little close to the right one. It then dawned on me the problem with dragging Google Maps: The proper exit is a couple miles before the “exit”. It follows a parallel access thing for a while.
Zooming in on the key location and very carefully dragging the route, I finally got Google Maps to follow the right path. What a headache.
It would have been essentially impossible to have figured this out if I was completely unfamiliar with the area. I.e., the kind of person who is most in need of good mapping.
Also: A while ago I wanted to get the exact miles to a nearby location. Google ignored the road I use to get there. No amount of dragging could convince it to use that road right there they have on their map.
Their whole dragging/fixing routes thing is a horrible mess.
I trust it about as much as I trust any other internet site or application, which is to say enough to follow its directions when they seem reasonable, but not enought to turn off my critical thinking. I’ve had Google Maps give me great directions and I’ve had it give me absurdly wrong directions, but they’re generally pretty easy to tell apart.
At least it’s better than the GPS Mrs Cad had on her phone. It literally tried to have her cut across an airport runway once.