Yes, i often turn it on for this reason, even when it’s a route i know well.
Are you folks noticing a difference in behavior between Google navigation/maps and Waze?
I seldom use navigation apps but I do when traveling. I sometimes get annoyed when Waze gives me a circuitous route to ostensibly save a minute, but maybe Google does the same.
It has tried to keep me from avoiding tolls recently. I type in a route that avoids them, but it reroutes me back to the toll road.
A bizarre miss on my latest journey.
I needed fuel, so I selected “petrol station” from the top list of popular searches (i.e. it’s not text I’ve typed myself).
The first place it tried to send me was a burger van that happened to have “station” in its name.
The second place was a petrol station of sorts; a place that just sold biofuels for trucks.
Luckily I had enough fuel to limp to a place actually selling gasoline.
So it seems the metadata isn’t great, at least for some places.
There probably should be a setting, in addition to “minimize time”, “minimize distance”, or “minimize fuel use”, to minimize complexity. I know that, when giving directions as a human, I sometimes forgo the shortest route (the one that I would actually take if it were just me, since I know the area) for one that only has a couple of turns, just because it’s easier.
There are also spots where I know that I can make a left turn at any of three consecutive intersections, and choose based on how many cars are in the left turn lane of each one. An online mapping app simply can’t update to current conditions quickly enough to account for that, and it might be nice for the directions to offer options (like, literally, “Turn left at any of the next three intersections”).
Assuming the “Avoid Tolls” option is on, have you tried turning it off and on again?
I get “about the same time” choices for situations like that. At least, sometimes.
Yeah, usually, if you look at the screen. Which I don’t, when driving. If I’m navigating for someone else, and I can see the route well enough to tell what’s happening, then I’ll tell them.
The voiced directions, though, never mention alternate routes.
I often get voice directions for alternate routes. I think it happens mostly when traffic conditions change. It will say something like “We’ve found an alternate route that saves X minutes. Tap Reject to stay on the current route.” If you don’t tap anything it will just redirect to the shorter route.
Doesn’t it support Android Auto and CarPlay? I have a 2017 Prius with Toyota’s horrific navigation system, but I understood that 2017 was the last year that Toyota didn’t support those protocols.
This. I’ve not noticed a horrible shift in Google Maps. It’s still our default.
Google as a search engine has become some A.I. dystopian mishmash of paid advertising and not-written-by-meatbrained-creatures material.
I gotta find a new search engine.
I did quite a bit of cross-country road tripping before I had a smart phone with google maps. And while I got lost from time to time, I never felt as frustrated as I do when google sends me on some weird combination of surface streets, through a neighborhood or out in the boonies that might save a minute or two over a route over a highway or major thoroughfare.
Huh. Never heard of this. I might give it a shot. Thanks. The screen is so small though on the other hand, the tablet is kinda too big.
I can’t get Android Auto to work. My phone connects to my car, but when I try to set up Android Auto, the set up hangs. Oh well.
For my car ('20 Toyota), I have to physically connect the phone with a USB cord to use Android Auto. I can connect via Bluetooth to play music, but that’s it.
Yes, that’s what I want. If it only takes say 10% longer, it would pick a simpler route, meaning fewer directions and favouring major roads over backstreets.
Yeah, I read about that and saw some youtube videos as well. No dice with the USB cable either.
Another significant miss from google navigation directing me to a gym that doesn’t, and never did, exist.
Basically I was in a town, let’s called it Alpha, that has a shopping center called Alpha Shopping Center. And the gym is called The Gym: Alpha branch, so presumably someone has carelessly clicked on the (only) shopping center that matched the branch name. However, The Gym: Alpha branch is actually located on Beta Industrial Estate.
Alpha Shopping Center has never had a gym.
I dunno is this is a trivial miss. It’s just a first for me: I’ve seen out of date listings, but never just an outright false one of what is actually quite a busy business.
Well, if the business placed itself at the wrong location you can’t really blame that too much on Google. I think Google has a system to automatically correct wrong info even from the business, but IMO I still would give them a pass for that.
It’s pretty bad…but there are no real viable alternatives for non built-in devices.
Also… I beat this drum all the time…after all these years why is there still no “start directions once I’m within __ of the destination.” I don’t need it tell me how to get out of my neighborhood…