Stupid directions from Google Maps.

[Arnold_Winkelried]

@pkbites

So I wanted to see how many miles it was to drive to Muskegon, Michigan from Milwaukee and Google Maps tells me to take a boat across Lake Michigan and even has a line across the lake for the route. :rolleyes:

So why the hell does it do this?

In addiition to what others have said, in the text directions right next to the map, there is highlighted yellow text at the very top that says “This route includes a ferry.”

[jasonh300]

@yabob

If there were very many areas of the country where car ferries were an option, a “no ferries” choice might be reasonable, while still allowing it to route you on toll roads and across toll bridges.

My Garmin has a “Avoid Ferries” option. Car ferries are by no means uncommon in the U.S.

@LSLGuy

Ballpark it costs 50 cents per mile to operate an automobile. If the $100 toll saves you 200 miles of driving it’s profitable on that point alone before considering the monetary value of your time.

The 50 cents per mile includes cost of the car and insurance, which you won’t save by taking a ferry. More realistically, gas, oil and wear and tear is about 25 cents a mile. Not worth it to avoid a 200 mile drive (unless you’re driving a bus, which they probably charge $500 to take the ferry).

[RearEchelon]

For further research, see this relevant XKCD daily.

[AndyLee]

I found for public transportation in Chicago, Google gives you weird answer. It totally omits routes that are shorter and provides you with longer ones. Plus the times are off about five or ten minutes from the bus tracker real times.

[LurkMeister]

@AndyLee

I found for public transportation in Chicago, Google gives you weird answer. It totally omits routes that are shorter and provides you with longer ones. Plus the times are off about five or ten minutes from the bus tracker real times.

I can vouch for this. Recently I was checking on the best way to get from O’Hare to Evanston on public transit. Google suggested that I take the Blue Line out of O’Hare, then transfer to a bus to get from the Blue Line to the Red Line which goes north to Evanston. Total travel time just over two hours. This struck me as rather involved, especially since it was a very roundabout route, so I did a little more searching and found that there’s a Pace bus that goes directly from O’Hare to Evanston and takes about an hour.

Also, one time I was checking out whether there was any way to get from O’Hare to a west side hotel, in case something came up and a friend wasn’t able to pick me up at the airport. The directions I got ended with “then drive from point X to the hotel”. :smack:

[obfusciatrist]

@gatorslap

Why does it have you drive up to Seattle first?

If they actually did it for a reason I’d guess to save about 350 miles of kayaking, even accounting for having to go around the Olympic Peninsula, Seattle is about 350 kayaking miles closer to Tokyo than San Francisco. Of the large west coast cities (including Vancouver and Victoria in Canada), Seattle is closest to Tokyo.

About the best place to put in without involving a drive to the northern reaches of British Columbia or Alaska (Skagway is about 700 miles closer to Tokyo and Homer about 1300) is Neah Bay on the NW tip of the Olympic Peninsula at about 4,665 miles of kayaking.

So Seattle is actually a decent choice of a ridiculous instruction.

[Disheavel]

@AndyLee

I found for public transportation in Chicago, Google gives you weird answer. It totally omits routes that are shorter and provides you with longer ones. Plus the times are off about five or ten minutes from the bus tracker real times.

There is a disclaimer about the Google Maps public transportation info in the small print/user information. But Google’s data is dependent on the CTA giving the updated “database” to Google which then takes a while to update Cities that have been doing live tracking for longer, like Seattle, have much more up-to-date time information for routes (I have seen it change the day that new time schedules come out) and I think that it demonstrates that usually the city transit is to blame for the slowness in getting information to google maps.

[TroutMan]

@obfusciatrist

If they actually did it for a reason I’d guess to save about 350 miles of kayaking, even accounting for having to go around the Olympic Peninsula, Seattle is about 350 kayaking miles closer to Tokyo than San Francisco. Of the large west coast cities (including Vancouver and Victoria in Canada), Seattle is closest to Tokyo.

About the best place to put in without involving a drive to the northern reaches of British Columbia or Alaska (Skagway is about 700 miles closer to Tokyo and Homer about 1300) is Neah Bay on the NW tip of the Olympic Peninsula at about 4,665 miles of kayaking.

So Seattle is actually a decent choice of a ridiculous instruction.

Your logic is sound, but the directions actually have you paddling first to Hawaii, portaging across the island, then continuing back up to Tokyo. I think we’re left with a ridiculous choice for a ridiculous instruction.

[MEBuckner]

@TroutMan

Your logic is sound, but the directions actually have you paddling first to Hawaii, portaging across the island, then continuing back up to Tokyo. I think we’re left with a ridiculous choice for a ridiculous instruction.

Well, you know, you’re going to want to stop and use the rest room and maybe get a bite to eat halfway across.

[obfusciatrist]

@TroutMan

Your logic is sound, but the directions actually have you paddling first to Hawaii, portaging across the island, then continuing back up to Tokyo. I think we’re left with a ridiculous choice for a ridiculous instruction.

Well damn, wasted all that time looking at distances on gmap-pedometer.

[RadicalPi]

@Xema

I think that’s just for the car - they also charge for each person.

Here’s the cost of one person & one car, one way from Milwaukee to Muskegon:
100.50 - one car
95.00 - one person
12.00 - port & security fees
20.00 - fuel surcharge
$227.50 - total cost

Jeez. At that price, why would anyone bother?

[suranyi]

@RadicalPi

Jeez. At that price, why would anyone bother?

It depends on your precise itinerary, but bypassing that ferry can cost you over three hours in driving time around Lake Michigan. Is that worth more than $200 (and don’t forget the extra gas you use)? It’s up to you.

[Rhythmdvl]

@TroutMan

Try mapping San Francisco to Tokyo (here, I did it for you).

The important step: “28. Kayak across the Pacific Ocean.”

For a while, directions from New York to London included swimming across the Atlantic.

Or Japan to China:

42. Jet ski across the Pacific Ocean

[Snnipe_70E]

If you Google the address of the ranch house where I was born. Google has the drive way labeled as La Encina DR. Acording to ggogle mapps the drive way from the 101 to the ranch house, the the dirt path from the front of the ranch to the back of the property. Then the dirt path from the back of the neighbors property to their house, the the driveway from their house out to La Encina Dr are one drive. Never nind that the two dirt paths do not meet and there is a fence between them.

I do not go by Google Mapps.

[LawMonkey]

@Snnipe_70E

If you Google the address of the ranch house where I was born. Google has the drive way labeled as La Encina DR. Acording to ggogle mapps the drive way from the 101 to the ranch house, the the dirt path from the front of the ranch to the back of the property. Then the dirt path from the back of the neighbors property to their house, the the driveway from their house out to La Encina Dr are one drive. Never nind that the two dirt paths do not meet and there is a fence between them.

I do not go by Google Mapps.

I’ve run into similar issues on occasion. If you contact them, they’ll fix it, eventually.