# Wonky GPS Experience **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [July 23, 2025, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wonky-gps-experience/1021209 "2025-07-23T02:21:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Spiderman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spiderman/32/230_2.png) [@Spiderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiderman)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2025, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wonky-gps-experience/1021209/41 "2025-07-24T15:04:40Z")
> [@bump](#): > > More importantly, they’ve typically got algorithms that avoid traffic, construction, and other slowdowns on the fly. some/most newer Garmin Nuvi’s have LMT - Lifetime maps & traffic. AIUI, they don’t update for new roads but they do update for road closures & traffic accidents. It’s not perfect, but I know mine _does_ update for road closures. > [@bump](#): > > So while your Garmin car GPS may find you the same shortest path between two places, two hours into your drive, your car may catch that there’s a huge wreck on the interstate and route you on to side roads well in advance to keep you on the shortest route, whatever that is. For the past seven years, I’ve been in a long-distance relationship. Depending upon time & route, tolls alone are somewhere between $22 & $75. The fastest/most expensive route includes turnpikes with limited (& more expensive - captive audience) rest areas so add another couple of dollars if I want to eat enroute. Ignoring the most expensive route, the decision point for the southern river crossing route is about 1½ into my drive but I won’t hit the ‘bad’ area for at least another hour. Unless it’s a fatal, any current accident should be long gone by the time I get there but there might be four new ones when I’m closer. I get that it can’t predict the future accidents but the algorithm could be better at slowdowns _waaay_ up the road because there are times where I’ve taken the southern route & both listening to traffic on the radio & watching my arrival time, it gets better once an accident is cleared & the backlog flows thru. ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2025, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wonky-gps-experience/1021209/42 "2025-07-24T17:46:24Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > It almost certainly did _not_ say that, and five people in that car will attest to that fact. well, four-Tracey is gone. Then I would conclude that everyone in the car was hard of hearing, and influenced by the fact that “illegal U-turn” is a common phrase, while “legal U-turn” is heard less often. My GPS says “legal U-turn” as well when the Speaking Lady is not happy with where I’m going, the meaning being “make a U-turn, but only in a place and manner that is legal”. Anyone writing code for a GPS that was completely unconcerned about legality would just say “make a U-turn”. There would be no need to emphasize “and make sure it’s an illegal one”! 😉 ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2025, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wonky-gps-experience/1021209/43 "2025-07-24T18:55:49Z")
It’s certainly not perfect, but it is useful a lot of the time. More than once, I’ve left my in-laws house in Austin, and had Google maps reroute me at about the halfway point (Waco) because there’s a new wreck somewhere between there and Waxahachie. Saves a lot of trouble. It’s only as good as the information when it updates; it can’t predict the future. ---
**Author:** ![WildaBeast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wildabeast/32/6_2.png) [@WildaBeast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WildaBeast)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2025, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wonky-gps-experience/1021209/44 "2025-07-24T19:34:44Z")
> [@bump](#): > > So while your Garmin car GPS may find you the same shortest path between two places… My parents came to visit me a few years ago, and because my car isn’t big enough to carry everyone we were going to need a rental car, so we decided the easiest way to do it would be for them to rent a car at the airport and drive themselves to my house. They brought their 2010s era Garmin GPS with them, because that’s the device they’ve always used and they don’t want to learn how to use Google Maps or any other more modern mapping app. Their Garmin directed them to take I-5 to I-80, and then exit I-80 and drive down more than 10 miles down surface streets to my house. That is physically the shortest path from the airport to my house, but it’s not the fastest and it’s definitely not the route any local would tell you to take. The _best_ route is I-5 to US-50 to my town, then just a few miles of surface streets to my house. That is the route Google Maps recommends (although it may suggest the other route as an alternate). ---
**Author:** ![Pork\_Rind](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pork_rind/32/111_2.png) [@Pork\_Rind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pork_Rind)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2025, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wonky-gps-experience/1021209/45 "2025-07-24T20:02:15Z")
> [@wolfpup](#): > > Anyone writing code for a GPS that was completely unconcerned about legality would just say “make a U-turn”. There would be no need to emphasize “and make sure it’s an illegal one”! Good point! ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2025, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wonky-gps-experience/1021209/46 "2025-07-24T20:15:17Z")
In my experience, the GPS says, “Make a u-turn when possible.” ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Strangelove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.strangelove/32/6613_2.png) [@Dr.Strangelove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Strangelove)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2025, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wonky-gps-experience/1021209/47 "2025-07-24T20:49:52Z")
> [@wolfpup](#): > > Then I would conclude that everyone in the car was hard of hearing, and influenced by the fact that “illegal U-turn” is a common phrase “Make a legal U-turn” and “make illegal U-turn” is barely distinguishable even under optimal conditions, and in a noisy car with a robo-voice that already has weird inflections and mispronunciations, I don’t think one can usefully say whether one or the other thing was said. Except of course that “make illegal U-turn” makes zero sense. ---
**Author:** ![Railer13](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/railer13/32/9742_2.png) [@Railer13](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Railer13)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2025, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wonky-gps-experience/1021209/48 "2025-07-24T23:25:53Z")
> [@bump](#): > > So while your Garmin car GPS may find you the same shortest path between two places, two hours into your drive, your car may catch that there’s a huge wreck on the interstate and route you on to side roads well in advance to keep you on the shortest route, whatever that is. Well. We flew to Spokane today. Yesterday I looked at the route from the airport to our AirBNB. It told me to immediately get on I-90 East and drive 15-20 miles to Spokane Valley. But when we started driving the rental today, when we left the airport, Google Maps told me to take the first exit, instead of continuing on the road to the interstate. We stayed on that city street for about 5 miles before finally getting on I-90. A quick search told us that there was a wreck on the interstate near the airport, and drivers were advised to avoid that stretch of the highway. Thanks, Maps! ---
**Author:** ![Spiderman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spiderman/32/230_2.png) [@Spiderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiderman)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2025, 1:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wonky-gps-experience/1021209/49 "2025-07-25T13:10:08Z")
> [@bump](#): > > It’s certainly not perfect, but it is useful a lot of the time. I believe they’re just using raw speed data from other cars, which ia why it appears yellow or red when you approach a light & there are no other cars around. There are a couple of places near me tvat are _always_ backed up, basically where two highways / interstates cross or merge; makes sense as all of the additional cars slow down until thwy can space themselves out again. Ive had Maps show that as as red with the crash symbol. Nope, not an accident, just normal traffic flow that backs up for .x miles. I’ll reroute around a crash but there is no need to f9r a normal merge delay. > [@bump](#): > > More than once, I’ve left my in-laws house in Austin, and had Google maps reroute me at about the halfway point. Ive seen it do that to me, usually unnoticed. Why can’t ut be LOUD about ut that do do it automatically it i don’t notice the screen for the few seconds before you reroute me. I know i have 10, 20, 50 miles left on this road so i can _just_ pay attention to driving…or at least I did until you did a stealth direction change. While we’re at it, when i put in my destination you gave me three options, I chose route B for whatever reason, don’t then tell me you found a faser route (A) as i already rejected that once. ---
**Author:** ![Spiderman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spiderman/32/230_2.png) [@Spiderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiderman)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2025, 1:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wonky-gps-experience/1021209/50 "2025-07-25T13:12:03Z")
> [@WildaBeast](#): > > Their Garmin directed them to take I-5 to I-80, and then exit I-80 and drive down more than 10 miles down surface streets to my house. That is physically the shortest path from the airport to my house, but it’s not the fastest and it’s definitely not the route any local would tell you to take. The _best_ route is I-5 to US-50 to my town, then just a few That sounds like they had their Garmin set for shortest route in preferences. Nav was doing exactly what was asked of it ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2025, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wonky-gps-experience/1021209/51 "2025-07-25T14:11:09Z")
> [@Spiderman](#): > > While we’re at it, when i put in my destination you gave me three options, I chose route B for whatever reason, don’t then tell me you found a faser route (A) as i already rejected that once. Makes sense. Unless of course Route B has suddenly become inadvisable due to traffic. So how big a degradation should route B suffer before the system concludes “I know he wanted B, but in light of changed circumstances, that’s now a really _really_ bad idea. I’ll bug him about changing now.” I recall an “interesting” ride I had in a friend’s car. We were driving about 15 miles across the great grid of suburbia. Call it 10 miles south and 5 miles west. The mileage is substantially identical whether you follow one boulevard south 10 miles then another boulevard 5 miles west, or west first then south, or stair-step your way along south-west-south-west a couple miles at a time. All the boulevards are substantially identical speed limits, traffic light intervals, traffic etc. It really is a very homogenous environment. It’s not rush hour, but it’s late afternoon and traffic is building. Although nobody familiar with the area would _need_ a navigator to get there, the driver was a timid sort who liked the handholding. And the irritating voice. At almost every traffic light the navigator changed the routing. We had been going straight at the upcoming intersection, but now suddenly it wanted a right or left turn. Over and over and over. Seems like as the traffic was building, the shortest-in-time route kept changing. And the software didn’t have enough hysteresis built in, so if the ETA changed 30 seconds it’d reroute. Heck, 30 second changes happen just depending on which lights are red or green when. I had a different map app up on my phone (for entertainment) and it showed several alternative routes, all labeled as “same ETA” the whole time. The poor driver was a nervous wreck trying to obey every one of the ever-shifting dictates of the Imperious Voice. I was dying in the right seat trying to be politely silent. Not a good user experience. ---
**Author:** ![WildaBeast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wildabeast/32/6_2.png) [@WildaBeast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WildaBeast)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2025, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wonky-gps-experience/1021209/52 "2025-07-25T15:31:10Z")
> [@Spiderman](#): > > That sounds like they had their Garmin set for shortest route in preferences. Nav was doing exactly what was asked of it Maybe, but it didn’t seem like they had it set that way intentionally. I’m not sure if that’s the default setting and they were unaware that they could change it, or if they had set it that way a long time ago and forgot about it. But went I asked them why they’d taken that route their response was just “I don’t know, that’s just the way the GPS told us to go.” ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2025, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wonky-gps-experience/1021209/53 "2025-07-25T16:08:44Z")
Complicated tools require complicated users to be used well. Uncomplicated users use complicated tools badly. Some apps / devices try to hide (most of) the complexity from the user. That just converts all users into uncomplicated users who are forced to use their tools badly. ---
**Author:** ![Spiderman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spiderman/32/230_2.png) [@Spiderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiderman)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2025, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wonky-gps-experience/1021209/54 "2025-07-28T03:00:43Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > Makes sense. Unless of course Route B has suddenly become inadvisable due to traffic It did it to me again this weekend. I was in the rural part of another state in an area I had never been in before; the fastest way back was two interstates, due west then due north. I intentionally chose the hypotenuse of the triangle. As I got close to the interstate I heard it tell me that it found a faster route. If I hadn’t heard that (windows were down & radio was up) it would have changed on me. I don’t care that it would take me ~~20 mins~~ probably 45-60 mins longer with stopping to take pictures. I _wanted_ to go over the twisty, turny, hilly, fun-to-drive, & interesting things to see, two-lane country roads. The only traffic jam was waiting for a legal place to pass pokey. Twas much more fun than the soul-sucking, boring interstates. I wish it wouldn’t change from your chosen route unless you actively accept it. While we’re at it, can we have a “Pause” button so when I _intentionally_ pull into gas station or restaurant right next to the road it doesn’t have to recalculate for me. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wonky-gps-experience/1021209.md?page=2)