I am currently studying in college and part of my college course dictates that I most do a work experience placement. I ended being placed in a charity shop. The first couple of days went well. Its a small little shop in a shopping center so there wasn’t much for me to do. So they decided that today I’ll do some work in the warehouse where they receive their goods.
They gave me the address but they forgot the bus so I ended taking a bus that stopped at a 20 minutes walk away. I got off the bus and tried to find this warehouse with the help of Google maps. It kept constantly telling me to go in different directions for the next 40 minutes. So I was walking around in 0 degrees Celsius weather is just a jumper. I eventually managed to find the correct area but it was in a big industrial park. I went searching around for 40 minutes and it turns out all they had to identify them is like a tiny wooden sign. So I finally got to my placement nearly 2 hours late. They were quite forgiving about it though since apparently that has happened to a few other before.
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This morning my colleague was sent to a school she didn’t know, so she used GMaps to get the directions. She parked her car, but wasn’t able to find the school. She called me and we found out that GMaps sent her almost 1km away from her destination. I gave her the correct address and she was able to find the place, but she was late for work (no big deal anyway). After further inspection, I found out that the school was mapped as an insurance office. I suspect it’s a case of vandalism, but who knows.
I found out that the best way to force Google Maps to update is to make the correct edit in Open Street Maps. Google seems to source its local information from there.
Just an anecdotal example: I live at the end of a cul-de-sac, and I’ve seen loads of cars drive up to my house, and then gingerly do a 15-point turn (the road is very narrow), and drive back. I checked Google Maps and found that it lists my street as open. I’ve filled reports with Google several times, and nothing happened. Then, I updated OSM to indicate that at the end of my street there’s just a pedestrian footpath to the next street. Within two weeks, the number of cars turning around decreased drastically. I checked Google Maps, and found that they fixed their map. A few years later, there’s still the odd car making the mistake, but the only map service I could identify that still didn’t update was Apple Maps.
Since then, I’ve done several edits in OSM (I live in a young estate, with loads of construction still going on, so maps are not very reliable), and Google always picked up these edits.
I corrected gMaps about 20-30 times over the last few years since we moved into a new building (first renters – whee!). I actually had work peers submitting corrections too.
Finally, out of the blue, it was fixed, and now I check weekly for it to revert. Now, fucking UPS losers who can’t read huge numbers on the side of the road can find me again … and drop my package out on the street in front of the building for the free-rangers to steal. You’re gonna love how my new presbyopic, astigmatic, myopic eyeglasses feel on your face, you dick.
I’ll try a correction to OSM next time. That’s GENIUS.
The last time I used Google Maps for navigation (several years ago), it had me get off a highway, and then get back on it in some strange U-turn situation… I was a guest speaker at an event, but fortunately gave myself plenty of time to get to my destination, as it wasn’t a place I’ve been to before.
I couldn’t believe it had me do all that when “continue going straight” would have been the only real option!
So, yeah. It doesn’t surprise me that it also gave you and others the runaround. I’m surprised they haven’t fixed this problem in all these years. I bet they improved the ad delivery, though.
Had you accidentally turned on ‘avoid highways’ by chance? Because the one time that happened to me it was.
Maybe it’s a non-US thing, but here in Sweden GMaps will desperately force you onto roads that it has decided are highways or some other kind of “fast” roads I guess and it makes no sense.
Nope. Absolutely not, since highways were 90% of that trip. It did this like halfway through, for no reason that I could think of. No traffic. No accidents up a head. It quite literally had me get off the highway, and reenter at the same interchange!
The only options I would have enabled would have been “avoid tolls” and “avoid ferries”. Neither of which applied for this
I’ve had this happen often enough (while walking) that now I check the map to see the direction I’m going and brute force it, ignoring the instructions. It’s at least as handy as a paper map sometimes lol.
I’ve had a few experiences like this. I started using landmarks and the compass to navigate instead but that doesn’t take into account things like a sidewalk ending or obstructions which can result in major losses in time
Even though I put the actual address of my home in, it sends me to another address on a different street. There are a lot of one-way streets involved, so it’s not a simple re-route when people end up there. I’ve submitted countless correction requests for years, but of course nothing changes.
Similarly, Google maps thinks that my driveway on a dead-end street is actually on the street behind my house. Fortunately, it only messes up its directions when you’re leaving the house.
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I’ve stopped using Google Maps for walking directions and use Apple Maps instead. Whenever I use Google Maps, it gave me the most winding, dark backstreet walking route possible, but the same way on Apple Maps was really straightforward.
I really feel like Google is overall degrading.
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