jducoeur: (Default)
[personal profile] jducoeur
[First of several little posts about Coronation and reflections on the reign.]

The travel to Coronation was generally fun and stress-free, at least insofar as Friday rush-hour driving ever is. But it was a good reminder that Google Maps is an automated program, and sometimes shows poor judgement. To wit: regardless of the traffic on the Garden State Parkway and New Jersey Turnpike, taking us through the middle of downtown Newark is probably *never* the right answer. This will remind me to look at the route it has laid out, and see what that actually *means*, before uncritically following it.

(On Sunday, we did the more sensible thing: [livejournal.com profile] msmemory figured out the route herself, and we just used Google to keep an eye on the traffic...)

I feel your pain...

Date: 2010-09-27 03:02 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] anu3bis.livejournal.com
for long distance travel, I use it as a map rather than a set of directions, mainly because it always wants me to take the GWB, instead of the more sensible Tappan Zee.

Re: I feel your pain...

Date: 2010-09-27 03:26 pm (UTC)
dsrtao: dsr as a LEGO minifig (Default)
From: [personal profile] dsrtao
GMapsNav seems to want to optimize for shortest distance, and does not take into account traffic, number of turns, or speed of roads. Having a "Recalculate for shortest time" option would be a Good Thing.

Re: I feel your pain...

Date: 2010-09-27 04:10 pm (UTC)
laurion: (Default)
From: [personal profile] laurion
Indeed, whereas my Garmin seems to optimize for shortest time. Of course, it doesn't know about traffic, so I can still run into trouble at times, but it does have a really easy and useful 'detour' button which will sometimes get me around a trouble spot.

Re: I feel your pain...

Date: 2010-09-27 06:06 pm (UTC)
laurion: (Default)
From: [personal profile] laurion
Some models do have that. My father has one of those. IIRC they're relying on traffic reports from MSN, but they do seem to be less real time than the Google ones. One wonders where each of those sources is ultimately pulling data from.

Re: I feel your pain...

Date: 2010-09-27 07:13 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] anu3bis.livejournal.com
My brother paid for the Darth Vader voice to give him directions. While we were in the car, we were making up new phrases we wanted for a future update, like:

"I have altered your route. Pray I do not alter it further."

I could hear it getting more and more annoyed as we refused to take its suggestions. Then it let out "Turn left at the next intersection. Don't make me destroy you."

(no subject)

Date: 2010-09-27 08:41 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] eclecticmagpie.livejournal.com
Yesterday I asked Google to show me the route from Waltham (Prospect Hill Forge in particular) to the Weekes Memorial Footbridge in Cambridge. It had no trouble showing me where the footbridge is, about which I was a little surprised (in a pleasant way) but insisted that there was no way to get from one to the other!

Profile

jducoeur: (Default)
jducoeur

June 2025

S M T W T F S
12 34567
891011121314
15161718192021
22232425262728
2930     

Most Popular Tags

Style Credit

Expand Cut Tags

No cut tags