My dad uses Google Maps, and he mentioned that it seems to be getting worse. Like, giving him directions that are obviously worse than alternatives. Has anyone else here experienced this?
Google/Waze will volunteer users to take alternative routes to scout out ways around congestion. It can be a better route, but you are the guinea pig, so you can get the short end of the stick.
There also is learned driving habits that may inform routing choices.
That’s pretty interesting about the scout cars.Is there any sort of indication thats what they’re doing? I will say given Google’s track record I wouldn’t put it past them to intentionally route traffic near where their paid advertiser’s money comes from.
No indication except for knowing the area and being sent a strange way that doesn’t make sense to you.
The routing is ambivalent to advertising money. The driving data they sell informs where advertisers put money. Horse, then cart; not cart, then horse.
So far… I can easily see some MBA wanting to add that “feature”. They have your driving history, they could easily route someone with Starbucks stops past more Starbucks for a fee.
I was in New Mexico recently and Google Maps gave me a route from Bandelier National Monument to Santa Fe that included a “shortcut” through the Los Alamos National Laboratory campus. I got to meet a security guard.
So, yes. I would say I have experienced this.
This isn’t a new thing but I hate anytime it asks me a question. I’ll be driving through an accident scene trying to work out where the cop directing traffic wants me to go and if I’ll need to go a different way because the turn I was gonna make is blocked off and at that precise moment google maps decides it’s a great idea to cover the bottom half of the screen with a “is tHeRe sTiLl An aCcIdEnT hErE?”
If it’s illegal to use your phone while driving it should be illegal for navigation apps to suddenly require interaction in the middle of navigating.
I ignore those types of notices.
It’s definitely been getting worse. The written directions aren’t always accurate. Exits sometimes have the wrong label. Lanes are missing on the highways when they merge and separate.
I’ve also seen a similar thing with routes not always showing up or giving bad directions. It attempted to take me through a school bus barn and even through someone’s yard once.
Personally, I’ve been seeing way more markers when you zoom in for bigger businesses meaning they are probably going heavy on pay to show.
Organic Maps and OsmAnd is better.
Do you know if either of these incorporate traffic conditions?
as they are privacy focused and have significantly fewer users, not yet.
but, the more users contributing and making requests, the sooner it could be integrated.
you can help by being one of those users!
Thanks for the info!
It coincides with their switch to more and more “AI” black box models. Whereas before they would use a hand-tuned heuristic model to describe whether you are turning, merging, or continuing on a road, they just use a less correct but automagic model where they still inevitably have to tune it a whole lot but it is “AI” so it has the approval of the petty lords of management.
Incorrect entrances and closed roads are another example. They’re just using satellite and street level imagery and tossing it at some models that spit out things like “door 99% confidence” and “road 98% confidence” while neglecting the question of, “are you actually allowed/able to use this?”
PS under basically every correct answer in this category is a team of poorly-paid “labelers” whose answers directly turn into the data in the map. Your door-that-is-not-an-entrance was marked entrance because someone making $8/hr only had 10 seconds to review before moving to the next question.
Yes. I know this is like… Cliche but I do want to say that I’ve heard of, and downloaded a new map app called Organic Maps(Play Store). BUT I haven’t used it for navigation yet.
About two days after I found it, play store deleted it but I can link it, so it must be back up. If you just open it, it looks beautiful and immediately you notice that stores are not paying money to be prioritized. You can see ALL the businesses equally and I love it.
I love Organic Maps. I used it quite a lot for navigation across Europe and here’s my list of findings in order from good to bad
- The maps are visually much clearer than Google Maps
- Businesses are all visible like you said, and so are street names, etc. I don’t know what Google did, but often zooming on something won’t get you the labels. With Organic Maps it just works. On the other hand, businesses are often missing or outdated. Google’s database is way more current and complete.
- Walking paths, benches, bins, etc. are usually better mapped-out (because it’s built on OpenStreetMap). On the flipside, this community-driven approach leaves some roads outdated and occasionally it’ll cause you having to back-track, or ending up on dirt roads. I have fun in those moments though. :)
- Its navigation includes instructions for important Y-junctions in highways where Google Maps just assumes you’ll take the correct lane. On the flipside it’ll often tell you to “go straight” even though there seem to be no other options.
- Generally when navigating, a Google Maps blunder tends to be way more annoying than an Organic Maps blunder.
- It works without an internet connection by asking you to download the maps along your route up front. This can also be a hassle when you just want a quick result.
- Sometimes the position-tracking experiences a delay, which can cause you to miss your turns. This is annoying and I hope it will be fixed.
- Computing a route can take a few minutes depending on the distance and complexity of roads.
- It uses way more battery than Google Maps.
Now, if it wasn’t for this last point, I’d use it over Google Maps every time. But the battery consumption is so bad that I only use it if I know that I can reliably charge my phone throughout the trip.
It’s great with navi, its also great at finding businesses, even offline.
Organic has saved my tail a few times in state parks where I didn’t have cell service. I tell everyone I know to install it just in case of emergency.
It can be more up to date, or out of date depending on the area. I pair it with Street Complete, which makes it easy to update info, or notifies you information you could provide.
I wasn’t able to install from the Play Store, but it’s on F-Droid too.
Yes. I don’t recall which community posted it and when, but Google is adifying their Maps. They literally have sponsored routes planned that will go out of their way to promote paying businesses.
Apparently everyone ITT has had 100 times more trouble with Google maps than I ever have had. Seriously entire categories of problems I’ve never experienced. Google maps has never tried to make me drive through a yard or field for example. Been using it since before it was a smartphone app.
It’s been discussed in other comments that because Google is A/B testing their old maps model against a new AI model that only some people are experiencing it. It’s probably only being tested in some areas.
Yes.
They will often display prompts while driving that are on a timer “suggesting” route changes or alternates and auto selecting yes.
To abbreviate massively and not dox myself, this caused me serious financial harm as a road trip rerouted onto roads unsafe for my vehicle.
I loathe Google and many tech companies for their sheer and ardent refusal to have proper customer service, or any method of customer feedback. A/B testing will never tell you that the top navigation directions should focus on the major high numbers and road names, not what road segment you are on. I need to know what lane to be in for my next turn in 5 miles, not how many times I will fade merge between segements only to have you finally tell me the lane when I’m a quarter mile away.
Google Maps is fucking awful in so many ways that are inexcusable, and worst of all they were allowed to fucking buy more of their competitors. Right now Magic Earth is a distant also ran in this field, and due to Google’s massive proprietary features always will be without support.
And I haven’t even mentioned how my map results are plastered with promoted ads and locations. Which is just useless and infuriating when I am searching for a specific placename.
Google is doing a lot of A and B testing right now. Some days I habe to use Bing or duckduckgo, no matter what, or else I get shit results.
Time to switch Gmaps to Organic Maps or Osmand. Both free and with offline navigation.
Oh cool I’ve never heard but installed them from fdroid just now
I know it’s not new, but I’ve been seeing a lot more “suggested” (read: sponsored) places along my routes these days. Either businesses are just now discovering the feature, or they lowered the barrier for entry. Either way, it’s annoying as fuck to have ads pop up that I have to avoid when moving the map around to navigate
It’s an intentional move they’ve been testing. Looks like you’re one of the “lucky” participants.
I’d say yes. Earlier this week, it navigated me, and I assume a metric ton of people through road construction. Took me over an hour to get to My destination. There’s no chance that was actually the fastest route. 0 chance road construction and stalled cars was faster than literally anything else
