Google Maps just fucking SUCKS now

[Hurricane Rex]

Speaking of odd routings, this was back in September and they fixed it now, but this is what it was coming up when looking directions from Meridian, ID to Idaho Falls, ID. The first one is perfectly fine, and my preferred route. But the second one is ridiculous. I mean, it's a cool scenic route, but not practical and should not show in in Google Maps.



Here is the second suggestion that should have shown up. The funny thing is the time is the shortest of all of them, so Google really should have known better. I had to drag the route manually to get this routing.



To be fair, they fixed this. Now all 3 routes show as options. It now picks I-84 to I-86 as the first option (fair enough, it estimates 7 minutes faster) and US-20 as the second option, though I'm not sure why the scenic route is even on there. I think there may have been a ramp closure on one of the off ramps near Burley, or maybe a bridge closure with a crossover (so 1 lane per direction over one bridge) but Google thought the actual highway was closed in that spot, so just avoided the entire thing.

They should have a senic route option then so those routes don't come up unless you tell it too.

I get the same problem when I use it as well.

[Rothman]

I wonder if it is possible to do a side-by-side feature comparison between free online mapping services. 

[kphoger]

I wonder if it is possible to do a side-by-side feature comparison between free online mapping services. 

Yep.  You just need dual monitors.   

[kphoger]

FWIW, I have noticed Google being more and more eager to route along minor roads as time has gone on.  I haven't had it route me along unpaved roads yet, though.  Occasionally, it now actually routes me along shortcuts I was already using but which used to take one or two drag-and-drop modifications.

[Rothman]

I wonder if it is possible to do a side-by-side feature comparison between free online mapping services. 

Yep.  You just need dual monitors.   

Heh.  I was envisioning a feature matrix.

[jakeroot]

I wonder if it is possible to do a side-by-side feature comparison between free online mapping services. 

Yep.  You just need dual monitors.   

Heh.  I was envisioning a feature matrix.

In Windows 10 (and previous versions of Windows going back to 7, I think), you can snap windows to the left and right sides of the screen. Pretty easy way to pull off a comparison.

At least for me, there's no comparison. I use Street View far too often for any other mapping service to make sense.

[english si]

I use GMSV loads too. And the traffic function. And, on occasion, the point of interests that make the map terrible for browsing roads and such.

But if I want to browse maps for the road/rail, then I go elsewhere where there's better cartography for those functions.

[adventurernumber1]

I guess we just keep finding more and more problems with the new Google Maps. It is now significantly harder for me to spot airports, even huge, international ones. Before, airports - especially large ones - were incredibly easy to spot - if I was browsing maps on an unfamiliar metro area in the country, I could easily notice where the international airport was, even if I had never previously known its location before. Now, it is unbearably hard to do so. I cannot do it when largely zoomed out, and even when I am highly zoomed in, it now takes an extremely long time to spot them, still. They just don't stand out like they used to, and I liked it when they did, because airports can be huge and very significant facilities.


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Also, I will say that I as well have noticed a higher frequency of Google Maps showing strange or even outrageous alternate routes from Point A to Point B when asking for directions in recent times. Though, I have never seen anything as severely off as this example:   

[D-Dey65]

Also, I will say that I as well have noticed a higher frequency of Google Maps showing strange or even outrageous alternate routes from Point A to Point B when asking for directions in recent times. Though, I have never seen anything as severely off as this example:   

That's nothing new to me. The real problem I have is that they don't always let you drag any part of the route to any road you want so you can see how things would be.

[jakeroot]

^^
What's with the do-not-enter sign along I-84? Does that have anything to do with the odd routing? I notice that, even when the route was dragged down to I-84, it shows you having to exit before having to get back on. Maybe when it first calculated the route, the traffic was bad in the area, so it suggested a nearly-as-fast route via Fairfield.

[kphoger]

The real problem I have is that they don't always let you drag any part of the route to any road you want so you can see how things would be.

What's with the do-not-enter sign along I-84? Does that have anything to do with the odd routing? I notice that, even when the route was dragged down to I-84, it shows you having to exit before having to get back on. Maybe when it first calculated the route, the traffic was bad in the area, so it suggested a nearly-as-fast route via Fairfield.

In my experience, both of these things are the product of a road being closed or Google thinking a road is closed.  This can always be confirmed by turning on the Traffic overlay; closed sections are marked with a red do-not-enter symbol and, if you zoom in enough, the traffic status will be marked with a dashed red line to indicate it's closed.  Only on rare occasions have I gotten the Goog to actually route me along a road it thinks is closed, no matter how many drag-and-drops I perform.  On those rare occasions, the detailed driving directions have included a note indicating the road might be closed.

Also in my experience, road closures on divided highways present an especially difficult problem for Google to understand.  If, for example, the eastbound roadway of I-84 were closed due to road construction, and both directions of traffic were then driving head-to-head on the westbound roadway, Google can't wrap its head around that and simply refuses to route you eastbound along I-84 at all; after all, the eastbound half of that highway is closed, and the westbound roadway is one-way going the wrong direction.

[jakeroot]

Also in my experience, road closures on divided highways present an especially difficult problem for Google to understand.  If, for example, the eastbound roadway of I-84 were closed due to road construction, and both directions of traffic were then driving head-to-head on the westbound roadway, Google can't wrap its head around that and simply refuses to route you eastbound along I-84 at all; after all, the eastbound half of that highway is closed, and the westbound roadway is one-way going the wrong direction.

To the best of my knowledge, Google can only route you along roads that it recognises as being something you can drive on (or reach, lest you're in a parking lot that it isn't drawn). For El Goog to route you onto the other carriageway (a contraflow situation), it would need to know that a crossover point exists to begin with, and it would need to be drawn on the map for Google to utilise it. It's one of the few occasions where I will admit that Google isn't perfect. Although, a paper map wouldn't know if the route was open or not. At least Google can quickly find you an alternate route, even if that route is much longer than just staying on the road, and hoping for contraflow.

[Brandon]

In my experience, both of these things are the product of a road being closed or Google thinking a road is closed.

However, Google tends to be late to the game on "reopening" a road after it is closed.  Case in point: a frontage road here was closed for a curve improvement.  The closure lasted a couple of weeks.  It was over a month later, after the road was reopened that Google finally figured out the frontage road was open.

[doorknob60]

What's with the do-not-enter sign along I-84? Does that have anything to do with the odd routing? I notice that, even when the route was dragged down to I-84, it shows you having to exit before having to get back on. Maybe when it first calculated the route, the traffic was bad in the area, so it suggested a nearly-as-fast route via Fairfield.

In my experience, both of these things are the product of a road being closed or Google thinking a road is closed.  This can always be confirmed by turning on the Traffic overlay; closed sections are marked with a red do-not-enter symbol and, if you zoom in enough, the traffic status will be marked with a dashed red line to indicate it's closed.  Only on rare occasions have I gotten the Goog to actually route me along a road it thinks is closed, no matter how many drag-and-drops I perform.  On those rare occasions, the detailed driving directions have included a note indicating the road might be closed.

Also in my experience, road closures on divided highways present an especially difficult problem for Google to understand.  If, for example, the eastbound roadway of I-84 were closed due to road construction, and both directions of traffic were then driving head-to-head on the westbound roadway, Google can't wrap its head around that and simply refuses to route you eastbound along I-84 at all; after all, the eastbound half of that highway is closed, and the westbound roadway is one-way going the wrong direction.

I touched on this a bit in the OP, but I think this was the exact situation that was happening. I didn't drive though that area at all (and I think they were finished by the time I would have), but I think there was either a contraflow situation, or maybe a ramp was closed. But I know the entire freeway definitely wasn't closed. Google doesn't usually have issues with contraflow construction around here though (it's pretty common on I-84).

[jakeroot]

Google doesn't usually have issues with contraflow construction around here though (it's pretty common on I-84).

In your experience, how does Google handle contraflow? Is the freeway re-drawn on the map to show it as single-carriageway? I don't have much experience with contraflow around here. WSDOT seldom utilises it.

[doorknob60]

Google doesn't usually have issues with contraflow construction around here though (it's pretty common on I-84).

In your experience, how does Google handle contraflow? Is the freeway re-drawn on the map to show it as single-carriageway? I don't have much experience with contraflow around here. WSDOT seldom utilises it.

Usually it looks like any other freeway would look (doesn't look like a single carriageway), with a "work zone" symbol showing on the traffic map. Good enough for me, being just a temporary change.

[jakeroot]

Google doesn't usually have issues with contraflow construction around here though (it's pretty common on I-84).

In your experience, how does Google handle contraflow? Is the freeway re-drawn on the map to show it as single-carriageway? I don't have much experience with contraflow around here. WSDOT seldom utilises it.

Usually it looks like any other freeway would look (doesn't look like a single carriageway), with a "work zone" symbol showing on the traffic map. Good enough for me, being just a temporary change.

Oh okay. So you wouldn't know there was contraflow until you got to that point, unless there was a work zone symbol...I think that's how I've seen it done before, but couldn't remember.

[vdeane]

That's how I would think they'd do it.  Google sometimes goes overboard with temporary configurations, though.  They narrowed the carriageways during the exit 23-24 widening/reconstruction on the Thruway and it took them years to restore it to normal.  Meanwhile, NY 189 is still marked as "closed" at the border, even though the Canadian crossing will never reopen to my knowledge.  It should be marked one-way instead.

[Hurricane Rex]

Google can be nice and annoying. Please execs just pick one and save us from the insanity, preferably the nice side.

[kphoger]

Google doesn't usually have issues with contraflow construction around here though (it's pretty common on I-84).

In your experience, how does Google handle contraflow? Is the freeway re-drawn on the map to show it as single-carriageway? I don't have much experience with contraflow around here. WSDOT seldom utilises it.

Usually it looks like any other freeway would look (doesn't look like a single carriageway), with a "work zone" symbol showing on the traffic map. Good enough for me, being just a temporary change.

Oh okay. So you wouldn't know there was contraflow until you got to that point, unless there was a work zone symbol...I think that's how I've seen it done before, but couldn't remember.

Sounds to me like the closed roadway wasn't actually flagged as closed in Google's database.

[billtm]

My biggest issues with the current Google Maps are the fact that the names of locations on the map act as links, which automatically rezoom and repan the map for you, I hate how Google won't default start out with all the layers still on from the previous session, and I wonder what happened to the 45-degree imagery that Google maps used to have? I found it to be really interesting and useful.

[freebrickproductions]

...and I wonder what happened to the 45-degree imagery that Google maps used to have? I found it to be really interesting and useful.

I think it can be accessed from Lite Mode still.

[Bickendan]

While on the subject of road colors, my mom's car has a built-in navigation program, and it uses red for freeways, orange for expressways and big boulevards, green for arterials, and gray for side streets.  The only problem is that it is completely unreliable when it comes to city boundaries, is missing several streets, and the differentiation between gray and green and between green and orange are case-by-case, arbitrary, and inconsistent.  College Ave in metro Appleton between Casaloma Dr and County CB shows up as gray, for example.

When I make maps, I use a similar coloring scheme, but I also add a dark green color for minor arterials.

It's good to know the Thomas Brothers symbology hasn't died.

[kphoger]

the names of locations on the map act as links, which automatically rezoom and repan the map for you,

This is especially annoying if you have a bad mouse that likes to turn drags into clicks.

[doorknob60]

Google doesn't usually have issues with contraflow construction around here though (it's pretty common on I-84).

In your experience, how does Google handle contraflow? Is the freeway re-drawn on the map to show it as single-carriageway? I don't have much experience with contraflow around here. WSDOT seldom utilises it.

Usually it looks like any other freeway would look (doesn't look like a single carriageway), with a "work zone" symbol showing on the traffic map. Good enough for me, being just a temporary change.

Oh okay. So you wouldn't know there was contraflow until you got to that point, unless there was a work zone symbol...I think that's how I've seen it done before, but couldn't remember.

Sounds to me like the closed roadway wasn't actually flagged as closed in Google's database.

I did say "usually". I think in this particular case, the eastbound carriageway was marked as closed. I have no way to confirm that at this point though.