Google Maps just fucking SUCKS now

[Scott5114]

As for using A.I. to help code changes in our WMS/payroll program...  It scares me when I hear how excited everyone is about it.  But half of those people are ones who actually worked on developing the thing to begin with, so I figure they know what they're doing well enough to do it responsibly.  At least, I hope so...

So, in software development, there's this concept called "tech debt", which is a fancy way of saying that anything you build you have to maintain. And AI allows you to generate a lot of code very quickly without having any idea of what the code you generated actually does. (Well, like, you can run it and see what results it gives you. But since you didn't come up with it yourself, that means you aren't necessarily able explain how it works—which is a huge problem if it suddenly breaks, as computer stuff tends to do.)

What I'm saying is I would be double-checking the math on my pay stubs if I were you.

[kphoger]

What I'm saying is I would be double-checking the math on my pay stubs if I were you.

Oh, the W2 payroll side of it for office employees will probably be just fine and dandy.  But we use it for a zillion other things.  We do hundreds of telecom jobs per day just in the Wichita (KS) and Lincoln (NE) areas, which is what I mainly deal with.  But we also do lottery equipment all over the country, and those projects are huge.  Fortunately, I think the most complicated parts are the parts that the coding gurus actually oversee as project managers.

[vdeane]

These are reasons why my coworker and I are scratching our heads at the AI our ITS agency has been deploying.  The guidelines for using it say "it can't be used for much, and you can't trust what it does", which begs the question "why use it?".

(personal opinion)

[Scott5114]

But we also do lottery equipment all over the country, and those projects are huge.

Given what I know about gaming compliance, I would keep AI far, far, far, far away from that application...

[kphoger]

But we also do lottery equipment all over the country, and those projects are huge.

Given what I know about gaming compliance, I would keep AI far, far, far, far away from that application...

It's just for the jobs to be loaded into the WMS and scheduled out into routes, techs to bill our company for their jobs, and maybe to track equipment serial numbers in-house for our own purposes.  Nothing actually gets integrated into the actual field work itself, as far as I know.

[DenverBrian]

The problem is that AI is not easily separated from other means and modes of automation, machine learning, and so on. It's more of a continuum. We've been using automation for years, and machine learning is ever-more-sophisticated automation. Crossing the line into AI isn't usually a bright line; it's like boiling a frog one degree at a time.

[GaryV]

Why does the Google Lady tell me to do something like this?

"Turn right onto the I-75 ramp"

"In .2 miles, merge onto I-75"

No shit, sherlock, what did you think I was going to do at the end of the ramp? Turn around and go back? Stop and ponder my naval lint?

[DenverBrian]

Why does the Google Lady tell me to do something like this?

"Turn right onto the I-75 ramp"

"In .2 miles, merge onto I-75"

No shit, sherlock, what did you think I was going to do at the end of the ramp? Turn around and go back? Stop and ponder my naval lint?

I wish it would say "In point-2 miles, merge onto I-75 BY BEING AT FREEWAY SPEED BY THE END OF THE RAMP." 

[kphoger]

My biggest pet peeve right now with GSV is that if there is independent GSV coverage on a road (i.e., Brett Norman), then it defaults to that, even if there is newer imagery by Google itself.

This drives me nuts.  I've been getting examples lately where there is standard GSV imagery that's two years newer than the default (and poorer quality) independent imagery.

[pderocco]

Google My Maps is no longer able to create driving, biking, or walking routes by clicking on a starting point, then intermediate waypoints, and finally double-clicking the ending point. Huge bug, which makes it utterly useless to me. Hopefully that's all it is, and they'll fix it.

They fixed this in a day or two, but now the exact same bug is back. At least the fact that they fixed it in July indicates that was actually a bug and not some intentional boneheaded redesign. We'll see how long it lasts this time.

Also, I keep reporting the reappearance of scattered old pre-1976 route numbers in Nevada, and they somehow get fixed, but they label my reports as "Not accepted". They seem to come back every six months to a year, as if they have some AI that crawls the internet, looking for evidence of route numbers, and it keeps finding that old stuff.

[pderocco]

Fortunately, they fixed it again, in two days.

I can't help wondering if they fixed it because I reported it, or if they fixed it because a thousand people reported it.

[kphoger]

I'm currently browsing Google Maps in Opera, in 'private' mode.  And, in order to see business hours or more than ten pictures, it's asking me to log in.  *grrr*

[vdeane]

I'm currently browsing Google Maps in Opera, in 'private' mode.  And, in order to see business hours or more than ten pictures, it's asking me to log in.  *grrr*

They seem to be really pushing that again.  I've encountered it a few times in the last couple weeks.

[CoreySamson]

Fortunately, they fixed it again, in two days.

I can't help wondering if they fixed it because I reported it, or if they fixed it because a thousand people reported it.

This bug was annoying the crap out of me. Glad to see it was fixed, but the fact that it returned at all doesn't give me much hope.

[Scott5114]

Large software firms heavily encourage programmers to use AI to write their code, so it's possible some AI thinks the broken version is most likely to be correct and keeps changing it back to that.

[Roadgeekteen]

So last Saturday, Google maps had a major screw up. I was with my family in Montreal and they were doing construction on some of the bridges going from Montreal island to the suburbs. The eastbound Samuel De Champlain bridge carrying autoroute 20 and the westbound Helena bridge carrying Quebec 112 were closed. My family was trying to get from our hotel in Brossard to the city, but google maps said that both lanes of the Samuel De Champlain were closed. My dad drove up to the Jacques-Cartier bridge which was extremly backed up and near impossible to get on, probably because everyone thought the Samuel De Champlain was closed. Eventually he gave up and drove back and we took the REM into the city. While taking the train across the river into Montreal, we saw a very lightly trafficed Samuel De Champlain, but there were cars on it- google was wrong, and everyone lucky enough to not use google got a nice traffic free ride into Montreal while all those with google were stuck in traffic hell.

[GaryV]

A few days ago the Google Lady told me, "In 1/2 mile, take the interchange to the right."

What, the whole freakin' interchange?  No thanks, Lady, I only want to take one ramp.

[Roadgeekteen]

Oh yeah and it's still Lake Ontario Google

[jakeroot]

Most likely Apple Maps and other services will follow suit, since the GNIS changed to reflect the executive order.

What I don't like is how quickly Google Maps changed the name. Just say you'll change it and then take three months or something. The nearly-immediate overnight change was not necessary.

[kalvado]

Most likely Apple Maps and other services will follow suit, since the GNIS changed to reflect the executive order.

What I don't like is how quickly Google Maps changed the name. Just say you'll change it and then take three months or something. The nearly-immediate overnight change was not necessary.

You assume that was a deliberate action on behalf of Google. It's totally plausible that they didn't change anything manually, just happened to pull the update early.
And yes, updates for things like new roads or reroutes have to be done relatively often anyway.

[vdeane]

Even the NOAA weather radio still uses Lake Ontario.  It feels like Google is trying to curry favor with the administration or something.

[jakeroot]

Most likely Apple Maps and other services will follow suit, since the GNIS changed to reflect the executive order.

What I don't like is how quickly Google Maps changed the name. Just say you'll change it and then take three months or something. The nearly-immediate overnight change was not necessary.

You assume that was a deliberate action on behalf of Google. It's totally plausible that they didn't change anything manually, just happened to pull the update early.
And yes, updates for things like new roads or reroutes have to be done relatively often anyway.

It was clearly deliberate, they wrote an entire (short) blog about it:

https://blog.google/products-and-platforms/products/maps/gnis-lake-ontario-lake-america-name-change/

I suspect Google has their own datasets that are pulled from various sources, but which pass through layers of internal audits to contain the spread of any misinformation, like falsification of data, or plain errors that occur outside of their control. They have ways to prevent the change, even if it is largely automated, and they could have held back the change for a bit until it became something beyond just a political stunt.

[bandit957]

They also changed the Palm Beach airport to Donald Trump.

It never ends with them.

[hotdogPi]

They also changed the Palm Beach airport to Donald Trump.

It never ends with them.

That one actually changed, including signage and the three-letter airport code. This isn't a Lake "America" situation.

[bandit957]

That one actually changed, including signage and the three-letter airport code. This isn't a Lake "America" situation.

But it's just as politically motivated.

Another thing that sounds really stupid is corporate names for stadiums. Nobody ever refers to stadiums by their corporate names, except on TV and radio.