Another Google Maps adventure!! Pretty funny reading.

[Vladimir]

https://www.sfgate.com/travel/article/google-maps-leads-californians-i-15-desert-18509727.php

 

The part I liked was telling 911 that they didn't know where they were, while holding a cell phone in their hand during the conversation.  Surprised, that 911 did not tell them how to access lat and long on their phones.

We are doomed as a socity.

Vladimir

[2gypsies]

When the road turned to gravel they should have turned around right there.  Folks nowadays don't carry maps .... probably because they can't read them.

[Pat & Pete]

Sorry to say , but , 'the dumbing of America' is / has been a success .

[Vladimir]

I have been out in the desert and had the GPS unit say this way, and I said I don't think so. 

I do have a forester friend that refuses to get a stand alone GPS unit relying on his phone instead.  He has lived in a city for so long that he keeps forgetting their is not cell service everywhere.   Last time we were out hunting together.  The GPS unit was wrong, Google maps were wrong.  As well as the county paper maps.

One problem is that the data layers come mostly from county records.  In Washington state, the counties get road monies from the state based on miles of county roads.  I have run into some "great" county roads that just crossed wheat fields.

It is amazing how many people cannot read a paper map.  I was running out of gas, when my friend suggested we take a short-cut.  I kept following him, until my comfort level reached uncomfortable.

Then stopped the caravan and pulled out my Forest Service map and located us on the map.  It was then he asked "showed me how you figured that". 

He worked as a urban fireman and spent a lot of time outdoors.  Never did learn to read a map!!!

[sandsys]

We were on a freeway in a new to us city. I knew our exit was coming up but Dave was driving in the left lane. When I asked why he said it felt like a left exit to him. He was right. He got that feeling from studying a paper map.

I was driving though Kansas City when my GPS shut down. Fortunately, I had been that way before so knew what to do. Apparently, my GPS overheated from the sun shining through my windshield. It happened to me again the next year driving the same route heading south from Minnesota to Texas.

But the absolute worst was when our GPS told us to turn down what was apparently an off-road place in the mountains. Dave drove us over a lot of loose shale before we got off that road safely. Sure glad he was driving.

We once bought house in a new neighborhood. It took two years for our street to show up on our GPS.

So, yes, check your GPS but don't place all of your trust in it.

Linda

[rickeieio]

  If you're on the US interstate system, the signage for a particular exit should be placed above and to the side of the sign to which you'll exit.  BUT, I know of some places (Louisville, KY) where that's not true.

Last summer, my child bride took most of the grandkids on a road trip from Cincinnati to Colorado.  When she got in the car with a beat up atlas, they made fun of her for being old fashioned.  They are now converts.

[bruce t]

Don't blame others or the system. We have all become addicted to technology. Many folks simply haven't learnt to think for themselves. It's not a new trend. IQ has been around since Adam and Eve. Schools are adverse to teaching critical thinking or simple logic.

Anyone wanting proof of the decline of IQ only has to look at our politicians!

 

[Deezl Smoke]

2 hours ago, bruce t said:

Don't blame others or the system. We have all become addicted to technology. Many folks simply haven't learnt to think for themselves. It's not a new trend. IQ has been around since Adam and Eve. Schools are adverse to teaching critical thinking or simple logic.

Anyone wanting proof of the decline of IQ only has to look at our politicians!

 

 Ya hit that nail square on.👍

 Older folks came up without technology, and as such can mostly find a way around when tech fails. Younger folks have not had that luxury. They are brought into technology from the start.

[Chalkie]

17 hours ago, Vladimir said:

I do have a forester friend that refuses to get a stand alone GPS unit relying on his phone instead.  He has lived in a city for so long that he keeps forgetting their is not cell service everywhere. 

I have used my cell phone lots of times for location without cell service but always in conjunction with paper maps. The GPS on the phone works just fine with no cell service. I use the lat/long/elevation with a USGS Topo or MVUM map when off-roading and have never gotten lost (yet, I suppose).

[Lou Schneider]

These fools made their own bad luck.  I wish SFGate had a comments section.

They couldn't even follow Google's directions, the pin on the map shows them well off of the intended route. Had they glanced at their phone before they turned off the highway they would have seen they were going down the wrong "road".  They were supposed to take Sandy Valley Rd, 20 miles of 20 ft wide, graded and maintained road with a sign that says "Sandy Valley."  I call it a "45 MPH road."  If you go 45 MPH or faster all of the bumps disappear.  From Sandy Valley it's another 20 miles on narrow two lane paved roads to I-15 at Jean.

Instead, they took off down an unmarked, unmapped dirt track.  Had they glanced at the phone before they left the highway they would have seen they were in the wrong place.   What's really hilarious are the lemmings who blindly followed behind them.

Or they could have looked at the suggested detour and said, "Hmmm.  This will add an hour and a half on slow roads to our trip.  Maybe we should just chill here until the freeway re-opens."  Or take US 95 to I-40, it's only 30 minutes longer than taking I-15.

At least they had fairly pleasant weather, not the 110 degree summer heat.

Edited November 25, 2023 by Lou Schneider

[Ray,IN]

22 hours ago, bruce t said:

Don't blame others or the system. We have all become addicted to technology. Many folks simply haven't learnt to think for themselves. It's not a new trend. IQ has been around since Adam and Eve. Schools are adverse to teaching critical thinking or simple logic.

Anyone wanting proof of the decline of IQ only has to look at our politicians!

 

I'd laugh if it wasn't so true. The sad part is, most of congress are lawyers.

[Randyretired]

Our mountain place is no where near where Maps shows it.  Whenever I give instructions I have to emphatically state that or people will go where Maps shows. Where Maps shows is behind a locked gate. Even though I gave directions to a contractor he followed Maps and the gate was open so he drove on in.  When he tried to leave the gate was locked.  Spent a few hours before someone came by and let him out.  No cell service.

Edited November 25, 2023 by Randyretired
To add no cell

[Second Chance]

13 hours ago, Ray,IN said:

I'd laugh if it wasn't so true. The sad part is, most of congress are lawyers.

While 51% of the senate have law degrees, only 30% of house members do. Of course, education, good sense, and intelligence aren't necessarily directly linked.  

Rob

[rickeieio]

Most folks don't realize that many places/lanes on the digital maps are placed there by people like you and I.  The only reason Pope Farms shows up on Google is because I put it there, in the proper location.  OTOH, Google shows a Godfather's Pizza on our road, in a construction fill site.

[bigjim]

On 11/25/2023 at 8:07 AM, Second Chance said:

 Of course, education, good sense, and intelligence aren't necessarily directly linked.  

Rob

amen

[2gypsies]

Here's a good one that I just read today.  Motorcyclist approached Titus Canyon Road in Death Valley which was barricaded and closed from recent flooding.  His mapping app said it was open so he went around the barricades and eventually got marooned and had to have a helicopter rescue!

https://www.nationalparkstraveler.org/2023/11/motorcyclists-rescued-after-driving-closed-titus-canyon-road-due-incorrect-map-app

[Chalkie]

11 hours ago, 2gypsies said:

His mapping app said it was open so he went around the barricades and eventually got marooned and had to have a helicopter rescue!

Who ya gonna believe? An app or your lyin' eyes?

[bruce t]

Interesting. Another Google maps story.

 

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-11-30/grazier-makes-sign-trust-me-not-google-after-maps-confusion/103142386

[Ray,IN]

Anything designed by humans is subject to errors.

BTW, Rand McNally stopped supporting RV GPS units a few years ago, now their mapping program is designed strictly for OTR truckers and boating.  If you still have a RM RV GPS, your lifetime maps is gone. https://randmcnally.com/map-updates/

Edited December 1, 2023 by Ray,IN

[lappir]

22 minutes ago, Ray,IN said:

Anything designed by humans is subject to errors.

BTW, Rand McNally stopped supporting RV GPS units a few years ago, now their mapping program is designed strictly for OTR truckers and boating.  If you still have a RM RV GPS, your lifetime maps is gone. https://randmcnally.com/map-updates/

I really liked the Rand McNally maps, the GPS unit was not very good and didn't last very long at all compared to the Garmin's I have had. 

Just got an iPhone and use the Carplay map or Waze in my Jeep and motorcycle. WIll have to keep an Android to use the unit I put in my new to me Truck. It won't talk to the iPhone. 

 

Rod

[Ann-Marie]

In the EARLY days of Google Maps we were following directions to a destination and got suspicious as the road quality was deteriorating.  It actually did take us to within about 100 yards of the destination but on the WRONG side of the river.  It was about a 15 mile drive to correct it.