Hikers recently rescued from an extremely challenging trail in B.C. had planned their trip using Google Maps, prompting a warning about the perils of relying on that platform in the backcountry.
You don’t need to be part of a real community to know this. Google Maps is good to check opening hours and how many reviews an establishment deleted, not for actually getting anywhere.
Willkommen in Deutschland. Yeah, Google added a „this restaurant has a lot of deleted reviews“ thing because German laws make it very easy for them to take down any criticism (unless customers can prove they were there with a receipt).
Yeah their maps are pretty shit, often missing paths. I use comaps which is offline open street maps, generally better but can still be lacking. Ordnance survey maps are the best and it isn’t even close.
OSM’s reliability is very locational. I seem to be the only one that updates my area, which works out well as I have access to where future roads will be, (and I need them on the map for my job) but man. Construction here is crazy and a little assistance would be nice! At least OSM actually accepts my edits and additions, though. Google denies every single one, thus continuing the legacy of shit mapping by them.
I love OSM because there was an island in the middle of the river in my town and depending on the water height this island gets smaller and bigger, whenever there is a large amount of rain and the river is extremely high the island vanishes. Usually the island disappears from OSM within about 10 minutes and then is re-added when the river drops down to its normal level. Truly Wikipedia levels of pedantic pettiness, and I’m here for it.
Most people so rarely need to navigate legislation that Ordinance Survey maps aren’t common. Ordnance Survey maps on the other hand are great for navigating the British countryside.
Where I live it still works fine. It might not be perfect and it does not work great for longer bike tours (If you actually want nice tours and not just the shortest), but if you’re going by car or train it’s good.
I don’t hike, but my experience with regular walking directions is that Google is regularly wrong…because it overestimates how long a trip will take.
Its directions for driving and public transport (at least where it has cooperation of the local public transport agency, as it does where I live) are excellent.
Cycling directions are the only one where I’d say a normal person’s experience is likely to be a bad one, with it regularly taking you on dangerous busy roads rather than nearby quieter streets or bike paths.
So I don’t find it particularly surprising at all that someone who isn’t a regular hiker would make the mistake of relying on it.
Walking speed is very subjective though. Realistically, hikers never agree on time it takes, and a lot of it comes down more to experience with your speed. In my case, I’m actually probably stronger than many people going uphill… But, downhill, my feet start to hurt and I get slow quickly.
I suspect that Google doesn’t account for anything. If I had to guess, I’d say it assumes a certain pace as the normal walking pace, and leaves it at that. Elevation, traffic lights, fatigue, and any other factors that might affect it be damned. So its time estimations for a hiking route are going to be a lot worse than its regular walking estimations. And all that’s before you account for, as you say, individual differences.
You don’t need to be part of a real community to know this. Google Maps is good to check opening hours and how many reviews an establishment deleted, not for actually getting anywhere.
This is something you can do?
Willkommen in Deutschland. Yeah, Google added a „this restaurant has a lot of deleted reviews“ thing because German laws make it very easy for them to take down any criticism (unless customers can prove they were there with a receipt).
Yeah, basically by claiming libel.
Yeah their maps are pretty shit, often missing paths. I use comaps which is offline open street maps, generally better but can still be lacking. Ordnance survey maps are the best and it isn’t even close.
OSM’s reliability is very locational. I seem to be the only one that updates my area, which works out well as I have access to where future roads will be, (and I need them on the map for my job) but man. Construction here is crazy and a little assistance would be nice! At least OSM actually accepts my edits and additions, though. Google denies every single one, thus continuing the legacy of shit mapping by them.
I love OSM because there was an island in the middle of the river in my town and depending on the water height this island gets smaller and bigger, whenever there is a large amount of rain and the river is extremely high the island vanishes. Usually the island disappears from OSM within about 10 minutes and then is re-added when the river drops down to its normal level. Truly Wikipedia levels of pedantic pettiness, and I’m here for it.
Should show high/low tides… Here we have a few islands at high tides and you can walk to them at low tide.
Nothing is ever perfect and the quality also depends how active the OSM community is. In general Komoot is the common person’s way to access OSM data.
Using ordnance survey maps is often like navigating a minefield. The ordinance survey maps are pretty helpful though.
Most people so rarely need to navigate legislation that Ordinance Survey maps aren’t common. Ordnance Survey maps on the other hand are great for navigating the British countryside.
https://www.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/
Where I live it still works fine. It might not be perfect and it does not work great for longer bike tours (If you actually want nice tours and not just the shortest), but if you’re going by car or train it’s good.
Goole’s far superior car navigation app is Waze.
What’s the big difference? I’m using Maps and it does its job. So what cool features does Waze have that Maps doesn’t?
Radar/autovelox/speedtraps community added. And with in-time alerting if you are passing in it and you are speeding
Also, in waze with few taps you can add a temporary issue on the rod, like a stopped car on the shoulder, traffico, police presence etc.
I don’t hike, but my experience with regular walking directions is that Google is regularly wrong…because it overestimates how long a trip will take.
Its directions for driving and public transport (at least where it has cooperation of the local public transport agency, as it does where I live) are excellent.
Cycling directions are the only one where I’d say a normal person’s experience is likely to be a bad one, with it regularly taking you on dangerous busy roads rather than nearby quieter streets or bike paths.
So I don’t find it particularly surprising at all that someone who isn’t a regular hiker would make the mistake of relying on it.
It keeps sending people up my driveway to a place that doesn’t exist. Labels my neighbour’s driveway as a road too.
Walking speed is very subjective though. Realistically, hikers never agree on time it takes, and a lot of it comes down more to experience with your speed. In my case, I’m actually probably stronger than many people going uphill… But, downhill, my feet start to hurt and I get slow quickly.
I suspect that Google doesn’t account for anything. If I had to guess, I’d say it assumes a certain pace as the normal walking pace, and leaves it at that. Elevation, traffic lights, fatigue, and any other factors that might affect it be damned. So its time estimations for a hiking route are going to be a lot worse than its regular walking estimations. And all that’s before you account for, as you say, individual differences.