How realistic are travel times in mapmyindia.com

[morgan_g]

I'm looking to travel from Hospet to Mysore. According to mapmyindia.com the distance is 470 km and the time is around 11.5 hours. Is this worst,worst case?

I'd be using a hired car and driver , probably a taxi.

I'm from South Africa, btw.

(Now I know why Indian Rail is still profitable...)

[condor]

@Morgan, the 11 hrs 30 min is a little on the higher side. So this will help account for stops you may need. You can expect actual travel to be a little less than that.

Also, :
1. the route shown by MapmyIndia passes through Bangalore. You can expect traffic there.
2. The initial part of this route can be on the slower side because of road conditions.

Personally for my style of driving, I follow the 50km per hour as a rule of thumb. (In USA, I try the 50 miles per hour). Works quite well for me : I dont rush but neither am I a sedate driver.

Do let us know if you need more information.

[neel385]

Mapmyindia seems to take an average speed of 40 Kmph. So the travelling time will a factor of the speed at which you make the actual journey and the stops you take etc

[BenjiRoss]

I checked a route I am familiar with (Chennai to Trichy) and the distance quoted (323 KM) is right.
"Distance: 323.76 Km Time: 9 hrs 20 min"
However the time it gave me was 9.3 hours. Presently the time taken by most people to cover this distance is 5-6 hours. I am a sedate driver and don't take more than 7 hours even with a break.
So the times for highway trips are definitely much higher than reality. Don't know how they decide these times though.

I tried google maps for the same route and it said:
322 km – about 4 hours 51 mins.
From the outskirts of Trichy to the outskirts of Chennai 5 hours is pretty accurate.

[Samurai]

I had a different experience, it has underestimated the time and distance during my Munnar trip.

Originally Posted by Samurai

I did my entire route planning according to maps.mapmyindia.com website. They had a very nifty interface similar mapquest.com and I was quite happy with the route I had mapped. I was to take Manipal-Udupi-Mangalore-Kasaragodu-Kannur-Thalessery-Mahe-Calicut-Thrissur-Chalakudy-Angamaly-Kothamangalam-Munnar-Chinnakanal. The total distance calculated by mapmyindia was 569Kms. Another Jeeper from Kasargodu namely Sandeep Bhat who was joining the event was planning to break the journey at Calicut. He claimed that the distance from Udupi-Munnar is closer to 700Kms than 600Kms. But since I got my data from a respected GPS mapping company, I decided to stick with my figures.

.....

While we were Calicut, I call Sandeep Bhat and he tells me that he started from Calicut at 6:30AM and he is 60kms away from Munnar, likely reach by 2:30PM. That means it takes at least around 8 hours from Calicut to Munnar. Now, this was little confusing. According to our figures, Calicut is beyond halfway point, why should the remaining part take 8 hours from somebody who started early in the morning. And how much time it would take us to do it in high traffic conditions. As we start closing in on Thrissur, I had really started suspecting the mapmyindia data I had. Instead I started relying more on the Eicher map.

.......

By the time we crossed Thrissur, one thing was very clear. The mapmyindia route had underestimated the route by at least 100Kms.

[Ravveendrra]

MapMyIndia gives unrealistic times for most roads on the plains they show almost double what it takes.

Cheers,

[car-go]

yes, MMI maps service (I use it in my gps device rather than the net) gives the travel time generally on the higher side (say, 2 hrs where actually it takes not more than 1.5 hrs).

[prince_pervez]

I don't know whether MMI does take into account, breaks, bio breaks, traffic, car used into picture . If not then the calculations are based on a certain speed and picture perfect driving conditions.

Guess what, MMI says Pune - Bangalore would take :

"Distance: 841.91 Km Time: 21 hrs 19 min. "

Now go find the timings on the Mumai - Bangalore Road trip threads.
You'll be surprised to know people have done it comfortably in the 12 - 14 hour range w/o risks and un-necessary speeding and recklessness.

I have done it in 13.5 - 14 hours in a zen with short bursts of speeds on good roads.

Whereas a 1987 make Omni did Pune Bangalore last year or the previous in 30 hours.

So depends on what criterion MMI and ilk make calculations.

[anainar]

Originally Posted by morgan_g

I'm looking to travel from Hospet to Mysore. According to mapmyindia.com the distance is 470 km and the time is around 11.5 hours. Is this worst,worst case?

I'd be using a hired car and driver , probably a taxi.

I'm from South Africa, btw.

(Now I know why Indian Rail is still profitable...)

No, their numbers are never accurate and so is their route suggestions. The algorithms look for something we ( the actual traveller ) may not be interested and above all we dont even know the criteria.

Which is why we have these travel sites, where road conditions get updated frequently and we know what road to avoid and what road to take.

Nainar

[sureshurs]

The time is generally overestimated. However the time taken to travel from Mysore would be 8.00 hrs without breaks ( Mys- Blr is 2.15 mins, Blr-Hospet-6 hrs)

[MileCruncher]

I used to use MMI on my GPS. Route calculation is based on shortest time and shortest distance. Any NH irrespective of its actual condition is taken to be faster than a SH and allows for 60kmph. SH or any other road allows only for 40 kmph avg speed

[morgan_g]

Many thanks for all the replies I've received.

I've decided to take a train to Bangalore instead and then travel to Mysore.

I will however travel by car from Mysore to Cochin.

[mithun]

I understand that the timings in MapmyIndia is inaccurate. But, what about the distance accuracy ?

[vkochar]

mapmyindia is very accurate for routes and planning a road trip. The time stated however is almost 30 % more - I think they average 40 - 50kph as your average speed whereas you average maybe 60.

So if it says 11.5 hours - I'd say it would be 8 - 9 hours or so max.