[bhpindian]

Originally Posted by Inquilab28

Do let me know if any of us have also had similar experiences or it was just me who had to go through this.

Yes, even I had been misgiuded by google maps a couple of times.
The key is to stop and ask for directions while using them.
Maps can tell you the best route but not the condition of roads.

[Inquilab28]

Originally Posted by bhpindian

The key is to stop and ask for directions while using them.
Maps can tell you the best route but not the condition of roads.

I agree! I guess we should have ensured we asked the "right" people for directions than blindly and instinctively trusting on the technology. Ill be more careful next time and advice the same to others after my horrible experience which repeated itself twice.

[myridemylife]

Here we were, stranded upon dug up roads opening to narrow lanes in a shabby Ghaziabad village at 4:00 AM.
Next step?

No prizes for guesssing:

Never ever, I had carelessly driven my 3 months old pocket rocket hot hatch k10 over the smallest of city potholes.
Today, I pushed the gas into full throttle over dug up craters and scattered rocks! :'(

Why?

You guessed it correct again:

We were helpless and any small group could have robbed us of our car/safety.
So we flew!

How did we get there? Who was the culprit?

Me or my unflinching faith in technology?

The route: Noida->Ghaziabad->Modinagar->Uttarakhand.

I requested assistance from Google MAPS Navigation only to get out of Ghaziabad towards Modinagar.
There was only one primary route which was being shown and we followed it religiously to land up into deep trouble.

Next steps?
a. Reversed.
b. Took the opposite way and came back on NH24.
c. Cursed Google MAPS navigation. Shut it down.
d. Took a deep breath, followed the usual route with the sign boards.

The technology I preach and follow had betrayed me, but I was not feeling the pain.
APPLE maps too navigated people towards snake forests and they issued a public apology too,
but hey, this is India not states and also Google MAPS being a free software must have this
clause in their disclaimers.

But, I was not thinking this, I was numb.
Why?

In all this action, my savior's tail light had been hit by a electric pole while reversing in the narrow conditions.
I am consoling myself by the fact that my car saved the day for us, which was more important at that moment.

Pics attached!
Now, before I loose my no claim bonus, I want to avoid water getting into it during washing or rain. Can I apply some feviquick ?
DIY temporary solutions are welcome!

But, I cannot get this thought out of my mind - Google! How could you!
Members from this part of the country may know, this NH24 route is a major one and how can Google show the only primary route which is not navigable by any means
any day and time!

Disappointed! God forbid if some one navigates through GMaps in unfamiliar conditions.

[swarnava.m]

I understand your plight and feel very sorry for you. However, be happy and thankful about the fact that nothing untoward has happened and you (and your family??) has come out safely with only a damaged tail lamp. It is a very minor piece of damage and the cost you will incur to fix it is peanuts compared to that of your life and safety, as well as the well being of your car overall.

As for the botch up by Google, I understand it is pointless trying to get back at them for this. However, I would advise you to shoot off a strong worded email to them asking for an explanation. Make it obvious that NH24 is the major route and it is a big deal that Google got this wrong.

As for the tail light, you can actually use brown tape (the stuff they use for courier parcels) and apply it liberally over the broken part to make sure water does not get in. However, do get it replaced at the earliest, since you cannot really guarantee that no water will seep in.

Remember, technology is there to serve us. We must make good use of it, but not my losing or overriding our own judgement. The day we become slaves of technology, we will suffer. Move on. Be thankful again that you are out of it safely. That does not mean you should completely shun technology, but do not let it overtake your own judgement. It will only help you make more sound decisions. Cheers!!

[mayankjha1806]

You found this out the hard way, my experiences have not been too different. To circumvent this i usually have two devices (Phone running Google Maps) and In-Car GPS using MMI.

Apart from this the changing surroundings should serve as a warning sign, it might be because i have never ventured into insides and local roads, but whenever i have i have researched routes from team bhp before starting and what i should be expecting. Anything changes, i usually stop and ask. It has worked well so far.

[stormerider]

Originally Posted by myridemylife

Here we were, stranded upon dug up roads opening to narrow lanes in a shabby Ghaziabad village at 4:00 AM.
Next step?

No prizes for guesssing:

Never ever, I had carelessly driven my 3 months old pocket rocket hot hatch k10 over the smallest of city potholes.
Today, I pushed the gas into full throttle over dug up craters and scattered rocks! :'(

Why?

You guessed it correct again:

We were helpless and any small group could have robbed us of our car/safety.
So we flew!

How did we get there? Who was the culprit?

Me or my unflinching faith in technology?

My dear friend, google maps shows you the shortest route first. It also offers multiple other routes, the best thing to do is check with some local guys/ taxi drivers for the route you are deciding to follow.
We also learnt this the hard way some 3 years back, on our honeymoon road trip. We were going to Manali from Chandigarh, and google guided us to a completely broken road and not the highway! It was a single broken road with no edge binding and if anyone slips, flat ground was atleast a 1000ft. down. Though this was only in last 10kms. but rest 30kms of this track was totally broken. When we reached highway we had covered 50kms on ODO but the actual highway milestone was showing that Chandigarh was 80kms. Hence, it did save us some 30km odd distance, but taught us not to blindly trust these gadgets!
Glad you guys are ok!

[Jeroen]

Originally Posted by myridemylife

also Google MAPS being a free software must have this
clause in their disclaimers.
.

It's a little bit difficult to complain about something that is in essence free of charge to the user.

Just tried this route in google map and it gave me the route via NH24 immediately.

Don't know what happened in your case. Unless it was a setting such as shortest routing or pedestrian or similar.

I've been involved in the development of some of these navigation programs and none of them are a 100% perfect all the time. Although some are pretty good.

What I have found is that it is useful that as soon as you've done the planning, zoom out and check the whole route if it makes sense. Can be difficult if you are using a little phone screen though.

Jeroen

[amit_arya]

Google maps navigation gives you route options also for long trips it is better to search internet and take inputs from taxi wallahs. I myself use GMaps and Satguide. Once i and my friends started from Delhi and Sariska and I managed to reach 2 hours before them. The reason, i asked one of my uncle and he recommended me to go via bhiwadi and alwar. I used maps only for small duration near bhiwadi and to route myself in alwar

however they blindly trusted GMaps and ended up in thin lanes and stuff which took them considerably more time.

My experience is that since Satguide does not have traffic information and limited roads it usually sticks to main roads but google does take you to slip roads to avoid traffic and save time. however some times it is a curse. The best way to use google for navigation is to always consider alternative routes (it usually shows 3 on my phone) and select the one which seems to be familiar or on main roads.

Also incase you feel you were wrongly directed then please goto google "map maker" website and care to update the road condition and other detail so that google updates the database and others do not suffer like you suffered. it could be that roads which are actually lanes are marked at 4 lane highways and hence google routed you through such roads.

[phamilyman]

My friend, Google maps is like artificial intelligence, potentially diamond, but without tempering with that ethereal element called plain old common sense, its just worthless graphite.

Be happy you didn't end up like http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/sideshow...181605523.html - all in a day's exploration. Even humans send you wrongly. I just drove 8km wrongly near Roorkee on Saturday because their administration put up a wrong signboard!

+1 Million to Amit Arya's suggestion

[Soumyajit9]

Well, what more to say about Google Baba. Just today, I was lost in One-way traffic as per suggestion of G-Map - And this is in a major city like Bangalore, not any outskirts or highway.

What I have observed is interesting though. The problem happens when the phone loses connection with GPS. I knew the route today, but since I recently installed a mobile holder, i thought of showing a demo of the GPS + G-Maps to parents. So I switched it ON and saw what routes it showed me. It was ok for about 3-4 kms and then the problems began. It told me to go left right and straight which were absolutely crazy and worse, they were one ways. I ignored couple of them, but took one turn following it and duh, found myself in a wrong one way. So switched it off and went to me destination with my knowledge.

So bottom line is, search the route at your home. Take a print out. Hit the road. But don't just blindly follow the Online Map. Like everyone says, it shows you the shortest route irrespective of the driving condition.

[thiagust]

Well a few months back I followed the directions given by Google map and ended up landing at the opposite end of a huge apartment complex and had to resort to the usual way of finding routes in India , asking some one on the road !!. It was a house warming ceremony of one of my colleagues and ended up getting royally teased and battered.

[hellmet]

I lost my android phone last year and I've never been happier (currently use a 1280). India is full of human GPSs roaming around so I've never had any trouble. I usually look up the route ahead of the trip and print if the trip is long but keep asking whenever we stop for tea and at major turnings, intersections. People know better.

I suggest you apply clear cellophane tape, the 2" thick one. They won't make your car look like a badly packaged shipment the way brown ones do.

Where is the picture?

[Inquilab28]

I have also experienced this on a couple of occassions and in both occassions it was my vehicle which saved me just like yours. I guess its our fault to depend on technology soo much. I have learnt my lesson and will never ever depend on Maps.
This is what I plan to do in the future,
1) Research the destination and the routes.
2) Pick up a map and identify the route that is most used (the public transport uses) and mark it up.
3) Circle the towns, villages and major junctions it goes through.
4) Just follow the route. Keep asking more than one fellow on the road the next town, in case you are in doubt.

All the best!

[Arch-Angel]

This thread reminds me of a trip i did to tirupati city recently. Google maps did show the shortest route but we spent the entire time in streets so narrow that the RVMs were literally scraping the walls on the sides of the streets. Sometimes, plain common sense and judgement and also P-GPS( public GPS ) helps a lot in this regard.

[ani_meher]

How did Google Maps rear-end you? It didn't tell you to reverse the car!
I thought you were rear ended by the google vehicles that are roaming around for street photo mapping.

The topic should be 'Google map misguided me', as the responsibility for rear ending while reversing lies very much on the driver, not any equipment (except if you are using reverse view camera, then the camera is to blame). While you are at it, you might as well blame Maruti for not giving metal reverse lamps .