[akshay_ritz]

I like Google maps, but it does tend to take you down the road less traveled. I was on a highway from Hyderabad to Hampi when Google asked me to go off the highway. It went down a 30 KM drive on a single lane road through a beautiful village with fields on both sides, but I had to wait so many times to let cows, goats, and chickens cross over. I sighed with relief when I hit the highway again.

I just ignored its advice and continued on the highway on the return journey, and the time saved was a few minutes.

It's the same case when I visited the Salar Jung museum a few years ago in Hyderabad. I took me from some really tiny lanes in old Hyderabad where the car scraped the sides of houses. I really hate this feature and spend time before a trip to look at instances where Google may try to get too cute.

[bharatbits]

I use only G Maps and nothing else. Though it has failed me a few times over the last decade of my usage but the number is negligible.

In my case there are 5 routes for me i can take for Work to Home. 7kms, 9kms, 9kms, 10kms and 11kms respectively for a 22 + - 1 minutes drive.

Google Maps shows me only 3 routes - the 7kms, 9kms and the 9kms routes respectively. But they are all internal roads with lot of traffic, speed breakers, single lanes through market areas etc. Earlier i thought i must be crazy to take the 11kms (50% more distance) route when i have a 7km route to Home. But, since the last 1 month i started taking the 11 km route and it has been so pleasant and i had not taken any other route since then.

The 11 km route is a arrow straight route just getting up and down 5 flyovers. I maintain healthy speeds, lot stress free, i really enjoy the drive and my Linea returns significantly better mileage figures compared to the other routes. So, i feel the longer distance has been offset by the better mileage, stress free drive and the icing on the cake i still reach home in the same 22 minutes and sometimes a minute or two earlier as well.

[xway]

Voted for Sygic

Though no longer am using it now, have had a great experience with it on my Windows phones and later earlier versions of Android phones from HTC/Motorola. Experience was much better than Google maps at that time. Sygic had offline mode much before Google maps, so used it extensively after downloading full India Maps (note that data was pretty expensive in those days).

Some of the issues I run into with Google Maps -

- Strangely sometimes Google Maps shows right turn but the voice says left and vice versa, this has happened to me many a times and that too on different devices.
Have experiencing over 3 years on different phones and versions of Android.
I tried calibrating the compass but still it does not resolve and starts working by itself later.
Has anyone faced this ?

- Google Maps many a times lead me through such narrow non-existent lanes, I have got stuck many a times on lanes where the car cannot pass.

- Dead ends - G maps had lead to dead ends too many times where it wants me to pass to the road but the only issue is there is a building in between.

Still using Google maps now a days but with caution and observing all roads and the route map before hand, with sygic i used to blindly follow the voice without even looking at the screen. In G maps have to keep an eye open always.
-

[IndigoXLGrandDi]

Thanks for creating this thread.

Initially I used to use Sygic followed by Here Maps during the "Expensive Internet Days".

Now I use Google Maps (now the Internet has become Cheap ). It helps me-
1. Track my history on Timeline.
2. Add and (List-wise) Save Places. This helps me a lot as I need to visit MSEDCL Substations in our District for work.

I don't need Speed Camera Locations but miss the Correct Speed Limits for that Stretch of Road (in GMaps) since many bhpians have reported they have falsely been charged for crossing the speed limit on highways.

One more thing I hate in Google Maps is if I want to add a missing place, it asks to add photo(s) of that place. It is not possible to add a photo if I want to add a missing place from my home.

[landcruiser123]

Given the choice, my answer is paper maps and human IQ.
I find all these devices somewhat distracting and I must confess that I've skipped a traffic light in Mountain View. I don't use maps to drive on a daily basis as I know the directions to the place I want to reach.

That being said, I prefer google maps to everything else. Waze is a good alternative when there is a good data connection.

[Biker Ram]

Voted for Google maps.

Back in 2011 I used MapMyIndia & Nokia Maps along with an external bluetooth GPS receiver for my phone. Both were much better than Google maps. With Android so popular now a days, other Apps don't stand a chance. Google Map dominates despite many flaws. However one thing I like in Google Maps is the accuracy of traffic congestion and estimated arrival time.


I'm not a fan of turn by turn instructions. Before I start riding/driving I prefer to pick a route by looking at the map and memorize some of the key deviations or via points. I go back to map if I lose my bearings.


On another note, I use an app called ViewRanger. No spoon feeding like Google maps, but fool proof when you are in no internet coverage area and have to trace a route someone else shared or trace your own way back.

[bhardwhu]

Apple Maps hands down. It has improved so much in recent years. The interface is clean and very user friendly.

[Raj_RD]

Originally Posted by haisaikat

[*]No support for music controls, yet.

You can enable it by going to settings, then navigation settings and finally media playback controls.

[whitewing]

Voted for Google maps.
Was an earlier user of MapMyindia and Waze, while the UI was better in both of them for navigation I found they were not really updated.
Google maps is very good for cities, on the country side though its as good a chance as others.

Another major niggle is the lane switching indication, I have found that to be confusing at times and sometimes the audio prompt came up way too late to switch lanes in a safe manner.

Originally Posted by nagr22

Though I voted for Google Maps, there have neen umpteen times when it has directed me into narrow village roads, off-road trails, roads that look like they're modelled after the martian surface etc.

Same experience with me, I was once led up a forested hill as the quickest path, which probably was true, but there was the little issue of a missing road :-).

[Zen Av8r]

I voted for Google Maps which has been my default navigation app for the past three to four years.



I started using the TTK paper maps for road trips in the late nineties and then graduated to the Eicher series somewhere around 2005-06. The digital map usage started in 2011 when I purchased a MapmyIndia navigator. The MMI maps were better than Google Maps initially but the GMaps improved over time gradually becoming better than the MMI maps. My navigator started failing in 2016 with touch sensitivity failing and the device casing gave way. I then started using Google maps which now adds value when used with Apple Car Play.

[Rahul Rao]

I use google maps for reference and a little bit of inquiry with regulars on the route, and stopping to ask locals when I see a large deviation on the route.
I've been traveling by roads to many places for years, and in those days the norm while going to a new place was to call and ask a regular visitor there. About two years back I shifted to G maps, and it was a combination of good advice, and getting diverted to lot of non existing roads and unnecessary diversions.


Rahul

[motonomad]

Originally Posted by tilt

[/list]I have also heard that on Addroid it is possible to download the whole of India offline in one step. On iOS that is not possible. I have to download multiple small rectangles like I said earlier.



Oh God, tell me about it - I am begining to hate two wheelers just for this one reason. They screw up Google's routing algorithm and force four-wheelers to go down these narrow crowded roads when a much better and faster route is available with a mere "one-minute-slower" option just two hundred metres further.

I am not sure if it is possible to download the whole country in one go on Google Maps unless they have added it recently. I keep one mobile device for navigation only and I had to save most of my commonly travelled areas by selecting rectangles only.


Also on the second point, Google Maps is collecting lot more than just your GPS location data and easily identifies what kind of vehicle you are using. If you have enabled 'Timeline' feature, pull up the bottom tab and you will see the kind of transport Google estimated based on your movement behaviour between two locations. Even if I choose car mode for navigation on my motorcycle (because it suggests ridiculous lanes and slower roads in motorcycle mode), it identifies a motorcycle as a motorcycle. I don't know for sure but I believe it uses data from accelerometer and gyro sensor to identify. Of course it is not perfect but is right over 80 percent of the times. Notice the attached screenshot, the driving part below is when I took a cab, GPS off and maps closed, the motorcycle part is when I had the phone mounted with navigation in car mode.


So it is not really a problem with crowdsourced data from motorcyclists using the app but is a conscious call taken by the product folks at Google Maps.

[Chai]

Voted for Google Maps but used Map My India as a separate navigator for highway rides to lessen the burden on the phone and used G Maps after reaching the destination point within the city. But now with Android Auto it is G Maps only.

[prateekswarup]

Voted for google maps for obvious reasons.

However, on Apple, have also used Apple Maps. They have considerably improved but location search still much behind GMaps.

Have used Here maps in offline mode for hill travels with poor network. Download offline maps are there for states and it's pretty good & accurate.

Have used Sygic in offline mode almost 7 years ago to traverse Punjab & Himachal. Good app, speed limit indication and decent search. Useless once inside smaller towns, but good for traversing the highways.

[mvadg]

Originally Posted by xway

Some of the issues I run into with Google Maps...
- Strangely sometimes Google Maps shows right turn but the voice says left and vice versa, this has happened to me many a times and that too on different devices.
Have experiencing over 3 years on different phones and versions of Android.
I tried calibrating the compass but still it does not resolve and starts working by itself later.
Has anyone faced this ?
***Yes
- Google Maps many a times lead me through such narrow non-existent lanes, I have got stuck many a times on lanes where the car cannot pass.
***Yes
- Dead ends - G maps had lead to dead ends too many times where it wants me to pass to the road but the only issue is there is a building in between.
***Not yet, touch wood
Still using Google maps now a days but with caution and observing all roads and the route map before hand...
-

My experience in bold, above.

I've also experienced GMaps trying to route me via local roads near Electronic City Hosur road citing congestion - but I got even more delayed than the traffic following the normal highway!

Another issue, on the BETL flyover, which has no exits, it tells me to take a right.