Driving Direction Websites

In about a week, I have to take a trip that there is no way to use interstates for most of it. I'm looking at how I'm going to get there, and notice that Google maps is having me take an awfully funny way. I reroute it, and it gives me an amount of time that seems quite a bit on the high side. I try yahoo maps. Then mapquest, and finally RandMcnally. All of these ones have me take the same route, and their time is within 14 minutes of each other. Why is there such a big difference in the Google one? Same exact route (after i change it) as all the others, and yet there is a HUGE time difference, 54 minutes in a 4.5 hour drive!!

How do all the websites figure out how long it is? Speed limits? Actual driving speed? And which is the most accurate?

In reply to mtn:

Use a new-edition road atlas and screw the website content.

I used Mapquest directions for a trip last summer, but only for one way. On the return trip, I trusted an atlas and saved 20 minutes and shaved over 25 miles from the crap pulled off the internet.

YMMV, of course!

Don't have a road atlas, I do have maps in the car though. I'll look at those as well. I think I can save a lot of time from what the mapquest stuff is telling me by virtue of the fact that on the country roads I can drive a lot faster than on the interstate (their preferred route for about 1/3 of the trip)

From the way Google seems to operate, I'm pretty sure that they've implemented their own routing algorithm. That's why you get different routes from them with different travel times.

The most hilarious driving directions happened to me when I forgot my trusty Garmin[1] at home and used Google Maps to get from Eureka, CA to Mt Shasta. The route went via Forks of Salmon but me not being that familiar with the area didn't hear the alarm bells ringing at this point. Those familiar with the road will probably start laughing right about now.

For those not familiar with the area, the road there follows the valley of the Salmon river upstream and is about 1 1/2 cars wide when measured generously. It's got more bends in it than Hwy 1 (or at least feels like it does) and at places you are between 200'-300' above the Salmon river with a little stone wall about a foot high separating you from a sky diving experience. If you're lucky that is, I remember certain places where there wasn't a wall.

It's stunningly beautiful but not if you're trying to get to Mt Shasta in a hurry for an appointment and the wife (who never gets car sick) isn't feeling well and has to disappear into the undergrowth several times. That was also when I found out that Shelby Mustangs aren't bad but a Miata would've been the answer .

[1] I didn't strictly forget it. It was more a case of me switching on the GPS and wondering why it was loading the maps for Austria, Switzerland and Germany...

This sounds very similar to my experience with a Garmin in a rented Durango that sent me down Old Priest Grade in California's Gold Country.

This video doesn't do it justice, but it's all I could find.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V8h2BQMn8qE

Mapquest once had me turn right off a main road, then left, left, left to circle a block and put me back out the road I was originally on (in the opposite direction), then turn right. Couldn't I have just made ONE left turn and done the same thing?

A few year back I was working out of a different office that was short on staff. I wasn't very familiar in the area and just Mapquested all of my deliveries. I was in a hurry and didn't bother to look over any of the directions. MQ had me take a left turn out of the parking lot onto Rte 30 west, followed by a left onto the next side street, followed by a left, and another left. Only then to turn left to go west on Rte 30 about 1/2 a mile east of where I started??? Yes, MQ directed me into a flyby. I really should have looked at the maps and not just printed the turn by turn directions

Shortly after I started using Google maps...

Hocrest wrote: Shortly after I started using Google maps...

I've found that google will have you go way out of your way just so that you take interstates. Its really annoying.

1: Yo, where's the movie playin'?
2: Upper West side, Dude.
1: Let's hit up Yahoo Maps to find the dopest route.
2: I prefer MapQuest.
1: That's a good one too.
2: Google Maps is the best
1: True Dat.
Both: Double True!

(If you have no idea what I am talking about, please disregard my insanity)

Woody wrote: This sounds very similar to my experience with a Garmin in a rented Durango that sent me down Old Priest Grade in California's Gold Country. This video doesn't do it justice, but it's all I could find. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V8h2BQMn8qE

I dunno, I've got a sudden urge to take a Miata up and down that road. Especially after watching the motorbike doing it uphill.

I've started using the in car GPS, but learned the hard way not to trust the Toyota/Lexus GPS. They've sent me in the totally wrong way 7 times. Now I have a new map in the car, my iphone AND I google the route beforehand.

Sending you across town the wrong way is one thing, but sending you across country the wrong way is totally another thing!

They also limit your ability to search out alternate routes, look for gas, food or even the abiltity to see the sights in a town since Toyo/Lexus requires you to be totally stopped to work the GPS.

I went to Florida from Texas in a 350Z and an 09 BMW M3 and both of their nav systems were a joy, especially the Bimmer. We were able to route around obstacles, take the scenic route for a short while. look ahead for the long view, search out food or sights while on the fly. The Bimmer's wide screen let you split the screen in large enough sections that you can easily read both halfs.

We got into someplace in Alabama that had quite a bit of construction going on with the Bimmer we split the screen putting the local view on my side while my partner worked the other side looking for suitable alternative routes. It worked great.

We also found travel times to be more accurate in car and on the iPhone than on google or any of the stationary mapping systems. I'm guessing they know how fast you've been travellingl

my Garmin is usually accurate to the minute.

my Magellan is slightly less accurate.

My Garmin is usually reading a couple of minutes slow.

Oops, sorry hofficer.

A couple years ago we went to the amateur motocross championships at Loretta Lynn's in Hurricane MILLS Tennessee. It wasn't until we got into Tennessee that I realized that google thoght i mistyped, and had changed my destination to Hurricane Hills, which is considerably south west from where we were going. I quietly put the directions away and guessed where to go the rest of the way. The directions also got us from Nebraska to Missouri by driving through parts of Lincoln, as well as took us through some scary portions of Kansas City.

BoxheadTim wrote:

Woody wrote: This sounds very similar to my experience with a Garmin in a rented Durango that sent me down Old Priest Grade in California's Gold Country. This video doesn't do it justice, but it's all I could find. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V8h2BQMn8qE

I dunno, I've got a sudden urge to take a Miata up and down that road. Especially after watching the motorbike doing it uphill.

That sounds much better than a rented Durango.

I don't trust Mapquest anymore. I was going to a buddy's house a few years ago and it was totally useless! It told me to make a right where there was no street, you could only go left, it told to turn on street X when that street was miles up the road, and didn't lead us to our desitination anyway, dead end. I use my Garmin for everything now and it's great.

It's the Chronic-

Garmin FTW.

They're so cheap these days that there's no reason to fiddle w/ pages of printed directions, IMHO.

I'll take good old fashioned paper maps. My Garmin will get me there but sometimes the routes are rediculous..

I don't like GPS's. Will never buy one unless I get an Iphone; I like to get lost and find my way sometimes. Besides that, where I live I can get almost anywhere within a 50 minute drive. I just need the directions for places I've never been (or driven to).

Maps are cool though, I can spend hours looking at a map. I know, I'm weird. I'm also wired on coffee.

iceracer wrote: I'll take good old fashioned paper maps. My Garmin will get me there but sometimes the routes are rediculous..

I'd rather have the Rand McNally laminated ones. Much more durable. Unless of course we are talking about a road atlas.

My iphone will occasionally give me directions that include making a U-turn on the highway or take an off ramp and then immediately get back on again. I've learned to read through all of it's directions before heading off.

"Turn right onto US33 heading east"

"In 100 feet make a legal U-turn"

"Head west for 18 miles."

The iPhone is awesome! It is so great to get the moving icon that shows YOU. It is great to find virtually anything. We used it last night to route ourselves to see Christmas lights. Yes, I could have googled it or found some sort of paper map, but with the iPhone it was sooo much easier.

The cool thing about iPhone vs. paper, especially after dark, is that you can make changes on the fly without stopping or running off the road while you try to look thru the paper.

I never used a GPS prior to my iPhone and never realized what I was missing. I didnt' see a need for any new fangled gadgetry, but now that I've got it I use it for everything. Need a restaurant? Just type in the name, type of food or just say food and it will show you all the nearby options. I search for everything on my iPhone! It's so easy! I'm spoiled

carguy123 wrote: The iPhone is awesome! It is so great to get the moving icon that shows YOU. It is great to find virtually anything. We used it last night to route ourselves to see Christmas lights. Yes, I could have googled it or found some sort of paper map, but with the iPhone it was sooo much easier. The cool thing about iPhone vs. paper, especially after dark, is that you can make changes on the fly without stopping or running off the road while you try to look thru the paper. I never used a GPS prior to my iPhone and never realized what I was missing. I didnt' see a need for any new fangled gadgetry, but now that I've got it I use it for everything. Need a restaurant? Just type in the name, type of food or just say food and it will show you all the nearby options. I search for everything on my iPhone! It's so easy! I'm spoiled

The GPS on it is also the most accurate as far as location that I've ever seen as far as mainstream ones go. We were testing it vs. a Garmin vs. a TomTom, and it moved when we went from one parking spot directly backwards to the one behind it, probably only 30 feet. It moved twice, too, so at 15 feet. The others did not, they took about sixty yards to tell a difference.

In reply to mtn:

Do you use a GPS app or just the maps built in? I find a GPS more convenient than the iPhone. The Maps app is great but it doesn't do turn by turn directions.