Google Maps takes scenic route
Take the long way home…
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A few days ago, this author noticed some oddities in Google Maps: it seemed to be unable to route relatively short distances on major highways.
At the time, I didn’t think too much of it: I posted a short Tweet (below) and left it at that. However, it now turns out that the vaunted map platform is giving all kinds of strange results to users.
Here is the route referred to in the Tweet, which turns a 20-minute trip into an epic of nearly two hours.
How Google Maps thinks you should drive from Wentworth Falls to Blackheath.
As ABC News now notes, a similar problem is now happening on the Pacific Highway in New South Wales:
A diversion through Gloucester and Walcha is not the best choice
While experience tells The Register that the New England Highway is a perfectly reasonable way to get from Sydney to Brisbane, diverting via Gloucester and Walcha is not just mystifying – for an ordinary Sydney driver on holiday, it would be downright dangerous.
As the ABC notes, the problem is (naturally anough) affecting other services that embed Google Maps, such as the New South Wales Roads and Traffic Authority’s Live Traffic Website.
Google has told the ABC that the problem is being “dealt with”. ®
COMMENTS
It's been marked on paper maps as "River Lea or Lee" for decades. IIRC it changes name from Lee to Lea somewhere along the way.
I've noticed issues with Google maps where it seems to think some sections of road are one-way for some reason, which causes the weird routing. It's most noticeable when the only alternative route is very long, like those shown in the article.
Related to recent update?
They recently updated their maps about a month or so ago. However, they seemed to have cocked up a few things, like for example labelling the village of Welwyn "Welwyn Garden City" when the real Welwyn Garden City (which is named after the village is south-east just above Hatfield. The River Lee is also named "River Lea or Lee", for some inexplicable reason.
Scenic...
The trip from Sydney to Brisbane via Gloucester and Walcha is heaps quicker and nicer than the Pacific Highway. There is no traffic and the scenery is awesome. Well done Google for encouraging people to enjoy the trip as well as the destination.
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