Don't always Trust Google Driving Directions

[Glacier]

At the point in the road here, Google tells you to turn right because you'll save 0.1 km. They do this because they reason that you'll average 35km/h either way. Totally bunk because most people average about 100km/h on the straight gravel road, and 20km/h if they're lucky not to have to stop to saw out a tree on the other. Google is trying to be 2016 equal in that all gravel roads must be treated equal whether they're straight or not. So PC of them, but come on, even a monkey would pick the straight road.

[spooker]

Google's algorithms rely on driving data gathered by the network ... more than likely people haven't been driving that differently between those two tracks so to Google they are more equal in nature ...

We still can't trust machines to be as "always accurate" as we'd like to think a human brain will be when it comes to decisions like this ...

At least Google isn't sending you off a cliff or into a lake at this fork ...

[Glacier]

Google's algorithms rely on driving data gathered by the network ... more than likely people haven't been driving that differently between those two tracks so to Google they are more equal in nature ...

We still can't trust machines to be as "always accurate" as we'd like to think a human brain will be when it comes to decisions like this ...

At least Google isn't sending you off a cliff or into a lake at this fork ...

If my mom hadn't fixed the washout, I would have had to back up for a while and turn around. This is not a publicly maintained road. If locals haven't sawed out trees and fixed culverts, then you might have to back track. It's an old road that was public something like 60 years ago.

More pictures showing the condition of the roads google says to take...








What Google says is equal (the actual public road)...

[Bsuds]

My GPS must get it's info from Google too.

[WeatherWoman]

Looks like awesome adventure. Google is saying you need more adventure.....pick the route less traveled.

[Graham Adder]

Using Google's instructions to get from Glenmore and Highland to Stockwell, would have me heading west on Clement, then turning left off Clement at Cerise to get on the Rails with Trails Multi Use Corridor.
That's a bike and pedestrian lane. Albeit paved, it is not a road wide enough nor well suited (on account of the bikes and pedestrians) to driving my vehicle.

I'd say the OP's title could read "NEVER trust..." after using it a few times and realizing how someone might end up living in a van on a mountainside, eating trail mix and drinking rain water on account of thinking they were following reliable directions.

[JLives]

Looks like awesome adventure. Google is saying you need more adventure.....pick the route less traveled.

Yep, I'm picking the road to the right every time.

[oko11]

even a monkey would pick the straight road.

So, how was the road on the right?

[Glacier]

I took the road to the left which you can't see in the picture. It was even worse shape than the one to the right. I had to stop and move trees twice. I knew what I was in for since I've down all three roads several times in the past, but the wife a bit worried as the tree branches were scratching our car's paint a few times.

[60-YEARS-in-Ktown]

They look better than the old Chute lake rd...before Gillard came in ..
One time in the 70,s there was a big old Cadillac...high centered on the KVR.... Washnton plates..said they saw the road on the map..! !
Usually you could go down in a car if the road was good.. Going up in a two wheel drive pickup was sometimes a no go in the spring with washouts..... Wonder if the old road is on the GPS ?

[Dizzy1]

Google Maps is a tool, and like all tools they're there to help you - not to be treated as the Gospel ;)

[GordonH]

Google Maps is a tool, and like all tools they're there to help you - not to be treated as the Gospel ;)

Exactly, keep them eyes open and read posted signs. Info is only as accurate as the one doing the data imput

[Dizzy1]

Exactly, keep them eyes open and read posted signs. Info is only as accurate as the one doing the data imput

I'd be cautious with posted signs as well ;)

[Queen K]

I must admit I found Garmin useful for certain city driving as city signage is vague at best or absent usually.

As for using plain good old fashioned Mapbooks, particularly the Backroad Mapbooks series, I recommend them on every road trip.

I truly resent people who say, "you still using maps" as if you're stupid backwards hick. No, actually, I like to be able see the big picture, where the waterfalls are, where the alternative routes are, where the rec sites are and when they are coming up. GoogleMaps can't necessarily do all that for you on a tiny screen. IF you even are getting service in some remote location.

I had a convo with an employee at Halcyon Hotsprings about this very thing, about how she's had some people tell her that a road goes up over a mountain and down to Kaslo, because GoogleMaps told them. Problem? As a local she knows better, that what starts as a FSR turns into a deer track.

We're headed out on a trip and I'm taking no less than five high quality, highly detailed mapbooks with us. They are invaluable where GoogleMaps can not show you everything.

[Dizzy1]

^^^ Plus you can draw/make notes on paper maps ;)