Google Maps and Google Drive

[Bert Kemp]

Does anyone use these. My gps died so I'm trying google drive. It doesn't seem to work very well. I give it a destination and it give me directions but if I don't go the way it tells me it keeps telling me to turn around and go the way it wants me to go. Doesn't seem to be able to reroute.
example I want to go south on the highway from my house. it tells me to go north to get on the highway when I go south to get to the highway it keeps telling me to turn around and go back to the north entrance, even after I get on the highway going south it tells me to exit go over to north bound go back to the original enter point get off go ver to south bound and get on the highway there.
My GPS woud just figure out what I was doing and reroute accordingly .
anyone else have these problems

[Eduard Nemirovsky]

Not so much Google map, but mostly Wize. In my experience much better and do what you want with redirection.
Ed.

[Art Mann]

Google Drive is a cloud storage service and doesn't relate to navigation. Google Maps is very persistent about taking you on the route it thinks is the best. This could be what it thinks is the shortest or quickest route, depending on your settings. It seems top have an almost fanatical desire to choose interstate roads, even when back roads are the faster and shorter.

[Bert Kemp]

in this case If I turn left out of my driveway it takes me 2 miles north to an on ramp if I turn right I got 2 miles south to an on ramp. Doesn't seem logical that it should take me 2 miles further away and also not be able to reroute the shortest way.which is go right and 2 miles south to highway.

[David Bassett]

Waze started as an Israeli company and was better in Europe, so we heard about it many years ago from a friend that was bi-continental. It has some quirks, just like Google Maps/Nav, and which is best seems to depend on the situation and location. A few years ago I heard Waze was acquired by Google and was being rolled into Maps. I checked today and they're distinct aps, so maybe my source on that was wrong.

As for Google Maps/Nav, we've been using it happily for years. I can confirm it recalculates route just fine. (I've been known to disagree with it's route choices, e.g. 40 back road turns to save two minutes over the interstate for a 3 hour drive.) It does use the Google servers for it's calculation, your phone is just an I/O device providing a display and location information. Since it doesn't recalc for OP, I'd assume it has lost the cell connection. (Or something is turned off on some menu I don't know about, always a possibility.) They do have a download route & calculate locally option. It really cuts down on the running data load, but grabs a massive block of data upfront. It'd be good if you set up the route at home on WiFi, have a new'ish phone with plenty of memory, and are in an area with spotty cell service. I'm pretty sure you give up traffic updates etc. when you're in local mode, but that may only be when there's no cell service. (I'm not good at running nav ap. I drive & my wife navigates on most of our road trips.)

[Bert Kemp]

think I'm just going to buy a new gps I think from what I see their way better then the phone and don't use any data LOL

[Mike Henderson]

I use Google maps and don't have any issues. It tries to give you the route with the shortest driving time but it almost always offers alternate routes and you can choose the alternate just by touching that route.

If you drive your own route, it will eventually accept your route and direct you from there. The big advantage, for me, is that I can put in a business name instead of an address, and Google maps will take me there.

I think Google bought Waze and integrated some of their technology into Google maps.

Mike

[Michael J Evans]

I use Google maps and don't have any issues. It tries to give you the route with the shortest driving time but it almost always offers alternate routes and you can choose the alternate just by touching that route.

If you drive your own route, it will eventually accept your route and direct you from there. The big advantage, for me, is that I can put in a business name instead of an address, and Google maps will take me there.

I think Google bought Waze and integrated some of their technology into Google maps.

Mike

Yep if you go to Google's actual website and look at their apps Waze is one of them

[Doug Garson]

I also use both Google Driving (maps) and Waze and have never had the problem you describe but yes you need internet connection to reroute. We used both for a two week road trip in Costa Rica 2 years ago. We selected our destination when we had wifi and used cell data to reroute when necessary. At home I use it all the time using cell data. As long as you don't select satellite view it does not use much data. Don't know if your GPS can do this but both Waze and Google Driving take traffic conditions into account when plotting the route and if conditions change ie a traffic jam ahead on your route, it warns you and offers an alternate route. They also warn of cars pulled over ahead, debris on the road, speed traps etc using input from users. I use the OK Google command to input my destination and find gas stations, restaurants etc and I can even pull up the menu (if I'm navigating and my wife is driving of course and choose my lunch) all hands free. All free and no need to carry a second device c/w charger, I'd never go back to a traditional GPS, I've asked several times and no one has ever offered what I would agree is an advantage of a GPS over Waze or Google driving.

[Michael J Evans]

As someone else mentioned there are settings within the app. Like shortest distance, avoid highways etc. Check yours and make sure it fits what you want. I've never had a dedicated GPS, only ever used Google maps. I use it daily on my way home from work, I know the only two routes, buy each route can vary by 10 or more minutes so I let Google tell me. It is often very good for me in heavy traffic. I've been taking some round about way it tells me this last week. I decided not to listen to it and what do you know it took me a extra 15 mins to get home, because of construction that was only happening in the evening's.

[Steve Wurster]

Generally speaking, I use Google Maps from my computer (i.e. their website) and figure out my plan ahead of time, possibly even printing it out.

If I need directions while driving then I will start with the GPS built into my car, and if I have to I will fallback to Google Maps. I always only use Google Maps when away from home / vehicle.

I removed Waze from my phone probably over a year ago. I didn't care for it that much because it was so purely centered around navigation / directions and it wasn't as easy to just work with the map otherwise. Plus once you go into the app it just stayed active doing its thing, even if you didn't explicitly ask it for directions.

And Google bought Waze back in 2013 for nearly $1 billion.

[Bruce Wrenn]

I still rely on an old fashion MAP Going to our daughters, both phone and GPS want to send us over fifty miles to reach a point that is less than six miles from where we are at that moment. That's an extra hour's driving. But after we make "wrong turn," they can correct and send us where map sends us, which is about forty miles shorter. Coming home, both want to route us to Fredricksburg VA, and then down I-95 to Rocky Mount NC, and then to home which is two extra hours of travel. Besides who in their right mind wants to drive on I-95?

[Jim Becker]

I use Google Maps exclusively and am looking forward to the potential of the next major release of iOS supporting user choice for default apps which is a rumored enhancement. I don't have any of the routing issues you describe with the application. In fact, it's rerouting based on traffic has saved me large amounts of time when traveling. Like Steve, I pre-plan both routes and saved destinations which are accessible from multiple devices.

I'm not sure what you are referring to as "Google Drive" relative to mapping as Google Drive is their cloud storage solution.

[David Bassett]

For the folks having trouble with nonsensical routes, check the settings or preferences set for your ap. We've at times had trouble with both Google Map versions and the Built-in GPS Nav in our cars being weird. E.g. my wife managed to turn off toll roads in our first Prius, which made getting around the Bay Area interesting because each of our bridges are (short) toll roads to the GPS. Another setting we've bumped into a few times is enabling private roads. I think you'd generally want it off so you don't come to locked gates etc., but occasionally a road is marked private that isn't by any practical definition and with out enabling it you can get seriously roundabout routes.

I don't think any system will be perfect in every situation and it's your use that will show if it affects you. E.g. in NYC Google Maps was better at subway travel in general, but the transit system's ap got status updates more quickly. We ended up using both and teasing out the status between the two. On another trip, driving in England, we used Google Maps for navigation, but kept the rental's GPS Map open so I could orient myself with what Maps was saying. The problem was Maps used road names / numbers and roundabout signs used the next town up the road. (Fortunately one thing roundabouts are great at is U-turns! :) )

[glenn bradley]

It took me awhile to buy off on the "most people make the best time, going this way, at this time" algorithm but, I am a Waze convert. I use Google Maps for locating things, searching "nearby", satellite views and so forth. For getting from A to Z I use Waze. The same rules apply to the app; if you have it set to avoid freeways . . . it's going to avoid freeways.

I was trying to find a current Thomas Guide for my dad . . . rare and sometimes priced like they are collectables ;-)

[Bert Kemp]

its Driving not drive my bad

[Brian Elfert]

I have very rarely had an issue with Google Maps on my iPhone. It recalculates as necessary. I certainly haven't seen it send me an hour out of my way. I will typically look over the proposed route before leaving to make sure it makes at least some sense although that doesn't help when far from home.

I prefer to stay on major highways unless the major highways are backed up and side roads are moving faster.

[roger wiegand]

It seems I'd pretty much never find my way anywhere without Google Maps. It occasionally gives a weird routing, close to home that's due to having no cell signal so it doesn't know exactly where it is. I used it for years commuting into Boston. It saved me a ton of time sitting stopped in traffic. The big advantage of Maps over a GPS is that, if you drive in an area where many people use it, the traffic information is very accurate and the routes are chosen accordingly. I found that my actual commute time was almost invariably within 1-2 minutes of the Google prediction, suggesting that when it told me that the "most direct" route down the Mass Pike I might have chosen was going to be an hour and ten minutes and the alternate route it suggested was 50 it was probably right. Over the years it picked probably 30 different routes to get me home on different days.

It is useful to download maps for areas you frequent to your phone so they're held locally. This avoids the dependence on a good cell signal, often a problem as one drives through areas with an allergy to cell towers.

[Jerome Stanek]

most of the time I use dead reckoning but other time I may use a Rand Mcnally map. I do have Waze on my phone but after traveling the country working for Revco and CVS before there was a good gps you know how to use them.

[Curt Harms]

think I'm just going to buy a new gps I think from what I see their way better then the phone and don't use any data LOL

I think the same but my Garmin GPS's database is unreliable. I get the address from the phone if needed and put the address into the GPS, that seems to work pretty well.

[Bruce Wrenn]

(Fortunately one thing roundabouts are great at is U-turns! :) )
i'm glad somebody has found a use for them. Here in NC, we had gotten rid of all but two, around the courthouse in Pittsboro, and the circle at Newton Grove. Engineers / traffic designers have fallen in love with them. They try to cram them into spaces where they won't fit. Most can't handle a 53 foot semi, without driving all over the "infield." One of our favorite things about wife's GPS is, Ask for directions to closest Goodwill Store, and it will send you to Brooklyn NY, about 435 miles to the northeast, passing several stores on the way. Doesn't matter what town we start in, it's the same- Brooklyn NY.

[Brian Elfert]

Most roundabouts purposely have a concrete area for the wheels of a semi trailer to go up onto.

Roundabouts are good and bad. Better than stopping at a four way stop most of the time, but they suck when they replace a stop light on a busy road.

[David Bassett]

... Roundabouts are good and bad. Better than stopping at a four way stop most of the time, but they suck when they replace a stop light on a busy road.

I think familiarity is a big part of their success (or failure.) They were much more orderly and effective over in England compared to the ones I've been on in the US. (Despite the markings not clearly lining up with Google directions for dumb tourists.)

[Frank Pratt]

Roundabouts, or traffic circles have become very popular in Calgary over the last 10 or 15 years. Of course, it took a few years for a lot of the blockhead drivers to figure out how to use them (it's really not complicated) and you still need to be on the lookout for the odd clueless driver when navigating one. They are wonderful & don't really have much downside. Traffic flow is so much more efficient.