Google Maps and Google Drive

[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.