Hacker News Reader

Since people are asking a lot about Google / Apple Maps differences -- how does Apple Maps handle elevation? Google Maps often seems to send me up and down the same really steep (and often poorly maintained) narrow streets when I'm driving, which is more dangerous and stressful for me.

View on HN

I work in a mapping related field and I’ll be honest I’ve never considered that part of navigation. That’s a really interesting idea for making navigation better. Taking into account elevation and quality of road.

I believe Google Maps cycling and walking directions take this into account, but not driving directions, because typically cars and motorcycles have 0 issue with up and down grades; poorly maintained and narrow should be taken into account in Google Maps directions for cars, though.

I'm not 100% sure how much Google Maps Cycling directions try to avoid hills, but they DO list the elevation change in the sidebar, at least on a web browser, so they're aware of the concern over elevation change.

The narrow part is mainly because of cars parked on the sides, so I can see why maybe they wouldn't consider that. The poorly-maintained part, though, I don't know. I got nothing there.

EDIT: I also wish Google Maps would take into account that your average person will walk slower up tall hills. In my experience, it doesn't seem to do that.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com