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Comment by heliodor | Hacker News Reader

The bad choices in rural areas for Google Maps seems to be a recent thing. My guess is that it's a result of a new approach of combining computer vision of satellite imagery with phone location data from ranchers driving on their private dirt roads.

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Google Maps took me down all sorts of goofy unpacked backroads in Crete this past month. It’d cut the driving distance in half and double the driving time. Although my Fiat Panda rental did surprisingly well on uneven, unpaved roads.

Had the exact same experience with Google Maps in Crete! Although already a few years ago.

I had the same experience even in Santa Clara County. Google maps led me to drive on unpaved roads along the farms near Gilroy in order to avoid the congested 101. It's not worthwhile, and I'd argue Google should expose an option to let me express my preference.

We probably shouldn't be surprised that a navigation app that tells you to make left turns during rush hour in San Francisco doesn't behave any more rationally in rural areas that aren't a stone's throw away from the company's own headquarters.

Being able to express your preference isn't what Google is all about. Their attitude is that they know best.

I had the same in Italy (Tuscany) with Google Maps. One way it recommended a longer normal road, on the way back it was a shorter dirt road through fields and forests. Had to stop once to let a fox cross the road (it didn't seem to care much about me). In the end it took as much time if not more.

Those rental Pandas can take you everywhere though.

And that is absolutely what I would expect from Google: clueless, heavy-handed of the latest shiny technology rather than using existing methods and data that were working perfectly.

i've also experienced this in a major german city. it's awful how bad google has become since this update. apple maps works as expected

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