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Comment by whartung | Hacker News Reader

It seems germane at this point to paraphrase Steven Wright.

“I have a map of the United States. It’s actual size. “

I have the map of US in my cell-phone.

I'm somewhat confused by its directions however when I look at the map and want to go somewhere. Is the top-part of the map where I'm moving? Or is the top-part North?

Seems it is not North and that is confusing because maps I've seen before have North at the top always.

If I turn 90 degrees, the map turns around. But I thought it was I who turned around.

And if I stop, the map cannot know where I'm going because I'm not going anywhere. So it is almost like I have to start moving before the map can tell me where to turn.

Or if I hold the smart-phone in front of my eyes the top of the map is towards the sky. Am I supposed to look at the map from above?

What are some good tactics on how to use Google-map on your cell-phone?

I really hate that too. You are in a intersection and the voice says "Drive north for x miles/km". What is wrong with "turn right and drive for x miles/km"? I normally have zero clue in what direction north is especially when I am in a location i have never been before. I drive a bike and have the phone in my pocket and can therefore not see any arrow that the app might display. I only have the audio to navigate from.

That’s Google maps for you. Try another one, most have way better voice cues (amongst other things!).

That's odd. My Google Maps tells me to turn left or right. It doesn't use compass directions.

It will do that if it doesn't already know what direction you're travelling, which is usually because you've just activated navigation and you aren't moving yet. Unless I happen to know which direction north is or which way to towards my destination I'll just pick a random direction and it will adjust the route if I guessed wrong.

> You are in a intersection and the voice says "Drive north for x miles/km".

Does that really happen? I have never experienced it. How do they tell which way is north?

Highway 101 runs through San Jose pretty much due east/west, but because it also runs up to San Francisco, it is officially a north-south highway. So you check your position on the map and you're traveling due east along an east/west road. Is that "north"? (Of course not. It's "south".)

If you want North to be up, tap the compass icon.

> What are some good tactics on how to use Google-map on your cell-phone?

For navigation?

1. Don't activate navigation. It's broken six ways to Sunday, and burns through battery like there's no tomorrow. Use route preview instead (i.e. the step after searching, but before activating the voice nav proper).

2. Use your fingers to rotate the map so it always faces the same way you're going.

3. If confused, recenter and press the compass so it rotates to have North at the top, and continue from there.

Now FWIW, I use Google Maps when navigating on foot/scooter, or as a pilot in the car. If I were a driver... I'd probably buy TomTom or whatever nav that's not shit.

There are two modes in Google Maps - one shows the map in a fixed rotation (north on top by default, but you can rotate the map with two fingers), the other mode automatically rotates the map based on what direction you're facing. *Facing*, not moving, so you don't actually have to walk for it to determine the direction.

You can switch between the modes by clicking a compass icon

Part of the confusion might be that it's pointing in the direction the phone is facing. Which is kind of obvious, but notably doesn't work if you put your phone in an upright phone holder, as many people do in their car.

> pointing in the direction the phone is facing

Do you mean where the top edge of the phone is directed towards when I hold the phone so that its display is pointing towards the sky?

Or where the backside of the phone is directed at if I hold it upright in front of my face?

Thanks for the tip about the modes

Umberto Eco also has something to say on that subject – On the Impossibility of Drawing a Map of the Empire on a Scale of 1 to 1:

https://s3.amazonaws.com/arena-attachments/881694/cb6119367b...

I have a map of the Universe. Dunno, it keeps expanding ...........................................,............................................................................................................................

I always liked his related joke: "I want to get a tattoo of myself on my entire body only 2" taller.".

https://scomedy.com/quotes/10779

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