Mapping websites

[xiphias]

Over the last couple months, it seems to me, Google Maps, Mapquest, AND Yahoo Maps have all suddenly started to be really stupid.

It used to be that, when I had them find a route, they would tend to utilize highways pretty well. Now they don't.

I'm going to a temple in Marblehead today. From my house to there, it's pretty simple: go to Rte 1, from Rte 1, go to 129, get to to the appropriate street. Not one of them could figure it out, and they all used to be able to do so. All three are taking me on bizzare cross-country routes, and Mapquest and Yahoo Maps (and I really suspect that Yahoo uses Mapquest as its backend, anyway) take me out of the way to do it.

Anyone else noticing this recently?

Comments

[bikergeek.livejournal.com]

Actually, all of the major mapping services, plus Garmin, get their map data from an outfit called NavTeq.

[mattblum.livejournal.com]

That's only part of the answer. They all get map data from NAVTEQ, but that has nothing to do with the algorithms they use on that data, such as for finding routes.

Plus, at least Google and Yahoo! also get some data from TeleAtlas.

[mattblum.livejournal.com]

That's very odd. I use Google and Yahoo! Maps regularly for both personal and professional purposes, and Mapquest a bit as well, and I've not noticed any major changes in the results recently. I can say that Yahoo! does definitely not use the same technology as Mapquest, as I've corresponded via e-mail with some of the people who work on the Yahoo! Maps API.

You might seriously think about sending an e-mail to their support people, telling them about the problems you've been having. It's possible that some of the refinement they've done on their algorithms have had unintended consequences, and it's quite possible that your searches, for some reason, are turning up weirder results than most people's. If that's the case, I'm sure their development team would be interested to know about it.

[mattblum.livejournal.com]

Um, that should be "refinements...have had unintended consequences."

[i-aldarion.livejournal.com]

Yes, I definitely have noticed this- they use these arcane routes that don't make sense, when there's much easier ways to do it that keep one from getting lost. o.O

[gilmoure.livejournal.com]

Same here. A small town, that I've found before on Google Maps doesn't even show up. Weird!

[gingicat]

Yeah, today Google sent me to an exit on the BQE that doesn't exist.

[rebmommy.livejournal.com]

Marblehead, huh - well, you could have asked me! I'm pretty familiar with all the synagogues in the area. To which synagogue did you go? Dad and I were in M'head last night, too - we went to hear your uncle play drums in one of his bands. Nana and Papa were there, too. We had lots of fun, danced all night. Hey - we could have given you a ride home!

[xiphias.livejournal.com]

I had my car -- but we were across the street from Uncle David and Aunt Jackie's. Emanu-El.

[rebmommy.livejournal.com]

So you had no trouble finding it, I guess. I will be there next week myself for the installation of the new assistant rabbi. Did you have fun? Were the kids well-behaved? (Now, don't answer this one if it will give Marblehead a bad name, ok?)

[xiphias.livejournal.com]

The answer to both was "yes." The kids were loud and rowdy, but in entirely appropriate ways for a simcha.

[ecban.livejournal.com]

The directions I got the last time I used Mapquest were pretty good, excepting the sequence of eight consecutive 360-degree turns in the middle of a major intersection.