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#navigation

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Public
Rob Pegoraro

Driver misdirections: Why can’t Apple and Google read this sign in Arlington?

Machine vision has advanced immensely over the last decade, but Apple and Google’s map apps remain functionally illiterate when it comes to a big green sign at the top of an onramp to U.S. 50 eastbound from North Courthouse Road in Arlington.

That sign’s message is reasonably simple compared to some of the signage that I’ve seen:

NO ACCESS TO

     N Rolfe St
     N Rhodes St
     N Queen St

Those are the next three streets available at the next offramp east on 50, aka Arlington Boulevard, which starts just under 1,000 feet from the top of that offramp. The sign, apparently present since the reconstruction of this interchange in a less crash-inducing layout wrapped in 2014, is there to remind drivers that they have too little room to scoot from that left-lane onramp across three lanes of traffic to the right-lane exit.

Apple Maps and Google Maps, however, disagree despite presenting clear photos of this sign in their Look Around and Street View perspectives. Punch in driving directions from someplace west of that on-ramp to a location near that off-ramp, and these navigation apps will suggest this unwise routing as their first or second option.

I belated realized this error not because I was spot-checking directions in those apps, but because like a dope I followed Google’s advice—even though I should also know how to read big green signs by roads.

Realizing my mistake and Google’s led me to try to report the errant advice. But Google now makes that its own wayfinding adventure because you can’t report a problem in the Google Maps app for Android or iOS—you know, where you’d encounter incorrect directions in everyday use.

Instead, you have to recreate the directions in the desktop-Web version of Google Maps, click the “Details” link below the route and then click on the smallest text visible—the “Send Product Feedback” link at the bottom right corner—to see “Report a problem.”

To its credit, Apple Maps does let you flag incorrect routing in its iPhone app: Scroll down to the end of the faulty directions, tap “Report an Issue,” tap the step with the wrong turn, select the category of mistake, write your description and upload a photo if that can help make your case.

I’ve now done that in both Apple and Google Maps. But if this error really has lingered this many years, I’m not going to bank on getting a thank-you acknowledgment from either company next week. Or maybe ever.

The sign visible at the top of the on-ramp to U.S. 50 eastbound from N. Courthouse Road tells drivers not to try to take the next offramp, with its exit sign visible just down the highway. The evening sun lights up the scene.
#AppleMaps#Arlington#ArlingtonBoulevard
Continued thread
Public
Sunset Sakura (:osm: Nelson)

Google Maps (and Apple on iPhones) have a monopoly over digital navigation. Their product is genuinely very good, with only some shortfalls. I would like to see a world where there is an actual competitor to Google Maps, based on OSM data, but the current two apps - OsmAnd and Organic Maps - are good but not great. This is mainly due to popularity (low funding + contributions) but there are many things they don't provide. (1/?)

#OSMMusings#OpenStreetMap#OSM
Public
Jaakko
On a break, trying to figure out where we actually are in the Kemihaara Wilderness Area, Finland, during Christmas and New Year's Eve 2023/2024. We got pretty badly lost on this hike and for five days, we only had a vague idea of where we were. But since we always pack food for a few extra days, we didn't have any other emergency except that it started to become mentally exhausting. I would say I'm pretty good at navigating, but in forests, sometimes my inner compass just gets overwhelmed, or I get lost in my own thoughts and forget to be on alert for landmarks.

#sonyalpha #tamron #nature #mountains #fjells #hiking #landscape #lapland #outdoors #adventure #wilderness #photography #kemihaara
#finland #xmas #newyear #skitour #navigation #maps #compass #winterhiking
Photo taken during a break while trying to navigate in the Kemihaara Wilderness Area.
#winterhiking
Public
N-gated Hacker News

Ah yes, because what we truly need in 2023 is a #DIY guide to turn our beloved e-readers into high-contrast 🧭 #GPS devices. Why use an actual GPS when you can awkwardly fumble with your Kindle’s browser and a cascade of apps on your phone? 🙄📚 It's like trying to navigate using a magnifying glass and a sundial.
instructables.com/Use-Your-Kin #EReaders #EBooks #Technology #Humor #Navigation #HackerNews #ngated

InstructablesKindle As a High-contrast GPS (works for Any Ebook)Kindle As a High-contrast GPS (works for Any Ebook): I show how you can use your ebook (Kindle, Kobo, Sony, ipad, tablet) as a GPS. All the software runs on your phone (android is needed), so the ebook is unchanged. You just need to install a couple of apps on your phone. The ebook just uses the inter…
Public
Schalk Cronjé

The feature in the mapy.cz (online & app) offering that is missing, is that one cannot put arbitrary waypoints when building a route.

But then I found out that there is gpxmapy.cz/

Discovery of the day!

It allows all sorts of waypoint layouts and integrates directly with mapy.cz.

gpxmapy.czGPX editor, GPX viewerOnline GPX viewer, editor, creator. Free, ad-free, cookie-free. Unlimited number of files, color-distinguished tracks, WayPoints, and many more features.
#navigation#hiking
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