Warning: Google Maps Australia will get you lost!
Recently Google announced the enhancement of Google Maps Australia by enabling business search and what they describe as "driving directions".
In a move I find surprising, the map data they are using is terrible inaccurate, to the point that it is useless, as no sane person would (should) rely on it.
In a simple task of navigating a few suburbs, (North Epping to Pennant Hills in Sydney's North West) Google Maps Australia selected a route that included a large shortcut that saves kilometres of travel by suggesting that you navigate several hundred metres through bushland followed by no less than two non-through roads, all in less than 10km.
The accurate shortest route is this one
Google Maps Australia has this disclaimer:
These directions are for planning purposes only. You may find that construction projects, traffic, or other events may cause road conditions to differ from the map results.
How about reality may differ from map results?
All this is a shame as their Google Maps for Mobile is otherwise a killer mobile app. (By the way where is Google Talk for Mobile?)
14 comments:
We're always looking to improve Google Maps -- if you have problems with a particular part of the map or set of driving directions, please let us know: http://maps.google.com.au/support/bin/request.py?contact_type=bug&submit=Continue
Surely you oz-crimz just grab your hand on the nearest passing roo to get to where you're going don't you?
If you look closely, there is actually a road there and it's not incorrect.
@anon googler: I appreciate that it is beta, but Google has a reputation of impressing with Beta releases. The route in this blog post was reported as highly inaccurate (at the time of posting) using the Google feedback link, and I encourage everybody to do the same.
@munkymaze:
Sounds like a challenge is in order :-)
To be specific
1. Malton Road in North Epping is not joined to Malton Road in Beecroft, there are several hundred metres of bush.
2. Similarly Wongala Crescent in Beecroft is not joined to Wongala Crescent in Pennant Hills, although this one I think is a deliberate traffic block.
3. Even though Boundary Road crosses Pennant Hills Road the South part of Boundary road doesn't actually join Pennant Hills Road, and it is effectively a T-intersection.
Good luck....
Google will probably blame it again on MapData Sciences which provides them with the mapping data for Australia, like they did here.
However, since MapData also provides LiveSearch's data and it is working just fine for this route I guess the bug is Google's after all. ;-)
The route might be different now compared to when you investigated it first and I have not fully traced the route, but according to what Google Maps displays right now (15 Feb) it seems fine to me.
It even looks as if MS Live is doing strange things with this route.
On a side note: If you're ever thinking of buying a nav unit for your car, don't buy a RoadAngel. They suck and can't figure your route properly. Get a TomTom instead.
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