Online Maps And Directions, Still (Mostly) Hit Or (Once In A While) Miss

from the and-so-it-goes dept

A few years back there was a story about how the various online mapping and directions services, such as Mapquest, occasionally pointed people in the wrong direction. A few months later, we noted that the NY Times wrote a nearly identical article. This time, it appears that the NY Times isn't copying another source, but instead are rewriting their own articles. They've written up another article that discusses (you guessed it) that some of these online mapping and direction sites can steer you wrong. What's odd, is that the article doesn't even mention that Google entered this game in a big way a few months back. Still, it sounds like, every once in a while, these mapping systems might not be perfect. We believe most people survive, however, even if it involves (gasp!) asking for directions.
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  • identicon
    Bryan Price, 28 Jun 2005 @ 5:16pm

    I've been bit by this, about two years ago.

    I asked for directions via Mappoint, and the directions were good, they failed me at the final turn. I was directed to go right, east 300 yards (and the map even showed it that way). Unfortunately, if I had driven that far east, I would have been about 200 yards or more into the Atlantic. Turned out that I needed to go left 300 yards (west). It was annoying, but I finally learned the name of where I was going, and discovered that my eldest despite having a midwestern accent, truly says things in a Southern way. My wife discovered that when she found out that he was enlisting in the Army and going to Ft. Leonard Wood, not the Ft. Lennawoo that she kept hearing come out of his mouth.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      Anonymous Coward, 29 Jun 2005 @ 7:58am

      Boo hoo hoo


      Woopeee !

      Have any of you retards thought of carrying a good old atlas or ( heaven forbid ) a map ? ! ?

      I use mapquest too but I don't consider it my only tool.
      Its FREE for chrissakes ... you get what you pay for.

      link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      Anonymous Coward, 29 Jun 2005 @ 7:59am

      Re: I've been bit by this, about two years ago.

      It sounds like you have a hearing problem, not a mapping problem.

      link to this | view in chronology ]


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