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My GPS tried to send me through a lake on the way to my cousin's wedding in Madison
Last weekend I drove up to Madison for my cousin's wedding and my phone map told me to turn onto a road that just ended at the water. I sat there staring at the screen while it kept saying 'turn right in 200 feet' like I was supposed to grow gills. I ended up going 15 minutes out of my way using a paper map I found in the glove box, which honestly worked better than my phone did. It still blows my mind that a service used by millions can't tell the difference between a street and a boat launch. Has anyone else had a map app confidently send them somewhere that clearly would have drowned them?
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michaelrodriguez12d ago
Did you check if the road was marked as seasonal or private before you trusted it? I had this exact thing happen outside Traverse City a couple years ago. My phone kept telling me to take a left onto what turned out to be a snowmobile trail in the summer, and I only figured it out because a guy on a four wheeler waved me off. What fixed it for me was switching to offline maps and downloading the whole county before the trip, because then it can't pull some buggy live update that thinks a swamp is a street. I also started reading the road name out loud when it gives a turn, and if it sounds like a trail or a creek crossing I just skip it and let the map reroute. Cost me nothing and I haven't driven into a pond since. Not saying it's perfect but it beats trusting a computer that has never actually been to Wisconsin.
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