Phone-based mapping/route-finding.

[mointainwalker]

What are your experiences of using Waze or Google as map-guidance solutions when you are driving ?

Several times I have been given completely wrong information i.e. being told I am at my destination when I am two/three miles away or given ridiculous instructions to leave a completely empty motorway ( down in the depths of SW France ) which I obeyed just to see if it was absolutely stupid - and then when subsequently directed to turn up a small road into a forest, decided I had proved it was. I returned to the autoroute and it was still empty and clear all the way to my destination. Both of the above occasions were Waze and there have been others, unsure from memory if Google involved.

 

[Mottie]

I always use Google maps on my phone and find they work well. Used it recently in France and Spain. I prefer it to the satnav installed in our A3 - I link it to my setup so that it shows on the car display. If you are worried about data use, you can download specific maps to your phone so that no data is needed although you won’t get notifications of traffic jams etc.

Are you sure there’s not a problem with your phone?

* Because I connect mine to the car screen, I have it in the centre consul but I have read that some cars have an athermic windscreen (Solar UV reducing coating) which can affect the gps signal. I’m pretty sure our daughter had this problem in a Clio once and had to fix her satnav by sucker onto the side window.

 

[Old Salt]

My sat nav used to try to bring me off a dual carriageway, over the roundabout and up the on slip. Taught me not to select shortest route!

 

[freddiemercurystwin]

My car satnav has taken me on some odd routes, one time had me doing a complete lap of a small housing estate and past the actual location only to make me double back on myself, I knew it was wrong but I happily followed it as was intrigued as to the silly route it was taking me on, numerous times down this neck of the woods out in the sticks it's taken me down some ridiculously narrow lanes to save a few hundred yards, I don't mind narrow lanes but not to save a tiny distance, I generally stick to the phone google app now. Not to mention the stupid VW satnav only allows you to enter the first four characters of a postcode so if that's you're only clue as to a location it's hopeless.

 

[mointainwalker]

numerous times down this neck of the woods out in the sticks it's taken me down some ridiculously narrow lanes to save a few hundred yards, I don't mind narrow lanes but not to save a tiny distance, I generally stick to the phone google app now.

That's happened several times to me as well More or less single -lane roads that would cause real problems as - in England - they do not usually have passing places. Sent down a really narrow road a couple of miles long somewhere near Rye or Hastings as well as some othe roads that I would never have taken if I had known. I suppose these routes are made from maps only , as they take no heed of the actual road condition. One very narrow road in France was very dangerous as there were trees planted right up to the edge, resulting in several hundred yards of tarmac heaved up into a wave-form from the roots. It would be too nit-picking to hold them responsible for that, but I would like an option to perhaps avoid very narrow road, although I can imagine that might knock out significant sections of the road-networks.

Are you sure there’s not a problem with your phone?

* Because I connect mine to the car screen, I have it in the centre consul but I have read that some cars have an athermic windscreen (Solar UV reducing coating) which can affect the gps signal. I’m pretty sure our daughter had this problem in a Clio once and had to fix her satnav by sucker onto the side window.

Phone problem - how would I know if this is the only manifestation ? Having said that , these aberrations happen so infrequently that it is a real surprise when the true and trusty servant insists you are in a hotel car-park when it is open road with fields all around. Anyway I have to change my phone this month as my bank says it is upgrading the system and my phone doesn't have the required level of Android OS: I'll try to remember any future instances of being led astray.
I usually have the phone in the bottom corner of the windscreen, so there won't be any treatments down there I would say. Apart from that I have an automatic toll-paying device on the screen which works, so that would say it is clear.

P.S One reason why I primarily used Waze was because it was set to French pronounciation and Google was pure English pronounciation. The Google prompts were sometimes so awful ( comparing what was said to street signs ) that I stopped using it until a few Waze failures encouraged me to go through the "change language " procedure.

Did you notice any problems in this respect in France/Italy ?

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

I was one of the early satnav adopters and for work, for quick access - had fed all of the sites into it, for quick routing access. I had come to relying upon it heavily, and ignored paper maps. One day, following it in deepest Lancashire, it tried to direct me down into a valley, off the main road onto a farm track, clearly the track at the bottom, went over a too narrow, stone, pack horse bridge.

 

[Baxter111]

I use Waze pretty much every day and rarely have any problems. While abroad I use Google Maps as I like to have the area map downloaded so it reduces my roaming data requests.

 

[Old Salt]

Why dont the map makers give you an option of the most sensible route along with shortest, fastest and eco?

 

[Mottie]

Why dont the map makers give you an option of the most sensible route along with shortest, fastest and eco?

Different people have different ideas of what is 'sensible' I suppose.

 

[Old Salt]

Different people have different ideas of what is 'sensible' I suppose.

Not sensible to go down a single track road as opposed to a dual carriageway to save 3 minutes and 500 yards for instance. Or am I being too sensible.

The other route options may not be the fastest or most economical as it will also depend on the traffic conditions. So perhaps the option should be most logical taking into account traffic, roads available, other miscellaneous factors and the various dimwits who may argue its not logical at all.

Somehow I don't think that would fit on the screen.

 

[Mottie]

Not sensible to go down a single track road as opposed to a dual carriageway to save 3 minutes and 500 yards for instance. Or am I being too sensible.

The other route options may not be the fastest or most economical as it will also depend on the traffic conditions. So perhaps the option should be most logical taking into account traffic, roads available, other miscellaneous factors and the various dimwits who may argue its not logical at all.

Somehow I don't think that would fit on the screen.

Depends on your mode of travel. On a cycle or a motorbike, I'd choose the single track road option. In fact, on a TomTom app I used to use years ago when motorcycling abroad, you could choose 'winding' roads. If you chose that, you then had three options of winding roads from mild to severe. We used to choose that option when in the mountains.

I guess the solution is to choose a satnav or app that covers the options you want. My mate is on his BMW coming back from riding the mountains in Nortern Spain at this very moment. Before he left, he plotted his exact route on the PC, saved it and bluetoothed it to his bike satnav. He will be getting winding roads, mountain tracks, dry riverbeds etc. Believe it or not, some people don't just use a satnav to get from A to B in the quickest time!

 

[mointainwalker]

Not sensible to go down a single track road as opposed to a dual carriageway to save 3 minutes and 500 yards for instance. Or am I being too sensible.

Unless you have studied the whole route beforehand - which I would never think of doing - how are you going to know that, especiallyt if you are just reacting to "take the next turning left "

 

[Old Salt]

Unless you have studied the whole route beforehand - which I would never think of doing - how are you going to know that, especiallyt if you are just reacting to "take the next turning left "

and that is my point. In my experience people use a sat nav because they are unsure of the way so dont want to go down farm tracks and back roads.

If you are wanting to wander all round the countryside on a scenic travel route it is easy to plot point to point, waypoints, stop offs etc.

I’m done.

 

[mointainwalker]

I use Waze pretty much every day and rarely have any problems. While abroad I use Google Maps as I like to have the area map downloaded so it reduces my roaming data requests.

How do you do that - or maybe give a link if it's long and complicated . Thanks

 

[freddiemercurystwin]

You go to your profile pic in the top right, then select offline maps and then select what you want.