Winter driving trouble, Google Maps Fail!

Despite warnings to avoid travel after a massive snowstorm that started Christmas weekend closed major highways, thousands of people insisted on trying to drive into or out of the socked-in Sierra Nevada.

Some needed to get home. Some wanted to visit family. Some just wanted to play in the snow.

Some were led astray by poor judgement. Many were led astray by Google Maps, which offered alternate driving routes that sent drivers to snowy dead ends.

Northern California Highway Patrol reported a serious problem on Quincy-La Porte Road, which locals know closes each winter and becomes a haven for snowmobilers.

But Google Maps doesn’t.

When Interstate 80 closed, Google Maps offered up Quincy-La Porte Road as an alternate route. Hundreds of drivers tried that route.

“It shows on the map it will go through, but there’s always a gate closed in the winter,” said California Highway Patrol Officer Brian Danielson, who works out of the Yuba-Sutter office.
The two plows designated for the area got stuck and there were already hundreds of cars up there, Danielson said.

“Those plows even had to get pulled out," he said. "That’s how bad it was.

As I said, what I do is consult the NOAA forecasts. Usually pretty good indicator of the conditions but can change some from day to day. We came back a day early to avoid snow and chose a different route also. Then I check the 511 state road reports for current winter travel road conditions. You can get camera views of the roads and even what the snow plow sees.

Google maps? Wouldn’t use it except for general navigation if I didn’t have navigation and Wayz etc. Interesting that my navigation system said I was driving through a corn field again but I ignored it, knowing it was a new highway.

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Not much good in summertime. Two pages of instructions for Balboa Ave in San Diego wasted 15 minutes. Go to highway and take the Balboa Ave exit worked a lot better.

Yeah back in the olden days, me a laptop with gps antenna and mapping software, and her some gps unit, get up to an intersection, one says turn left, the other says turn right, all roads lead to somewhere I guess.

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It’s not very surprising to me. The first time that I used Google Maps on my Smartphone to guide me to a County Park, it took me to a cemetery in a different town. I even tried backtracking and following their directions again, and–again–it took me to that cemetery, and it announced “You have reached your destination”. :grimacing:

The second time that I tried to use Google Maps, it directed me to cross railroad tracks at a point where there is no crossing. That was the last time that I used it.

I prefer to use the onboard Sat Nav that came with my car because of the large video screen and the clearly spoken directions. But, sometimes that system fails to recognize an address that I input, and then I use Waze on my phone. Neither of those systems has ever taken me to the wrong place or directed me to use a bogus route.

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Sometimes I use an app on my phone.
But if planning a trip will use my Garmin. I had it set to either quickest or shortest route. Took me down forest Service road with water crossings, fortunately I was driving my truck that day. Now I check the route beforehand.

It sounds like people didn’t mark the road as closed on Google Maps. It literally takes 5 seconds to mark something on a spot in the road (construction, accident, closure, etc)

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It’s a fairly common problem around here (CA mountains) in winter, Google and other mapping problems sometimes fail to indicate roads that are gated between certain points every winter, and sometimes roads that normally are open in winter are closed temporarily (just about any CA mountain highway during a sufficiently heavy snowfall). In addition, some indicated routes are on narrower less traveled roads with bad surfaces that can be difficult to navigate at any time of year, much less in snow.

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Google maps is doing the same thing here in Washington, with Snoqualmie Pass closed temporarily among others people were being routed ontoi forest service roads that have been described as dangerous and impassable.

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Just because Google Maps knows the road is there, doesn’t mean the people using it have phone service where the road is closed out in the middle of nowhere, especially up in the mountains.

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Sure, but as traffic backs up down the mountain, there will be service there to at least mark that traffic is backed up. Plus once you get turned around you can mark it closed when you have service again

If snow closes the Interstate, logic would say that an alternate route winding through very tall mountains would be a poor choice. If someone thinks Google or Waze (also Google) is smarter than the Highway Patrol and Cal Trans I wish them well, but don’t call me when you get stuck.

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Recently by me 12/29, so if I duplicate a thread of yours due to speed reading fail forgive me as I will you. @randomtroll Winter driving trouble, Google Maps Fail!

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Apologies. I don’t think I’ve ever minded somebody missing one of my threads, not that that makes it right. I always look at all new threads before I start a new one. I don’t know how I missed yours. @cdaquila: Sheriff Eagle: you’re welcome to move this thread onto @Barkydog’s

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Interesting watching the news on the guys stuck on I-65. And now considering throwing money at it to make sure it never happens again. Huh? I know it is not pleasant but if you are driving in bad weather, you are supposed to be prepared in case-which can happen. Maybe trucks should be pulled off sooner or something since it seem jack knifing is a major cause for blocking the road. If the snow is still coming down and the road is blocked, yeah, that’s not good.

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Probably, but I think there are good and bad truck drivers as car drivers. Remembering part of the winter kit required by GFAFB was a candle. I never had to use a candle while stranded but heard it was a great recommendation providing heat and light from people who did need it.

Google maps isn’t without problems. I’ve been using google maps for over a decade. The problems it solves far outweigh any problems it causes. 99.999% of the time it gets me where I’m going without a hitch. Before Covid I did a lot of traveling and really relied on Google Maps to navigate me in cities/states and countries I wasn’t familiar with.

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My biggest gripe with Google maps is that I don’t really learn where I am. With a paper map you do get a sense of what’s around and a broader view. And, because it takes you turn by turn, even street names just slip by. If I use Google maps to get there I have to use it again to get home.

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When we go on vacation I familiarize myself with the area first. On business trips I really don’t have that much time.

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We live on a dead-end road that backs up to a mountain. Couple of years ago, during a snowstorm we heard a van chugging its way uphill towards our house. It came to a halt. Lights on, cursing . My husband went out and I said" Maybe we should ask them in-it’s freezing ." He comes back, and says, “I don’t think so.” They were tough guys, really pissed off, and were following the GPS which was sending them over the mountain via a dirt track long ago covered with deadfall. They thought they were heading direct route to the Thruway and eventually made it back down our hill. A straight line on the screen didn’t translate geographically.
I got in touch with JiMapCo (sic) and sent them coordinates to update the road’s demise.It took a few years, but they did.