I used "Get directions" to find my dentist's new office. I thought that part of the resulting route was very strange considering my starting point. For the final leg, I was supposed to go one mile east, turn around and come back that very same mile, going west and negotiating a great many turns and using at least two roundabouts. Okay if need be, but verrrry strange if not. It would make sense if the street at the westernmost end did not intersect with the street that would take me to my dentist's office, but not if it did intersect.
Not wanting to go two miles out of my way if I didn't have to, I consulted the maps that are provided in the telephone book (the print version). It looked to me as if the westernmost street did intersect with the street that led to the dentist. A quick phone call with receptionist at the dentist's office confirmed my reading of the map in the telephone book. When I actually drove to the appointment, using the map from the phone book, I got there with a minimum of "extra" driving and no more turns that were absolutely necessary.
So the "Get directions" feature wasn't so great for me.
However, I did enjoy using the satellite and terrain features and Peg Man is an absolute hoot. I zoomed in and "drove" down my street. My next door neighbor's house was the closest I could get to my own house, but it was a real thrill even so. One complaint, though, was that the address given for my neighbor's house was incorrect.
Bottom line, my practical experience hasn't been so successful. However, it is a lot of fun to use and I do know that the directions to my dentist's office would have taken me there. Since I know my home town pretty well, I just knew that the directions were the long way around.
So, if I were traveling to a city that I don't know so well, etc. I assume that I could rely on the directions, even if they are the "long way around." I'd at least have something more specific to go on than the usual, more general city maps.
3 comments:
I’m happy you found a shorter route to your dentist. It’s always kind of funny to see how the online maps will take you. When I was exploring the directions option I played with mapping a route from Falls City to Chadron. It gave me three suggested routes. Two of them were reasonable. The third one took me across the river into IA at Nebraska City, up I29, till around Omaha where it put me on a highway that took me northeast and then west to Sioux City before taking me across NE. Talk about a weird route with a lot of extra miles.
Thanks for sharing that you too found a "crazy" route. I do know how to read maps (several family members do not), so the route Google maps supplied was a bit of a surprise.
I've run into situations where Google is just plain wrong about where a place is located, which of course is a pain. Nevertheless, the help it's given me far outweighs those lapses. I LOVE being able to zoom in on the interstate and by-passes around Omaha in order to see how the lanes are actually oriented, and how the exit/entrance ramps are designed. Do I need to be in the left lane or the right lane? Am I going under or over and overpass, etc.
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