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I put in an address for an address. Yesterday I drove it. GPS worked find HOWEVER as seems to be normal it took the long way around! Even Google maps didn't plot the easiest way to get from point A to point B.
Is a computer making up the routes? I have found this more than once the most direct route somehow never sees the light of day.
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If there is significant traffic or construction, both Google maps and most GPS systems will route guide you on the quickest route.
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What GPS were you using?
Have you reviewed the settings?
Most GPS devices and apps have options you can set to take or avoid highways/toll-roads and to calculate the shortest vs fastest route. You may need to tweak the settings to have it calculate the fastest route.
Google usually offers multiple routes to each destination, allowing you to select the one that fits whatever criteria you'd like. If you just pick the top route from the list, that may not be the best for your purposes.
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....just make sure you pay attention.....news is filled with people who drove off a cliff [ don't understand that ] or ended up somewhere different......
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I reject your reality and substitute my own!
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Well there isn't a chipmunk inside the GPS doing the calculating.
Routing software tends to promote the easier to follow and well marked routes to get to a destination.
Usually after using the route planning app for a while you can figure its planning limitations.
The GPS in the Volvo would often build new routes on the fly to avoid traffic congestion. It didn't seem to have the ability to assess traffic on alternate routes until you were navigating them. Too many times coming fromNY thru Ct it would want me to get off the highway onto city surface roads and once there start planning routes further off into the burbs to avoid those. In too many cases I would have been better off time-wise to just suck it up and stay stuck in traffic on the original route.Software was good for avoiding traffic jams due to accidents or construction but general commuting congestion ? Not so much.
It's a tool with limitations and as long as you are aware of its limitations you know when to use it or not.
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Waze used to be quicker than Apple Maps for updating the route if there was traffic, or if you took a wrong turn. I haven't driven with an iOS user in six months, so it might have gotten better.
That said, Waze will occasionally send me down a different route just to see how long it takes. If I know it is doing this, I can just drive my favorite faster route and it will accept it and change the route and cut the estimated drive time.
One big limitation with Waze is it's terrible at predicting traffic ahead of time. It can see 10,000 people starting their drives at the same time, day after day and getting stuck in traffic, but it won't warn about bad traffic until it sees those users going 5 mph on the freeway. Using Google Maps or Waze online can give historic traffic patterns and estimate "worst case" average travel times, but they are not going to give you actual travel times for a big rig blocking the interstate at 5 PM on Wednesday before Thanksgiving until it sees the speeds people are traveling.
Waze also has issues when the phone switches back and forth between GPS and cellular location when the cell service drops off. Two days ago it briefly said I was doing 83 mph in a 55 zone when my speed was a constant 56 mph, because it had taken a little too long to switch between services. Edit: That can be an advantage of in-car GPS systems, they don't switch back and forth (at least I haven't seen it yet). There can be times when a car GPS can't see enough satellites, like in a garage, but a phone will still give a location.
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Filliam H. Muffman wrote:
One big limitation with Waze is it's terrible at predicting traffic ahead of time. It can see 10,000 people starting their drives at the same time, day after day and getting stuck in traffic, but it won't warn about bad traffic until it sees those users going 5 mph on the freeway. Using Google Maps or Waze online can give historic traffic patterns and estimate "worst case" average travel times, but they are not going to give you actual travel times for a big rig blocking the interstate at 5 PM on Wednesday before Thanksgiving until it sees the speeds people are traveling.
That's not quite what I see.
It obviously cannot predict a traffic accident on your route. But it's a little slow to update when there is such an accident. The window seems to be about 15 minutes. If an accident occurs ahead of you when you're already on route then it may be 15 minutes before it updates your course or arrival time to reflect that change and by then you could be stuck.
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There is NO "perfect" GPS unit. As Onamuji pointed out, how a GPS unit is set, determines a lot re the GPS routing you'll receive.
Two different Rand McNally RV GPS units (7710RVND stand-alone unit & 720 software that was pre-installed on my RV) both have tried to route my RV onto NY parkways (where clearance can be LESS THAN 8'). RM also routinely tries to take me OFF the Cross-Bronx Expressway in favor of LOCAL ROADS (which are even MORE congested than the CBE). If I were not familiar with the areas in question and, blindly followed the RM GPS routing, at best, I'd be in very heavy local traffic and, at worst, risk having serious damage to the roof of my RV.
The first time I went to my dentist's new office, I had Google Maps active on my Samsung phone (using "OK Google") and, Apple Maps active on my iPhone (using Siri). At a critical intersection, I received conflicting directions. Being suspicious of Apple mapping, I went with Google's directions and arrived at my dentist's office without problem. I'm still suspicious of Apple Maps and Siri.
