Google Maps: Anomaly in driving directions
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- PlutoniumLounger
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Google Maps: Anomaly in driving directions
Something to keep those smart-Alec grand-kids amused while you finish your Christmas Dinner:-
But Google maps says "Sorry, we could not calculate driving directions". Huh? If you then select "Recommended travel mode", "directions" wakes up and says you can drive (71 hours) or fly (13 hours). Quantities may vary. But you can drive now! St John's to Toronto is a 2 hour flight, so about the same via Ottawa, which leaves 11 hours for Toronto to Yuma, suggesting about 8 hours in terminals along the way.
FWIW in my heyday I used to drive Toronto-San Diego in three days, 17 hours a day at the speed limit (100 Km/h 60 mph) but today I could manage only 1,200 Km/day, so in real terms six days for me to get there, then a day to recover.
Cheers, Chris
Enter the "Directions" shown above. There is a ferry involved if you go by car, but that has never stopped Google Maps before, and there is a stopover in Toronto or Montreal if you go by air (or you could fly a package trip to FLA and then ...)But Google maps says "Sorry, we could not calculate driving directions". Huh? If you then select "Recommended travel mode", "directions" wakes up and says you can drive (71 hours) or fly (13 hours). Quantities may vary. But you can drive now! St John's to Toronto is a 2 hour flight, so about the same via Ottawa, which leaves 11 hours for Toronto to Yuma, suggesting about 8 hours in terminals along the way.
FWIW in my heyday I used to drive Toronto-San Diego in three days, 17 hours a day at the speed limit (100 Km/h 60 mph) but today I could manage only 1,200 Km/day, so in real terms six days for me to get there, then a day to recover.
Cheers, Chris
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- PlatinumLounger
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Re: Google Maps: Anomaly in driving directions
Is your choice of Yuma related to the iconic (oh no, not that word - again!) 1957 film "3:10 to Yuma"? Otherwise you might just as well have chosen OshKosh, Wisconsin...
John Gray
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Re: Google Maps: Anomaly in driving directions
Oh No John, no John, no! My choice then was related to Yuma as in "Driest city in the USA", although I have watched "3:10".
I had reasoned that if the annual rainfall was 3.3", they couldn't get more than that if I spent a month there in January.
I stayed in OshKosh in 2000 on my way to Iowa to drive my Prince Rupert friend from a farm house to Cedar Rapids (?) airport.
Cheers, Chris
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Re: Google Maps: Anomaly in driving directions
Yes, Cedar Rapids is a small local airport near Iowa City. I, too, have been there, having flown from Chicago (Boeing 737, since you ask)!
We were being picked up from that airport by a couple with a small daughter who had to stay home with her grandmother because of lack of space in the car.
"Aw, mommy, I want to see de rabbits!" she cried, piteously.
We were being picked up from that airport by a couple with a small daughter who had to stay home with her grandmother because of lack of space in the car.
"Aw, mommy, I want to see de rabbits!" she cried, piteously.
John Gray
"(or one of the team)" - how your appointment letter indicates you won't be seeing the Consultant...
"(or one of the team)" - how your appointment letter indicates you won't be seeing the Consultant...
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- PlutoniumLounger
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Re: Google Maps: Anomaly in driving directions
Oh John! What a wonderful story about American misunderstanding!
Best of luck with your chats with BobH about Imperial vs. metric!
Cheers, Chris
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- PlutoniumLounger
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Re: Google Maps: Anomaly in driving directions
Another Google Maps anomaly.ChrisGreaves wrote: ↑22 Dec 2022, 12:27Something to keep those smart-Alec grand-kids amused while you finish your Christmas Dinner:-
The link should take you to Google maps with directions to travel from (ahem!) Canon Bailey Road in Bonavista to Port-aux-Basques on the far side of this island.
By Car: 809 Km 100%
By Bicycle: 749 Km 93%
By Foot: 707 Km 87%
This struck me as odd, because I thought that the only way to cross the island was by the Trans-Canada-Highway, which basically follows the old railway line.
I could contemplate a few shortcuts on foot, perhaps where in town a pedestrian footbridge offered a shortcut to the road bridge, or an alley-way saved driving up through the business district, but Newfoundland is basically wilderness with only the highway; nothing else. A lot like driving from Perth to Kalgoorlie in Western Australia; you don’t get a choice!
So I zoomed in. Sure enough the pedestrian route deviates slightly from the car route in each town, but not by much, and there aren’t a great many towns. Then the foot-route takes off and avoids the great loop up through Deer Lake. So you cut about 12% off the distance.
The downside is, of course, that there are no motels or corner stores along that part of the trail! Tasmania is roughly the same shape and size as Newfoundland, and is largely wilderness, but if you travel from Hobart to Arthur River you have a choice of routes, and the differences between the three modes of travel are not so great: 100%; 104%; 98%
Cheers, Chris
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Re: Google Maps: Anomaly in driving directions
Well, I think so.
For anyone planning a trip across what seems to be an uninhabited region the differences are significant. Here is an example:-
If you regularly Google Maps in "pedestrian mode" - as I used to when I lived in downtown Toronto - and then suddenly decide to see how far it is from Bonavista to Port-aux-Basques (The Ferry), but do NOT flip from pedestrian to car, the distances can vary by 13% (100:87).
I agree that you will not see an anomaly when you drill down and actually check, using the mode of travel you intend, but I've driven the Trans-Canada Highway across Newfoundland several times, and would not have dreamed that there was a foot-track (known to Google!) that chopped 100Km off the route.
Cheers, Chris
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Re: Google Maps: Anomaly in driving directions
A popup on the Google map indicated that the walking route uses the Newfoundland T'Railway trail, starting about 60 km west of Gander. The Wikipedia article about the trail indicates (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newfoundl ... g_sections) that a number of sections are missing, and in some cases impassable. I'm curious about how much that would affect the walking time.
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Re: Google Maps: Anomaly in driving directions
Jay, thanks for the link to the article. Made me remember that I did walk part of the trailway on Sunday October 15, 2017. Well, let me tell you about the Station Diner in Holyrood"Jay Freedman wrote: ↑28 Jan 2023, 21:10A popup on the Google map indicated that the walking route uses the Newfoundland T'Railway trail, starting about 60 km west of Gander. The Wikipedia article about the trail indicates (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newfoundl ... g_sections) that a number of sections are missing, and in some cases impassable. I'm curious about how much that would affect the walking time.
I wouldn't attempt that Deer Lake portion of the Trailway, even in summer (especially in summer - black-flies, moose etc). Along the highway, maybe, with at least one companion.
I cross that trailway each time I go to Foodland, and each summer I promise myself I'll ride the Bonavista section on my bike. Cheers, Chris
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Re: Google Maps: Anomaly in driving directions
Jay Freedman wrote: ↑28 Jan 2023, 21:10A popup on the Google map indicated that the walking route uses the Newfoundland T'Railway trail, starting about 60 km west of Gander.
Our UK friends up north use T'Railway.
Regards
Graeme
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Re: Google Maps: Anomaly in driving directions
Peter Kay's (Bolton) grandma gets on T'internet!
Cheers, Chris
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Re: Google Maps: Anomaly in driving directions
Aye lad, tha's gotit dahn twoa "Tee".
Cheers, Chris
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Re: Google Maps: Anomaly in driving directions
So I have a colleague from 1970 living in Lower Hutt New Zealand, and my first ex-brother in law and his partner visiting the North Island from northern NSW. I thought that meeting each other might be something for them to do …
So I wondered about Bill getting to Geoff or vice-versa, by Car, Bicycle, or on Foot. By Car: 18 minutes, 16 Km.
. By Bike: 199 minutes, 52 Km
. On Foot: 179 minutes, 21 Km
.
Go Figure!
Now part of this anomaly might be New Zealanders; for example, maybe Highway 2 is an expressway and there is no service road, so cyclists must travel across the mountains.
So I wondered about Bill getting to Geoff or vice-versa, by Car, Bicycle, or on Foot. By Car: 18 minutes, 16 Km.
. By Bike: 199 minutes, 52 Km
. On Foot: 179 minutes, 21 Km
.
Go Figure!
Now part of this anomaly might be New Zealanders; for example, maybe Highway 2 is an expressway and there is no service road, so cyclists must travel across the mountains.
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Last edited by ChrisGreaves on 06 Dec 2023, 19:04, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Google Maps: Anomaly in driving directions
The Hutt Expressway doesn't look suitable for bicycles:
There's a frequent MetLink train connection, 20 minutes from Wellington Station to Waterloo Station in Lower Hutt.
There's a frequent MetLink train connection, 20 minutes from Wellington Station to Waterloo Station in Lower Hutt.
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Best wishes,
Hans
Hans
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Re: Google Maps: Anomaly in driving directions
The Hutt Expressway looks perfectly suitable for bicycles, if they'd just get rid of the automobiles.
I didn't look at the trains. I doubt that Geoff has ever braved a train in his life! He is about my age and I have known him since I was 21.
Living North of Cairns (Qld) you wouldn't be buying a Weekly Commuter pass, and certainly not, north of Innisfail!
He might have ridden a pushbike to and from school in Perth, 65 years ago but!
And since he worked at the Bank of New South Wales in Perth, he would have walked from St George's Terrace down to the Barrack Street Jetty then ridden a ferry across Melville Water to visit the zoo in South Perth.
Cheers, Chris
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Re: Google Maps: Anomaly in driving directions
OK, then. Your task, should you accept it, would be to ban motorized traffic from the Hutt Expressway for a bit over an hour. Let's say an hour and a half to be on the safe side; that should be sufficient to ride a bicycle from Wellington to Lower Hutt.
Best wishes,
Hans
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Re: Google Maps: Anomaly in driving directions
This looks wide enough for a bike to me...
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StuartR
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Re: Google Maps: Anomaly in driving directions
Stuart, if you rode a trail-bke you could ride along the track just to the left of the highway.
Of course, that would be to the right once you got to New Zealand!
Cheers, Chris
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