Snow Closed the Highways. GPS Mapped a Harrowing Detour in the Sierra Nevada.(nytimes.com)
nytimes.com
Snow Closed the Highways. GPS Mapped a Harrowing Detour in the Sierra Nevada.
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/12/31/us/google-maps-waze-sierra-nevada-snow.html
14 comments
The problem is bigger than that; typically the people who get into these situations aren’t prepared to drive in these conditions at all (e.g. no shovel, blankets, water etc, much less maps).
The actual story is some people don’t know how to drive, even if they know how to operate a motor vehicle. Really no different from “many people fall for phishing scams”
The actual story is some people don’t know how to drive, even if they know how to operate a motor vehicle. Really no different from “many people fall for phishing scams”
Maybe I'm being callous but I often think people in these incidents are often shirking responsibility, just looking for any possibility to keep going and then the GPS gets blamed when it goes wrong.
Would we equally be able to blame a paper map or a road sign? Hmm, on the other hand, would we blindly trust the paper map/road sign or stop and think for a second before taking that sketchy turn off the main road?
Would we equally be able to blame a paper map or a road sign? Hmm, on the other hand, would we blindly trust the paper map/road sign or stop and think for a second before taking that sketchy turn off the main road?
I think they are simply clueless.
You also get people with rental cars who just aren't familiar with the area at all. One would think that people would have the sense not to try to drive the Sierras on a back road in the winter--much less a major snowstorm. But if you live in the Southeast US, maybe not.
See also Death Valley Germans. https://www.otherhand.org/home-page/search-and-rescue/the-hu... (And that wasn't even GPS-related.)
I do sense though that people who grew up with GPS are more likely to follow it blindly and not do any other sort of route planning than people who are older. And I confess that I'm much less religious about carrying maps around than I used to be.
See also Death Valley Germans. https://www.otherhand.org/home-page/search-and-rescue/the-hu... (And that wasn't even GPS-related.)
I do sense though that people who grew up with GPS are more likely to follow it blindly and not do any other sort of route planning than people who are older. And I confess that I'm much less religious about carrying maps around than I used to be.
Doesn’t caltrans publish road closures in electronic form for mapping companies to consume? Perhaps there’s something causing seasonal road closures to not show up correctly. A forward looking effort to fix the problem might be preferable to a backward looking effort to assign blame.
At least on their consumer facing site, they only seem to cover highways. https://roads.dot.ca.gov/
People are sheep who cant use their goddamn heads to make basic decisions and have to follow whatever the hivemind says
Tech monopolies are callous shepherds presenting themselves as trusted advisors and consistently failing to act with according responsibility.
We're well over a decade into mass-market interactive route guidance. Rookie hour is over.
The fact that people will follow interactive map instructions along what are clearly inadvisable routes means that those routes should not be suggested.
With turn-by-turn directions, most mapping software doesn't even provide an overview of the route, but expects people to simply follow prompts.
(I'm old-school, carry paper maps, and a compass, with topos of remote areas as necessary. I've made a few questionable calls myself, but lived through all, never been stuck, and have some amazing memories as a result.)
We're well over a decade into mass-market interactive route guidance. Rookie hour is over.
The fact that people will follow interactive map instructions along what are clearly inadvisable routes means that those routes should not be suggested.
With turn-by-turn directions, most mapping software doesn't even provide an overview of the route, but expects people to simply follow prompts.
(I'm old-school, carry paper maps, and a compass, with topos of remote areas as necessary. I've made a few questionable calls myself, but lived through all, never been stuck, and have some amazing memories as a result.)
The failsafe would be to only show routes that an inexperienced driver in a 2WD sedan can handle comfortably across a wide range of weather conditions--and perhaps refuse to route in heavy snowfall across secondary routes at all. Is that what people would want?
In the US West in particular, there are a lot of routes that are very dependent on weather conditions, current maintenance, driver skill/familiarity, and vehicle. It's hard for a GPS unit to make the "right" recommendation on a lot of secondary/tertiary routes.
And as a friend of mine was noting the other day, road closures are often recorded by public safety officials making phone calls.
In the US West in particular, there are a lot of routes that are very dependent on weather conditions, current maintenance, driver skill/familiarity, and vehicle. It's hard for a GPS unit to make the "right" recommendation on a lot of secondary/tertiary routes.
And as a friend of mine was noting the other day, road closures are often recorded by public safety officials making phone calls.
The right thing is to have multiple modes, or appropriate warnings on routes.
GPS systems already have modes to avoid/prefer tolls, highways, ferries, etc.
Why not have an avoid/prefer difficult conditions?
Or highlight certain paths as [requires 4WD+chains+off-road skill]? The drivers with the equipment and skill would likely prefer those and think of this as a good fun feature, and the tourists in a rental car would at least be properly warned.
Yes, it's additional work and data. Yes, over a decade into society defaulting to active map/route guidance, it is also getting to the point that this should be table stakes, not frequent stories of near-tragedies.
GPS systems already have modes to avoid/prefer tolls, highways, ferries, etc.
Why not have an avoid/prefer difficult conditions?
Or highlight certain paths as [requires 4WD+chains+off-road skill]? The drivers with the equipment and skill would likely prefer those and think of this as a good fun feature, and the tourists in a rental car would at least be properly warned.
Yes, it's additional work and data. Yes, over a decade into society defaulting to active map/route guidance, it is also getting to the point that this should be table stakes, not frequent stories of near-tragedies.
In my experience playing with Google Maps in Death Valley was that it pretty much resisted routing you on serious 4WD "shortcuts" even where they cut off a lot of distance. The only exception I found was when you gave it an endpoint that required going on such a road.
What it's not as good about in my experience is dealing with snow covered back roads. It's too quick to my way of thinking to take you on a back road when it doesn't need to--or a more difficult/longer back road route than it has to (although some of the distinctions may not be made by the underlying data). Which is probably part of the problem. The underlying data sets (such as TIGER in the US) don't really do a great job of distinguishing roads once you get past basic paved roads.
And of course recent and current weather can make a big difference. Even an interstate can be difficult driving in a snowstorm. Though that's really on the driver to use their own judgement.
ADDED: The article does say that "Waze has a filter that allows drivers to avoid unpaved roads." While hardly a panacea, this seems like a reasonable easy cut even though unpaved roads can be well maintained in good weather and paved roads can be challenging.
What it's not as good about in my experience is dealing with snow covered back roads. It's too quick to my way of thinking to take you on a back road when it doesn't need to--or a more difficult/longer back road route than it has to (although some of the distinctions may not be made by the underlying data). Which is probably part of the problem. The underlying data sets (such as TIGER in the US) don't really do a great job of distinguishing roads once you get past basic paved roads.
And of course recent and current weather can make a big difference. Even an interstate can be difficult driving in a snowstorm. Though that's really on the driver to use their own judgement.
ADDED: The article does say that "Waze has a filter that allows drivers to avoid unpaved roads." While hardly a panacea, this seems like a reasonable easy cut even though unpaved roads can be well maintained in good weather and paved roads can be challenging.
I think your proposal, in that first 'graph, would be a good start and a huge improvement over the present situation.
I'd like to sit in on the next few weeks' Google Maps team meetings....
I'd like to sit in on the next few weeks' Google Maps team meetings....
But honestly, don't waste your time, it's the exact same story you've been reading every year for the past fifteen years.
There's a photo of a dad removing snow chains while his kids are shivering in the cold. Assuming that's not just an editorialized title for the photo (they look happy enough) -- no shit they're shivering, they're standing there in pajamas and Chuck Taylors...