Is Google Maps getting worse?
Is Google Maps getting worse?
My dad uses Google Maps, and he mentioned that it seems to be getting worse. Like, giving him directions that are obviously worse than alternatives. Has anyone else here experienced this?
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There's an option to prefer fuel saving routes, which are worse most of the time. This was a kinda recent chance and it is enabled by default, try to disable it and see if it helps
Fun fact, they let you tell them what kind of vehicle you have for the fuel efficient route. So when we told it we have a PHEV, it started recommending more surface streets than highways. Kinda cool.
It does indicate the "fuel efficient" route pretty clearly though, and always gives multiple other options including the quickest one that isn't as efficient. If this is what's causing the issue, OP just needs to look closer at what's on their screen.
needs to look closer at what's on their screen
IT guy here. The number of tickets I could close with this as the root cause.
You expect me to READ!? The audacity! 😤
Honestly I wish you were able to. Some of these people have no excuse to be as ill proficient as they are, and maybe that would change if you could just tell them they 'read mother fucker' and let nature take it's course.
In my experience, the "quickest" are more fuel efficient than the "fuel efficient" routes, which take me through residential areas (where every intersection is protected, meaning a stop sign in at least 1 direction) or stair-stepping on county roads where the speed-up/slow-down cycle negates the benefit of driving on slower roads.
That's fair, although I think that depends a lot on the type of car you drive. There's an option to tell Maps what type of car you drive (electric, hybrid, or gas), which will change the results, because cars with regenerative breaking often get better "city" milage than "highway" milage.
It also probably depends on factors like how aerodynamic your vehicle is, because it makes a huge difference above ~50mph (air resistance/drag increases exponentially with speed)
This
On routes with few starts and stops, the route with the lower speed limit is the more fuel efficient one. Higher speed means higher drag (by the square of speed).
Mostly because that would be a shorter route then, cars have gears and are more efficient under a higher load so a higher speed, usually around 100kph is most efficient
Drag is where energy is lost. Drag is a function of speed.
I know, but a car's efficiency is dependent on more factors than speed and friction alone
Interesting. I’ll let him know. Thanks.