That's the last time I use Google Maps

by phil on Friday Jun 2, 2006 12:07 PM

Today, my forgivingness toward Google Maps is over. I had a job interview this morning, and the directions Google gave me were five miles off. That lost me 20 min. (10 min. of circling the suggested area for any sign of the location, and another 10 min. of calling the company and winging my way to their offices finally.) Not to mention I was delirious because I had woken really really early to provide enough time to find the place. But alas, technology failed me.

The interview went well overall, but dang it Google! I should never have forgiven all the past minor problems I found in Google Maps.

Yahoo Maps gets the location correct, placing the job interview on the correct side of the river. Search quality on Yahoo Maps is superior to Google Maps. Don't end up like me one day and get the wrong directions when it really counts. At the very least, map your locations on both services to see for yourself.

I don't know, the whole episode combined with some of their recent tone-deaf gaffes leaves a nasty feeling about Google in general. It smacks of a narrow Silicon Valley, digerati tunnel vision. Out here, in the Midwest, driving's a little different. Google Maps couldn't tell the difference between So. Mo Pac and No. Mo Pac, the Mo Pac being a freeway in Texas. Back in California, they don't have demarked nothern and southern segments of freeways, nor is it common to have an address on one (at least none that I've noticed). Does Google only test their services in their favorite hip metros? (I'm guessing New York and San Francisco.) Who knows.

Comments

you rock said on June 2, 2006 9:31 PM:

laced and loaded!