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Re:Ask HN: Programs that saved you 100 hours? (2022 edition) by teknopaul on Tuesday December 20, 2022 @01:30PM (#34070099)
How come it saves 100 hours for you?

In the old days we had paper maps and I checked routes before I left: not doing that anymore has cost me time rather than saved me time. Many a time Google maps has sent me to the wrong place. Once to the middle of a mustard field in France which was a destination it changed to mid-route to a house called La Mutardier. 5 hours wrong lost there.

Less than useless on a motorbike due to its UI, actually quite dangerous.

I would say it has cost me many hours and saved me from carrying a map.

Evermore useless adverts, and now hiding places that it doesn't get a kick back from.

Oh and it's cost me money in fines from taking me the wrong way down streets I was not allowed to drive on. With no way to feed that info back into the system. When its wrong it stays wrong for years sometimes where I live, and we have street map, it ought to be half decent and at least safe for drivers.

Re:Ask HN: Programs that saved you 100 hours? (2022 edition) by forgotpwd16 on Tuesday December 20, 2022 @01:54PM (#34070508)
>Many a time Google maps has sent me to the wrong place.

Have used it for years and have never seen this happen. Neither has send me the wrong way in a lane.

Re:Ask HN: Programs that saved you 100 hours? (2022 edition) by Jensson on Tuesday December 20, 2022 @01:57PM (#34070568)
Google maps is a map, you can map out the routes yourself just like with old maps, but it is way faster to do so than with paper maps.
Re:Ask HN: Programs that saved you 100 hours? (2022 edition) by burnished on Tuesday December 20, 2022 @02:06PM (#34070717)
Searching the map for your target given only incomplete information is much faster. It also scopes the map to your screen size, paper does not do this, you save time finding the right resolution.

It sounds like the real problem you are experiencing is that you stopped checking your route. If you treat it like a paper map on crack then it’s a great tool. And, to be fair, it does sound like you run into more frustrating ‘wtf!’ problems than others.

Credentials: I used a paper map as a pizza boy.

Re:Ask HN: Programs that saved you 100 hours? (2022 edition) by gtirloni on Tuesday December 20, 2022 @02:07PM (#34070752)
How are paper maps working for you these days? I'm interested in your experience replacing GMaps.
Re:Ask HN: Programs that saved you 100 hours? (2022 edition) by chungy on Tuesday December 20, 2022 @02:50PM (#34071461)
> Oh and it's cost me money in fines from taking me the wrong way down streets I was not allowed to drive on.

It is your responsibility to drive legally. Even if Google Maps is suggesting a route that's illegal, you made the action to drive the wrong way.

Re:Ask HN: Programs that saved you 100 hours? (2022 edition) by npteljes on Tuesday December 20, 2022 @02:50PM (#34071475)
I find that a combination is the most useful: planning the route beforehand, maybe with an online map / routing service, and then use the turn-by-turn for convenience. I don't use Google Maps myself, I go with MAPS.ME / Organic Maps these days, maybe OsmAnd+.