Using Google Maps to navigate on bike rides

[schnee]

I've never really found Google Maps to be of any use for navigating bike rides. It gets your position wrong, does not alert you to turns (or too late), mistakenly tells you you're on the wrong way when you're not, takes you off major roads you could follow and into little side streets for on reason, and more.

Yesterday I gave it a try while going

Comments

[thewayne]

I find Google Maps good for gross mapping: when we went to Dallas for the eclipse, I wanted the general route and driving time. But the specifics were up to our Garmin GPS. The Garmin is slightly long in the tooth, but as long as it continues receiving updates, I don't mind.

That's a pity about Google Maps, though. I could see that as being quite useful for biking. Apple Maps is supposed to be well-integrated for walking in cities without having to hold your phone, if you have an Apple Watch it'll tape in a certain way if you're supposed to turn left or right, etc. I haven't used that feature, but it's possible that the next time we're in Washington, DC we may be doing a couple of embassy visits.

[schnee]

It could well be useful for biking, yes, doubly so now that I've got headphones I can safely wear while biking, but it's actually actively harmful. The only use it has is that you can look at the map yourself, figure out where you are and where you (probably) need to go. For giving directions, it's worse than useless.