Google maps avoid local access roads "L104" etc?

DRice wrote: »

Hi

I have been driving around to unfamiliar destinations for years now using Google brilliant google maps on my Android phone.

One thing constantly bugs me. Like most other sat navs it gives you the option to avoid toll roads. However saving €2.90 is not my priority safety is. What google tends to do is send me on the quickest route regardless of the type of road ,you know m,n,r or l. I am a dub and I am really not comfortable driving on small bothrins usually denoted with an "l". Does anyone know if you can tell maps to avoid them?

Just to be clear I am not telling it to avoid tolls, but it sends me on the quickest route regardless, or tells me "we have found a quicker route ..accept?". This usually involves a road without a centre line and even grass growing in the middle of the road.

Cheers!

I think this might just be a 'feature' of using GPS nav systems, even if ye choose the option for 'fastest' rather than 'shortest' route planning.
I first noticed this heading to lisdoonvarna Doolin one year...it turned me right, off the main road, onto a tiny bohereen. My thinking is they "see" a route, it is shorter, it is the same speed limit as the one we're on...so...this is obviously the best route to send us.
They just don't seem to factor in the best ye might average is 60kmh and be stopping every time ye encounter another car or tractor etc.

I read somewhere that traffic increased on backroads after the introduction of satnav's, I think it was studied in the UK.
Would be great if there was a way to try keep ye on the N and R roads as much as possible....maybe if they recalculate (downwards) the speeds possible on those L roads then it would keep ye on the main routes. Doesn't seem to be rocket science for them to do that, but it's possible they don't even know it's an issue :-)

L1011 wrote: »

There are dual carriageway L roads - having a blunt "no L roads" policy would create some hideous routes in places.

+1 the road category doesn't necessarily tell you the quality of the road as in the width, lack of tight bends and surface quality.

For example, the N7 out of Dublin from the M50 to the first Naas exit is an three lane dual carriageway and is an 'N' road as is the part of the ring of Kerry route between Killarney and Moll's Gap, most of which is a horrendous road to drive with narrow stretches and an endless series of bends.

So if you ask a satnav for a route from Killarney to Kenmare, it will send you down that ring of kerry road because it's an 'N' road all the way. The locals will tell you to drive down the N22 (Macroom road) and turn right (on an excellent 'L' road) for Kilgarvan and on to Kenmare.

Similarly the old Loughrea to Gort road was categorized as 'N' even though it was a horrible road. You need to be very careful leaving navigation up to a gadget which can't tell the difference between a good and bad 'N' road.

DRice wrote: »

... I am really not comfortable driving on small bothrins usually denoted with an "l". Does anyone know if you can tell maps to avoid them?....

How would Google manage if your starting point or destination was on an L road?

Waze has a "no dirt roads" feature, maybe that would avoid these lanes you're talking about? Microsoft Maps has something similar too, "No Unpaved Roads"

Wishbone Ash wrote: »

'L' roads aren't unpaved roads and form the majority of roads in the country. There are practically no unpaved public roads in Ireland.

Yes, I know, but I’ve found that option sometimes covers badly paved roads too.

Wishbone Ash wrote: »

How would Google manage if your starting point or destination was on an L road?

no it wouldn't have to totally avoid them - just stop bringing us down crapy little L-Roads en route to a destination because it sees that the L-road is also 80kmh and so therefore this L-Road will be faster for you to get there.

I think if they programmed in a set speed for 'unnamed' or L-Roads, let's say 50kmh or whatever, then the route calculation might be more inclined to keep you on the main road as it 'knows' you'll be able to tip along at 80 or 100kmh there.
So it wouldn't be a blanket ban on the L-roads or anything...just more likely to keep 'thru traffic' off the local roads and staying on the regional and national routes

whisky_galore wrote: »

I found Google maps ignored a ferry crossing that would have made my journey shorter.

Another (more annoying) thing it doesn't take into account are roads completely closed for road works.

Another reason I like Waze: that sort of info is added by anyone using the app

L1011 wrote: »

There are dual carriageway L roads - .

Is Temple Road not technically N31?

bigar wrote: »

I used my TomTom in the Alps and it took me through roads so narrow I could barely squeeze my car through. They were also often very steep and a few had a scary drop on one side and a wall on the other.

Should have gone by train.

TheChizler wrote: »

Google own Waze and integrate quite a bit of live information from it. It's only as good as the information reported by users.

For Ireland that usually means the information is better than what Google themselves have though. We're never exactly top priority when it comes to ensuring data is updated.

TheChizler wrote: »

I don't think it's a matter of someone in Google manually updating, quite often I've seen a pin on Google Maps (mobile) showing an incident which only occurred in the last few minutes. If you click into it it says the information was provided by Waze.

I'm talking about when you said "It's only as good as the information reported by users" and my point is that in Ireland, that's usually better info than what would be there otherwise, which would be very little. We don't have the open APIs for traffic levels and incidents or road closures or whatever that some other countries might have.

Patww79 wrote: »

Whatever info Waze has, maps has. That's why they bought it.

GM has worked for me with closed roads before. It even had 'reported via Waze' as the message when you clicked the road closed icon.

I haven't seen police location reports on GMaps? Im not sure they share the user reported traffic congestion spots to GMaps either

coylemj wrote: »

+1 the road category doesn't necessarily tell you the quality of the road as in the width, lack of tight bends and surface quality.

For example, the N7 out of Dublin from the M50 to the first Naas exit is an three lane dual carriageway and is an 'N' road as is the part of the ring of Kerry route between Killarney and Moll's Gap, most of which is a horrendous road to drive with narrow stretches and an endless series of bends.

So if you ask a satnav for a route from Killarney to Kenmare, it will send you down that ring of kerry road because it's an 'N' road all the way. The locals will tell you to drive down the N22 (Macroom road) and turn right (on an excellent 'L' road) for Kilgarvan and on to Kenmare.

Similarly the old Loughrea to Gort road was categorized as 'N' even though it was a horrible road. You need to be very careful leaving navigation up to a gadget which can't tell the difference between a good and bad 'N' road.

The road through Kilgarvan is an R road I'm pretty sure. What's more the Killarney to Molls Gap is one of the BEST driver's roads going .

MJohnston wrote: »

Listen Mr Clarkson, it may be a great drive, but it's a really low quality road.

It's been improved a lot in recent years, but it's really the tourist traffic that would keep you off that road rather than the quality of the road itself. If you love driving for it's own sake, it's one of the best

Google have access to travel speeds on roads from their own devices and this should, at least in time, lead to better routes. If they were really smart they would give a higher weight to routes used by regular users. Blanket avoidance of L roads would be silly, L roads < 4999 are generally not much different from R routes and often have many stretches suitable for 80Kmh. Higher L numbers less so.

coylemj wrote: »

+1 the road category doesn't necessarily tell you the quality of the road as in the width, lack of tight bends and surface quality.

For example, the N7 out of Dublin from the M50 to the first Naas exit is an three lane dual carriageway and is an 'N' road as is the part of the ring of Kerry route between Killarney and Moll's Gap, most of which is a horrendous road to drive with narrow stretches and an endless series of bends.

The N7 Naas Road and the N70 Ring of Kerry are not the same;

The N7 is a National Primary route,

The N70 is a National Secondary route.

I would agree that many national secondary roads should really be regional, there is nothing national about the Ring Of Kerry.

This is a political matter, national roads are fully resourced by the National Roads Authority, TII or whatever they call it now. The Kerry Bull, or one of his predecessors, may well have had an influence in this regard.