XPost: comp.mobile.android, alt.internet.wireless   
   From: horace@horacealgiers.com   
      
   On Fri, 23 Sep 2016 22:42:47 -0700, Jeff Liebermann wrote:   
      
   > No turn by turn needed or wanted.  I rarely listen to instructions   
   > from anyone and certainly don't plan to start doing so with   
   > instructions from a machine.  Incidentally, anyone trying to use a GPS   
   > map device to find a usable route to my house is sure to get lost.   
   > There are roads on the maps that don't exist which the mapping   
   > programs never fail to use as the preferred route.   
      
   Worse, Jeff, is that there are roads by my house, which is near your house,   
   that I have *personally* requested Google mark as "restricted use".   
      
   I really wanted them to mark the paths and roads as "blocked" but Google   
   doesn't seem to have that designation.   
      
   They only have restricted use.   
      
   Interestingly, you *never* can *talk* to a Google person by phone. You just   
   get the runaround for an hour at their hq even. So what you get is a local   
   *volunteer* who has distinguished himself by a certain number of posts to   
   the Google Mapping Forum (as far as I can tell).   
      
   This distinguished local volunteer is actually reasonable, and he/she   
   listens to your public arguments, and he/she makes a call on what to   
   designate the road and he/she then submits that decision to a higher-level   
   group (presumably of google employees).   
      
   Only then do you get a notification of the final action, which, in some   
   cases they agreed and in others (such as marking the road blocked), they   
   disagreed. Each time they gave a rationale, which I consider reasonable   
   (although inaccurate - since the road "is" blocked).   
      
   Their rationale is that a locked gate isn't a blockage - it's a   
   "restriction". Their point is that someone who has the gate code or key can   
   get past the blockage, so, it's merely a restriction.   
      
   In the end, my point is that simply *looking* at an *accurate* map will   
   sometimes tell you better how to get somewhere than Google directions. In   
   this case that I had the Google database corrected, if you route to a house   
   on one of the "restricted use" roads, Google will take you to that house   
   (because they don't "block" the road).   
      
   However, if you route from a point "just outside" the restricted-use roads,   
   Google will take you roundabout over 30 additional miles since it won't   
   route using the "restricted use" road unless the destination is "on" the   
   restricted use roads.   
      
   Interesting ...   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)