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Catching Satnav Errors On Google Street View
Barence writes "Most of the satnav companies allow users to report errors with their maps, but do they ever get fixed? PC Pro's Paul Ockenden uses Google StreetView to highlight glaring and dangerous flaws in Tele Atlas maps — which are used by TomTom and Google Maps itself — but the company has failed to respond to numerous reports of map errors posted over the course of several years. 'About half a mile from where I live, a Tele Atlas-based satnav will instruct you to turn off at a junction where there's only an on-ramp,' Ockenden reports. 'I've witnessed some confused and dangerous driving at this junction as people try to find the non-existent exit, so I wouldn't be surprised if major mapping errors like this are a danger to road safety.'"
There's got to be a better way to confirm the existence or non-existence of such must-avoid intersections.
Live traffic data I suppose. Traffic signals will calculate degree of saturation from dwell times on induction loop vehicle detectors. In most systems that data is passed up the chain to the software which does strategic traffic management. I have been out of the area for a while but I assume the live data is extracted at this point and aggregated into these live traffic data sets.
http://michaelsmith.id.au
That's why I always like to use the satellite photos on Google Maps, to make sure that access roads on the map are actually there. Streetview helps too, especially since the map doesn't indicate whether an intersection with a major road has a full traffic light, or if I'll be stuck on a dinky little road trying to turn onto a six-lane highway with my view blocked by overgrown bushes.
Because cars are not driven by computer, any driver that is remotely conscious of his surroundings would be able to spot the difficulty with trying to utilize paths that are clearly not intended for anyone to utilize.
And any driver who is liable to cause an accident because of this sort of thing is likely already a public menace for driving without due care and attention in the first place, so I do not think that this creates any significantly additional opportunity for traffic accidents beyond what already exists.
File under 'M' for 'Manic ranting'
I find your claim a somewhat incredible. How did they know when these companies were coming? And then how did they cause traffic disruptions? Did the residents take turns parking on the road for hours on end? Did they fake car accidents? That seems like an awful lot of trouble to go through, with considerable risk of police intervention, just to reduce tourist traffic on a nearby highway. What is your source for this information?
Of course, he's hanging back about 6 car lengths on a left turn lane that's about 8 car lengths long. Two more cars want to turn left and all of a sudden you're backing up left turn traffic into the regular lane which causes a huge jam. Your dad is jamming up traffic.
Other problems:
People think that because he's so far back that he has a disabled vehicle and thus move in front of him, causing a dangerous situation.
People realize that he's a fucking moron and cut in front of him, causing problems.
People think that he's drunk and call the police, taking up their time.
-1 disagree is not a modifier for a reason. -1 troll, flaimbait, redundant, overrated are NOT acceptable substitutes.