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Google Maps Deterring Outback Tourists, Say Small Firms (bbc.com)
Tourism operators in Australia claim inaccuracies in Google Maps are deterring potential visitors, by making remote attractions appear further away than they actually are. From a report: The Queensland government in north-east Australia has complained to Google, which says it will look into the issue. Firms looking to promote their small towns as remote tourist destinations say Google Maps inflates travel times. Outback businesses say errors in the map app can add hours to a journey. "People aren't coming to places because they think it takes too long, or they're missing opportunities to refuel and they're getting sent off on another road that has no fuel [outlets]," Robyn Mackenzie, of the Eromanga Natural History Museum, told national broadcaster ABC. "People will get frightened of travelling in the outback, because they don't have any confidence in the mapping," the general manager of the small town museum added.
Seriously though, nobody should be relying on Google Maps to plan a trip somewhere like the Outback. Outback steakhouse, sure. A place where taking a wrong turn or getting stranded could be fatal? Ask a human being. Google warns people when a store's operating hours may be different because of holidays, it would seem that a warning when traveling through the middle of freaking nowhere is warranted. "Consult local resources before making this trip or you may die." "Fragile ecosystem - do not deviate from marked paths!" "Seasonal access only - conditions out of season may be fatal."
Its a 380km journey
For your search it is. Who is to say that when they made the search they got the same result? Now none of this is to say that Google is at "fault" but when a main road is closed in the outback you can easily change a route that adds hundreds of km to a journey. Likewise it can put you on a shitty dirt track that drops you down to 50km / hour.
Last time I traveled through Far North Queensland Google took me off the highway and through Woodleigh Station. It cut 60km from my trip but at one point the road completely ceased to exist making the trip very slow and a short time later I was standing for 20min while 200 cattle were being herded around us and a cattledog was biting at my tires. We got to where we were going well over an hour later than the other car which left at the same time.
Was Google at "fault"? No idea. Maybe the road was listed as closed, maybe the previous driver through the station raced through it at 100km/h and Google recorded the road as being faster. Maybe everyone else pulled over due to a road train passing on the highway and Google assumed there was an accident. Point is, from 4 hours to 7 hours is less than double the time and far worse than that does happen.
I think Google is doing something similar to what the Interstate did with America.
Older roads use to go into small towns, where drivers will fill up, have a meal, check out a little of the local culture. Then they put in the interstate system, which connected big cities together, and drive by small towns, sometimes without an exit to them. With the promise of a fast MPH speed on the road, you can get from Point A to Point B much faster, but the small towns have been left out and are now shadows of their former self.
If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.