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.

Comments

Re:Story doesn't seem up to date

[OzPeter]

Could be that road conditions do not let you travel at 100KM on average.
So most likely they think it was a road where 100KM was not possible. Here a 450KM trip that would take 12.5 hours. 70KM more added 8 hours travel time.

That actually could be the what is going on. The locals are taking route 14 in 4 hours, but the tourists are being directed along route 12 and 83 for what ever reason and take 12 hours. And I compared apples to oranges.

One possible reason is that the locals are geared up for long distance driving with long range fuel tanks, but rental cars don't have them, so the locals can safely do a straight shot along a route with limited fuel stops and the tourists are being directed to the route that has more fuel stops that suit their shorter range tanks.