Story of Google map’s driving directions and a missing turn

Day before yesterday (29th June 2012) evening, I had to travel from a location in Margao (marked as point A in the screen-shot below) to Mickey’s in Colva (marked as point B). As I had not been to the place before, I took help from Google Maps App in my Samsung Galaxy S2 to identify the path between the two points. Google Maps marked the path as shown in the screen-shot below.

With the help of GPS tracking in google map app, I started following the path. Everything went fine till I reached the turn identified with red circle in the screen-shot above. I was surprised to notice that there was no road for the turn at that point.

Fortunately, I was little familiar with this area and thus was able to identify the alternate route which could connect me to point B. Following screen-shot will show you the alternate route.

Luckily, I was familiar with the location and thus, was able to identify the alternate route quickly. But the people who use the app to find paths/directions while travelling to a different state or an unknown location may not be so lucky.

While using the applications like google maps, we all need to remember that it is just a tool, which help us only to find a solution to the problem, but it need not be the best or the most accurate one. In some cases, we may be presented with wrong results as well.

Thus, if you are using google maps to plan your next family trip, make sure you verify all the information properly. Otherwise, your family trip may convert into an interesting adventure trip.