{"id":1791420,"date":"2021-07-16T09:39:29","date_gmt":"2021-07-16T13:39:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/?p=1791420"},"modified":"2021-07-16T09:39:29","modified_gmt":"2021-07-16T13:39:29","slug":"google-maps-called-out-for-showing-potentially-fatal-mountain-routes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2021\/07\/google-maps-called-out-for-showing-potentially-fatal-mountain-routes\/","title":{"rendered":"Google Maps Called Out for Showing ‘Potentially Fatal’ Mountain Routes"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Guardian<\/em><\/a>: \u201cScottish mountaineering charities have criticised Google for suggesting routes up Ben Nevis and other mountains they say are \u2018potentially fatal\u2019 and direct people over a cliff.\u201d Google Maps\u2019s issue with Ben Nevis<\/a> is that it routes to a parking lot nearest the summit, then more or less straight-lines it from there; as a dotted line it\u2019s meant to indicate a route very imprecisely, but it also corresponds to a higher-difficulty ascent route that could land even experienced hikers in trouble. Not meant to be taken by people who don\u2019t know what they\u2019re doing\u2014the people who might have no clue that it\u2019s a bad idea to use Google Maps for mountain hiking, for example.<\/p>\n

To be clear, I think this one\u2019s on Google. A lot of people trust online maps implicitly because they have poor navigation skills and have a hard time overruling what the directions tell them: this is why people keep driving into rivers and onto tracks. It\u2019s a design failure not to account for this in every circumstance.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Guardian: \u201cScottish mountaineering charities have criticised Google for suggesting routes up Ben Nevis and other mountains they say are \u2018potentially fatal\u2019 and direct people over a cliff.\u201d Google Maps\u2019s issue with Ben Nevis is… More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"link","meta":{"autoblue_enabled":true,"autoblue_custom_message":"","autoblue_shares":[],"autoblue_post_url":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[110,342],"tags":[1524,82,522,1111,37],"class_list":["post-1791420","post","type-post","status-publish","format-link","hentry","category-map-errors","category-sport-recreation","tag-ben-nevis","tag-google-maps","tag-hiking","tag-mountains","tag-scotland","post_format-post-format-link"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1821733,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2023\/12\/google-maps-sends-drivers-into-nevada-desert-after-interstate-closure\/","url_meta":{"origin":1791420,"position":0},"title":"Google Maps Sends Drivers into Nevada Desert After Interstate Closure","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"7 December 2023","format":"link","excerpt":"Last month, after a dust storm shut down Interstate 15 between Las Vegas and Barstow, Google Maps sent drivers off-roading, rerouting them via barely passable desert trails. Some were stuck for hours. Google has since apologized. Jalopnik describes this as yet another case of blindly following, but I think this\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Map Errors"","block_context":{"text":"Map Errors","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/map-errors\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1830267,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2024\/04\/online-maps-roundup-april-2024\/","url_meta":{"origin":1791420,"position":1},"title":"Online Maps Roundup: April 2024","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"26 April 2024","format":"link","excerpt":"Custom route creation and topographic maps are rumored to be coming to Apple Maps in the next iOS release, iOS 18. Google Maps has had custom routes since approximately forever; on Apple Maps we\u2019ve had to choose between Apple\u2019s generated routes without being able to edit them. Google Maps announced\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Mobile"","block_context":{"text":"Mobile","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/mobile\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1835158,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2024\/11\/three-dead-after-google-maps-routes-travellers-across-incomplete-bridge-that-wasnt-closed\/","url_meta":{"origin":1791420,"position":2},"title":"Three Dead After Google Maps Routes Travellers Across Incomplete Bridge\u2014That Wasn\u2019t Closed","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"30 November 2024","format":"link","excerpt":"The headline accompanying this Economic Times (India) article is more than a bit misleading: \u201dGoogle Maps leads three men to death as car plunges from incomplete bridge into river.\u201d Horrifying. The bridge across the Ramganga River in Uttar Pradesh was closed after a part of it had been washed away\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Map Errors"","block_context":{"text":"Map Errors","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/map-errors\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1842820,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2025\/06\/some-minor-updates-to-apple-and-google-maps\/","url_meta":{"origin":1791420,"position":3},"title":"Some Minor Updates to Apple and Google Maps","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"19 June 2025","format":"link","excerpt":"In what seems like a relatively minor update, Apple Maps will learn your preferred routes and remember visited places as of iOS 26, coming this fall. Meanwhile, Google Maps has announced some sustainable travel updates: recommending alternatives to driving, cycling route details, fuel-efficient routing, and marking low-emissions zones in Europe.","rel":"","context":"In "Mobile"","block_context":{"text":"Mobile","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/mobile\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1805941,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2022\/01\/tomtom-says-its-algorithms-avoid-potentially-dangerous-routes\/","url_meta":{"origin":1791420,"position":4},"title":"TomTom Says Its Algorithms Avoid Potentially Dangerous Routes","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"27 January 2022","format":"link","excerpt":"It probably has nothing to do with Google redirecting traffic up poorly maintained mountain roads during a blizzard in California last month (previously), but TomTom has posted a piece explaining how its algorithms avoid sending drivers down potentially dangerous routes in Finland even though, on paper, they\u2019re shorter. TomTom\u2019s routing\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Mobile"","block_context":{"text":"Mobile","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/mobile\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2415,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2016\/07\/the-ordnance-survey-maps-britains-favourite-routes\/","url_meta":{"origin":1791420,"position":5},"title":"The Ordnance Survey Maps Britain’s Favourite Routes","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"15 July 2016","format":"link","excerpt":"The Ordnance Survey has created a series of data visualizations showing the most popular walking and cycling routes, based on OS Maps\u00a0usage. \"The 500,000 plus routes were illustrated in a series of beautiful\u00a0data visualisations by [cartographic designer] Charley [Glynn], who found it\u00a0amazing that the people who created routes for their\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Sport & Recreation"","block_context":{"text":"Sport & Recreation","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/sport-recreation\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"os-popular-paths","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/os-popular-paths-724x1024.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/os-popular-paths-724x1024.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/os-popular-paths-724x1024.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/os-popular-paths-724x1024.jpg?resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1791420","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1791420"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1791420\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1791422,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1791420\/revisions\/1791422"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1791420"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1791420"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1791420"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}