{"id":1805817,"date":"2022-01-03T16:48:21","date_gmt":"2022-01-03T21:48:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/?p=1805817"},"modified":"2022-01-04T12:13:41","modified_gmt":"2022-01-04T17:13:41","slug":"google-rerouted-traffic-up-poorly-maintained-mountain-roads-during-a-blizzard","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2022\/01\/google-rerouted-traffic-up-poorly-maintained-mountain-roads-during-a-blizzard\/","title":{"rendered":"Google Rerouted Traffic Up Poorly Maintained Mountain Roads During a Blizzard"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_1805819\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-1805819\" style=\"width: 760px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-attachment-id=\"1805819\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2022\/01\/google-rerouted-traffic-up-poorly-maintained-mountain-roads-during-a-blizzard\/pyrogeog-google-maps-blizzard\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/pyrogeog-google-maps-blizzard.jpg\" data-orig-size=\"1328,736\" data-comments-opened=\"0\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;0&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"pyrogeog-google-maps-blizzard\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"&lt;p&gt;Screenshot (@pyrogeog)&lt;\/p&gt;\n\" data-medium-file=\"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/pyrogeog-google-maps-blizzard-300x166.jpg\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/pyrogeog-google-maps-blizzard-1024x568.jpg\" class=\"size-large wp-image-1805819\" src=\"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/pyrogeog-google-maps-blizzard-1024x568.jpg\" alt=\"Screenshot of Google Maps showing driving directions in California\" width=\"760\" height=\"422\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/pyrogeog-google-maps-blizzard-1024x568.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/pyrogeog-google-maps-blizzard-300x166.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/pyrogeog-google-maps-blizzard-150x83.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/pyrogeog-google-maps-blizzard-940x521.jpg 940w, https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/pyrogeog-google-maps-blizzard-722x400.jpg 722w, https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/pyrogeog-google-maps-blizzard.jpg 1328w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 760px) 100vw, 760px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-1805819\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Screenshot (Crystal A. Kolden\/@pyrogeog on Twitter)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Last week, when a snowstorm closed Interstate 80 east of Sacramento, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sfgate.com\/renotahoe\/article\/Google-Maps-may-have-led-Tahoe-travelers-astray-16734398.php\">Google Maps started redirecting traffic up poorly maintained mountain roads<\/a>, which is about as good an idea during a blizzard as it sounds.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">.<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/googlemaps?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@googlemaps<\/a> This is an abject failure. You are sending people up a poorly maintained forest road to their death in a severe blizzard. Hire people who can address winter storms in your code (or maybe get some of your engineers who are stuck in Tahoe right now on it). <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/IzagAXzBtA\">pic.twitter.com\/IzagAXzBtA<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Dr. Crystal A. Kolden \ud83d\udd25 (@pyrogeog) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/pyrogeog\/status\/1475620399463292928?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">December 28, 2021<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.sfgate.com\/renotahoe\/article\/Google-Maps-may-have-led-Tahoe-travelers-astray-16734398.php\">As <em>SFGate<\/em> reports<\/a>,<\/p>\n<blockquote cite=\"https:\/\/www.sfgate.com\/renotahoe\/article\/Google-Maps-may-have-led-Tahoe-travelers-astray-16734398.php\"><p>Other dispatches from Twitter allege that the service\u2014particularly its mobile app\u2014directed people to<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/johnnymolasses\/status\/1475883341161263108\"> closed-off highways<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Tahoe_NF\/status\/1475608091961872385\">mountain passes<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sfgate.com\/renotahoe\/article\/no-opening-time-tahoe-i80-closure-16732702.php\">lakeside roads<\/a> to get around. This is in direct contrast to Caltrans&#8217; messaging to avoid workarounds. Caltrans District 3 spokesperson Steve Nelson told SFGATE on Monday that they were seeing drivers trying to skirt highway closures with side streets. \u201cThey\u2019ll take side roads and try and sneak past the closures, and that never ends well,\u201d he said.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Google engineer S\u00f6ren Meyer-Eppler <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/BuschnicK\/status\/1475729549803540480\">responded<\/a> on Twitter to spell out some of the technical and logistical problems involved in rerouting traffic during bad weather: the difficulty in finding timely data (and in such cases data need to be <em>really<\/em> timely) and the risk of false positives. <a href=\"https:\/\/jalopnik.com\/epic-lake-tahoe-snowfall-shows-why-google-maps-must-do-1848281697\">More at <em>Jalopnik<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Last week, when a snowstorm closed Interstate 80 east of Sacramento, Google Maps started redirecting traffic up poorly maintained mountain roads, which is about as good an idea during a blizzard as it sounds. .@googlemaps&hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2022\/01\/google-rerouted-traffic-up-poorly-maintained-mountain-roads-during-a-blizzard\/\">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":[110,80,8],"tags":[323,82,1111,744],"class_list":["post-1805817","post","type-post","status-publish","format-link","hentry","category-map-errors","category-mobile","category-weather-and-climate","tag-california","tag-google-maps","tag-mountains","tag-snow","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":1805817,"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 &quot;Map Errors&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Map Errors","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/map-errors\/"},"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":1805817,"position":1},"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 &quot;Mobile&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Mobile","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/mobile\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":621,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2016\/01\/a-snowstorm-revealed-through-traffic-delays\/","url_meta":{"origin":1805817,"position":2},"title":"A Snowstorm Revealed Through Traffic Delays","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"30 January 2016","format":"image","excerpt":"NPR graphics editor Alyson Hurt discovered that this month's blizzard was showing up in Google Maps as traffic delays, and whipped up a little script that took regular screencaps\u00a0of Google Maps's traffic layer. She then created an animated GIF from the screencaps. The end result (above) dramatically shows the storm\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Weather and Climate&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Weather and Climate","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/weather-and-climate\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"traffic","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/traffic.gif?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/traffic.gif?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/traffic.gif?resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/traffic.gif?resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1820805,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2023\/11\/thoughts-on-google-maps-new-design-from-a-former-google-maps-designer\/","url_meta":{"origin":1805817,"position":3},"title":"Thoughts on Google Maps&#8217; New Design From a Former Google Maps Designer","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"22 November 2023","format":"link","excerpt":"Among the recent updates to Google Maps is a new colour palette, which has been rolling out incrementally to users. Elizabeth Laraki, who worked on the design of Google Maps 15 years ago, has some thoughts. It seems the goal was to improve usability and make the maps more readable.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Mobile&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Mobile","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/mobile\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1806683,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2022\/04\/google-maps-updates-announced\/","url_meta":{"origin":1805817,"position":4},"title":"Google Maps Updates Announced","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"5 April 2022","format":"link","excerpt":"Updates to Google Maps announced today include estimated prices for toll roads as well as increased navigation detail. \u201cYou\u2019ll soon see traffic lights and stop signs along your route, along with enhanced details like building outlines and areas of interest. And, in select cities, you\u2019ll see even more detailed information,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Mobile&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Mobile","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/mobile\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":479,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2016\/01\/online-map-updates\/","url_meta":{"origin":1805817,"position":5},"title":"Online Map Updates","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"22 January 2016","format":"link","excerpt":"Yesterday's\u00a0updates to Apple Maps include four new Flyover cities, traffic data for Hong Kong and Mexico, public transit data for Los Angeles, and Nearby search for the Netherlands. Google Earth Blog reports on the mid-January imagery update for Google Earth. Google Earth Blog also reports that\u00a0version 1.0 of ArcGIS Earth\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;GIS&quot;","block_context":{"text":"GIS","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/gis\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1805817","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=1805817"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1805817\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1805837,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1805817\/revisions\/1805837"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1805817"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1805817"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1805817"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}