Tech Trends

First I’ll say I love Google Maps. It is a pleasure to use and feature rich. So of course as I plan my trip from Springfield, MO to Nashville, TN to sell boomerangs with chad next month I went to Google Maps. I am at Google seeking the estimated mileage for the trip, because we are potentially driving a gas guzzler. I enter Springfield, MO and click ‘Directions’ then enter Nashville, TN as my destination, then click ‘Get Directions’. The results are insane.

Why would I take off through St Louis to get to Nashville. “Well,” I figured, “maybe clicking the ‘Reverse Directions’ link will cause a shift”… so I did.

The resulting directions below surprised me even more. How dissappointing that I cannot get a shortest-route-from-A-to-B result from Google Maps. I still don’t know the mileage.

It gave me the idea that it would be nice to be able to place waypoints. The automatically selected route would bend through the waypoints. This would allow me to plan my trip to Branson by way of Nashville, with a return trip via Hell’s Gate, MI (if I so desired). But ideally, I would at least be able to get from Springfield to Nashville without stopping in St Louis first. Here’s how I figure I’ll drive it. No thanks to Google Maps.

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2006/09/08 Edit

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Okay, I shared your curiosity about the Google Maps vs Local Windows Live Mapping of Directions so I did the test.

I entered in the Windows Live Local options to get directions from Springfield, MO to Nashville, TN as shown below. (My first results are from a “Quickest” query, not a “Shortest” as indicated.)

the following results look at first glance identical to the initial route offered by Google.

This surprsed me actually. Is this really quicker? I’m going to use the shortest route and calculate my average speed to see about the accuracy of these two trip planning applications. So, anyway, I switched to a “Shortest” query and submitted to get the following alternate route.

Now, doesn’t this look more like my manual edit on the Google output above? I really like this option and think it is just a matter of time (barring legal hiccups) before Google implements a same or similar feature. To test the propencity for chaotic return trips as with Google Maps I reversed the directions and ran the query on both “Quickest” and “Shortest” trips. Below are the very sane results.

These are indeed expected results, though I was braced for a venture through Albequerque. I’m not a proponent of Windows, though it seems they have a pretty useful tool going here. I’d be curious if anybody knows more about what the Local Windows Live promises in the scope of integration and automation.