Beware Googlemaps

August 21, 2013

After I got my iPhone 5, I started to rely on the googlemaps app for voice driving directions.   If I wanted to see where I was going before I left, I looked at google maps on my computer.  I loved being able to see the street view. From my perspective, google maps represented perfection.  In fact, until two weeks ago, I had nothing but great experiences with All Things Google.  Those days are evidently over.

The maps have “lost it.”  For example, last week, I needed to meet someone at 5 Centerpointe Drive in Lake Oswego, OR.  Google maps on my computer and on my iPhone showed it in a part of town 45 minutes from the building’s real location.  This was the second time in two weeks that I had encountered this kind of problem, so I checked and double checked to be sure I wasn’t imagining things.  I did report the map error, and it is now fixed, but the maps have gone from almost 100% reliable to not reliable–Now, I need to check googlemaps against mapquest every time.  That is easy when I am in my home town, Portland; not so easy if I am traveling in an unfamiliar city.

I know I am not the only person having this problem.  My next door neighbors spent two hours driving around yesterday because of the same problem.  (Different address, of course)

Do you have any information about this issue?  If so, please share!

This is not a Renee’s Rule™, but it is a rule I follow:  “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”