Traveling with Google Maps
Okay, I know I was in the healthcare computer business for 30 years. And during that time I did a three-year stint as a GM of a small division and actually managed a few programmers. But somebody, please, explain to me how this “google machine” (as Joe Scarborough would say) works.
#HDGDT
I think I am going to create a new hashtag…#HDGDT…how does google do that. If you have traveled at all you know that the internet is indispensable. You can figure out the cheapest place to fly, you can book your flight and hotel, research interesting places to visit, and so much more. But once you have landed, that is when Google Maps becomes so important.
When we used to spend 2-3 months each year in our motorhome we always wondered how people actually lived the RV lifestyle before the internet. When we traveled in Japan, we rented a small hotspot which we carried in our pocket allowing us to use our smartphones and Google translate, maps, etc. so that we could easily travel alone. What an incredibly smart and handy service. (If you are headed to Japan and need me to hook you up, drop me a line.)
But it was the other day while walking to CascaiShopping to visit the supermarket, Continent, that it really hit me. The route we took is shown above. The area inside the red circle is a path less than a meter wide that runs through a forest, over a mountain, and dumps you near the green of a hole on the Club de Golf do Estoril.
How Does Google Do That?
I actually googled “how do map data get into google” when we got home. Okay, there isn’t a lot to do in lockdown. Here is what I found:
Google Maps is one of the most popular apps in the world, with well over a billion users. Googlecollects its mapping data from a wide variety of sources including road sensors, user contributions via Map Maker, and local transport departments, among several others.
So am I to understand that someone found this path, and charted it in Map Maker. If so, I am here to report that they are about 2 meters off … to the left. (I then googled “map maker” and fell into a black hole that lasted for about an hour…again there isn’t a lot to do during the lockdown.)
Really, I Would Like to Know
I’m serious folks. If anyone reading this can help me understand how Google knows about this path, please comment below. Also, if you know why Google doesn’t know about this road (added in red below…it is paved and houses run along one side), also advise. These are the mysteries of the 21st century.
And if you are enjoying my musings…please share this on your social media or send it to a friend.
Do you know how to get a hotspot in US or in Portugal? In US what is it called? You rented it? So it used cell data to get the info? I have a tablet that runs on wifi...great when you have wifi...I wish I could find a way to put wifi in my car inexpensively. Wifi is in the city buses in my city but I dont know how it is done...the city buses go all over and its in each one. I can tether to my phone but my phone battery doesnt last as long as my tablet battery.
Being a reader in Jan 2022, it is very annoying not having the capacity to resort the blog posts into chronological order starting from jan 2021 to Dec 2021. What is always on top is most recent which is logical if you have known about the blog and read since the beginning. But I just learned about it a few weeks ago. In order to read in Jan 2021, one needs to scroll, scroll, scroll, scroll all the way to the beginning (or end of 'page') and then once you read a post, there is no arrow button leading you to the next post....instead you have to go backwards in your browser and that takes you back to Dec 2021. I was in March 2021...and so more scrolling. It's an exercise in patience and tedium....which today must be the day that I don't have...aa I am writing a comment and I have only read one blog post today. The other day I got from Jan to Feb 2021...but it takes so much time!
Other platforms allow you sort the posts as you would like them when you are on the page. Some even remember where you were (like through cookies)...and get you back where you were. Some will post the date and title of the post in the arrows at the bottom of the page, some give you the opp not to read comments if you don't want to.
I would really love to read this but the process (or none thereof) is driving me mad.