Mystery Card on Google Now keeps showing up!

[justinsamlal]

Hi folks,

I would really really appreciate if you could help me with this, because it's driving me crazy.

Every day, a card that I cannot explain shows up on my Google Now. I use both a Nexus 10, and a Galaxy Nexus. The mystery card is circled in red in the screen shot below. "14 Minutes to Jeff Bennett (Work)". Now, for some background info--Jeff Bennett is a friend of mine, who's workplace I have never been to. I tried removing his work address from the contact profile. The last time I saw him (and thus had a calendar entry for him) was November. I work from home, so my work is programmed as being the same as my home address.

I really hope you folks can help, because this has me at my wits end here.

 

[BHBandit]

Not sure, but probably works like the drive to and from work. It sees where you go frequently. Say hello to Jeff! Lol

Sent from my HTC6435LVW using Android Central Forums

 

[justinsamlal]

As I mentioned though, I have never been to his workplace.

 

[gone down south]

It's Google Now, 90pct of the cards seem to be random and irrelevant. I just ignore those, the system is still in its very early days.

Sent from my Nexus 4 using Android Central Forums

 

[justinsamlal]

But it's the same card every single day. The system obviously has a reason for doing it, and I would like to fix it. Anyone have any advice?

 

[Alex Ander]

Are you sure it's not the "Traffic" card set to what it presumes is your work location? The location may have already been set somewhere on Google Maps/Latitude/Location History as that's where Google Now gets its information from.

Go to Settings > Google Now > Traffic to see if that location's saved as your workplace - if this IS the right card, you can also change when and how often it pops up.

(For virtually every card you can choose if and when they pop up, it's a good idea to go through all of them at some point so you know exactly what to expect.)

 

[moosc]

This is what is happening some where during your time you looked up that address and Google has decided that you like that address so it keeps reappearing Just well it's Google. Every time I open maps and look at a address or close to a favorite that little star next to name Google throws me a card telling me traffic. Maybe you have that address as a favorite maps so Google throws you a card when your close.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Xparent Cyan Tapatalk 2

 

[anon(847090)]

go here https://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&tab=ll
click my places-->set your work place. that will fix it

 

[EndlessDissent]

I've actually gotten Traffic cards to random places I've never been to in the middle of nowhere. The addresses weren't associated with any of my contacts (I had no idea any of these places existed until the card appeared), and a couple cards appeared to lead literally to the middle of nowhere (large open spaces with few or no buildings according to the map it showed). The cards showed something like "20 min. to 536 N. Whatever St.", and the map showed only a couple streets, none of which I had ever seen in my life. Every time I got one of these random cards, it was a different address.

It was very strange and kind of creepy, but it only happened a few times, and it hasn't happened at all in months. At least your cards are telling you about places you've been to. My weather card still randomly gives me the weather for a town 30+ miles away that I didn't know existed until the card started appearing.

 

[gone down south]

If you do a search on or surf to a website about another city Google seems to like throwing traffic and weather for it at you for a while.

Sent from my Nexus 4 using Android Central Forums

 

[tmorden]

I too have the exact same situation. I continually get a card for an acquaintance who I've not googled, calendered, or any other action. It is listed as (Home) and I have my home addresss stored both in Google Now/Maps on the phone, as well as double checking it on the Google Maps link that was provided above. Interesting enough, it is the only card that does not provide a "reason" when you touch the small i icon in the corner to get information on the origin of the card. All of the other Transportation cards state "you have been to this place recently".

It isn't a huge deal, but just annoying to see an acquaintance listed as Home or Work for no apparent reason. If anyone finds a solution let me know. I've tried deleting and re-adding my home and work addresses in Google Maps on the web. But that hasn't seemed to make a difference at this point.

Thanks,

Tom

 

[TheIowaKid]

You were added in his maps as a person allowed to see his location.

Sent from my SGH-I747 using Tapatalk 2

 

[jrodola]

Hi,
I got the same problem!

Some days ago, google now displayed a card --> "Time to xxxx (Home)", while xxxx is one of my contacts in my phone book.

However, the address the card was giving directions is not the home address of my xxxx contact. Besides, I don't have anything (home address, work address, favourite places) saved with that address...

I removed the address on my xxxx contact just in case and after some days a similar card appeared, displaying direction to same location as "Time to yyyy (Home)" (yyyy, another contact), so this is very weird!!!

Regards

Javi

 

[B. Diddy]

I don't know if this explains what everyone's been describing, but it's worth remembering that Google Now bases a lot of its cards on what has been recently searched for on the Google Search that you've logged into. Notice I didn't say, "what you've recently searched for," because if you logged into Google on some terminal at work, for example, and someone else happened to use that terminal to do a search while you were still logged in, then Google will assume that you did the search, and then might use that information to generate a card.

 

[cmsqlevy]

The other posts in this thread are nearly a year old, so I'm wondering if anyone has found an answer to this problem? I'm seeing the same exact thing as jrodola - I open Google Now on my HTC One (with the latest Sense & Android versions), and it tells me, e.g., "41 mins to <contact name> (Home)" - the contact is the parents of a kid my son was friends with years ago, who I have not contacted in years. The address is different than what I have in my Contacts for them, and I do have "Home" defined with my address (in my Contacts list and in Google Maps), which is not the same as what they're trying to give me. Yes, this is annoying to have keep popping up, but what's more annoying is that sometimes I'd actually like to see how much time it will take me to get home!

Anyone have an answer to this problem?

 

[Joe Sharpe]

Here is how to remove that. Go to the card of the random time. Hit the 3 dots in the upper right hand corner of the card. When you do that it will show "how do you usually commute. Will show biking, driving, public transit, and walking. If you look carefully you will see an arrow pointing to the next to driving. Hit that and you can then select to "forget getting updates" on that destination.

You should now stop receiving random updates on one of your contacts. No need to delete them from your address book.

 

[Rukbat]

sometimes I'd actually like to see how much time it will take me to get home!

Put your home address in Maps. When you want to know how long it will take to get home, set it to navigate to home. It'll tell you. (I use that trick to figure out when to plan to leave for an appointment the next day.)

If you install MyDirections (free at Play), it makes Maps almost usable. (Go to settings [the wrench at the right] and set it to navigate and to use Driveway [car] as the Direction Type.) Then you have a real directory of names and places, in order. Pick one, tell it to navigate and Maps opens all set to navigate from where you are to where you picked, including alternate routes and the time for each.

Anyone want to buy a Magellan that never gets used any more?