My Google Nav horror story

[prakash99]

Well, before I write anything let me say that what I did yesterday was stupid. Plain stupid. And I cannot blame anyone or anything but myself for what happened to me yesterday. But still I wanted to share my experience with Google Nav.

As I was driving yesterday afternoon in an unfamiliar territory (without Google Nav turned on), I suddenly found myself lost and decided to use Google Nav to find my way to my destination. It took me to a dirt road and I followed thinking it would take me back to paved road in a few minutes and then it told me to turn right. Which I did ... and as I continued the road (or was it a road at all) became very rocky and led me into a jungle. And in the middle of the jungle (with the Google Nav telling me I was going to merge into another road at 0.9 miles), my car got stuck in a mudhole (or a ditch or something like that). My car not being a 4WD, I could not get myself out. But thankfully I had cell coverage on my Samsung Fascinate even in that middle of nowhere (there was nothing around except for jungle) and I was able to call Verizon Roadside Assistance for help. Help finally arrived around 6:30 pm ... so I was in the middle of a dark jungle after sunset for more than 1 hour because my stupidity allowed me to follow Google Nav direction oh so faithfully. Thankfully there is not major damage to the car.

So, folks. I learned my lesson yesterday and had to pay (suffer) for my idiocy.

 

[mclarryjr]

That was a pretty good story and it made me laugh.

I have a story that's not nearly as good as yours. I had a meeting in Lansing and on my way there I used the Nav program to find the location and then my charger stopped working, I didn't notice until I pulled my D1 out in the meeting that my battery dropped to under 40%. So on my way home I did a search for a Verizon store to get a replacement charger and it started to take me a strange way (through a neighbor hood) after a few more minutes it had me pull into someone drive way saying I arrived at my destination. Like I said your story is much better a jungle beats a subdivision any day.

 

[thecatwasnot]

I had Google maps send me up a firetower access road up in northern Wisconsin once, that was an adventure. I was in my Jeep Wrangler, and was loosely familiar with the area, went five miles up the road, decided discretion was the better part of valor and turned around and went around (20 miles out of the way) only to pass the other end of the road on my way around. I was probably only a mile from the end, it turned out, I'd mis-read my odometer.

In the end it turned out just fine and I got to my destination before nightfall (my big worry was getting stuck out in the middle of nowhere in the dark) but I've been wary of Google's directions ever since.

Sorry to hear your story had a less happy ending man :/

 

[Chris Kerrigan]

Ha! That is quite the story, thanks for sharing.

The worst story I can think of with Google Maps Navigation was the time myself and a few friends were heading up to what they call "Bearslides" up in the Southern Adirondacks here in Upstate, NY. It's basically a giant rock that has water running down it from the top of the mountain that empties into a pool of water, so people slide down the rock.

Anyway, it was our first time up there, and I don't know how many people on these forums have ever been to or live in the Adirondacks but it's very easy to find yourself in the middle of nowhere. Google Maps decided to take us down an old bike trail that was half-crap converted into a 4x4 roadway in the middle of the Adirondack Mountains...not good when you have a little 4 cylinder Chevy Cobalt LOL. Fortunately we eventually got out of it, but I thought we were going to drive off a cliff at least half a dozen times.

 

[bclinger#IM]

Maybe I should continue to rely upon my car GPS. There have a been a few times when I went w/Google Maps/GPS and had a minor difference between it and the Magellan Roadmate 4700. Push to shove, I definitely place more faith in the Magellan. The Magellan is more accurate and quicker to respond to changes.