I feel like something that’s getting lost in the whole “are mapping apps responsible when their data is wrong” debate that’s going on in this thread is that google maps is absolutely not a trail app. I started hiking at the same time everyone else did, the beginning of the pandoodle, and I’ve been getting out about twice a month since then. I can tell you that google misses trails that are there, marks trails that don’t exist, and generally does a bad job of helping you plan and navigate hikes because it’s not meant to help you plan and navigate hikes.
I didn’t know Google even marked trails until this story, and sure enough I looked at some nearby trails I’ve been hiking for nearly 20 years, and they’ve got a few marked pretty well, but most are broken, jump wildly, are off by quite a bit, or in one case actually diverts into a posted, fenced off, active national guard firing range. I’ve been around there, the fence is spotty at best once you get about 30-50ft into the brush. Easy to walk into accidentally if you don’t see the signs.
I would never use a non-dedicated app to tell me where a trail is, and if I don’t know the trail, I will be constantly looking backward to make sure the trail is still easy to see. I’ve been up a hill more than once to turn around and the trail I just walked up almost disappeared in the changing light. I’ve been out after dark and I don’t care to do so again, or in unfamiliar territory.
I feel like something that’s getting lost in the whole “are mapping apps responsible when their data is wrong” debate that’s going on in this thread is that google maps is absolutely not a trail app. I started hiking at the same time everyone else did, the beginning of the pandoodle, and I’ve been getting out about twice a month since then. I can tell you that google misses trails that are there, marks trails that don’t exist, and generally does a bad job of helping you plan and navigate hikes because it’s not meant to help you plan and navigate hikes.
I didn’t know Google even marked trails until this story, and sure enough I looked at some nearby trails I’ve been hiking for nearly 20 years, and they’ve got a few marked pretty well, but most are broken, jump wildly, are off by quite a bit, or in one case actually diverts into a posted, fenced off, active national guard firing range. I’ve been around there, the fence is spotty at best once you get about 30-50ft into the brush. Easy to walk into accidentally if you don’t see the signs.
I would never use a non-dedicated app to tell me where a trail is, and if I don’t know the trail, I will be constantly looking backward to make sure the trail is still easy to see. I’ve been up a hill more than once to turn around and the trail I just walked up almost disappeared in the changing light. I’ve been out after dark and I don’t care to do so again, or in unfamiliar territory.