Google Maps Falsely Told Drivers in Germany That Roads Across the Country Were Closed (engadget.com) 36
"Chaos ensued on German roads this week after Google Maps wrongly informed drivers that highways throughout the country were closed during a busy holiday," writes Engadget.
The problem reportedly only lasted for a few hours and by Thursday afternoon only genuine road closures were being displayed. It's not clear whether Google Maps had just malfunctioned, or if something more nefarious was to blame. "The information in Google Maps comes from a variety of sources. Information such as locations, street names, boundaries, traffic data, and road networks comes from a combination of third-party providers, public sources, and user input," a spokesperson for Google told German newspaper Berliner Morgenpost, adding that it is internally reviewing the problem.
Technical issues with Google Maps are not uncommon. Back in March, users were reporting that their Timeline — which keeps track of all the places you've visited before for future reference — had been wiped, with Google later confirming that some people had indeed had their data deleted, and in some cases, would not be able to recover it.
The Guardian describes German drives "confronted with maps sprinkled with a mass of red dots indicating stop signs," adding "The phenomenon also affected parts of Belgium and the Netherlands." Those relying on Google Maps were left with the impression that large parts of Germany had ground to a halt... The closure reports led to the clogging of alternative routes on smaller thoroughfares and lengthy delays as people scrambled to find detours. Police and road traffic control authorities had to answer a flood of queries as people contacted them for help.
Drivers using or switching to alternative apps, such as Apple Maps or Waze, or turning to traffic news on their radios, were given a completely contrasting picture, reflecting the reality that traffic was mostly flowing freely on the apparently affected routes.
Technical issues with Google Maps are not uncommon. Back in March, users were reporting that their Timeline — which keeps track of all the places you've visited before for future reference — had been wiped, with Google later confirming that some people had indeed had their data deleted, and in some cases, would not be able to recover it.
The Guardian describes German drives "confronted with maps sprinkled with a mass of red dots indicating stop signs," adding "The phenomenon also affected parts of Belgium and the Netherlands." Those relying on Google Maps were left with the impression that large parts of Germany had ground to a halt... The closure reports led to the clogging of alternative routes on smaller thoroughfares and lengthy delays as people scrambled to find detours. Police and road traffic control authorities had to answer a flood of queries as people contacted them for help.
Drivers using or switching to alternative apps, such as Apple Maps or Waze, or turning to traffic news on their radios, were given a completely contrasting picture, reflecting the reality that traffic was mostly flowing freely on the apparently affected routes.
Dependency and Chaos (Score:2)
Is it possibly time to imagine you could think for yourself?
What if there *wasn't* an App for that?
Did you know that maps existed before phones?
Re:Dependency and Chaos (Score:5, Insightful)
Maps that existed before phones/computers didn't give you realtime traffic conditions for roads.
If Google Maps shows mass road closures then something's up, and it's worth it to double check with other sources. At least in the US, various state-level Departments of Transportation will sometimes provide road closure data to the public, or warnings/notices in the case of big accidents. Worst case you turn on the TV or radio to see if there's news of a massive local traffic pileup.
Re: Dependency and Chaos (Score:2)
Re: Dependency and Chaos (Score:3)
Are you really likely to find out that Google is showing a mass closure though? Instead I think itâ(TM)s far more likely that youâ(TM)re just going to get directions that avoid one highway, and youâ(TM)re going to go âoeOh, I guess there was an accident or somethingâ. Assuming that people have the complete information even about what google said was closed is going to give you some wild and weird conspiracy theories.
Re: (Score:2)
If you use their map app, you get a color coded report of road conditionals for any road in your area.
Re: (Score:2)
Road closures are usually sourced through official channels (or at least third parties that got them through other official channels). They aren't auto-generated like a lot of information. This is actually a problem for Google when a road is freshly closed. I still remember driving through Germany one day and Google was doing its best to navigate me onto a highway that was closed due to a sudden urgent issue (think it may have been a flood). The problem is the police closed the highway onramps which meant t
Re: (Score:2)
It's not even new, we have had the RDS system on FM broadcasts that warns drivers of road closures since the 1980s. By the 90s some cars could automatically notify the driver of relevant road closures near them, and by the 2000s it was being integrated into sat navs.
Of course it was completely unauthenticated and very easy to spoof. Some time ago some guys demonstrated just that at one of the big hacker conferences.
Re: (Score:2)
Is it possibly time to imagine you could think for yourself?
Getting status from an automated system instead of visiting each highway yourself is called thinking for yourself instead of being an idiot about it.
Re: Dependency and Chaos (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Last week Germany had a far more unified stance that no one in the country wants Google there and nothing of value will be lost when google gets fined out of operation.
100% agree. I don't want Google here either (US). I think a public service ought to be funded and managed by public money. It's something we all benefit from and it doesn't need to be a half-ass service product or managed by a multi-armed hydra of a monopolistic corporation.
Re: (Score:1)
Sure maps exist. But they don't tell you about traffic issues, which is half the value of something like Google Maps.
Re: (Score:2)
What is the value of that if half of the time they're wrong?
Re: (Score:2)
It would be of significantly less value, but they aren't wrong half the time.
Re: (Score:2)
I've driven to closed freeway entry ramps and had to follow the detour - go the opposite direction for 4 exits and then u-turn - the first signage for which appear after the last point I could have picked a different way enough times that if google maps says the ramp is closed I'll probably go the other way. If the traffic is slow but not way outside normal and google tells me to the take the next exit so I can drive through the city and get back on in two exists time, I'm just going to stay on the freeway.
Was this political? (Score:2)
Google is trying everything they can to suggest public means of transporation to me all the time. Could this be an attempt to disrupt traffic during busy period due to political reasons?
Re: Was this political? (Score:4, Interesting)
Re: Was this political? (Score:4, Funny)
No user tracks on roads means they must be closed!
This road is so busy, nobody drives there anymore.
- Apologies to Yogi Bera
Re: (Score:3)
No. It's just a glitch. Last time this happened it was because Iran turned off all its cell towers during some protest. No user tracks on roads means they must be closed!
Not true. No user tracks on road means they must be empty. This is a recurring problem with Google's algorithm. If the roads are closed due a non-official reason, but emergency responders block access *to* the road (e.g. by blocking highway onramps) then Google attempts to direct people down said highway - algorithm says traffic is lighter than usual.
Re: Was this political? (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Yes it's not a discrete space. That is my point: Lots of information is fed into an algorithm, not just driving as to whether a road is closed, and quite frequently it gets it wrong.
Re: Was this political? (Score:2)
Explanation ... (Score:3)
They were using Google in W.C. Fields mode [brainyquote.com].
Er (Score:2)
The Guardian describes German drives "confronted with maps sprinkled with a mass of red dots indicating stop signs,"
So, which was it? Fake closures, or stop signs that looked like closures?
(Squints at article)
Oh - so, red dots that looked not like stop signs, even though the article says that twice, but red dots that looked like ... road closures.
Re: Er (Score:2)
Youâ(TM)re *massively* underestimating the effect that diverting 40% of the traffic on arterial roads off and down minor roads has on a place. Chaos sounds like an apt description for an event like that.
Re: (Score:2)
Did anyone see ... (Score:5, Interesting)
Re: (Score:2)
Chaos, severed limbs everywhere, insanity, panic! (Score:2)
It was horrible! I thought we're all going to die!
(somebody, somewhere, probably)
Actually, "chaos" might be slightly exaggerated. More like annoyed people turning on their radios to listen to the actual traffic reports, shrugging and going on.
ATMOS (Score:3)
Not Unique (Score:2)
Earlier this year I had a problem with my Garmin GPSs indicating roads closed, lots of them, when they were not. I had much back and forth with their support folks. They seem to have got the situation under control, because my recent trip was not so plagued with red dots and humongously long reroutes.
But google is not the only one with problems.
Is google making emergencies, or is it folks that are using a single source for the critical function of navigation? There's google, there's waze, there's garmi
Re: (Score:2)
Can we assume that Garmin uses Google data?
I read about this outage on a German-language site while it was still ongoing (and verified it), but they made it clear that other mapping/SatNav systems such as TomTomGo were not affected. Apparently it was a database problem.
Re: (Score:2)
I do not believe Garmin uses google data. They said that they contract with some people for their information. I don't remember who, but it wasn't google. Whoever it was, they had a lot of boneheads who appear to see a "road closed" sign on a sideroad and declare an interstate highway to be closed. Idiots.
Garmin too (Score:2)
Harbingers of doom (Score:2)
Here's a little thought experiment: Imagine that everyone has a self-driving car. Now imagine that the system required to run them stops working because the only way to make it work is with massive cloud-computing and AI, none of which is in the car itself. What if it's not a failure but rather intentional?