Wildguzzi.com
General Category => General Discussion => Topic started by: racasey on June 30, 2015, 10:57:27 PM
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For years, I thought the dumbest Corporate big shot was the clown at FedEx who scrapped the unique and immediately identifiable name Kinkos and renamed the place FedEx Office.
Then some dumb SOB at the Federal level thought that traffic lights with a delay on green at every intersection was a good idea, and created a whole generation of lethal red light runners, who now are creating spawn, and they exacerbate the problem.
And then, along comes Mr./Ms. Smartie at Google Maps, and they discard a phenomenal product and leave us with a kneecapped POS.
Before I invest in carrier pigeons, what decent mapping application is replacing Google Maps to work out routes and convey the route to other folks via the web?
Ciao,
Dick
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Have you tried Mapquest?
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I haven't found a good one either. Would like to chat with the folks at google. :violent1:
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I use Google Maps all the time, every day. Works fine.
The smart phone app is limited, but using Google Maps on a computer is no problem.
What problems are you having?
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another thread on this topic: http://wildguzzi.com/forum/index.php?topic=76367.0;nowap
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I've been trying AAA Triptix maps lately. Has a few nice AAA features, and it looks like it uses Google's street view.
You can set up layers for traffic and exits using the icon in the upper right. Lower right icons populate map with lodging, fuel, etc.......
http://ttp.aaa.com/TripTik/
richy
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I've wondered why they didn't keep the FedEx-Kinko name, myself.
But, I'm sure the corporate culture required them to assimilate the acquisition and rename it FedEx Office.
And I agree, FedEx has got to be one of the most recognizable names/logos in the world.
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Let's be clear that two out of the three bozos you mention are/were captains of industry, you know, American private enterprise, and have nothing do do with "SOBs at the Federal level." (End of political comment).
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And, I thought "delayed green" traffic lights had been dead and gone decades before FedEx took over Kinko.
Are there really still places with delayed green left turn signals? Left turns are almost always protected by arrows in my part of the country... And I haven't seen a "delayed green" sign on a traffic light in decades!
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And, I thought "delayed green" traffic lights had been dead and gone decades before FedEx took over Kinko.
Are there really still places with delayed green left turn signals? Left turns are almost always protected by arrows in my part of the country... And I haven't seen a "delayed green" sign on a traffic light in decades!
In my "enlightened" state, RI, they've recently introduced blinking amber left turn arrows, which mean, I think, that you can turn left but you don't have the right of way over oncoming traffic. Many years ago, we had blinking green lights, which meant, who knows?
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In my "enlightened" state, RI, they've recently introduced blinking amber left turn arrows, which mean, I think, that you can turn left but you don't have the right of way over oncoming traffic. Many years ago, we had blinking green lights, which meant, who knows?
Yes. That's a new Federal standard. The blinking yellow arrow replaces the solid green that used to indicate you could turn left, if clear.
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Yes. That's a new Federal standard. The blinking yellow arrow replaces the solid green that used to indicate you could turn left, if clear.
Trouble is, they seem to have just sprung this on the public. A lot of drivers don't understand the rules of the road or "Right of Way" or "Yield". I've watched many idiots turn in front of oncoming traffic as soon as the yellow arrow starts blinking, apparently thinking that means they can go. :copcar:
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In my "enlightened" state, RI, they've recently introduced blinking amber left turn arrows, which mean, I think, that you can turn left but you don't have the right of way over oncoming traffic. Many years ago, we had blinking green lights, which meant, who knows?
we've got 'em in flyover Edmond America too
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Trouble is, they seem to have just sprung this on the public. A lot of drivers don't understand the rules of the road or "Right of Way" or "Yield". I've watched many idiots turn in front of oncoming traffic as soon as the yellow arrow starts blinking, apparently thinking that means they can go. :copcar:
Yellow never means go...
However, some of us were taught that it means "go like Hell".
Maybe they're invoking the "go like Hell" rule ?
The yellow flashing arrow was intended to reduce the phenomenon you're talking about. Previously, a solid green light would come on in the turn lane, and people were supposed to know to yield to oncoming traffic. But green means go. So, it's been changed to a yellow flashing arrow so people will understand to yield before turning.
Traffic lights, especially left turn signals, have been constantly refined over my lifetime. When I first started driving in the 1970s, there were no left turn arrows. Delayed Green was at almost every left turn. During the 1980s, all those delayed greens were phased out, and either turn arrows were installed, or signs with "left turn yield on green" signs replaced the "Delayed Green" signs if no turn arrows were installed. Eventually, around here, most left turns at intersections were protected with left turn arrows. Solid yellow, solid green, flashing yellow arrow. Whatever. It sure beats having to wait for the solid green arrow!!!
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"3 Corporate Committees following the advice of overpriced marketing firms I'd love to meet"
Fixed it for you.
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... Previously, a solid green light would come on in the turn lane, and people were supposed to know to yield to oncoming traffic.
In enlightened RI, a green left arrow always meant "it's OK to turn left, the oncoming traffic has a red light." Presently there are many intersections set up this way. What used to be infuriating, and is being phased out, is where your light would change from red to solid green, but with no indication that the oncoming traffic still had a solid red light. You were just supposed to know that it was OK to turn left and the oncoming traffic would stay stopped until some arbitrary time when their light would turn green, without your side having any indication of that. Is that what is meant by delayed green? If so, amen to its demise.
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What used to be infuriating, and is being phased out, is where your light would change from red to solid green, but with no indication that the oncoming traffic still had a solid red light. You were just supposed to know that it was OK to turn left and the oncoming traffic would stay stopped until some arbitrary time when their light would turn green, without your side having any indication of that. Is that what is meant by delayed green? If so, amen to its demise.
Yeah. That describes a "delayed green". Meaning the oncoming traffic would have a delayed green, allowing you to turn left before they got the green. It used to be set to something like 5-seconds here. But, there was always a sign on the light post that noted delayed green. Funny that yours didn't have the sign.
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Right of way? What's that?
I can turn left cause the light is green. What green arrow? So what if it turned yellow, it isn't red! Yield means slow down a little. Stop means slow down a little more. If I want in your lane then you have to move over. My truck is bigger so I can go where I want. I am towing a trailer so I have the right of way.
I have heard all of these. Makes you wonder why we have tests or even licenses.
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Triptik looks OK at first glance. Doesn't fill up browser history. I like their street view - less cluttered - but as unpleasant as Google's blurry preview is, from a UI perspective I think it's better than slowly filling completely rendered squares as this one does. Don't see any traffic congestion display option.
Google's a weird place. There are some offices around here. I've never been in, but their employees are supposed to be the cream of the crop, working in fabulous luxury but apparently not very good supervision.
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PS you can still use the old Google Maps. Yes, I like it better.
https://www.google.com/maps?output=classi
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I must have done something wrong with that - looked like new maps to me.
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For years, I thought the dumbest Corporate big shot was the clown at FedEx who scrapped the unique and immediately identifiable name Kinkos and renamed the place FedEx Office.
Then some dumb SOB at the Federal level thought that traffic lights with a delay on green at every intersection was a good idea, and created a whole generation of lethal red light runners, who now are creating spawn, and they exacerbate the problem.
And then, along comes Mr./Ms. Smartie at Google Maps, and they discard a phenomenal product and leave us with a kneecapped POS.
Really stupid moves:
1) Delayed green, check.
2) "Scarified" asphalt and two-inch steps between lanes while paving, check
3) Traffic light sensors that won't detect a motorcycle, check.
4) Wire cable "egg slicer" "safety" guardrails with torch-cut razor-sharp-top I-beam support posts.
5) Hanging a new traffic light over a main through route every time the local chamber of commerce wants more traffic to stop in their stores, check.
6) Putting up "Lane Ends, Merge Left" signs up THE DAY BEFORE the lane is actually blocked, leading to traffic jams for no reason, check.
7) Leaving loose gravel on chip-sealed roads for weeks so that "the traffic will work it into the tar", check.
8) The next store that implements a "Customer Discount Card" to present at the register to add to the 346 you already have.
9) The sign at the intersection of I-40 and I-95 in North Carolina that directs you on I-95 to "Benson" and "Rocky Mount" rather than "New York" and "Florida" when you're trying to decide which ramp to take.
10) And finally, "BP Oil" for implementing their stupid UK color code that uses "Green" pumps for gasoline instead of Red for gasoline and Green for diesel fuel.
I'm sure there's more ....
Lannis
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PS you can still use the old Google Maps. Yes, I like it better.
https://www.google.com/maps?output=classi
That's new Google maps.
There were a couple of links to the old Classic Google maps, but Google have extinguished them now and Classic appears dead.
I've just dumped the new Google maps from my laptop and am giving Bing maps a go.
Quite why Google decided to replace Classic with a POS I dont know.
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... "Scarified" asphalt and two-inch steps between lanes while paving, check
Dropped a bike because of that a couple of years ago when I was a newbie (I know, I still am). Started to turn left, suddenly noticed the two-inch up-step, slammed on the brakes, including the front one, and down I went, of course. Fortunately, I was nearly stopped and protectively geared, so the only damage, except to my self confidence, was a footbrake stop post.
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I have one...
Eye Drop companies that insist on using bottles that look just like Super Glue type bottles.
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I have one...
Eye Drop companies that insist on using bottles that look just like Super Glue type bottles.
Fay was putting drops in my eyes just the other day after I got back from a long dusty ride and first picked up a Lens Cleaner bottle that was exactly like the eye-drop bottle ... even had a little picture of an eye on it ...
Lannis
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I have oft wondered just how many people die each year because of highway engineers.
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That's new Google maps.
There were a couple of links to the old Classic Google maps, but Google have extinguished them now and Classic appears dead.
I've just dumped the new Google maps from my laptop and am giving Bing maps a go.
Quite why Google decided to replace Classic with a POS I dont know.
Exactly. :huh:
Bill
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I have oft wondered just how many people die each year because of highway engineers.
The worst cussing I ever do is when I'm faced with the result of some mindless "DOT" engineer who has done something really stupid and dangerous on a highway, starting with the list above but going on and on.
They must get the dregs of people who couldn't make it in any other kind of engineering so go to the government where there's no accountability for doing the job right ....
Watching an enormous number of workers "rebuilding" one lane of a bridge month after month when I was commuting ... I never saw 70% of them do ANYTHING except smoke and joke ....
Lannis
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For route planning I've been using Honda trip planner. (http://tripplanner.honda.com/#/) It seems to use an older version of Google maps. It will import/export GPX files, once I have a GPX file I can use route converter to save it as a TRP file for copilot, or almost any other format.
I do like the blinking yellow left turn arrows. Many of the lights here went to them about a year or two ago, it works great for when I can't trip the left turn light on the bike.
For some reason they changed the schedule on when the lights start using the blinking yellow arrow. When they first changed over it was on every cycle, slightly delayed from when the cross traffic light turned green. Then it got changed to 7 pm to 7 am, now its only Sundays under a full moon or something.
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We have those loop controlled left turn traffic signals that car detect cars but not motorcycles.
(http://i1299.photobucket.com/albums/ag77/Penderic/stop%20light%20fire_zpsrezvpfoo.jpg)
How long do I have to wait for the dam lights to change?
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Quote from Lannis
The worst cussing I ever do is when I'm faced with the result of some mindless "DOT" engineer who has done something really stupid and dangerous on a highway, starting with the list above but going on and on.
They must get the dregs of people who couldn't make it in any other kind of engineering so go to the government where there's no accountability for doing the job right ....
Watching an enormous number of workers "rebuilding" one lane of a bridge month after month when I was commuting ... I never saw 70% of them do ANYTHING except smoke and joke ....
Yeah, I have seen this sort of thing. In Flagstaff they spent several million dollars to take a bad intersection and make it several times more confusing. In Irvine California they spent millions to landscape one of those concrete overpasses with exposed dirt. They put millions of dollars of flowers on the dirt about eight months before the bridge was scheduled to be demolished to widen the freeway under it.
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Watching an enormous number of workers "rebuilding" one lane of a bridge month after month when I was commuting ... I never saw 70% of them do ANYTHING except smoke and joke ....
Lannis
But those hourly workers are getting paid by the contractor who bid the job. The contractor is paying them to stand around.
The State is paying the contractor by the job, not by the hour.
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But those hourly workers are getting paid by the contractor who bid the job. The contractor is paying them to stand around.
The State is paying the contractor by the job, not by the hour.
THAT'S no comfort! :cool:
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I don't care for 3-way stops...
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I don't care for 3-way stops...
OR the three-lane highways like US11 used to be in the lower Shenandoah Valley. Three lanes with white dotted lines on all three of them. The middle one was a passing lane for BOTH sides. I suppose if you wanted to pass a car that was already ahead of you in the middle lane, you could go to the far left lane to pass .....
Lannis
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Want to see how highway engineers learn their business? Go to an engineering school and take a look at the end of year projects submitted by the students. They look like art design projects.
I think the traffic engineers, and the politicians who hire them, should be forced to drive through their efforts every day during rush hour.
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There are still people out there, lots of them, who do not know you can turn right on red........don't get me started.
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I've been an architect. A rare one who can do engineering too. Yhe number of plans that clients have brought to me to modify to meet code is amazing. My saying has been: "Not only were these plans drawn by a high school class; it was the drama class."
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Yeah. That describes a "delayed green". Meaning the oncoming traffic would have a delayed green, allowing you to turn left before they got the green. It used to be set to something like 5-seconds here. But, there was always a sign on the light post that noted delayed green. Funny that yours didn't have the sign.
Mason City, IA has one signal with that sort of delayed green, except it is Green for one direction of the side street for about 30 or 40 seconds, then that side goes red and the opposite side goes green. It's just as though the left turn lane has a green arrow in function. There is no sign indicating the unusual situation. Maybe the plans included the green arrow but the electricians didn't notice it? anyhow, it is common for the first car in the left turn lane to sit, waiting for the oncoming cars to go through so they can turn left without being run over, then they begin to edge out and sometimes only the one car gets through on the green.
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There are still people out there, lots of them, who do not know you can turn right on red........don't get me started.
And there are just as many who knowing they can make the turn on a red, do so without even bothering to slow down.
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And there are just as many who knowing they can make the turn on a red, do so without even bothering to slow down.
Ya...the same ones who can't read the sign that says "No Turn On Red".
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I use Google Maps all the time, every day. Works fine.
The smart phone app is limited, but using Google Maps on a computer is no problem.
What problems are you having?
Hi Rocker59, thanks for your interest.
The top 5 complaints are:
Limited number of waypoints
Uncontrollable autozoom and re-centering after every waypoint entry
lack of waypoint editing and route 'clean-up' tools
sluggish screen pans and moving the map on the screen.
no automatic re-centering when using 'right-click' + zoom
Without looking for nits to pick, I could name more, this product is no longer a good choice.
If all one wants to do is to select Seattle, WA as the start and Portland, OR as the destination, the new version is ok (use of lower case letters is intentional). However, for an advancer user trying to put together complicated forest rides on small country roads, the earlier version was far superior.
Ciao,
Dick Casey
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Try this
works well http://app.eatsleepride.com/
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Try this
works well http://app.eatsleepride.com/
Looks like it's still being developed for Android
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Hi Rocker59, thanks for your interest.
The top 5 complaints are:
Limited number of waypoints
Uncontrollable autozoom and re-centering after every waypoint entry
lack of waypoint editing and route 'clean-up' tools
sluggish screen pans and moving the map on the screen.
no automatic re-centering when using 'right-click' + zoom
Without looking for nits to pick, I could name more, this product is no longer a good choice.
If all one wants to do is to select Seattle, WA as the start and Portland, OR as the destination, the new version is ok (use of lower case letters is intentional). However, for an advancer user trying to put together complicated forest rides on small country roads, the earlier version was far superior.
Ciao,
Dick Casey
Will look into that eatsleepride thing (thanks, Francis), but -- in addition to those "improvements" that Dick lists -- my biggest beef with GMaps just now is that one cannot plan a route in "terrain." At least I can't figure out how. :rolleyes: Really miss that. :cry:
Bill
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I hadn't noticed the route point limit -- looks like it's about a dozen points?
My main objection was that each thing you do adds another browser history item, so when you go to look amongst your history for the day it's filled with a truckload of map actions. I'm working around that by using a different browser (Chrome) for maps, so my history for ordinary browsing is unaffected. Beyond that, it's just a more awkward UI with nothing of value added that I noticed.
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Really disappointed in the New Google Maps.
The most annoying thing is the removal of the 'OPTIONS' menu. In unknown cities/countries etc I like to be able to miss 'Toll Roads' and 'Motorways' which the Options menu enabled me to do. NOW it routes me through Toll Roads every time.
Not Happy!
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Really disappointed in the New Google Maps.
The most annoying thing is the removal of the 'OPTIONS' menu. In unknown cities/countries etc I like to be able to miss 'Toll Roads' and 'Motorways' which the Options menu enabled me to do. NOW it routes me through Toll Roads every time.
Not Happy!
Mine is that Google doesn't have a sense of "on the way." Like, you've got a route and you can't look for gas stations without backing out of navigation and even then it centers the map on where you are and gives you all the gas stations. I don't care about the gas station a mile back the other direction! I want a gas station/diner/campground/whatever which is "on the way" to where I'm going and I don't want to go in and out of navigation to do it. I had a hand-held Garmin that did that in something like 2002? Why can't Google do it a decade and change later?
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Will look into that eatsleepride thing (thanks, Francis), but -- in addition to those "improvements" that Dick lists -- my biggest beef with GMaps just now is that one cannot plan a route in "terrain." At least I can't figure out how. :rolleyes: Really miss that. :cry:
So that is how you found flat and boring roads.
:bow:
Not sure what all of the whining is about. There are dozens of online route generators that are better than Google, and even a number of offline ones with the maps right on your PC. I never cared to use Google for my routing needs.
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Will look into that eatsleepride thing (thanks, Francis), but -- in addition to those "improvements" that Dick lists -- my biggest beef with GMaps just now is that one cannot plan a route in "terrain." At least I can't figure out how. :rolleyes: Really miss that. :cry:
Bill
So that is how you found flat and boring roads.
:bow:
Not sure what all of the whining is about. There are dozens of online route generators that are better than Google, and even a number of offline ones with the maps right on your PC. I never cared to use Google for my routing needs.
Noted. :rolleyes:
So, might you share a few of those with the great unwashed such as myself?
BTW, my much-maligned -- even by me -- TT Rider really did a great job finding a stupendous route back from N.H.
To me, the ideal route planner would offer roads with topo in usable scale and permit uploading to a GPS. Know if any of those you mention do that?
Bill
P.S. I saw that lawyer-mechanic crack in another thread, but was going to ignore it ... 'til this. :evil: :grin:
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The worst cussing I ever do is when I'm faced with the result of some mindless "DOT" engineer who has done something really stupid and dangerous on a highway, starting with the list above but going on and on.
They must get the dregs of people who couldn't make it in any other kind of engineering so go to the government where there's no accountability for doing the job right ....
Lannis
Now there are some smart DOT engineers though they are few and far between. Here in California the big problem is the Affirmative Action hiring of Engineers with good school grades. Heck they pass their PE tests even though they qualify as the village idiot when it comes to common sense. Unfortunately the few good engineers spend all their time cleaning up the mistakes of the idiot horde.
Mark
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Change.org has a petition to call back the old, faster, easier, better Google Maps. Google could give a rats ass. The new one sucks. The petition now has more than 12,000 signatures so I urge you to join in.
Patrick Hayes
Fremont CA
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So, might you share a few of those with the great unwashed such as myself?
P.S. I saw that lawyer-mechanic crack in another thread, but was going to ignore it ... 'til this. :evil: :grin:
One of my favorites is still Microsoft Streets and Trips. Though it is discontinued, most roads haven't moved, so it will still work for me for years.
Then of course there are the Garmin products. Mapsource and Basecamp. With care, you can use them with free Open Source Maps and not get any $$$ tied up in them.
For simple routing, I like to play with one called ITNconverter. It lets you generate routes using a number of online maps sources like Google, Bing, Here, and OSM. It also lets you try a number of routing engines. And of course the main function of converting data between numerous formats.
Online you have Furkot (so detailed it is almost too much), Harley has one (which reaches beyond the next bar :laugh: ), there is one called Tyre, TwistyRide, GPSies, and the usual like Google and Bing.
I wondered if you caught the lawyer reference. :grin:
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Here is a traffic engineer on LSD!
Go to the ever-hated Google maps and drop in these coordinates:
37.046561, -94.478657
Joplin Missouri
Most efficient way to get people onto the freeway. The crossovers put the traffic under the freeway bridge in the British or opposite directions. Fun to drive through.
Patrick Hayes
Fremont CA
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Here is a traffic engineer on LSD!
Go to the ever-hated Google maps and drop in these coordinates:
37.046561, -94.478657
Joplin Missouri
Most efficient way to get people onto the freeway. The crossovers put the traffic under the freeway bridge in the British or opposite directions. Fun to drive through.
We have three of those near me in Atlanta now. I'm not sure I see how they are more efficient, but they say they are.
It is pretty funny to watch someone from outside the area get off of the interstate and try to figure out what side of the road they are driving on.
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Exit 26 on I-70 in Grand Junction CO has one of those diamond traffic patterns. Went through it last Saturday for the first time, real fun with a tanker!!! Fricken igits!! :angry:
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Really disappointed in the New Google Maps.
The most annoying thing is the removal of the 'OPTIONS' menu. In unknown cities/countries etc I like to be able to miss 'Toll Roads' and 'Motorways' which the Options menu enabled me to do. NOW it routes me through Toll Roads every time.
Not Happy!
Looks like you have to enter 2 points for directions to get the options. Sort of looks like audio sliders.
(http://s8.postimg.org/llbrggbc5/Capture3.jpg)
Clicking the sliders gets you this:
(http://s7.postimg.org/9q95br70b/Capture.jpg)