Google maps is getting better...
2When you head from our house to Dauphin Island (south of Mobile), you take I-85 West until it T’s into I-65. In the past the voice prompts would tell you to stay in the left lane and take exit “Oh” towards “MO-bil”. Someone apparently recently realized that it should be exit Zero and they’ve corrected that. They still haven’t got “Mo-BEEL” right though.
I also noticed that they’ve become much more conversational in tone with better inflection. It sounds a lot less stilted.
Have you noticed any quirks in your neck of the woods or travels with weird pronunciations or odd exit numbering?
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I typically use Waze, but honestly care less about how it sounds than how accurate the directions actually are. Doesn’t matter if it sounds like a drill sergeant or a sultry damsel as long as it doesn’t try to turn someone down a boat ramp or dam spillway in the middle of the night.
KuoH
Image handling check:
When I had a Garmin GPS it used to say “Expressway Doctor” instead of “Expressway Drive”. I hope they fixed that by now.
@heartny Here in Texas, multiple early instances of different GPS map software have misinterpreted our FM (Farm to Market) roads as “Federated States of Micronesia”, probably because USPS uses FM at the standard designator for that nation.
I haven’t been back over there to check in a while, but multiple GPS things mangled Tanglebriar Drive, with the worst coming out as tan-GLEB-ree-arr. Apple Maps does a better job than Google Maps when it comes to providing useful information. Google has lately been much better about not saying to take an exit when the real path was just “stay on the same road you’re on.” Every once in a while, it goes into take-every-exit mode, and incessantly wants me to exit and re-enter. Magellan used to do that once in a while, too. I have never been able to figure out what triggers it.
I recently switched to Mapquest. While trying out the different voice options I found one that sounds just like a British youtuber that I watch.
The way that voice pronounces ‘Boulevard’ cracks me up.
@fibrs86
I used printed MapQuest maps for years back in the day… I still use Here when I’m abroad in case of any dead spots for my cell service…
I haven’t been to Dauphine since I was in my teens. Man that brings back some memories. We used to go and do trash/beach cleanups there when I was a kid.
One that kills me, as far as mispronounced words goes, that seems to be a west coast/ Midwest thing?, people say acrossed here. As in uh-krost. It drives me up the wall. And we’re not talking about uneducated folks either. I have friends with multiple degrees and doctorates that say it. It’s wild.
Having a blast listening to my Google maps try to interpret and (mis)pronounce the local French names here in Canada (Quebec province).
I can understand them having trouble, but I wish they’d just pick ONE mispronunciation and stick with it. Good example is chemin des pères (roughly shuh-man day pair – which means path of the fathers…)
Turn left on sheh-min day paris in 500 meters
Turn left on sheh-min day paris in 200 meters
Turn left at KEM-EEN day paris at intersection…
EVERY. SINGLE.TIME.
WTaF!
While I’m at it, the spell check for me on this forum is a royal PITA.
For example:
When I try to go back and italicize the word in the pic below I ABSOLUTELY can’t do it since the pop-up suggestions displace my keyboard immediately.
I can’t insert the * * unless I delete the whole word and type it in with them in place first.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
@chienfou The bot is probably just frustrated that it can’t use hand gestures as it speaks.
I’ve noticed similar quirks with navigation apps—place names and road numbers can be surprisingly difficult for them. The more natural voice and better inflection are a nice improvement, though; it makes long drives feel much less robotic.
@Sasha3398
I have noticed that the tone is much more conversational as well.
On the topic of consistency…
While driving my SIL back to the Montreal airport I came to an exit numbered 56. I was to take it going west so it was labeled 56-O (for exit 56 Ouest) Google maps directed me to take exit “56 to zero” thereby botching both the dash and the letter.
This brings us back full circle to my opening!