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Where those driving directions really come from
money.cnn.com — Mapquest said it would take 41 minutes for me to drive from Columbus Circle in Manhattan to Far Rockaway in Queens. Google Maps estimated the trip at 39 minutes. Navteq supplies the raw map data that underlies those directions. That data isn't as raw as you might think, though.
shakey77- 979 diggs
- digg it
- RichPowers, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Great explanation
+digg - fiji5555, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3I stopped and asked directions once from an old farmer in the middle of "nowhere".......he told me he was going in the same direction and to just follow behind him in his truck but added "But I'll be going further than you on the main road so be sure to turn left 3 miles before I do"
- Sell, on 10/12/2007, -1/+0LOL
- thecoolestcow, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0I kinda thought this was obvious. Maybe I'm misreading it. Isn't it saying that they record the speed limits, then they just use velocity x time=distance?
- aquataine, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0i wish there was a place to submit corrections that actually worked - there is an error close to where i live and it means people can't use any of the online mapping sites to get to my place - a huge pain in the ass..
- Wamzlee, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Ah good ol Mapquest. We used it to get directions from Winona, MN to Mall of America. And guess where it took us? In a field in the middle of nowhere....absolutely nowhere. We turned the situation into a positive one by making jokes about it...
"hmm...maybe they moved" - modian, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0thecoolestcow; that might work if there was never any traffic and road conditions were always perfect.
It'd be cool if they could somehow harness this "local knowledge" to get more up-to-date maps and better time estimates, like a "Wiki map". - justinvt, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Maybe in the future you will have the option of anonymously transmitting information froim your cars GPS receiver to some central server that could record and learn from the local data you produce. It could track your avg speed for each hour of each day of the week and use it to compute traveling times, or find "most popular" routes between two nodes, fastest average time between two nodes, and more!
- alternapop, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1user suggested routes would be way coo...
- gd007, on 10/12/2007, -2/+0May be they should digg this too! They can call it mapdigg.com.
From all the routes, let the user vote the most effective. :)
--G
http://www.stock-article.com/ - santaclaws, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0suggest it (user corrections) to google...i did. if enough users vote for the feature, maybe, just maybe
- chrisc2, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0"I kinda thought this was obvious. Maybe I'm misreading it. Isn't it saying that they record the speed limits, then they just use velocity x time=distance?"
I think you mean Velocity = Distance x Time. That would work if you driving along a straight path... that's not the case in NY at all. Most of the highways spiral around. - moussa, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0nah he was right the first time
- thecoolestcow, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Actually I meant time=distance/velocity.... whoops... and velocity = distance/time, not distance x time.
- modian, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0"Actually I meant time=distance/velocity.... whoops... and velocity = distance/time, not distance x time."
velocity = distance/time
velocity * time = (distance/time) * time
velocity * time = distance - Zipko, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0huh? Are you guys rewriting the laws of physics on us? CoolestCow had it right the first time.
- noamsml, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2Come on, everyone knows that there are little elves sitting next to the Google and Mapquest servers, looking at the maps, and figuring out how to drive there in ultra-sonic speed. Don't waste my time is fairytales about this fictional "Navteq".
- schmuckman999, on 10/12/2007, -2/+0Is that the name of the new Ice Age movie? Black Death?
- schmuckman999, on 10/12/2007, -2/+0whoops wrong story
- Fujiwara, on 10/12/2007, -2/+0@shcmuckman999
One down dood, one down......... - spacebar14, on 10/12/2007, -2/+0Come on, everyone knows that there are little elves sitting next to the Google and Mapquest servers, looking at the maps, and figuring out how to drive there in ultra-sonic speed. Don't waste my time is fairytales about this fictional "Navteq".
- Fujiwara, on 10/12/2007, -1/+0Schmuckman999*
oots...... :D - tylerni7, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0lol @ spacebar... I think a wiki type map thing would be really cool... until annoying kids mess with it and lead you into a building or something
- BugMeNot2, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0LOL I LEANRED SOMTIHNG 2DAY!1
- funkpucker, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0fiji5555 + Sell
Laughing my effing ass off at both of you. I was laughing when I saw LOL, which made it so much better. - steal_apps01, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0modian thanks for clearing it up.
Idiots that vilocity distance time stuff is 9th grade science. gezz - aljitech, on 10/12/2007, -1/+0they should have a field where the user can input their average driving speed.
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http://aljitech.com/ Digg's Arcade - sophiaperennis, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0You can find more information at http://www.navteq.com
- sofa0ne, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0I would like to have Navteq raw data and do with it what I like...Mapquest seems to have me drive around by a Denny's or other restaurant even if it's out of my way...
Cool article... - automagically, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0There is an idea for a wiki map type thing at osmap.org
- WaterDragon, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0That's ridiculous.
Ask any New York cab driver.
The trip takes 37 minutes, tops.
...unless your passenger is a foreigner. Then, it is about an hour and 20 minutes, and costs twice as much. - olegk, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0I always thought that all the information about roads is recorded by the Department Of Transportation, and I always thought that if road is built, it gets into some sort of a database.
- Vladek, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Just use the units to see who's right:
Chrisc2 said:
"Velocity = Distance x Time", which has units of "miles/hour = miles x hour". Obviously NOT.
Thecoolestcow said:
"velocity x time=distance", which has units of "miles/hour x hour = miles". YES.
modian said:
"velocity = distance/time" => miles/hour = miles/hour YES
velocity * time = (distance/time) * time => miles/hour * hour = miles/hour * hour YES
velocity * time = distance => miles/hour * hour = miles YES - Jaan, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0"People using computer programs just expect them to be right."
Since when???
I've never once received driving directions from a web site that were 100% accurate ... thy always get some small but important detail totally wrong. - rnelsonee, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Neato - I figured this is how it all worked though. Although speed limits are an indicator of how easy it is to travel on a road, I'm glad there's real humans giving a score of 1->5. It reflects things that aren't as obvious, like visibility and number of people waiting at stop signs.
- leobaby, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0here is an interesting article from NPR on the same subject (the audio is longer than the text version in the link).
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5140674 - shakey77, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0SUBMIT CORRECTIONS: For those that asked where to submit corrections to for any of the online maps, give them to Navteq (the supplier) at http://digg.com/technology/Correct_the_Online_Map_Sites_at_the_Source_with_Navteq
Some of the errors are caused by the way the different webpages interpret the map data rather than the map data itself, but apparently Navteq can help to correct some of those also. - matt.rubin, on 10/12/2007, -1/+0ummm in GPS car devices don't they just figure out where they are than figure out the maze from where you are to the other dot where to want to be all stored on a DVD?
- lyso, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1The Pixies had it right:
"Now it occurred to me as he drove away
D equals R times T " - Spec8472, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0"May be they should digg this too! They can call it mapdigg.com.
From all the routes, let the user vote the most effective. :)"
posted by gd007
Uhh.. Lets not. You'll have "enterprising" kids setting up toll-booths across the road in front of their house, and then submitting route suggestions like "WEB 2.0 AJAX AMAZING SUPER FAST GOOGLE ROUTE". Instantly traffic will be redirected off Interstates through suburbia, requiring roadworks to fix the results of the "digg effect"
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