Thursday, December 07, 2006
I don't want to keep coming back to this topic, but, there has been some discussion in the press regarding MapQuest not producing maps across NF-23. I would like to point out that MapQuest does route over NF-23 even when you request to avoid seasonally-closed roads.
I ran the three maps using MapQuest: Roseburg-Gold Beach, Sunny Valley-Gold Beach and Grants Pass-Gold Beach.
When I ran three maps on 12/2 without selecting advanced options I got one map going over NF-23 - the one with the route between Sunny Valley-Gold Beach.
I ran the same maps today using the advanced options selecting 1) shortest route and 2) avoid seasonally-closed roads. With these options I produced two maps going over NF-23, one for Sunny Valley-Gold Beach and one for Grants Pass-Gold Beach.
My point is that there needs to be much more work on the knowledge data bases used by consumer/public mapping programs - you might think "too much of a good thing" in that we are getting very accurate maps - almost too accurate in that they show these smaller routes (which is incredible that we can see that such roads exist in great detail while we are in transit), but, without any additional knowledge about the environment or other factors that might impact our use of such roads, the maps are no good, or should I say, not very good for us to use in situations such as those of the Kims.
I ran the three maps using MapQuest: Roseburg-Gold Beach, Sunny Valley-Gold Beach and Grants Pass-Gold Beach.
When I ran three maps on 12/2 without selecting advanced options I got one map going over NF-23 - the one with the route between Sunny Valley-Gold Beach.
I ran the same maps today using the advanced options selecting 1) shortest route and 2) avoid seasonally-closed roads. With these options I produced two maps going over NF-23, one for Sunny Valley-Gold Beach and one for Grants Pass-Gold Beach.
My point is that there needs to be much more work on the knowledge data bases used by consumer/public mapping programs - you might think "too much of a good thing" in that we are getting very accurate maps - almost too accurate in that they show these smaller routes (which is incredible that we can see that such roads exist in great detail while we are in transit), but, without any additional knowledge about the environment or other factors that might impact our use of such roads, the maps are no good, or should I say, not very good for us to use in situations such as those of the Kims.
