Google Maps wish list

[cellio]

I really like Google Maps. It gives me clear images that help me understand complicated intersections before I get there, and unlike MapQuest, its trip planner has never steered me wrong. Its ability to show me stuff (hotels, synagogues, etc) near a particular location is very useful. It shows which streets are one-way, which is very helpful for navigating unfamiliar city areas. The hybrid view is nifty and even helpful.

I hope they're continuing to work on this. There are lots of features that would make it even better for me (and I hope others, but this post is all about me :-) ). Some that I've thought of in the last week:

• Traffic signals would be a helpful addition for city driving, if the data is available. I'd rather know that the left turn onto a busy street will be aided by a traffic light before I commit to it. Otherwise, I might choose a different route. I'm a cautious driver in poor-visibility situations.
• Speaking of traffic, it'd be really cool if it knew about normal congestion points. For instance, if I say I'm driving to Boston leaving Pittsburgh at such-and-such a time, an advisory saying "that has you driving through Hartford at their rush hour" would be nifty (and might be something that wouldn't occur to me as a factor). Even better if it can say "PA turnpike on Thanksgiving weekend; are you crazy?", but that's a different class of information.
• An overlay for known construction work along a planned route.
• The ability to give parameters to the trip planner, such as "via $road". The trip planner will give me the most direct route; I'd like a way to say "yeah I know, but I don't want to go on $road" or "I want to go by way of $road". The only way to do this now is to look at the map and figure out how to subdivide into multiple trips. (You might ask why I want the trip planner to tell me what I already know, in this case that I can take 70 to 68 to 79. I only wanted the trip length.) MapQuest used to have an "avoid highways" option that was sometimes useful for "regional" driving (e.g. Squirrel Hill to Monroeville not using the parkway), but that's still limited.
• For longer trips or trips through mountains, wouldn't it be cool if I could say "leave $city at $time on $day" and it showed me projected weather along the route, highlighting ice hazards and projected precipitation? ("Hey, are you sure you want to drive through the projected path of Hurricane Hugo?") Rarely helpful but nifty...

By posting this I'm not making a poorly-executed feature request; for that I'd chase down a "suggestions" address at Google, if one exists. I'm just noodling; I've already gotten more than I paid for. :-) (If I worked at Google I might noodle on some of these with code, but I don't.) If any of you have found ways to augment Google Maps (I wouldn't be surprised if there are relevant Firefox extensions), I'd love to hear about them. These days the information is usually out there; integration is the name of the game now.

Comments

[metahacker.livejournal.com]

Sometimes you can see stoplights in the satellite view. It's very handy. (More often, you can infer their presence by the lane markings...assuming you zoom in enough and, for me, also use the software-zoom on my Mac to make the pixels big enough...)

[rjmccall.livejournal.com]

I was impressed when I saw that they took no-left-turns intersections into consideration (there are many, many more of these in Portland than I've ever seen elsewhere). Unfortunately, they don't display that information, so if you try to hand-optimize....

A little different, but...

[brokengoose.livejournal.com]

Okay, acronym soup time...

You can get KML/KMZ RIDGE overlays for GIS software from NWS at http://www.srh.noaa.gov/ridge/kmzgenerator.php

In English: use the above URL to get a radar or satellite weather overlay for your area that can be used with Google Earth. The overlay runs less than a minute behind the actual weather, and you can use it to see whether that big storm cloud will pass over your house (or route) or just nearby.

[figmo.livejournal.com]

I always check multiple map sites. I've occasionally found Google Maps to give me a route that tacks an extra 20-30 minutes onto what should be an hour-long drive.

The worst of the bunch is Yahoo! Maps, which I've had tell me to turn left when I was supposed to turn right and vice-versa.

[alice-curiouser.livejournal.com]

MapQuest reeks; we've gotten lost several times thanks to its "help".

I'd be happy just knowing if an upcoming exit was on the left...

[loosecanon.livejournal.com]

I wish I could select "fastest route" "shortest route" and "fewest tolls" as well as set waypoints and closed points, such as a bridge I wish to take, or a road I wish to avoid ( such as when I know a major route is closed for repair )

[jducoeur]

unlike MapQuest, its trip planner has never steered me wrong

While that's technically true for me as well, it has sometimes confused the *bejeezus* out of me. It's choice of road name is often whimsical, and that can be a problem here in a state where roads frequently have multiple names. (No, that route does *not* imply making three turns -- those three roads are all simply going straight down Route 9.)

I suspect that the traffic lights, construction, and so on will eventually be added via mashups. Google seems to be viewing Maps as a platform as much as anything -- they're encouraging people to mash it together with other data sources.

As for giving parameters to the route planner: word. The single feature I find most annoyingly lacking in all route-planning software today. The best ones provide overly coarse-grained controls; most don't have any.