Andy Walker / Android Authority
Thanks to my extremely poor sense of direction, Google Maps is an essential travel app for me — for both short trips to different parts of the city, as well as longer routes that I have no chance of memorizing. I’ve come to love the traffic estimates, alternate route options, and the ability to avoid tolls.
But there’s a feature that I think Google Maps sorely needs: warning users of dangerous routes with high crime, with alternative routes suggested.
Do you trust Google Maps to navigate you through safe routes? 53 votes Yes 60 % No 40 %
Google Maps has steered me wrong multiple times
Edgar Cervantes / Android Authority
While I depend on Google Maps for my navigation needs, the app has taken me through dangerous routes on multiple occasions. I live in a country with high crime rates (South Africa), where you have to be on your guard more often than not. But in its efforts to give me the shortest route available, the app will often recommend that I go through areas with a lot of crime.
Google Maps has taken me through dangerous areas on multiple occasions, usually to avoid busier routes.
This happens the most on longer routes that involve highways. But I’ve also had it happen on 15-minute trips that take me into neighboring areas. The most memorable instance was when Google Maps diverted me off a main highway to take a road through an informal settlement that is considered one of the most dangerous places in my province. After I moved to my current suburb in Cape Town, my first trip to the airport went through another dangerous area — with road signs warning drivers about crime hotspots along the route.
I’ve adapted to this to some degree. I try to remember when to ignore Google Maps’ suggestion to turn at certain intersections or off-ramps. I tailored my route to my parents’ house to avoid a certain highway. But this doesn’t help when I’m on a route I’ve never traveled before. It also relies on my pre-existing knowledge of which routes are dangerous, which doesn’t help in areas I’m completely unfamiliar with.
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