Photo: ResearchGate
China’s Golden Week took place between October 1-7, and millions of people from all over the country traveled to domestic tourist attractions to celebrate the national holiday with their families.
But those who relied on Gaode Maps, also called AutoNavi, to head over to Mount Qingcheng, ended up in a huge traffic jam, as the application mistakenly directed them to a dead end in front of a closed area.
Located in Dujiangyan, near Chengdu, the famous Taoist mountain attracts millions of visitors every year, so theoretically, navigation apps should already have the correct map data to provide drivers with accurate directions to the closest parking spot.
But Gaode Maps has mistakenly sent them to a closed read, which has instead caused massive traffic congestion in the area, with some people claiming it took several hours for the road to clear up.
The parent company has already apologized for the error and promised to update its maps data and provide drivers with correct information whenever they’re traveling to the mountain.
This blunder shows just how much we rely on navigation apps these days, but at the same time, the trust we put in the companies that provide us with location data.
And yet, it’s not the first time when such applications end up sending drivers to all kinds of weird locations.
Not a long time, a New Jersey driver ended up on the wrong side of the highway, claiming that it only followed the directions offered by Waze, a Google-owned navigation app focused on finding the fastest route based on traffic conditions.
The same app also sent drivers looking for the Borgata Hotel, Casino, and Spa to the middle of nowhere, right to a New Jersey wildlife preserve located at about 70 miles (112 km) north of the Atlantic City resort. The whole blunder caused cars to remain stuck on unpaved roads, with the police itself reaching out to Waze to correct the driving instructions.
Located in Dujiangyan, near Chengdu, the famous Taoist mountain attracts millions of visitors every year, so theoretically, navigation apps should already have the correct map data to provide drivers with accurate directions to the closest parking spot.
But Gaode Maps has mistakenly sent them to a closed read, which has instead caused massive traffic congestion in the area, with some people claiming it took several hours for the road to clear up.
The parent company has already apologized for the error and promised to update its maps data and provide drivers with correct information whenever they’re traveling to the mountain.
This blunder shows just how much we rely on navigation apps these days, but at the same time, the trust we put in the companies that provide us with location data.
And yet, it’s not the first time when such applications end up sending drivers to all kinds of weird locations.
Not a long time, a New Jersey driver ended up on the wrong side of the highway, claiming that it only followed the directions offered by Waze, a Google-owned navigation app focused on finding the fastest route based on traffic conditions.
The same app also sent drivers looking for the Borgata Hotel, Casino, and Spa to the middle of nowhere, right to a New Jersey wildlife preserve located at about 70 miles (112 km) north of the Atlantic City resort. The whole blunder caused cars to remain stuck on unpaved roads, with the police itself reaching out to Waze to correct the driving instructions.
Google News