On Google, the ICC is open all the way to I-370
On Google World, the 41.9-mile trip from Baltimore to Gaithersburg takes all of 48 minutes along the brand new Intercounty Connector. Just take Interstate 95 south, hop on the ICC and you’re virtually there.
On Planet Earth, most of the ICC hasn’t opened yet. The 10 miles between I-95 and the Montgomery County high-tech hotbed is largely a muddy track where bulldozers are still doing what bulldozers do.
Oops.
In a textbook illustration of the computer adage “garbage in, garbage out,” Google and another popular Web-based mapping service have jumped the gun on the opening of the longest segment of Maryland’s new toll road by about a year (Click on image above to enlarge).
“Beware: Everything you read on the Internet may not be true,” Lon Anderson, spokesman for AAA-Mid-Atlantic, chortled when told about the error.
A 6-mile stretch of the $2.6 billion ICC, between Georgia Avenue and Interstate 370, opened late last month. But the segment between Georgia Avenue and I-95 is under construction and expected to open late this year or early in 2012.
“Clearly Google understands that many of our people who drive our roads also have all-terrain vehicles,” Anderson said. “Google’s just a little ahead of all of us.”
As funny as the mistake may be to a detached observer, it could be less than amusing to a motorist who was unfamiliar with the region and depending on the directions. A traveler from Baltimore to Montgomery County, for instance, could drive down I-95 expecting to get off on the ICC, only to get lost upon finding find no exit.
“If you took a ride down there today, you’d see a very active construction zone,” said Cheryl Sparks, spokeswoman for the Maryland Transportation Authority, which operates the toll road..
Doug Beizer, a communications manager for an engineering society, stumbled across the misleading directions Thursday when he was plotting a route between his office in Landover and Montgomery General Hospital in Olney.
Google Maps assured him that Route 200, as the ICC is also known, was the way to go. Beizer, who is married to a Sun reporter, knew that wasn’t so.
“I saw this map and it drew this line west on a road that doesn’t exist yet,” said Beizer, whose work travels have made him familiar with the I-95 corridor. “I knew it was one of those glitches.”
Beizer tipped off the newspaper. Another Sun reporter was able to reproduce that error and also determined that Google – as well as Yahoo! for a period Friday morning – were directing motorists onto the ICC on a trip from Baltimore to Gaithersburg and other theoretical journeys across the state.
Mapquest, a rival, provided directions more applicable to 2011. It guided drivers to the tedious but existent 58-minute slog along the Capital Beltway and up Interstate 270 that the ICC is intended to render obsolete. By Friday afternoon, Yahoo! had apparently corrected the information but Google was still directing drivers to the unfinished highway. .
Sparks said the transportation authority was aware of the problem before a reporter inquired about it Friday. “We had already reached out to Google,” she said. .
Google declined to speak to a reporter by phone but released a statement from a corporate spokesperson: .
"We're aware that a section of Maryland Route 200, which is under construction, is appearing as an available driving route and are working to correct that issue as soon as possible,” Google said. .
The statement said Google customers can customize their route by clicking on a blue route line and dragging it to one’s preferred road..
“And as always, we encourage users to let us know when something is incorrect by using the ‘Report a Problem’ tool, found at the bottom right corner of the map,” the statement said.
Sparks noted that the authority’s board had been talking just the previous day about how to make sure the major computer mapping and GPS services know the first section of the ICC was open.
Messages left for Google and Yahoo! have not yet been returned.
Categories: Maryland toll facilities, On the roads
Comments
If you tried to get directions from Baltimore to London it used to tell you to swim across the Atlantic Ocean. How about using the "Report a Problem" link on Google Maps instead of calling them and expecting to get a react quote for your snarky article?
Posted by: anon | March 25, 2011 1:14 PM
Roads? Where we're going we won't need "roads."
Posted by: Bill Gates | March 25, 2011 1:31 PM
This story deserves the front page headline spot? Google makes mistakes too. The real story here is the slower-than-a-turtle pace of the SHA in getting this highway built. The whole thing should have been done months ago.
Posted by: BigDragon | March 25, 2011 1:31 PM
This has to be one of the most idiotic (though slightly amusing) articles that I have seen in the Baltimore Sun. Even coming from Mr. Dresser, who apparently likes to outdo himself with each new article.
The link to report a problem with the directions is in the lower left corner of the page. Rather than complain about it and trying to make a sensational news story about it, how about clicking the link and reporting the error? That's the reason why the link is there in the first place.
So what exactly is the main point of this article? That Google made a mistake? That information on the Internet can be unreliable and nonsensical?
I think we all know that the Internet is filled with senseless drivel. The above article is a perfect example of that.
Posted by: fhr | March 25, 2011 1:36 PM
anon: Baloney. I did not read remotely snarky in anything in Michael's posting above.
As usual, it was spot-on correct.
Would that major highways could get built so quickly!
Posted by: C. P. Zilliacus | March 25, 2011 1:44 PM
I can't believe this was the lead article on the Baltimore Sun website. How stupid. Aren't there more important things going on in the world?
Posted by: Mike | March 25, 2011 1:55 PM
Some time ago I asked you if it was possible to ride a bike on the paved but unopened portion of the ICC. Now would be the perfect opportunity to finally post an answer!.
COMMENT: No, you can't. The unopened stretch is part paved, part not, and it's now a construction site.
Posted by: joe bollinger | March 25, 2011 2:12 PM
I guess a story like this is better than yet another story about a killing, robbery, etc, etc...That said...really?? Google getting a route wrong is news???
Posted by: Gstar | March 25, 2011 2:20 PM
Lol this literally happened to me last Sunday. I was going from Towson to Olney and upon reaching the 'exit' I had no idea where to go. It kept telling me to turn around and go back up 95 to lead me back to the very same non-existent exit. Fail!
Posted by: J | March 25, 2011 2:21 PM
That's true I remember that. It was some kind of joke and kind of funny. This one though if it is a joke it is kind of sick. The map does not even show a road below the blue line.
Posted by: xapns5oh | March 25, 2011 2:23 PM
why is this road so important is it going
to change our lives or is this just another
way to steal monies from the people
for someone else's agenda
Posted by: sillyman michaels | March 25, 2011 2:52 PM
It's not a joke. It's a mistake. The information on Google Maps is not 100% accurate, and they have a "report a problem" link clearly shown so they can have users make them aware of errors. I did this once for an incorrect street name and within days it was corrected. They also have a disclaimer on all directions saying they are for planning purposes only and actual road conditions may vary.
No need to make this into some sensational news item by having it as the main headline on the Sun's web page.
Posted by: anon | March 25, 2011 2:58 PM
>> On Google World, the 41.9-mile trip from Baltimore to Gaithersburg
It's Google Earth, not "Google World."
Posted by: David | March 25, 2011 3:20 PM
Of course it's snarky. The parallel "On Google World..." and "On Planet Earth..." and the single-paragraph "oops" firmly establish the tone. This mistake is no worse than mistakes that the Sun (and for that matter every human on earth) makes every day, and this article is just so much filler.
Posted by: kdogg36 | March 25, 2011 4:07 PM
What I find comical is that the Baltimore Sun could of had a real big hit with this article by instead focusing on the fact that if you were using the free GPS, with Turn-by-turn navigation, provided to you by your Google Android powered phone and tried to drive from Baltimore to Gaithersburg, MD. then you would be in for a world of problems. Instead they posted a screen shot from their computer in their office instead of having some real fun with this.
Posted by: n0manarmy | March 25, 2011 6:42 PM
Where is I-370?
COOMENT: It's a short feeder route that leads from Shady Groove to Interstate 270.
Posted by: Ed | March 25, 2011 6:55 PM
The fact that you can report a problem about Google maps has nothing to do with the topicality of the fact that their map has a major gaffe. We're not talking about a misspelling in a street name here.
If anything, this only reinforces the fact that we can't depend upon some flunky at Google in California to have a clue about local traffic issues, and that open source maps, such as Open Street Map, hold more potential. OSM showed the proper connection to Section A of the ICC at MD 28 in Olney the day it was available, because there are dedicated local mappers that make sure it's kept up to date.
That'll never happen with closed source maps such as Google. I've reported many a map problem to Google. It takes weeks for them to be acknowledged, much less changed, and, in some cases, they've challenged me as to whether there is a problem and not fixed the issue. If I see a problem on OSM, I can fix it in minutes.
Posted by: Traffic Engineer | March 25, 2011 7:08 PM
The construction phase of the I.C.C. pales in comparison to the stretch of York Rd in Lutherville Timonium. Generations of SHA workers have come and gone and yet no progress can be discerned. The pyramids in the Valley of the Kings took less time to build (all of them!)
I for one have given up hope the project will ever be completed. I was a youngster when it began in the 1970's but now I'm turning gray.
Perhaps one day my children, or great grandchildren, will see that happy day?
Should York Rd ever be free of orange barrels and asphalt patches I say Life Time Achievement Awards are in order. I don’t care if the numbers run to hundreds and thousands, posthumously. No honor is too great all those who took so long to do so little.
Posted by: CLS | March 25, 2011 7:15 PM
Just another example that he who relies on internet or GPS directions is a fool. Dr. Gridlock of the Washington Post had an idiotic race using the ICC and the driver relied on his GPS which sent him on a grand tour of Rossmoor. Stop at a rest area and get a map, the last time I checked they were free. BTW: Google directions might send you to the ICC but Google maps does not show any of the ICC as completed or even being under construction.
Posted by: john20723 | March 26, 2011 9:27 AM