When you type an address into Google Maps, the app doesn’t choose the shortest route, but instead always chooses the one that looks longer.
As science and technology develop, human life is also improved. Among them, there is a very practical and useful application used every day, which is Google Maps.
Google Maps is an online mapping application launched in 2005, displaying satellite images, tourist attractions, street view, navigation directions, traffic conditions, public transportation and more.
One thing that few people know is that when you type an address into Google Maps, the app doesn’t always choose the shortest route, but instead the one that looks longer. However, there is a reason for suggesting such a route.
Why does Google Maps often show detours instead of the shortest route?
According to Geographic FAQ Hub, the platform relies on various factors and analytics to determine which route is best so people can get to their destination faster, even if the user has to travel a longer distance than other routes shown in the app.
In fact, Google Maps is not a simple mapping and navigation application, but a platform that stores records of where users have visited, along with the routes and means of transport they have used.
The app may detect that a shorter route will slow down your travel time due to some issues. Such as an accident recorded a few minutes ago or heavy traffic.
In these cases, the app will redirect you to a longer alternative route instead of having you “stuck” on one route for a long time, as long as the algorithms calculate that it will take you less time to reach the specified destination.
Google Maps also doesn’t want everyone to take the same route, which can lead to traffic congestion. By suggesting different routes, the app helps distribute traffic more evenly across the roads.
However, longer route suggestions can also occur early in the morning or late at night, times when there are no traffic jams. Why is that?
Of course, it’s not for nothing that the app suggests longer routes. Google Maps prioritizes fuel-efficient routes to reduce CO2 emissions.
These routes may be longer in distance but help optimize fuel consumption, contributing to environmental protection. This is shown by a green leaf icon on the map, and users can see the difference in emissions between routes to decide which one to choose.
Additionally, the error could be due to people’s preferences when exploring a city, meaning that if Google Maps records that a user typically likes to use a certain route or a particular street when traveling through certain areas of a city, it could be taken as an indication that they prefer to use that route, regardless of time or traffic conditions.
In any case, when entering a route in Google Maps and the user is sure that there are no traffic jams or any problems that they encounter, they can change the route by clicking on one of the alternatives that appear in gray, instead of blue.
Each road on Google Maps will have different colored lines representing the traffic in that area. Green means the road is clear, orange means it is relatively busy, and red means it is very busy, possibly even congested.
This way, users can learn how long each option will take, and in the process, they teach Maps that when there’s no traffic, they still want to take a certain street.
The downside is that sometimes the updates are inaccurate, such as a “green” link that is actually blocked, due to a number of factors that can affect Google’s algorithm.