You either have a sense of direction or not, with none turn in the wrong direction you are lost.
Even though it was only a short way to the hotel in London my wife turned the wrong way and ended walking 5 miles.
I may not have a map in my head but I do have a sense of direction so this saves me a lot of time nearly always.
Dennis

I can tell you about 2 situations where Google maps isn't accurate.

My sister lives next to a lake. A relative of hers, who had never been to her house before, used Google for direction. It's a 15 minute drive from the friends house to my sisters, but Google gave a shortcut. It took her on a 30 minutes drive to the other side of the lake, then another 40 minutes to get to my sisters from there.

I go to a small church in a small town. There's a mini storage place at one end of the town. The church I go to is at the other end of town. I was doing some outside work there last summer, and 3 times over a 2 week period, someone stopped and asked me where the mini storage was. Google maps brought them to the area of my church. After the 2nd one, I checked, and sure enough, Google didn't have the location right. When the 3rd person stopped, before they spoke, I asked if they were looking for the storage. They were surprised until I told them they were the 3rd one and Google maps had the wrong spot. That night, I gave Google the correction. I've never been asked that again.

GPS and maps are nice, but don't depend on them.

True
I went for a long country drive back in the 80's. Eventually got to where I wasn't sure how to get back. Part of the fun. I knew I was north of hwy 2 and east of hwy 16, so it was just a matter of driving sw and eventually I would know where I am. Those were the days. Did that a few times. Once I almost ran out of gas though. There was no GPS back then either.

People with phones in general are not...

you know who's not smart in general, we.

A shortcut is the longest distance between two points.

It occurred to me yesterday that she might have been referring to the alleyway between Carlton Avenue and Becmead Avenue, both of which run into Kenton Road. So I paced it out today with the dog.

If she had gone down Carlton Avenue rather than Elmwood Avenue, she would have come out on the other side of the railway station. In terms of distance, there's not much in it; the station is more or less in the middle. But as we were standing at the head of Elmwood Avenue, that was the shortest way.

If she had gone down Carlton Avenue and then through the alley into Becmead Avenue and followed that down to Kenton Road, she would have come out at quite a distance from the station. So I still think Google had it wrong.

No it's not.

My girlfriend has no bump of direction whatsoever. Once she is used to a reasonable way to get from point A to point B, that's what she uses.

Me, I explore. She likes to stick to main streets and I like to cut through the neighborhoods to avoid the stop lights, the stress, and the idiots, even though it might take a few stress-free moments more.

And I have folder full of road atlases in my vehicle for two reasons.

One is that I like maps. I've always like maps. When I was a kid, I used to collect gas company road maps (remember when gas stations gave away road maps? My favorites were the ARCO maps, because I liked the color scheme).

Two is that a nice big paper map gives you a detailed perspective you cannot get on a computer screen, even with a full-sized monitor.

As an aside, I had to call AAA (the American Automobile Association) for a dead battery a couple of years ago. The AAA guy also liked paper maps. He had trouble finding our place because our street just happened to fall in the crease in the middle of the two pages of that particular map.

well it never ceases to amaze me.
why not try to get a little quality into your life that might even be quicker than sticking to the main roads, on those same routes you take 5 days a week, for years.
granted, i did not refer to driving. walking mostly. i see how the situation is different if you do everything with a car.

i assume you mean "by car".

yes, don't underestimate technical details like this.
neither method (computer vs. paper) is perfect.

Yes, I was referring to driving.

The "public transportation system" here is a joke, and a bad one.

No technology is perfect.

I rely on my own computer - being my brain. I don't easily get lost. I'll use landmarks before I rely on Google/satnav/whatever.

Regardless of your intent, it seems to me that you gave the correct advice when advising someone, particularly a young woman, not to take a shortcut through an alleyway... the big difference between google maps and common sense I suppose.

A buddy of mine said Google maps sent them to the edge of a cliff. Don't trust most man-made things because everything has a flaw. I have not seen any perfection while on earth. Proceed with caution!!!!

You refer to a specific map type and name just above this... catch my point?

Anyone use OpenStreetMaps?

Google Maps only warns you upon installing it, I believe but Garmin on the other hand warns you each time you fire up the device.

Common sense is not really a thing; just ask a common kindergartener, Jehovah's Witness or any other "group..."

Several times I've had Google Maps tell me to make a U-turn and the sign says no U-turns. Because I'm not an idiot, I obey the sign while ranting at Google.

I use Google Maps for an unfamiliar journey or if I think there might be traffic on my usual route. It seems pretty good at finding alternative routes that bypass the traffic jams. I have noticed though that Google is sometimes unwilling to route down minor roads and will instead pick a longer route that sticks to main ones. Of course I'll ignore Google when I feel like it or if it's obviously wrong.

A family member, using their Audi's sat-nav, once managed to drive three times through the same interchange because the exit was closed and the satnav was telling them to turn round at the next junction and try again instead of rerouting. Once I can understand, twice maybe, but surely after that most people would just exit anywhere, pull over, and figure out a different route? I'd even told them before they left that X interchange was closed and they'd have to exit at the one before, but they obviously forgot. D'oh!