The anti-Google Maps signs arrive in Sardinia

Why did the anti-Google Maps signs arrive in Sardinia? Let’s start from the beginning. Surely many of us took the wrong way: you set the destination on Google Maps, you start to drive and once you’ll be driving on remote, unpaved and impervious streets.

Yes maybe you’ll even arrive to your destination, but the street told by it isn’t always the easiest one, or sometimes not even the public one. The Google sat nav mapped streets and little roads all over the world, but without say nothing about the conditions of them, obviusly. For this reason sometimes we go through places not really suggestable. 

It happens especially if we talk about little towns, sure it doesn’t happen in a big city. For this reason in Sardinia, one of the less undermined region of Italy, popped out all around really strange warning signs.

The anti-Google Maps signs

Because many tourists, especially foreign, were found going through really impervious paths and unpaved streets (maybe even onboard of a camper or cars with roulottes) in Sardinia decided to do something about it. Infact it’s not rare that Google Maps mistakes paths and unpaved streets, between rocks and plants, for a viable and paved road.

In Baunei in Ogliastra this happens really often, it’s been right them infact that though to put a special signage for the problem. “Do not follow the indications suggested by Google Maps, streets viable only with 4×4” says a sign, with the hope to stop the adventurous tourists.

Often infact the tourists went through streets available only by feet, especially toward the beaches of Cala Luna and Cala Goloritzé. Tens infact the operations of the firemen or of the local people to help who, once made the error to take the wrong street, was not able to come back.

Report an error on Maps

Surely probably the old Tom Tom werent’ so full of informations, they didn’t tell you nothing about the traffic or about the locals on your way, they didn’t do specific maps for the bikers, but it was even harder that they suggested so adventurous streets.

For this reason the initiative finds the agreement of the web, the problem isn’t only in Sardinia, but it happens more often than you think. An operator of the archeological area of the nuraghe of S’Ortali ‘e su Monti, in Tortolì, even tried many times to report the problem to Google Maps, but unfortunatelly without success.

Because from Moutain View they answered that they will verify the street’s conditions, but even though it’s been months, the street is still on the map. But if you would like to try to report the problem too (who knows, maybe the unity is strength) it’s enough to go on Google Maps. By entering to the services of Google with our own account, we will need then to click on the menù on the left.

At the bottom of the list we will find Send feedback, there you will be able to choose a missing or wrong address, a missing street or some wrong informations, with the hope that sooner or later Google will upgrade the maps.

Meanwhile the story is going through, Google invents best ways which aren’t really the best, wasting the time of the tourist, but often even the time of the one that will have to go to find him. Sure the suggest is always the one to not follow unpaved streets, especially with camper or small cars, but sometimes even the paved streets can trick you.

If Google doesn’t find time to verify and to upgrade its maps, so at least be careful about the signs, especially the anti-Google Maps ones. Due that the problem is spreaded in the whole Italy (and not only) who knows that these signs won’t appear even in the other regions.

This post is also available in: Italiano