Reply to post: Re: As I read that

Re: As I read that

Certainly built-in sat navs that we've used over the years have this tendency. I long gave up expecting them to take me the quickest way over short to mid-distance journeys or certain sections of some longer journeys even when that's set. There seems to be some kind of logic in the algorithms that makes them choose distant entrances to arterial roads rather than using local routes that are significantly shorter even when there's no traffic delay on the local roads ( and even when the route to the arterial road is busy). To the point that I've had times when it'd take longer to use the satnav and get to an A road which then leads to my destination than it would to drive directly to my destination. (Sometimes we use satnav for shorter local journeys because we're not sure of the precise turning, or one-way system. But we know to ignore it until we're almost there).

My favourite example. We had to visit a flat in Regents' Park. We drove there ourselves, no need for satnav at that stage. As we entered the park I was sure we were quite close. I vaguely thought it was somewhere to our left, but didn't know properly. So we used the satnav, which told us to turn right, which was a surprise, but we neither of us have any sense of direction and didn't know any better. So we did, and it the took us anti-clockwise round the park to an exit on the Finchley Rd, brought us out of the park, all the way down to the Euston Rd, back into the park and continued anti-clockwise until we were around 100m to the left of where we entered. (For non-London aware people, think doing about 350° of a 5km circle).