Online Maps May Have Led Kim Family Astray

I'm sure many readers have already read about the rescue of Kati Kim and her two daughters. Her husband, Cnet editor James Kim, is still missing however. What caught my eye is that online mapping services may have misled them into taking a more dangerous trail to get to the Oregon Coast. From the SF Chronicle:

Terri Stone, an innkeeper at the Tu Tu Tun Lodge in Gold Beach, where the Kims were to have stayed the night of Nov. 25, said the Bear Camp Road is shown on some Internet road-direction sites as the best way to get to the coast from Grants Pass, but she advises against it.

Many readers have probably discovered that online mapping sites like Google Maps are not 100% reliable. Typically, the shortest route is the one that's recommended, but this just goes to show that taking the shortest route isn't always optimal. Hopefully, some human judgment gets incorporated into the driving directions that are displayed.

Labels: Technology

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Online Maps May Have Led Kim Family Astray