I use and enjoy Google Maps, but some of the features are baffling, like insisting on switching you to a "faster" route even after dismissing the proposal several times.
This almost got me into trouble a couple of months ago when I was driving from Odessa to Chisinau. One route goes through Transnistria which is currently controlled by the russian military.
I'm not sure if Google is aware that there is a war on currently, but I don't fancy getting shot just because California product manager guy believes he knows best.
Personally i think gmaps actively tries to get your attention and interact with the app. Which is extremely dangerous and in my country can result in a big fine if you even touch the phone.
Turn-by-turn navigation in a completely foreign place can be invaluable, and save much frustration. I personally use Organic Maps (MAPS.ME), and I'm fortunate that it never led me astray or on horrible roads etc.
My family and I were on a “star safari” last night, and our guides gave us a Google Maps location for a parking lot on a volcano. Google struggled, as did Here. Organic Maps? No problem! So thank you; you’ve set me up with my new offline map!
In the old days we had paper maps and I checked routes before I left: not doing that anymore has cost me time rather than saved me time. Many a time Google maps has sent me to the wrong place. Once to the middle of a mustard field in France which was a destination it changed to mid-route to a house called La Mutardier. 5 hours wrong lost there.
Less than useless on a motorbike due to its UI, actually quite dangerous.
I would say it has cost me many hours and saved me from carrying a map.
Evermore useless adverts, and now hiding places that it doesn't get a kick back from.
Oh and it's cost me money in fines from taking me the wrong way down streets I was not allowed to drive on. With no way to feed that info back into the system. When its wrong it stays wrong for years sometimes where I live, and we have street map, it ought to be half decent and at least safe for drivers.
Searching the map for your target given only incomplete information is much faster. It also scopes the map to your screen size, paper does not do this, you save time finding the right resolution.
It sounds like the real problem you are experiencing is that you stopped checking your route. If you treat it like a paper map on crack then it’s a great tool. And, to be fair, it does sound like you run into more frustrating ‘wtf!’ problems than others.
I find that a combination is the most useful: planning the route beforehand, maybe with an online map / routing service, and then use the turn-by-turn for convenience. I don't use Google Maps myself, I go with MAPS.ME / Organic Maps these days, maybe OsmAnd+.
