461: Google Maps

2013-12-27T22:56:50Z

QuietImprover: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 461
| date = August 11, 2008
| title = Google Maps
| image = google_maps.png
| titletext = Apparently Google assumes you're traveling during the ferry's normal operating hours. We lost two hours circling that damn lake (to say nothing of the Straw Man).
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete}}
{{w|Google Maps}} is a web mapping service application, which among other things, offers a route planner. The comic pokes fun at Google Maps for occasionally giving suboptimal directions, taking it to the logical extreme of giving directions that resemble the plot of a badly-scripted horror/action movie or an old {{w|text adventure}} game as you would read it in a walkthrough.

Luckily Cueball's brother realizes that the directions are weird when he notices that they're supposed to take a ferry after midnight. However, the title text implies that despite the bizarreness of the directions, the brothers still took them. They also apparently woke the Straw Man.

Alternatively, the title text is a real event that happened with Randall, which provided inspiration for the dramatized, fictionalized version presented.

There used to be a joke put in by the Google Maps team if you put a destination that required crossing the Pacific Ocean (e.g. New York to Tokyo) that read "Kayak across '''the Pacific Ocean'''" Other common jokes include that when asking for walking directions from '''the Shire''' to '''Mordor''' the result will say, "Use caution - one does not simply walk into Mordor," which is a Lord of the Rings reference.

The comic may also be referring to how difficult map directions from the Internet can be - it may be difficult to see, say, a particular exit sign, and directions may not take traffic into account.

==Transcript==
:My road trip with my brother ran into trouble around page three of the Google Maps printout

:[Google Maps printout.]
::← 70. Slight '''left''' at '''RT-22''' - go 6.8 mi
::→ 71. Turn '''right''' to stay on '''RT-22''' - go 2.6 mi
::← 72. Turn '''left''' at '''Lake Shore Rd''' - go 312 ft
::→ 73. Turn '''right''' at '''Dock St''' - go 427 ft
::[An icon of water] 74. Take the '''ferry''' across the '''lake.''' - go 2.8 mi

:[A car is driving in the dark.]
:Brother: Okay, now take Dock St toward the ferry.
:Cueball: We're supposed to take a ferry? It's past midnight, and these woods are creepy.
:Brother: Google Maps wouldn't steer us wrong.

:[Cueball and his brother stand outside the car. The ferry has a sign on it reading CLOSED.]

:[Cueball is standing next to his brother, who is holding a Google Maps printout.]

:[Cueball motions towards his brother.]
:Cueball: Let me see those directions.

:[Google Maps printout.]
::[An icon of water] 74. Take the '''ferry''' across the '''lake.''' - go 2.8 mi
::↗ 75. Climb the '''HILL''' toward '''Hangman's Ridge,''' avoiding any '''mountain lions.''' - up 1,172 ft
::↷ 76. When you reach an '''old barn,''' go around back, knock on the '''second door,''' and ask for '''Charlie.''' - go 52 ft
::[An icon of a van] 77. Tell '''Charlie''' the '''Dancing Stones''' are '''restless'''. He will give you his '''van'''. - Careful
::[An icon of a straw man] 78. Take '''Charlie's van''' down '''Old Mine Road'''. Do not wake the '''Straw Man'''. - go π mi
::← 79. Turn left on '''Comstock'''. When you feel the '''blood''' chill in your '''veins''', stop the van and '''get out.''' - go 3.2 mi
::↓ 80. Stand very still. Exits are '''north''', '''south''', and '''east''', but are block by a '''Spectral Wolf'''. - go 0 ft
::[An icon of a menacing face] 81. The '''Spectral Wolf''' fears only '''FIRE'''. The '''Google Maps Team''' can no longer help you, but if you master the '''wolf''', he will guide you. '''Godspeed.''' - go ?? mi

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]

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461: Google Maps