Do you trust Yahoo or Google for travel times?

[michelle06]

I am checking travel times and have conflicting info. We are driving. Yahoo maps and Google maps differ by over an hour. For such a long drive, that does make a difference to us. We need to be able to plan for a hotel or whether it's feasible to get up early for rope drop, etc.

Who would you trust? The google time does seem long as I don't remember it taking that long last year. But, I'm not sure.

What website would you trust for an accurate travel time?

 

[shafke]

How far is your drive?

On a long drive there are many factors that can influence the total time.
I would plan on the longer travel time between google and yahoo to take into account traffic and such.
Also, I don't think the travel times that you get factor in stops for meals and brakes which is another reason to plan on the longer travel time.

 

[Lewisc]

Neither. I don't think either provides an allowance for stops. Will you have meals in the car? Only stop long enough to gas up, run to the bathroom and switch drivers when you gas tank is almost empty?

Look at the number of miles and the time. Are they assuming 70 mph. It's probably impossible to make up the time if you get caught up in even a short traffic jam.

 

[chartle]

It depends on how fast you go over the speed limit.

My android phone uses Google Maps for its GPS. On an 8 hour drive I usually get there 30 minutes to 45 minutes quicker than what it estimates.

I wouldn't sweat and hour you need that as a cushion and whatever you do don't make an ADR with a credit card hold based upon the estimated time on a mapping site.

 

[chartle]

Neither. I don't think either provides an allowance for stops. Will you have meals in the car? Only stop long enough to gas up, run to the bathroom and switch drivers when you gas tank is almost empty?

Yea that's the sad part about using a GPS. You get in the car in morning, fire it up it and says you will get there in at 5:00 PM

Then you start making stops and the time creeps later and later.

 

[michelle06]

Of course we will account for stops. I don't expect them to do that. However, every family is different and so I will account for our particular needs. And our drive is long enough that an hour does make a difference as to what time we will get in and how tired we will be the next day. And the difference is actually over an hour. So knowing an accurate time will also tell us if we have time for quick breaks or one more leisurely break for a meal.

So, does anyone know any particular website that accurately accounts for driving time? excluding unknowns like construction of course. Unless, you know of a website that can calculate that as well!

 

[chartle]

So, does anyone know any particular website that accurately accounts for driving time? excluding unknowns like construction of course. Unless, you know of a website that can calculate that as well!

I guess you are looking for something that lets you adjust how fast you think you may being driving on a certain type of highway.

Not a website but Microsoft Map Point Software lets you adjust the speed "limit" for each type of road. Its pretty expensive software at around $200 and really is for mapping data not trips to WDW.

I still don't think an hour is a big deal. But for what its worth Google probably would have been right if we followed the speed limit.

I would schedule for longer breaks aka longer sit down meals and if you need to make up time eat McDonald's in the car.

ETA: OK I did a road trip from my house to WDW on Google, Yahoo and Bing.

The times varied by 2 hours and 15 minutes.

Google - 16hrs 42 min
Yahoo - 15 hrs 25 min
Bing - 14 hrs 28 min (must think my DW is driving the whole way )

Based on me actually doing the trip Google was about right. Its around 17 hours to WDW.

 

[michelle06]

I'm not looking for anything fancy. I just want to know if the sites are reliable. Are the times accurate given the distance? That's all. Since they differ, I figure one site is more reliable than another.

 

[jlewisinsyr]

In my opinion, Google is overly conservative in their times, when calculating the drive time for our move from Syracuse to Charlotte, it stated approximately 13 hours and with a lot of stops because of our dog, eating, filling the car, etc, we did it in 12 hours, and that was with some heavy traffic/fog in PA.

 

[DVC California]

I'm not looking for anything fancy. I just want to know if the sites are reliable. Are the times accurate given the distance? That's all. Since they differ, I figure one site is more reliable than another.

Are both Yahoo and Google providing identical routes? You can check by the number miles estimated by each trip.

If the miles are identical, do the math yourself. If the distance is 800 miles and you will average 65mph, time will be 12hrs 20 mins. (800 mi div by 65mph = 12.3 hrs). Add time as needed for rest stops and meal breaks.

Or just split the difference...if Yahoo estimates 12 hrs and Google est 13 hrs, use 12.5 hrs as your base.

 

[sam_gordon]

Are both Yahoo and Google providing identical routes? You can check by the number miles estimated by each trip.

If the miles are identical, do the math yourself. If the distance is 800 miles and you will average 65mph, time will be 12hrs 20 mins. (800 mi div by 65mph = 12.3 hrs). Add time as needed for rest stops and meal breaks.

Or just split the difference...if Yahoo estimates 12 hrs and Google est 13 hrs, use 12.5 hrs as your base.

This. Assuming I'm doing mostly highway driving (speed limit 70), I'll find the total miles and divide by 60. While I usually travel ~73/74, by "averaging" 60, that accounts for quick stops for gas & food (on a long trip, I don't do sit downs, it's a "get and go"). That's usually fairly accurate for me.