When in Goa, Google Maps isn't always your best friend

Just a few weeks back, I needed to reach a particular spot in Siolim, North Goa. Unaware of the precise location and being someone unwilling to use Google Maps, the decision was taken to ask the first local person I met.

At a tea stall, when the local was asked the way, he smiled, flicked his fingers eight times, smiled and stopped arranging his stall.

Still smiling, he started the exercise of flicking his finger again and on finishing at the count of eight, he said, “When you cross the eighth speed breaker, turn to your first left and you will see the building.”

And, he was spot on. The exercise not only helped find and reach the location with the least of pain, but was a thumbs up to human interaction.

The smiling boy, selling tea on the roadside had done what many would have expected Google Maps to do, but without a smile and a positive interaction of life missed out on, due to our reliance on Artificial Intelligence (AI).

Quite a few people are not reliant on Google Maps, or the many facilities linked with it, primarily because the essence of humanness is lost with anything artificial, and there is nothing better than being real.

The reality of asking directions from a local person underlined how simple minds flourish, and that it’s left to each one to get the feel that life is best at its simplest.

Unfortunately, we opt for shortcuts that take us through the longest roads.

This is not about Google Maps being good or bad, but an understanding on how reliance on AI can lead to embarrassments. Open Google Maps in Goa, and one sees how different places in Goa are wrongly spelt.

Just some examples: Karmali is spelt as ‘karmane’, Cavelossim is spelt as ‘Kavlesi’, Deusua is spelt as ‘Devsua’, Colva is spelt as ‘Kolve’. These are just a few, but enough examples, not to flick one but a few fingers in amusement of our understanding of artificial intelligence.

Getting a name wrong can lead to major problems though many hide under the phrase: ‘What’s in a name?’ If there’s nothing, then why have names?

Getting names wrong on Google Maps is one thing, and trying them to get the wrong righted is another, because there appears to be no mechanism in place – lest one got it wrong.

Getting spellings wrong can have the user of the app end up becoming a laughing stock, or actually ending up at the wrong destination, leading to a waste of many things, and most importantly, time.

There have been instances when people using Google Maps have reached the wrong location, and at times, found the users in embarrassing positions, with some near death experiences.

Wrong spellings lead to wrong pronunciations, which can lead to being at the receiving end of insults with locals, not amused with places being wrongly pronounced by visitors.

It has been difficult to ascertain from where the developers of the app got their spellings, and it has been equally tough to get to the creators of the app to bring spelling mistakes to their attention.

One or two, or even a few mistakes, can be understood, but many makes it too funny and shows a care-a-damn attitude as long as names are dotted all along the route.

There must surely be a way the spelling mistakes on Google Maps can be rectified. At the most, it may need a bit of extra work, and extra work is no big sacrifice where good customer service matters.

Goa is a small place, and perhaps corrections can start with names wrongly spelt on Goa Google Maps. If they have found a way to plot maps that can take anyone anywhere, why not find a way of finding the correct spellings for all the places?