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The reliance on GPS devices and mapping services provided by tech giants Google and Apple has lent to an increase in signs around Australia to direct travellers to correct their routes.
With Australia being a vast continent covered by long isolating distances, one wrong turn could send visitors to destinations and conditions for which their car is not suitable.
Such are the stories shared by Queensland grazier Graham Anderson who has had frequent arrivals on his land that were due to bad instructions provided by Google Maps. Living in the remote area of Isla, Anderson tells the ABC [↗], "We had people coming in just all the time and they were saying it was Google, that they were following the maps across our property to get there."
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Australia's vast wilderness can send travellers in all kinds of directions
Mr Anderson found that the misguided travellers were often on their way to the Isla Gorge, a popular destination for those looking to view its sandstone outcrops and natural beauty.
"We back onto the gorge and it's along our border, but there's no access to the gorge from our place at all.
“It felt like every other day they were coming in, I'd say," he said.
Following an estimated 200 incidents of travellers showing up on his property, Mr Anderson sought to invest into a sign that read, “Trust me, not Google,” which he felt would redirect drivers, and do so in a manner that was amusing.
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"You could always have just written, 'Isla Gorge that way', but then if it didn't say, 'Trust me not Google', they would have said, 'How do they know?', because Google knows everything."
But this isn’t the only instance of signs being created to help the algorithmically lost, with Facebook user Brian Sheldrick [↗] posting a photo of a “Your GPS is wrong” sign which tells drivers of a more direct route to Perth.
This highlights the importance of keeping up-to-date physical maps to assist with travel planning, and to review road closures that could impact any routes being considered. Each state government also maintains a website that plots road closures and roadworks, which can assist travellers on their way.
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Mr Anderson tells the ABC that since his placement of the sign outside his Isla property the instances of lost people arriving has reduced.
"People probably think, 'What nutjob lives there?', but it makes people look at it, people stop and take photos, so it's certainly achieved something."
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