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I think part of the possible confusion is that "cutesy" curved line from the parking area to the peak. It shouldn't draw anything between where the actual directions end and the map pin, just show the pin.

All that being said, changing the directions so it ends up at the visitor center is probably a good choice, regardless of how few people actually were or would be confused.

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There are better ways to communicate this though.

I'd consider a shaded-in area with wiggly outlines, big enough to be path shaped, that just says "walk". That conveys "you need to get yourself to this pin, and we don't know how to help you".

I disagree. If Google doesn’t know enough about the walking path to even be able to plot it on the map, then they shouldn’t represent to users that there is a navigable path at all.

Yes, but if they know there's a navigable path but they don't know what it is this is a reasonable approach.

Obviously, mapping a destination on an island with wiggly lines through the water which say "walk" would not be useful, but wasn't the situation I was envisioning.

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