How does it make sense to say “you have to walk the rest of the way” by drawing a line on a map, unless you intended it to imply that that’s the path to walk?
It's de-emphasised, doesn't show up in directions, is a perfectly smooth curve rather than conforming to paths/roads, and doesn't have the label saying to walk it.
I think the vast majority of people would correctly interpret it as just showing the distance between the end-point and the destination set and I don't think it's necessarily bad UI. But still, with the popularity of Google maps and potential danger in misinterpreting it, it's probably worth considering ways to make it even clearer.
If this thread is anything to go by, slim majority at best.
> But still, with the popularity of Google maps and potential danger in misinterpreting it, it's probably worth considering ways to make it even clearer.
This is the really important point, and thank you for making it. Google Maps is used by 100 of millions (if not billions) of people. If these issues only impact 1% of users, that's still millions of people negatively impacted.
At scale, even "niche" issues matter.
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Also, I'm a nove hiker at best, but even I know that there's essentially zero hikes where the shape of the trail is a nice arc across the map like the one in the story. I'm legitimately baffled that anyone would have thought that was a suggested path to the peak.