Fodor's Travel Talk Forums - Which map site is more reliable? Having problems w/estimates

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Which map site is more reliable? Having problems w/estimates

Please help! Map sites give *very* different time approximations for travel in the Rockies, so I'm turning to you guys, to see which site is more accurate. Problem is...I can't see a trend here, with one always guessing more time vs. another, for instance. Instead, it's haphazard. :-\ With Mapquest: They give Kamloops to Jasper as 235 miles & 4.5 hours With Yahoo/maps: Kamloops to Jasper: 280 miles & 5 hrs 41 min. I can't see why they are getting such mileage difference, but then again, I don't have map in front of me here, right now. Sorry. For Kamloops to Field (near Yoho): Mapquest: 391 miles...7 hrs 22 min Yahoo: 261 miles...5 hrs 19 min What huge differences! And yet, as far as highways chosen...they look the same. Bizarre. For, the Jasper one for instance, both take the 97 to Yellowhead 5 & then, 16. For Field, both take TransCanada 1, clearly. So, what's up with these sites? Guess the rough ideas I printed out from one of these sites the other days, are very much that! Guess we're just going to have to sit down w/a map ourselves...altho' it's always hard to tell how fast or slow a road is...even with mileage ideas. Sorry to complain here. Just thought I'd point out how inexact these sites are, & ask if any of you have found one or the other more accurate, generally? Thanks!

Jasper to Kamloops is about 450 Kilometers or about 280 miles. Driving quickly it takes between 4-5 hours. It's a faster route than the one between Kamloops and Banff which is only about 400K's (or 250 miles), but takes at least 5 hours. Field is about 75 k's or 45 miles closer to Kamloops and that part is mostly four lanes and takes about 45 minutes. Both routes are primarily two lanes and in the summer there is always construction zones which will slow you down. I don't know where those figures from Kamloops to Field come from. Maybe they have miscalculated the conversion from metric to Imperial.

Thanks so much Gary, for the quick & helpful reply! :-) I agree, maybe the problem *was* in the conversion. Thanks for clarifying which one takes longer, timing-wise. Do you think much of Wells Gray Park (since it sounds like you've taken that route that goes by it)?

mtm. Do you have access to AAA or CAA maps? I used them for years to estimate driving times. They use the speed limit with no rest stops as a time. Factor in an increase in speed, but add rest stops. A ludite answer?

Wells Gray Park is very much a wilderness experiance. Camping, hiking, fishing and horseback riding are the main activities. I think there may be a rustic lodge conected to a camp ground in the park with a few rooms and a restaurant but that's about it for civilization. Bowron Lakes Park a little further North near Barkerville is one of the great canoing experiances in Western Canada.

Thanks for the additional info...both re: maps & regarding Wells Grey Park. Re: maps...thanks. I have gotten some AAA maps & do find their time estimates helpful. It's good to hear they are pretty reliable on times & know just how they calculate those times. Thanks again for your assistance! :-)

I was just using Mapquest fordistances in the Rockies and to the east. Distances and times were very inaccurate on some legs, and the routes chosen were not the most convenient at all. In fct, it seemed as if someone had mixed up miles and kilometres in their calculations.

I wonder if those map websites take into consideration elevation. That's probably what's skewing the results. For example, let's say we're looking at a map, and the distance between town a and town b is 50km. If there's a flat road between to the two towns, then we could definitely say the road is 50km long. However, if there's a mountain, or a steep incline and decline between those two towns, then the roads would actually be longer than 50km. A flat map can't accurately portray the degree of steepness when a road climbs a mountain. I think I'm making sense. If not, just look here: a____b This is flat, 50km of road / / / a b same distance, but the road is longer, and the drive would take more time. I wonder if that's what's going on, especially since we're talking about incredibly steep and mountainous roads.