Has Illinois extended its toll roads around Chicago? Why doesn't Google Maps tell you what roads are Toll roads?

[Ser Scot A Ellison]

My wife and daughter are traveling to Minneapolis and have just passed through Chicago.  We've been this way before but it has been about 10 years.  Has Illinois extended it's tollroads around Chicago?

The maps on Mapquest, Apple iPhones, and Google don't designate (by a color or some other simply display) what roads are and are not toll roads... why not???

[James Arryn]

You didn't get shot? Count it a win and move on, Scot.

[Ser Scot A Ellison]

I'm serious.  Why are map applications making it difficult to know what roads are and are not Toll roads?  My old Rand McNalley Road Atlas always had toll roads marked in bright green.  Why is the same thing not done in modern Map Applications.  Why are toll roads difficult to spot?  

And for the record I have always like Chicago.  

[S John]

The Apple map thing on the iphone does designate toll roads.  When you put in your destination and it gives you a few route options it'll say if one includes tolls, and checking on my phone just now the two toll roads I know of in the area are both labeled that way on the map.  

However, one thing I have noticed is that if you select a route that is not deemed the fastest and make an unscheduled turn or something early into the trip, the app seems to default to whatever the fastest route was when it recalculates - not the one you originally selected.  So if the toll route was the fastest and you were trying to avoid it but go off-route somewhere before you hit it, it might re-route you to the toll road without you having realized it.  

[Ser Scot A Ellison]

4 minutes ago, S John said:

The Apple map thing on the iphone does designate toll roads.  When you put in your destination and it gives you a few route options it'll say if one includes tolls, and checking on my phone just now the two toll roads I know of in the area are both labeled that way on the map.  

However, one thing I have noticed is that if you select a route that is not deemed the fastest and make an unscheduled turn or something early into the trip, the app seems to default to whatever the fastest route was when it recalculates - not the one you originally selected.  So if the toll route was the fastest and you were trying to avoid it but go off-route somewhere before you hit it, it might re-route you to the toll road without you having realized it.  

They don't mark them clearly.  They don't give toll roads a special color on the map so that we know where they are.  They allow you to select "no tolls" which creates special hells unto themselves as, perhaps you don't want to avoid all tolls but just the longest streches?  If the toll roads are clearly marked you can hit the ones you are willing to hit and avoid those you'd like to avoid.  

 

 

[Astromech]

https://www.illinoistollway.com/

Not sure why those services don't indicate such information.

You could also avoid Chicago if you don't want the hassle of that traffic. Try I-39, I-90 through central Illinois. Easier to do if you're passing through to get to Minnesota. You would still hit a few tolls, but would avoid all of the Chicago congestion.

[Ser Scot A Ellison]

Lyanna Stark, on my facebook page, said that it could be that States are paying Apple, Google, and Mapquest to not clearly mark toll roads.  If so... that's pretty shitty.

[S John]

Maybe, but I'm not quite ready to buy into a toll conspiracy.  The toll roads in my area are not color coded on the map, but they are clearly labeled.  If I were designing the map, sure, I probably would make the toll roads stand out a little more but I don't think that was necessarily omitted in order to trick mobile navigation users into going onto the toll road.  Especially since telling it straight up to avoid tolls is an option when selecting your route.  

In my experience phone mapping apps are great for quick point A to point B navigation, but on a lengthy road trip I think the interface makes it difficult to get a sense of where exactly it is sending you. Being OK with hitting some tolls but not others is a pretty complex chain of decision making that you are putting into the hands of a program designed to get you somewhere the fastest. If you want to really plan a route in such a way that you do not necessarily want to go the fastest way (for toll avoidance or whatever other reason) then you are still going to have to take the planning for that into your own hands and examine what each stretch of the journey entails, what exit you should take, etc.  

[Ser Scot A Ellison]

This is why I like properly labeled road atlases.  

:Grumble:

[S John]

I prefer them too, but like most others have succumbed to the convenience of letting a palm sized device dictate where I go most of the time.  

 

[lady narcissa]

Not that I'm aware of.  And I just looked at Google maps on my office computer and all the toll roads I'm aware of are labeled as such on the map so I'm not sure why it didn't show up that way on theirs. It isn't a different color just (toll road) after the highway name.

[Dr. Pepper]

google maps on my phone indicates when there are tolls on my route.  I have to browse through the directions to see exactly where, but it's not a biggie.

[Ser Scot A Ellison]

Believe it or not "Bing Maps" does properly label toll roads by color.  No one else does.

[Ser Scot A Ellison]

9 minutes ago, Dr. Pepper said:

google maps on my phone indicates when there are tolls on my route.  I have to browse through the directions to see exactly where, but it's not a biggie.

But a map that clearly delineates which roads are toll roads and which roads are not makes avoiding, or choosing to take a toll road much easier.  Yes, there is writing the map in google that indicates "Jane Addams Memorial tollway" but it does not tell you where the tolls begin and end.  It's very frustrating to someone accustomed to clearly labeled maps.  

 

[Jaxom 1974]

That's...the Chicago Way...

[kairparavel]

Google maps app tells you through a visual symbol and words that tolls exist on a route when you use it to navigate your destination. 

Also, as you scroll along a map (maps.google.com) when a road becomes a toll road, it tells you: Fort McHenry Tunnel  (Toll Road).

Technology hasn't failed here. And sure, Bing has different colours for roads, with no indication of what they mean. So if you were born after Pacman or Donkey Kong were a thing, you probaby haven't used an an atlas or road map or know that toll roads on Bing are *squint* teal. You're probably using the app on your phone. Correctly. 

[Ser Scot A Ellison]

5 minutes ago, kairparavel said:

Google maps app tells you through a visual symbol and words that tolls exist on a route when you use it to navigate your destination. 

Also, as you scroll along a map (maps.google.com) when a road becomes a toll road, it tells you: Fort McHenry Tunnel  (Toll Road).

Technology hasn't failed here. And sure, Bing has different colours for roads, with no indication of what they mean. So if you were born after Pacman or Donkey Kong were a thing, you probaby haven't used an an atlas or road map or know that toll roads on Bing are *squint* teal. You're probably using the app on your phone. Correctly. 

Again, this is a matter of clarity.  Yes the work "tollway" does appear on the google map and in the turn by turn directions.  However, turn by turn directions are lousy when you have to adapt to avoid traffic or... tollroads.  Clearly using a different color of road makes what is and is not a tollway much easier to figure out.

[Altherion]

2 hours ago, Ser Scot A Ellison said:

The maps on Mapquest, Apple iPhones, and Google don't designate (by a color or some other simply display) what roads are and are not toll roads... why not???

I just looked at the route from my old haunts in Warrenville to the center of Chicago and Google Maps correctly identifies I-88 E as a toll road both in the instructions and on the map. Colors in Google Maps are reserved for traffic conditions. I can see why the old ones used colors for tolls, but you can only stuff so much information into a map and in most situations, traffic is more useful than tolls.

1 hour ago, Ser Scot A Ellison said:

They allow you to select "no tolls" which creates special hells unto themselves as, perhaps you don't want to avoid all tolls but just the longest streches?

Think about how you would design an interface for that use case. "Fastest route" (with tolls) is easy, "No tolls" is also easy, but "Some tolls but not others" requires a lot more work. In fact, I think you can do this with Google Maps by dragging around the route or by splitting the route into multiple queries, but I wouldn't want to do it on my phone.

[Ser Scot A Ellison]

6 minutes ago, Altherion said:

I just looked at the route from my old haunts in Warrenville to the center of Chicago and Google Maps correctly identifies I-88 E as a toll road both in the instructions and on the map. Colors in Google Maps are reserved for traffic conditions. I can see why the old ones used colors for tolls, but you can only stuff so much information into a map and in most situations, traffic is more useful than tolls.

Think about how you would design an interface for that use case. "Fastest route" (with tolls) is easy, "No tolls" is also easy, but "Some tolls but not others" requires a lot more work. In fact, I think you can do this with Google Maps by dragging around the route or by splitting the route into multiple queries, but I wouldn't want to do it on my phone.

And this is why I like road atlases.  I can keep the Apple maps for road conditions.  Your point about road conditions is one that I hadn't thought about.  That said normally the "road conditions colors" sort of hover beside the road.  Would it create huge problems to do that over a green (or teal) toll road designation?

[kairparavel]

8 minutes ago, Ser Scot A Ellison said:

Again, this is a matter of clarity.  Yes the work "tollway" does appear on the google map and in the turn by turn directions.  However, turn by turn directions are lousy when you have to adapt to avoid traffic or... tollroads.  Clearly using a different color of road makes what is and is not a tollway much easier to figure out.

Scott, clarity only applies to you back there in 1978. Bing does not provide a legend indicating what mauve, teal, light mauve or yellow means. So unless you were of a certain era/age you have no idea what that map is telling you beyond Bing's fondness for pastel colours. So good luck you back there in 'In My Day'.