The article conclude stating that you should still know more than maps and decide by your own, but it gets against the whole idea of using the apps in the first place.

I do use google maps because it has more information than i do else i wouldn't use it at all.

In particular, i think the story is the perfect case of what's happening when the only metric available to evaluate a route is ETA.

I would say this is a missing feature which i would call `Route difficulty` or similar.

This would be the same concept used in some cooking recipies that have tags stating if the recipie is doable for a beginner.

I think, as part of the `Route difficulty` metrics they could use:

- number of petrol stations and distances

- road slope (more than 30 deg could be challenging)

- traffic (if something happen, how many people will pass by to have support)

Having this additional metrics would make the life so much easier and safer to evaluate the best route to take.

Does no one carry a physical mapbook these days? I always keep one in the back just for situations like these.