ApiaryJun 21, 2024
Google has slowly changed how it displays driving directions to limit routes to ones it thinks burn less fuel. When plugging in the drive to get to my parents it presents one option that uses a ferry. The directions treat the ferry like a bridge that you could use at any time, and it no longer presents alternate routes that use actual roads.
The ferry runs twice a day.
Show threadMarcos DioneJun 21, 2024
@Apiary I wish I could say that any of the #OpenStreetMap based apps would be a nice alternative, but I'm not sure if any takes such data in account, and I'm even less sure if such data is in OSM to begin with (open hours are, but IIRC time tables are not).
Show threadDanielJun 21, 2024

@mdione @Apiary I know OSRM and Valhalla (probably GraphHopper, too) technically can route over ferry routes.

But you're right the data is limited and very basic e.g. see what can be tagged here

https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Tag:route%3Dferry

#1 priority for a routing engine would be figuring out if it's usable for a car and when/how often the ferry is going and it's duration.

Some ferries go every 15 minutes or so and only need a few minutes for crossing; others go daily or even less often. Vastly different.

Tag:route=ferry - OpenStreetMap Wiki

Show threadMarcos DioneJun 21, 2024
@djh (untagging appiary because it's getting technical). I see the only options are duration (good) and interval (not so good). Just like you mention, and the OT says, ferries might run once or twice a day. For those, a time table would be more adapted. Yet, we don't seem to have any tagging like that, do we?
Show threadOzzie D, NP-hard  

@mdione @djh I recently began to use #OrganicMaps on my phone, and I'm gobsmacked by the amount of work its devs and OSM volunteers have put in to making it work so well. Cycling and driving directions in OgMaps typically match up closely with GMaps, but public transport details are much richer in GMaps, at least here in the Boston metro area. Subway stops in OSM often have a link to the "official" page, but no other info (lines, duration, interval, accessibility, etc), and many nodes have no details. (The #MBTA has a public data portal, but I guess auto-import of element details is discouraged.)

Ferries are part of the local public transit system here, but I never use them. Out of curiosity I mapped a route to a ferry terminal in Hingham, ~25 km from my current location. OgMaps/OSM included the ferry in cycling, walking, and public transport routes, but GMaps ignored it in public transport navigation (although it suggested some wacky options, like private bus carriers), even though T -> ferry looks like the second-fastest path (75 minutes) after driving (53 minutes in current traffic). Bike to ferry would take 80 min.

Jun 24, 2024 at 5:16pmWeb
Show threadMarcos DioneJun 25, 2024
@ozdreaming @djh I don't know of any OSM based service that can really compete with gmaps, unluckily. G spends amounts of money/time on it that the communities buildimg these tools can't quite match, and even if for G these might look like cost centers, the amount of info they scrape from them makes them really valuable for them, so I don't expect them to stop investing on them any time soon; same for mail and search at least.