Dairy farmer Robert Morrison says he's increasingly frustrated by misleading satellite navigation directions, which are leading drivers wanting to go to a local hamlet up his private driveway.
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The actual address of his driveway is marked as High Street, Yandoit.
But visitors to the area say Google Maps tells them the driveway will take them to Yandoit, just north of Daylesford.
More recently, the problem had been exacerbated by renovation work, being carried out on a house in Yandoit, the Central highlands farmer said.
"All the tradies come out of Melbourne, of course they all follow Google Maps, but none of them know how to navigate any more.
"So the blue line feeds them through our property and through they go.
"It's not just them, it's people going to Air B&B's, or going for a drive on the weekend and trying to go to High Street (Yandoit) and Google says 'come through here'."
Mr Morrison said locals were also falling into the trap.
"They have become acclimatised to satellite navigation - they don't have to think anymore," he said.
"It was predominantly city people, but I am finding people from Castlemaine even are finding the same thing," he said.
Fears of future accidents
He's resorted to putting up a hand painted sign, near the entrance to his farm, despite prominent biosecurity and Saputo supplier notification on the front gate.
The driveway entrance is also protected by a stock grid.
"We have milk tankers coming through here, we have fuel trucks, semis loaded with fertiliser and even our own machinery - we shouldn't have to expect to run into weekend traffic," he said.
"One of these days somebody will cop a set of hay forks through their windscreen, then who is at fault?".
He feared he would be blamed, if there was an accident.
He said the hand written sign worked more effectively, than the properly printed ones, on the gate.
"I would have thought the biosecurity signs would have pulled people up, I thought the cattle grid would have pulled people up - but no, from what I can gather people have lost the ability to navigate."
He said people would rather drive through the farm, and put up with his "wrath", than figure out how to get where they needed to go.
"I've asked them, do you ever read finger posts, and one young bloke said 'what's a finger post'?" he said.
"In this day and age when we have bird flu and everything else coming at us, you would think that would pull them up.
"I just goes to highlight the general public has no idea of what biosecurity issues we are confronting - none of them know, when I ask them."
'Potentially aiding biosecurity breaches'
He said friends had tried to help him to change the directions on Google Maps and it had stopped people coming up his driveway for a while.
But the map seemed to reset to the inaccurate directions once another car came down the driveway.
"Until we get the authorities on our side, and they are prepared to go after the likes of Google Maps and pull this up and make them accountable for potentially aiding biosecurity breaches, I have no hope of stopping them," he said.
I just goes to highlight the general public has no idea of what biosecurity issues we are confronting - none of them know, when I ask them.
- Dairy farmer Robert Morrison
When ACM's Stock & Land tried to contact Google Maps for a phone number or email, providing the details of the issue, we received the following answer.
"Thank you for posting, and welcome to the Google Maps Community Support Forum," the respondent said.
"Regrettably, there is no way for the community members to contact the Google Maps team.
"The best way is to provide all the details here on the forum.
"Then, the volunteer community members with "product expert" badges can help to forward that to the Google Maps team."
Andrew Miller
I'm a general reporter with Stock & Land, with a special interest in irrigation issues. I completed my cadetship, with the Age, in 1980. Over my career, I've worked for ABC radio news (Mt Isa, Qld) and at provincial and suburban newspapers.
I'm a general reporter with Stock & Land, with a special interest in irrigation issues. I completed my cadetship, with the Age, in 1980. Over my career, I've worked for ABC radio news (Mt Isa, Qld) and at provincial and suburban newspapers.
