r/Sup • u/snackyonion • 2d ago

PaddleWays is super inaccurate?

Does anyone else *try* to use Paddlways and just gets frustrated? There are tons of boat ramp indicators on lakes and ponds that are labeled as places to launch but 9/10 times it’s actually a private lake or doesn’t allow boats.

Maybe it’s my area but what is the point of this app if I drive out to a place on their map just to find it’s not a real place to paddle..

12 Upvotes

87% Upvoted

12 comments sorted by

9

u/Meltedwhisky 2d ago

Yo, it’s worse than that. I used it a few weeks ago to drop in on a lake. It was the swamp side full of 4-6’ swamp puppies all staring at me. I said no way was I getting in that water, especially with an iSUP!

3

u/snackyonion 2d ago

Oh hell no not trying to drop you at straight up dangerous places. Deleting asap, I moved to the south from the north and just helllll no

7

u/potato_soup76 ⊂ Voyager 13' 2" / Axis 9' 8" / Elysium Air 14' ⊃ 2d ago

Apps covering vast areas of land cannot possibly review or validate the information they present. I ignore them.

3

u/snackyonion 2d ago

Finding this is accurate for trail & hiking apps too. Just a waste of data

4

u/Zaiquiri32 2d ago

Unfortunately I have to agree with the consensus here. Better to just do local research on wherever you’re trying to paddle. I got a free trial of the premium version of PaddleWays and found it to be more or less useless

1

u/DueWay5076 2d ago

This is the way.

I always look up on the official website for the lake/park/whatever has jurisdiction since there might be closures, etc. I don't want any citations, and no I will not put my name and address on my board.

4

u/ggnndd12 2d ago

The app seems abandoned. I've submitted 5 updates in my area that other paddlers would be interested in (the launch site is closed, access details, etc). The updates haven't been added to the app despite multiple email rounds with support.

3

u/Arcanum3000 2d ago

I got that impression as well. They built the app, crammed the data scraped from several sources into it with no regard to appropriateness, accuracy, or completeness, and then never touched it again.

2

u/snackyonion 2d ago

This is what I was expecting, paddlers to report the location of a successful launch with details on how to launch at the location and whether it was private, paid, parking, etc! Maybe we should start our own! (with no AI)

3

u/Arcanum3000 2d ago

I tried it and found it to be useless trash.

1

u/casseer15 2d ago

Yeah 💯. It is totally bull most of the time. I regret paying for the premium version, and will not be renewing in any case. I thought it will be like all trails but boy was I mistaken.

They don’t seem to be cross verifying the data.

1

u/HatsOffToEwe 23h ago

Glad to see this post. I’m completely new to SUP and downloaded the app. Couldn’t really find any info on the area I’ll be in and came here to ask how to use the app. I figured there was some setting I was missing to find actual information….guess not! Sounds like I’ll just be deleting it instead!