How could you get lost in Venice if you use Google maps navigation?

Roberto’s response at the end of this post explains why
https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/italy/any-bus-or-taxi-in-venice-to-avoid-walking-with-luggage-to-hotel

Your phone may not get good service in some of the back canals
Get a good paper map

Again if you tell us your hotel we can help with directions

I think people mean you wander around without using a map and see where you end up. That way you do get "lost". It is also a good way to find things that you may not know of and can happily run into a fun adventure.

When you are done for the day then you consult your map to find your way back to your hotel.

I would not necessarily do that everywhere because some places have areas you may not want to randomly end up.

You're missing the point....

Wandering around and possibly/probably getting lost (so, put the phone in your pocket
and don't look at it for a while) is the goal, not getting to any particular place or seeing
any specific thing in this exercise.

When you've had enough wandering and want to get to the vaporetto stop, pull the
phone out and use the map to get to the stop. With the caveat already mentioned,
that GPS is not always as accurate as the width of a street in Venice, so it could show
you on one street when you're actually on another.

I recall one particular night when my wife and I were trying to find our way back to our accommodations after dinner. It was dark, we had not paid perfect attention to how we ended up where we ate and trying to return, it was one little bridge after another crossing one canal after another. We were pleasantly lost at first but after a while and several dead ends we were getting bit annoyed. Google maps was somewhat helpful and gave us false hope of a route along the edge of the grand canal.... and led us to a spectacular dead end. It also did not seem to like being used in those narrow little alleys and would lose service with annoying regularity.
Google maps alone is not enough.
This makes me recall a time that Google maps took me to an onramp to the NYS thruway. When I arrived, there was nothing but fence. I could see the thruway but there was no way to enter it.

Thank you! I got the point. But that raise another concern about Google maps in Venice. I have a reservation at Bell tower early morning. I can walk or take water bus to there. If walking with Google maps navigation is not accurate in Venice due to narrow streets, is it possible that I really get lost in Venice when I truly need it to help me reach Bell tower on time? Is that a problem?

Should I take water bus instead for Bell tower reservation? or leave hotel earlier?

Getting lost in Venice is one of the great pleasures of life. The idea is simply to turn your phone off, disconnect, and let go of time and orientation. Sometimes we spend a lot of energy about how to get from point A to point B, or how to stay on schedule. There is something very liberating about letting the "I-must-always-be-in-control" part of one's mind have a break. Venice is a great place to wander aimlessly and delight in whatever unfolds around the next corner. Just get off at a random vaporetto stop and start walking in any random direction. The whole point of getting lost in Venice is that one can never get truly lost in Venice.

It used to be that Maps.With.Me tended to be more accurate than Google Maps in Venice, but that may have changed in recent years.
Even when Google Maps is less than perfect, it's still accurate enough to get you to the Campanile.

Get a paper map. Paper never fails. Paper has worked in Venice for five hundred years. Paper never loses signal. The battery for a paper map never goes flat. Paper maps cost about €3. Paper maps never get stolen.

Buy one at any Tabac.

Perhaps it's not that Google Maps that is that inaccurate but rather it is hard for your phone or device to have a full lock on necessary satellites for accurate GPS navigation. This occurs when there are tall structures that block line of sight from your phone to necessary satellites. It's not unique to Google Maps.

That said, you can just as well easily use Google Maps like a paper map. Instead of relying on it to tell you where you are and what directions to take, just look at Google Map like it's static paper and determine from street names where you are and then just chart your course to your destination.

I was in Venice a while ago and didn't find it particularly hard to navigate. Give yourself time and use downloaded offline maps or use a paper map.

I won't go anywhere without a Streetwise folding map.

Also note that in Venice there are often directional signs and arrows on buildings just above your normal line of sight.

The hotel is your best source for that set of directions. They should give you a free paper map and draw your route. And for the bell tower, you can always look up and most likey see it as you approach.
Good luck!

Should I take water bus instead for Bell tower reservation? or leave
hotel earlier?

Without knowing where your hotel is, in relation to P. San Marco and the Campanile, it would be difficult to say. Why not ask the concierge at your hotel? Is your hotel close to a vaporetto stop? If yes, then take a vaporetto to the San Marco stop. Otherwise, download the Google map for Venice and plot the route . Save it for use offline. San Marco is one of the major destinations in Venice. Chances are, if you look at the street names on street corners, you will also see San Marco and an arrow pointing the direction. When in doubt, just ask somebody. Don't be like my husband who can't bring himself to ask a stranger for directions. I'm just the opposite. I'll ask anyone I see.

We found map quest was much more accurate in Venice than goggle maps.

CJean, regarding the husband, been there, done that, adding 5-7,000 extra steps, just last May!😉

I won't go anywhere without a Streetwise folding map.

My Streetwise map for Rome just arrived. There are a number of advantages using an archaic paper [laminated in this case] map - like being able to see your destination, which may not appear on a zoomed in screen.

At many areas in Venice you will see signs high up on the walls pointing to Piazza San Marco or some other location. Follow those to get to the campanile if you googlemaps or Citymapper goes kaput.

I also plot out my route while in the hotel on City mapper then I take screen shots of the route if the area is unfamiliar to me. Do some trials on routes on googlemaps on your laptop and follow them with googlestreet view. You will see what everyone is talking about with the narrow streets and alleyways and high walls. While I never lost coverage I did have my phone battery run down fairly quickly. It was an older phone but that made me realize I needed a power bank AND a new phone, lol.

I know many enjoy the idea of "getting lost". I do not. I don't want to do it in Venice. I don't want to do it in Paris. I don't want to do it anywhere. My brain is just not wired to find that a pleasurable experience so don't feel bad if this way of seeing a city does not work for you. You do you!

Because Google Maps does not work well when a Venetian street ("Calle") is like this one, or this one or this one or this one, or hundreds similar ones.
Sometimes you have to walk to a "Campo" (Square) or "Campiello" (little Square) or to a Fondamenta (street with a Canal) to get the signal you need.

Piazza San Marco is easy to find and well-signed, so no issues there for your "bell tower" visit.
But I remember you mentioning a nighttime arrival in Venice, and you were rightfully advised to stay at a hotel not too far from the train station. That's far enough from San Marco to justify taking the Vaporetto.

Any GPS-based navigation option is going to have trouble when signal is harder to
obtain.

A paper map is great to have but can be more cumbersome and requires you to keep
track of where you are - i.e., you have to pay attention all the time.

The vaporetto will get you very close to the Campenile, but I wouldn't ride it for the first
time if I was in a hurry - multiple lines depart from the same station and you have to pay
attention to make sure you get on the right line. I would say, though, that a vaporetto pass
is a great way to get around at a more efficient cost than buying a bunch of single tickets.

As for walking, you don't have to walk down the side streets all the time - just scope out
a route that is down a more traveled set of streets and you should be fine.

I've been to Venice six or seven times and never gotten lost there.

Yes, you can find some remote out of the way streets, but it is not hard to find your way. I suggest getting a map and forget your phone.