Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Google Maps' Moat

justinobeirne.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

91–100 of 619 posts

Re: Google Maps' Moat

#91

Post by ken »

wutbrodo wrote: post #25

Is there a reason anyone uses Apple Maps, aside from wanting to avoid Google out of principle/privacy/monoculture concerns? To be clear, these are entirely legitimate reasons, but I was wondering if the product has any direct benefits for the user (which is a coherent subset of reasons given the modal users' level of concern about systemic issues). I'm not trying to randomly snipe at Apple here, I just know very litt…

Google Maps doesn't work well at all on one of my Macs. In Safari, the 2D view works, but the 3D view doesn't work. In Chrome, the satellite tiles are all black (but the roads are visible). In Firefox, the satellite and roads are both black.

It's the same (and most recent) version of all these browsers as my other Mac, where it works fine. How does one debug this? I've tried googling (ha) for every combination of words I can imagine. Google's tech support seems basically nonexistent, for their free services.

Or I can just open Maps.app, and it always works. The data isn't as good but it's not terrible, and at least the basics work fine. I'm not a heavy maps user so that's good enough for me.

Re: Google Maps' Moat

#92

Post by Viper007Bond »

encoderer wrote: post #83
Viper007Bond wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you ever manage to get where you're actually trying to go though? ;) In all seriousness, I've found Apple Maps search to be absolutely horrendous, either missing places or having them in the wrong spot.

Let me give the experiment more time, it’s only been a few thousand miles, but so far I’ve found it in SF Bay Area to be equally as good. And I prefer it’s design to google maps or waze. Did you try recently or in the 2011 debut debacle era? Honestly for the longest time it was in my junk folder due to bad early experiences.

I'll admit it has been a while but it was more recently than 2011.

Re: Google Maps' Moat

#93

Post by ghshephard »

Lunatic666 wrote: post #40
dvt wrote: post #31

I accidentally used Apple Maps once as I was going to a (new) doctor's office. I realized I was using Apple maps halfway through my drive and I joked with myself that it wouldn't bring me to the right place. I was heading to a fairly large medical complex in Orange County (CA) and I sort-of had an idea of where I was going anyway, but boy, was I wrong. According to Apple maps, the doctor's office was literally in the…

In Singapore the Apple Maps capabilities seem to be a little better, after they introduced bus lines a couple of months ago I’m using it as my main guide to go around the city or when I’m lost. The general direction is always correct, points of interest or businesses are sometimes missing, but it feels like they’re improving, so I don’t think they gave up on it. I think they just don’t put so much effort on it compar…

The problem in Singapore is that Apple (or whoever they contract this to) hasn't updated major parts of the city in several years - Go take a look at Maxwell Road near the Singapore Chinese Cultural Center connecting to Central Blvd from Straits Blvd - that road hasn't been there since 2015 (at least, maybe longer) - but Apple Still says that it exists and uses it for directions.

Maps are one area where Apple has a "meh, good enough" attitude, but Google really seems to want to really bring the next level of quality.

Re: Google Maps' Moat

#94

Post by kumarvvr »

bobdole1234 wrote: post #68
mastax wrote: post #63

Great article, but it has me thinking: what is holding Apple back? My ideas: - Apple is just a few years behind; they launched a decade later. Come back in 3 years and they'll be close to parity. - Apple only needs Maps to be good enough to avoid PR disaster, since they need a reasonable default on iOS. On the other hand Google needs to be good enough to beat competitors since they want to make money on traffic, usag…

About 3GW of computing power. No really. Apple lacks the raw computing capacity to be able to pull this off, even if they had the algorithms and data already.

With their cash pile, they could surely expand, considering the long term returns on such expansion of computing power. Maybe Apple just dosent see the need to improve or dosent see any revenue potential with Maps.

Re: Google Maps' Moat

#95

Post by freehunter »

mythrwy wrote: post #65
jld wrote: post #7

Google Maps is my pick for the coolest website on the internet. Truly a killer app.

Well said. It kills an old Core2 laptop I have. Literally crashes Linux. My fault of course for using that laptop, but sometimes I forget because it basically works for most other things.

I stopped using Google Maps on the desktop a while back because it would kill a octo-core AMD system with 12GB of RAM in Chrome. Bing Maps might not be better as a map, but the best map is the one that loads and lets you scroll, right?

I switch to Apple Maps on mobile when Google stopped letting me search for directions without signing in.

Incredible piece of technology, destroyed by real bad product decisions.

Re: Google Maps' Moat

#96

Post by ghaff »

canoebuilder wrote: post #82
ghaff wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Up to a point. At that point an autonomous system needs to be able to interpret and react to the physical world as it actually is at the moment as opposed to how it's supposed to be.

Good point, the map is not the territory and the cars are engaging with the territory. Another interesting thing to consider, should there be widespread use of autonomous vehicles is the absolutely massive deployment of digital sensors that would entail, and who would use this data and to what ends? It would basically be realtime Streetview.

There's a fairly steady stream of posts here about data/privacy/etc. It's easy to pillory companies for violating privacy rules in various ways or mishandling data. However, given that data can't be reliably anonymized and that a lot of things that happen in public have simply never been systematically recorded in the past, there are a lot of fundamental questions over what sorts of data should be recorded when they provide legitimate value to users.

As a hypothetical, what if autonomous driving is seen to depend on what many would see as invasive data collection and monitoring? Should it be permitted? That's a hypothetical, but I don't think there's an obvious answer to the question as posed.

Re: Google Maps' Moat

#97

Post by maxerickson »

cooper12 wrote: post #74

Hmm, this really does make me worried for OpenStreetMap. If the competition is so powerful and has a moat protecting it that will only grow larger, how can it ever hope to catch up? This isn't a case like Wikipedia where it entered a market that was barely there (e.g. online/software encyclopedias). Instead, you have to face off against giants with enormous resources and the money for any type of data. Amateur volunt…

Niantic switched Pokémon Go and Ingress over to using OpenStreetMap as the base map last week.

That's one way OSM can compete with Google, it is available for the low price of attribution. Pokémon players have quite some interest in improving OSM.

OSM can also end up with data for things that Google doesn't find interesting. Google doesn't have the nice walking path/bike trail in a local park that I added to OSM several years ago.

Re: Google Maps' Moat

#98

Post by [deleted] »

danso wrote: post #39
mcrady wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I launched Google Maps for mobile in 2005. In 2006, Eric Schmidt was worried that Yahoo Go was a killer app. My claim that Google Maps was the real killer app fell on deaf ears. :)

I consider myself an old tech geek but "Yahoo Go" rings absolutely no bells for me. What was Google Maps for mobile in 2005? Those were flip phone days for me.

[deleted]

Re: Google Maps' Moat

#99

Post by bobdole1234 »

kumarvvr wrote: post #94
bobdole1234 wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

About 3GW of computing power. No really. Apple lacks the raw computing capacity to be able to pull this off, even if they had the algorithms and data already.

With their cash pile, they could surely expand, considering the long term returns on such expansion of computing power. Maybe Apple just dosent see the need to improve or dosent see any revenue potential with Maps.

Apple is actually paying for Google's capacity.

http://www.crn.com/news/cloud/300080062/cloud-makes-for-stra...

Re: Google Maps' Moat

#100

Post by freehunter »

Viper007Bond wrote: post #75
encoderer wrote: post #43

I recently switched to Apple maps primary for car play after 10+ years. I haven’t looked back. Building outlines are not much of a moat for me.

Do you ever manage to get where you're actually trying to go though? ;) In all seriousness, I've found Apple Maps search to be absolutely horrendous, either missing places or having them in the wrong spot.

In the Midwest, Google isn't that great either. On a site I run I often have automatically-generated links to Google Maps where my software puts the business name and then the street address into a Google Maps search and half the time it fails. But if I just put the address without the business name, it brings me to the right spot.

Driving to my grandparents house until two or three years ago, Google would route you off a paved highway down an impassable two-track road only to bring you back around to the highway later.

When you're up against that kind of technology, Apple Maps doesn't seem so painful.

Post reply on HN