I searched for the word "scary" in the comments and found 0 occurrences. Are you serious???!!!
Google Maps' Moat
241–250 of 619 posts
Re: Google Maps' Moat
#242Earlier quoted context omitted.
This is all true, but of course there will always be a few missing features that seem so obvious and useful that you wonder why they still don't have them. For me it's one or two announcements of the actual destination address at the end of the drive. If it's not an address I'm familiar with and not a business with a sign out front, by the time I get there I've usually forgotten the street number! But when I arrive a…
For me the problem with Google Maps is how appallingly badly it fails when things go wrong. The offline mode is prone to silently getting locked in "rerouting" and just completely leaving me hanging for 10 minutes at a time. And if it loses gps signal, it doesn't seem to think the driver needs to know about this. A Silent failure is terrible.
My Google Maps tells me every time when I lose GPS Signal.
Re: Google Maps' Moat
#243I 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…
I was using Apple Maps a few weeks ago, and wanted to get something to eat. I saw a place called “Shake Shack” and decided to go there. Not only did it not exist, I checked online, there has never been a Shake Shack in my town, there’s only a handful in my country. How Apple Maps got that wrong, I honestly don’t know. Where did the data come from, and why is it that incorrect? I reported it, and it’s since been remov…
Apple Maps still struggles with POI accuracy, and speed of map data updates, but it's much better than it was since launch.
Re: Google Maps' Moat
#244Earlier quoted context omitted.
I think they understood the economics of depending on an external source for a core part of their business. Much like Netflix, they understood that the way forward was to generate their own content.
Then why is Netflix depending on AWS for the core of their business (their delivery platform)? Prime video is their main competitor. It’s like UPS renting its trucks from fedEx.
netflix realized that content delivery is no longer a core part of the business when they stopped sending out DVDs in the mail.
instead, they've spent all their energies since on amassing the most lucrative content they can. this is why they started making their own original series and why disney has (implicitly) made the argument that they should be allowed to buy fox.
same as in the UPS & fedex example. the trucks are not core to the business. efficient logistics is.
Re: Google Maps' Moat
#245Earlier quoted context omitted.
I was using Apple Maps a few weeks ago, and wanted to get something to eat. I saw a place called “Shake Shack” and decided to go there. Not only did it not exist, I checked online, there has never been a Shake Shack in my town, there’s only a handful in my country. How Apple Maps got that wrong, I honestly don’t know. Where did the data come from, and why is it that incorrect? I reported it, and it’s since been remov…
Google's not infallible either. I was looking at a map and noticed that it labelled a restaurant called OPH in Chanhassen, MN. The Original Pancake House is one of my favorite restaurants and is sometimes abbreviated OPH, so I was intrigued. Going to the street view you can see that it's a purely residential area with a park and a pool and no restaurant in sight. Try it for yourself.
I just tried it and ended up being sent here:
https://www.google.com.au/maps/@44.8508646,-93.4259796,3a,15...
Back out of Street View and you'll see I've landed at Prairie Center Dr, Eden Prairie, MN. Is this right?
What's interesting is that if I type "oph chanha" Maps autocompletes "OPH Summerfield Drive, Chanhassen, MN, USA" but then if I hit Enter, it thinks for a fraction of a second then just stops dead. If I hit Enter again it comes up with no results. Interesting glitch!
I did the autocomplete test in incognito to get non-cookie/history-polluted results.
Re: Google Maps' Moat
#246Many people don't realize why Google maps are so much better than anything out there. I would actually give lot of credit to Marissa Mayer who suddenly became in charge of maps from otherwise more higher position. Thanks to her influence in Google SLT and ability to make impressive arguments, she was able to make a case for maps as core pillar in Google's offering and consequently obtain huge investment and large tal…
I prefer apple maps to google maps for most use cases.
Re: Google Maps' Moat
#247Earlier quoted context omitted.
I think they understood the economics of depending on an external source for a core part of their business. Much like Netflix, they understood that the way forward was to generate their own content.
Then why is Netflix depending on AWS for the core of their business (their delivery platform)? Prime video is their main competitor. It’s like UPS renting its trucks from fedEx.
My understanding is Netflix uses their own CDN for delivery not AWS.
Re: Google Maps' Moat
#248> But you can’t call a self-driving car and say “oh, I live in the white building and the door is around the corner”.
Not until twenty minutes from now...
(By the time these cars need it, it will be easy to implement, is my point.)
Re: Google Maps' Moat
#249[deleted]
Re: Google Maps' Moat
#250I 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…
To offer a counterpoint, I decided to start alternating between Apple Maps and Google Maps a few months ago and — so far — I haven’t been led astray by Apple Maps. I do live in L.A., however, which is probably among the best case scenarios for Apple Maps at the moment. Google does have the better product, but for the most part I can see Apple Maps being at least “good enough” for my use, much the same way that Safari…
i so badly want apple maps to be good enough but it's not there yet. maps is the only google product i use regularly (i use apple maps maybe 20% of the time).
apple has hundreds of billions in the bank, so they could easily fix the problem if they wanted to. but they (mistakenly, imho) don't see it as core to their business so it limps along like it does.