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Google Maps' Moat

justinobeirne.com

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Re: Google Maps' Moat

#351

Post by sytelus »

kbart wrote: post #277
sytelus wrote: post #142

Many 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…

"Google maps are so much better than anything out there." I'd take Nokia's Here anytime instead of Google Maps (offline maps alone are worth it). Also, I honestly don't understand a logic behind crediting something as complex to a single person ("a hero") -- "S. Jobs created iPhone", "M. Mayer created Google Maps" etc., there were whole teams of smart people working on these projects, I'm sure they would have been fi…

Google maps works offline in most countries. I wouldn’t have survived my International trips without it. I’ve used Google map for public transit in many countries. Most time I get SIM card while travelling just to use Google maps.

Re: Google Maps' Moat

#352

Post by dorgo »

kbart wrote: post #294
raverbashing wrote: post #290

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> "S. Jobs created iPhone", "M. Mayer created Google Maps" etc., there were whole teams of smart people working on these projects Of course there were smart people working on it. But someone has to have long term and execution vision to make these happen Today it's obvious that was the path, at the time, not so much

Smartphones were obvious decades before iPhone (see Sci-Fi and PDA's), it's just that technology wasn't mature enough before. The rest is just a speculation -- I might say that S. Jobs could had been replaced by Joe and iPhone would have been a success anyway, you may might disagree and there's no way to prove one point or another.

Not every technology used in Sci-Fi and mature enough is a big success in real world. But it's not easy to find examples. Maybe Automatic pocket doors from Star Trek?

Re: Google Maps' Moat

#353

Post by alex_duf »

rmc wrote: post #322
erdbeerkuchen wrote: post #307

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Incredible. I'm a big fan of google maps but the map of my neighborhood is much much clearer on openstreetmaps than on google maps.

And if you don't like how OSM is showing something, you're free¹ to take the data and make your own map showing your own things. [1] free to set up a rendering database that is

And if something's wrong you can fix it

Re: Google Maps' Moat

#354

Post by rmc »

maxerickson wrote: post #97
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 seve…

> is available for the low price of attribution

That depends. The OSM licence requirements depends on what you do. If you don't produce a geo database, then there's only an attribution requirement, otherwise you have to attribute and release changes to the data you made, along with any other data that you mixed in.

It's like BSD for some uses, and GPL for others.

Re: Google Maps' Moat

#355

Post by sytelus »

lucideer wrote: post #314
sytelus wrote: post #142

Many 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…

> Many people don't realize why Google maps are so much better than anything out there. Really have to chime in here to echo other comments - this statement is astounding. Given the resources that have been available to them, and the time they've spent on developing their platform and data, it's amazing how bad Google maps is compared to everything else. Google Street View has unparalleled photographic data, and thei…

Do you have public transit in major countries, business listing, up to date open hours, reviews, walking directions, terrain view, My Maps feature, offline maps, offline directions, high quality coverage in dozens of countries, ability to search through other people’s list, street view, high detail satellite view and so on in said services?

Re: Google Maps' Moat

#356

Post by rmc »

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…

> 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?

When OSM started in 2004 (before Google Maps), the only real place you could get map data was from governments. The idea of everyone walking around with GPSes to make their own map sounds like it'll never work. And yet here we are.

> This isn't a case like Wikipedia where it entered a market that was barely there (e.g. online/software encyclopedias).

The encyclopedia market did exist, for decades, before Wikipedia. I'll bet very few people are buying family encyclopedias now.

Re: Google Maps' Moat

#357

Post by blubb-fish »

aluhut wrote: post #292
sytelus wrote: post #142

Many 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…

No love for OpenStreetMaps here? In Germany it is often superior to everything out there. Especially due to the mappers/updaters motivation and nice gamification tools like StreetComplete or more professional tools like Vespucci. https://github.com/westnordost/StreetComplete http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Vespucci

I also like OSM a lot but it has serious flaws. For example searching for specific addresses or POIs is cumbersome.

Re: Google Maps' Moat

#358

Post by nicoboo »

NelsonMinar wrote: post #2

It sure is nice having Justin O'Bierne writing publically about maps again. His old 41Latitude blog was phenomenal and then got blackholed when he went to work at Apple Maps. Then he left Apple and is back in the free world and doing phenomenal analysis of digital mapping like this article. I can't wait for him to finish his book.

Definitely the most detailed analysis about map readability and features selection over time and in different areas.

We might disagree on some points but his work is truly amazing and always interesting.

I agree with you over his previous blog and about his position at Apple Maps, great to see him doing what he does best.

Re: Google Maps' Moat

#359

Post by alex_duf »

aluhut wrote: post #292
sytelus wrote: post #142

Many 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…

No love for OpenStreetMaps here? In Germany it is often superior to everything out there. Especially due to the mappers/updaters motivation and nice gamification tools like StreetComplete or more professional tools like Vespucci. https://github.com/westnordost/StreetComplete http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Vespucci

I never heard of street complete before, thanks!
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