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Google Maps' Moat

justinobeirne.com

371–380 of 619 posts

Re: Google Maps' Moat

#371
Google Maps is also unbelievable when finding trains and such in other countries with a strange language. When I was in Japan I heavily used Google Maps because I could search using the latin (?) alphabet and get the correct kanji in return.

Without Google Maps, I would have been lost a lot more. With Google Maps I easily could find bus rides and stuff that otherwise would have been impossible.

Re: Google Maps' Moat

#372

I just wish that they would combine Waze and Google Maps. The Google Maps UI is SO MUCH NICER than Waze. It truly pains me to use Waze because it's so ugly. But at least in my area, it's much more effective at routing me around traffic (sometimes too aggressive, but I'd rather err on that side), and its warnings for things like accidents and objects on the road are incredibly useful. I use Waze every single day for m…

I guess it's a matter of preference. I prefer the Waze UI when I'm driving. I find it easier to see the route to follow.

Re: Google Maps' Moat

#373
post #270
post #255

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nokia's Here Maps is likewise superior.

I often heard that but always found Google's navigation better. Esp in European cities, where Google Maps will show street names in the map and Here won't (as of 6 months ago). I really wanted to get away from Google maps (to not use Google for everything) but found it to be clearly superior.

In my experience, it's actually (continental) Europe (A, D, HU, SI, CZ) that makes weaning off GM for PTP navigation rather easy...

Re: Google Maps' Moat

#374

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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?

Except for the "high quality coverage" (which previous poster in fact disputes), what has that to do with his argument "on a purely cartographic level" ?

Re: Google Maps' Moat

#375

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Or, if OpenStreetMap is lacking in your local area, help out! OpenStreetMap thrives when local mappers are involved. Compare this section of a Dutch city: Google: https://www.google.nl/maps/@53.1983621,5.767509,16z?hl=nl OpenStreetMap: https://www.openstreetmap.org/#map=16/53.1986/5.7679 Apple: (I guess Apple maps can't be linked to on the web?) It also helps a lot if your government can be persuaded to open up their…

FYI, you can link to Apple Maps [0]. The equivalent URL isn't really much different [1]. A bit unfortunate that there's no consensus on the URL params between providers, though. Trying to open that link on macOS from either Firefox or Safari shows a modal asking if I want to open it with the Maps app. I'm not sure what happens on iOS, but I'd expect something similar. IMO, the lack of web client for Apple Maps makes…

> IMO, the lack of web client for Apple Maps makes it the worst of the bunch. Vendor lock-in is a tragedy.

Yeah, on any other OS your [1] just redirects to Google Maps:

https://www.google.com/maps/@53.1972615,5.7689729,17.5z

Re: Google Maps' Moat

#376

One thing I really appreciate about Google Maps is how accurate the times are. There have been numerous times where google maps says is will take x minutes to get there and I think "Nah, I'll be able to get there faster than that." Nope, I've never had google maps be off by more than a minute or so. I think it must take into account not just road conditions and traffic, but also how much I am likely to go over the sp…

I wish they introduced a "motorcycle" vehicle type. At least for cities, it makes a big difference in arrival time estimations.

Re: Google Maps' Moat

#377
post #315

Earlier quoted context omitted.

EVERYTHING Google does is "how to show more ads". I pity the poor AI they develop because that will be its job in life. Until it rebels of course. Then humanity's fate will be richly deserved.

Richly ? Like in terminator or like in Asimov's foundation ?

Like in Paperclip Maximizer, except instead of paperclips, the universe will be tiled with humans forever clicking on ads.

Re: Google Maps' Moat

#378
post #298

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Same in Netherlands. Google Maps has recently become worse and worse. Small pedestrian roads are missing, and the navigation is getting stupid. Google applies the one-way limitations for cars also on cycling routes.

To go with the comparison mentioned in the article though, Apple maps doesn’t even have an option to cycle at the moment. I never use it in London for just that reason. They’ve decided that it’s more important to add ride sharing as an option before cycling in what I can only assume is a product of their being in suburban America.

Cycling is a relatively new feature even on Google maps. I believe it appeared about three years ago?

While Apple is still playing catch-up, it appears to me that cycling, and all other features mentioned in the article, are exceptionally ameliorable to machine learning, and its advances over the last few years.

Apple being the only other company in the world with access to the wealth of position data on users' phones, and the financial muscle to purchase any satellite images they want to get their hands on, shouldn't have too much of a difficulty of replicating these.

Re: Google Maps' Moat

#379

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't understand why this would be a problem. Apple Maps is not competing with Google Maps. Apple Maps is simply there so Apple can provide turn-by-turn navigation out of the box without paying Google for it. The fact that Google Maps is free to consumers is irrelevant, because it's not free for Apple to bundle with iOS.

> Apple Maps is not competing with Google Maps. Uhh, it 100% is. The fact that I don't use Google Maps and use Apple Maps instead means that it's in direct competition.

Maybe you're both right? I do think there's a different type of competition here. Apple has their own mapping app as a hygiene feature of their platform, whereas Google is building out Google Maps as a platform of itself.

I'm sure Apple would love it if you used Maps so much that it created ecosystem locking, but I doubt Apple is too upset that you downloaded Google Maps on your iPhone.

Re: Google Maps' Moat

#380
post #292

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

Wow, thanks a lot for sharing. It looks wonderful.

One thing that I am wondering is: as much reluctant as I am in using Google services, I must admit that Google Map is unbeaten -- in my own experience -- in finding the quickest route in traffic. Is there any alternative service for this purpose?

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