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Google Maps' Moat

justinobeirne.com

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Re: Google Maps' Moat

#461

Post by [deleted] »

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…

[deleted]

Re: Google Maps' Moat

#462

Post by bob_theslob646 »

jjeaff wrote: post #188
GeneralMayhem wrote: post #162

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The crazy thing to me is that it's pretty decent at estimating even in dynamic traffic conditions. Consider US101 in the Bay area at rush hour - if you leave San Jose around 6pm, you'll drive straight into traffic, but by the time you get to SF it'll be significantly lighter. A lesser algorithm would give you a time prediction based on current traffic speeds at all points along your path, which would give you a wildl…

I just figure they are using the average of other people who took the exact same trip last week when conditions were similar.

They are using people's locations in real time for traffic. >Traffic density is gathered via crowd sourcing from smartphone users using Google Maps on a mobile application in a route. In a nutshell, Google™ is analysing the GPS-determined locations transmitted by a large number of smartphone users. By calculating the speed of users along a length of road, Google™ is able to generate a Live Traffic Google Map™.

https://www.drivingdirectionsandmaps.com/traffic-conditions-...

Re: Google Maps' Moat

#463

Post by suvelx »

chmaynard wrote: post #431

Earlier this year, Google Maps was directing people traveling to my newly-constructed home to a different location several miles away. I reported the problem to Google via their app, which prompted me to indicate the correct location on a map. The new location was in their database within a day or two, and I received a thank-you email from Google. Amazing.

I moved into a newly-constructed home two years ago.

I first tried to correct google, and I was told I was wrong.

So I tried again, and they fixed it.

Then a 'local expert' decided it was wrong and now my address is on the wrong side of the road and none of my attempts to change it to be correct has succeeded.

[edit] It looks like I can't even suggest an edit on it as it's a Post Code that's incorrect.

Re: Google Maps' Moat

#464

Post by bob_theslob646 »

hota_mazi wrote: post #232

The article keeps mentioning satellites but Google's imagery data is mostly provided by planes, not satellites. They have their own fleet of planes, which they have hollowed out and redesigned (with the supervision and authorization of the FAA) and fitted with their cameras. Also, it's not as simple as "Google has a six year lead on Apple in imagery": it's more that Apple can't keep up. As the article correctly state…

It is a combination of data.

> You can see a large collection of imagery in Google Earth, including satellite, aerial, 3D, and Street View images. Images are collected over time from providers and platforms. Images aren't in real time, so you won't see live changes. (https://support.google.com/earth/answer/6327779?hl=en)

I am sure they buy some data from a plethora of companies, such as Harris Geospatial(http://www.harrisgeospatial.com/)

Satellite Data They bought and sold a satellite imagery company, renamed it Terra Bella and then it was acquired by Planet Labs.

> On April 14, 2017, we officially welcomed the Terra Bella team to Planet. Over the next year, our new team will work hard to make SkySat imagery available through the Planet platform. This will take a huge combined effort across our entire organization—from our mission operations and software teams to our product, marketing and sales teams. (https://www.planet.com/terrabella/) (https://www.planet.com/pulse/planet-to-acquire-terra-bella-f...)

Re: Google Maps' Moat

#465

Post by bob_theslob646 »

tomaskafka wrote: post #220

Just in case anyone would ask 'why' or 'where's the money': - even privacy conscious people give their location data to their map app - google maps + google services (android) do everything they can to collect your location data even while not using the app - how to monetize that data? Measuring online-to-offline conversions! Store visits. This is what retail is after. Anyone can take $5M for an ad campaign, but if t…

>- how to monetize that data? Measuring online-to-offline conversions! Store visits. This is what retail is after.

The crazy thing is that I do not believe they have started monetizing maps yet. (Sundar Pichai Implies Google Maps Will Be Monetized With Ads April 28, 2017 - Written By Dominik Bosnjak)[https://www.androidheadlines.com/2017/04/sundar-pichai-impli...]

Re: Google Maps' Moat

#466

Post by spatial_dima »

thriftwy wrote: post #403
skate22 wrote: post #399

Earlier quoted context omitted.

OSM data is highly variable in quality. Features like building footprint geometries will be great in some areas and completely missing in others. This is not easily detectable, and when you pull open a google map, they often have those features.

When going to less developed regions, it's the reverse. You don't even know if towns will be on the map with Google, but with OSM, there's always at least something.

You are spot on here, not sure why you got downvoted.

Re: Google Maps' Moat

#467

Post by bob_theslob646 »

callumprentice wrote: post #132

I wonder how much of this building information comes from the LiDAR data the StreetView cameras capture along with images. It's a couple of years old now but I wrote something to display the 3D point data for any address and was surprised to find just now that it still works. http://callumprentice.github.io/apps/street_cloud/index.html I wonder if there is a more detailed data set available these days.

Does it not depend on the area? I believe that not all street view cars had lidar capability.

Very cool app!

Re: Google Maps' Moat

#468

Post by exadeci »

tigershark wrote: post #297
aluhut wrote: post #292

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

Last time that I checked google maps was vastly superior in all the aspects.

Gmaps is only better in the POI information even much more now as they created this gamification of adding information with Local Guides that they push heavily.

Re: Google Maps' Moat

#469

Post by bob_theslob646 »

amelius wrote: post #414

Aren't building-footprints easy to add using complementary data, such as satellite view and/or street addresses? Perhaps it could be a nice ML project: turning map data + satellite data into fuller looking map data.

>Perhaps it could be a nice ML project: turning map data + satellite data into fuller looking map data.

Yeah, fun ML project. This is how much data there was in 2012... >Combining satellite, aerial and street level imagery, Google Maps has over 20 petabytes of data, which is equal to approximately 21 million gigabytes, or around 20,500 terabytes.Aug 22, 2012(http://mashable.com/2012/08/22/google-maps-facts/#yf0lqw7FlZ...)

Re: Google Maps' Moat

#470

Post by y4mi »

blunte wrote: post #369
alex_duf wrote: post #353

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And if something's wrong you can fix it

Indeed. I have made several approved corrections to Google maps over the years. They are responsive.

OSM is not google though...

but yeah, google approves them occasionally as well

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