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DuckDuckGo Expands Use of Apple Maps

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Re: DuckDuckGo Expands Use of Apple Maps

#31

Post by scrooched_moose »

bilbo0s wrote: post #28
oldgun wrote: post #21

Not sure if it's a lot to ask, but I'll consider it a killer app if DDG can let user opt which map source to choose from? e.g. Some may prefer Google, and some may prefer openstreetmap? Just a thought.

Pretty sure you can forget about DDG supporting Google. The whole point of DDG is privacy. Not sure how they could use Google and still keep your location information private?

They do have the !g option in their search though. If you aren't happy with the results, append your string with !g and it will send you to google results. You do lose the privacy layer though.

From a purely privacy standpoint this isn't much different.

There are a ton of other bang options here:

https://duckduckgo.com/bang?

Re: DuckDuckGo Expands Use of Apple Maps

#32

Post by Naac »

bilbo0s wrote: post #28
oldgun wrote: post #21

Not sure if it's a lot to ask, but I'll consider it a killer app if DDG can let user opt which map source to choose from? e.g. Some may prefer Google, and some may prefer openstreetmap? Just a thought.

Pretty sure you can forget about DDG supporting Google. The whole point of DDG is privacy. Not sure how they could use Google and still keep your location information private?

DDG already "supports" google via !g searches

Re: DuckDuckGo Expands Use of Apple Maps

#34

Post by bilbo0s »

Naac wrote: post #32
bilbo0s wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Pretty sure you can forget about DDG supporting Google. The whole point of DDG is privacy. Not sure how they could use Google and still keep your location information private?

DDG already "supports" google via !g searches

Which are explicitly required to be non-private.

Users know this and are cautioned, explicitly against using it for that very reason.

Now if you don't care that google knows your information, then yeah, just use google maps. But a user must be at DDG for some reason right? And that reason is as likely to be privacy as it is not. So if you're at DDG for privacy, why ask for all google information?

Re: DuckDuckGo Expands Use of Apple Maps

#35

Post by maroonparty »

oldgun wrote: post #21

Not sure if it's a lot to ask, but I'll consider it a killer app if DDG can let user opt which map source to choose from? e.g. Some may prefer Google, and some may prefer openstreetmap? Just a thought.

you can set your preferred Directions Source in the settings to google

Re: DuckDuckGo Expands Use of Apple Maps

#36

Post by encoderer »

rootusrootus wrote: post #30
cletus wrote: post #3

I think of Apple Maps the same way I think of North Korea's missile program: I know it exists and it has continent-level accuracy.

I use it all the time. In Portland it is as good as GMaps is at navigating fastest route during heavy traffic. Which is to say, not perfect, but adequate. It has yet to take me to the wrong location.

Same, in SFBA.

Re: DuckDuckGo Expands Use of Apple Maps

#37

Post by larrysalibra »

I thought people complaining in the comments were just being critical, but I clicked the “coffee shops” example search in the post - I’m in Hong Kong - and it showed me only 2 results:

One coffee shop in Hong Kong and one on the other side of the Pearl River Delta in Macau. That’s pretty bad. Screenshot here: https://twitter.com/larrysalibra/status/1151182624108318720?...

Re: DuckDuckGo Expands Use of Apple Maps

#38

Post by ilikehurdles »

rootusrootus wrote: post #30
cletus wrote: post #3

I think of Apple Maps the same way I think of North Korea's missile program: I know it exists and it has continent-level accuracy.

I use it all the time. In Portland it is as good as GMaps is at navigating fastest route during heavy traffic. Which is to say, not perfect, but adequate. It has yet to take me to the wrong location.

I also exclusively use it in Colorado. There are times when I'm on heavily-trafficked mountain routes where I've swapped to google maps expecting to get a better ETA estimate or detour suggestions, but I haven't seen it perform any better in those cases either. I feel like I trust GMaps more in the mountains but I haven't tested that trust lately.

Privacy reasons aside, I just despise using GMaps for its clashing app styling on iOS and seemingly heavier battery usage. Apple Maps' design feels like it gets out of your way and focuses on the things that matter.

Re: DuckDuckGo Expands Use of Apple Maps

#40

Post by burlesona »

This is cool to see, and I think should be a virtuous cycle. As I understand it, maps is the kind of thing where more usage really helps make the map better, and while DDG doesn’t bring the scale of being the iphone’s default map, it should be adding a non-trivial amount of traffic.

I’ve used Apple Maps as my primary map since it came out, and I’ve only gotten a wrong location one time in literally thousands of searches, and that was years ago. It wasn’t really ready when it launched, but it has gotten consistently better over time. The UX is great, in many cases the satellite imagery is more up-to-date compared to Google, and it doesn’t maul my battery to use. Not saying it’s clearly better than Google, because it isn’t, but for my usage it’s more than “good enough,” and I love to see Apple’s privacy respecting products compete effectively with big G.

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