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DuckDuckGo Expands Use of Apple Maps

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Re: DuckDuckGo Expands Use of Apple Maps

#91
post #89

> For example, try a query such as "coffee shops" and zoom in on the map to refine your search. There is exactly one result for "coffee shops" in San Francisco. The tech and privacy initiatives sound good, but unfortunately the data needs work to pass basic sanity checks. https://duckduckgo.com/?q=coffee+shops&ia=web&iaxm=maps&stri... Edit: Searching for "coffee shop" (singular) shows many more results. Perhaps the b…

It's a fun example, imagine how garbage search in languages that have more than one case is is. :/

Re: DuckDuckGo Expands Use of Apple Maps

#92
post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Does preferences->search->provide search suggestions=(unchecked) not do what you want?

Also in Firefox you can opt to have an entirely separate search box and address box.....it's somewhere in appearance settings.

I have a separate search and address box! It doesn't change the behavior.

If you have a bookmark "Hello World!" pointing to "example.com" and type "Hello" the selected option will be "Search with Google" and not the top bookmark entry.

Re: DuckDuckGo Expands Use of Apple Maps

#93
post #89

> For example, try a query such as "coffee shops" and zoom in on the map to refine your search. There is exactly one result for "coffee shops" in San Francisco. The tech and privacy initiatives sound good, but unfortunately the data needs work to pass basic sanity checks. https://duckduckgo.com/?q=coffee+shops&ia=web&iaxm=maps&stri... Edit: Searching for "coffee shop" (singular) shows many more results. Perhaps the b…

"coffee shop" on the other hand yields 20 results. I agree that some support for fuzzy search is needed, but there is a reasonable amount of data there.

Re: DuckDuckGo Expands Use of Apple Maps

#94
post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is a chrome flag you can toggle: omnibox-drive-suggestions Alternatively, use Firefox.

Firefox (at least for me) does the same thing and pushes search results before websites. I have to arrow or tab down 4-5 selections before I get to the first website result in the url/search bar.

Options->Search->untick "Show search suggestions ahead of browsing history in address bar results"

Re: DuckDuckGo Expands Use of Apple Maps

#95
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.

No, you don't get to choose. You have to be privacy first which narrows it down to DDG and Apple. Deal with it.

Re: DuckDuckGo Expands Use of Apple Maps

#96
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.

Given that North Korea has been able to place satellites into sun synchronous orbit, its missile program has far better than continent-level accuracy.

Re: DuckDuckGo Expands Use of Apple Maps

#97
post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I saw an Apple "street view" car in Chicago yesterday, looked to be one of the newest model Toyota Priuses. Honestly had no clue Apple was in the street level imaging space until I saw that car and started looking around the web to learn more. It turns out, and to answer your question more directly, 2019 is apparently a pilot year for a lot of initiatives with Apple Maps. It's got my curiosity, that's for sure. https…

Apple's new "look around" street view competitor looks really impressive. Rather than being a series of photo spheres and smearing between them as you move, the buildings and other objects are built out from 3D scans so that it can have accurate perspective as you move down the street. There's still fudging for small objects like overhead powerlines, lampposts, trees, and street signs which don't get picked up in det…

Apple's new "look around" street view competitor looks really impressive.

That's something that stood out immediately as it passed, their camera dome was actively spinning, at a pretty high RPM. Unsure if Google Maps cars are using similar technology, or if their imaging apparatus is still one pod with multiple cameras placed along laterally-I haven't seen one here recently.

Re: DuckDuckGo Expands Use of Apple Maps

#98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Apple have shown times and times again that they wouldn't let 3rd party do shady things into their own Maps app, that's the whole reason they got rid of Google Maps. That's a baseless accusation.

Apple has taken good stances on most privacy issues, but Apple Maps is poorly run. The main failure is not having something akin to a Google Scout, whereby iOS users could submit info about businesses and streets that lack data. Apple instead hires a ton of contractors in Austin (and now India) to manually trace roads and guess business hours based on anonymized GPS traces. Apple lacks the scale of Google's army of u…

There’s an easy way for users to submit feedback/fixes to Apple maps, I used to do it all the time. The best (?) part is they’ll notify you on your device when the issue is fixed, typically in a day or two. Nowadays the only time I’ve submitted a fix is in a really small town no one goes to.

Re: DuckDuckGo Expands Use of Apple Maps

#99

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 searc…

> Not saying it’s clearly better than Google If privacy is worth something to you, it’s clearly better than Google. I, too, use Apple as my primary map. In many cases, Apple Maps is better Google. The ones in which it’s behind are more than made up for by Apple’s values.

Interesting. Here in UK Apple maps seem to be a barren wasteland, at least up here in the north of England. Anything outside of major cities is exactly how my first Garmin satnav looked circa 2003 - lines going through absolute nothingness. And wow, don't even get me started about voice navigation - it constantly picks a wrong address, like 90% of the time. Google maps is pretty bad too(absolutely zero clue about one way streets or no left/right turns) but at least most POIs are actually there.

Re: DuckDuckGo Expands Use of Apple Maps

#100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Apple have shown times and times again that they wouldn't let 3rd party do shady things into their own Maps app, that's the whole reason they got rid of Google Maps. That's a baseless accusation.

Apple has taken good stances on most privacy issues, but Apple Maps is poorly run. The main failure is not having something akin to a Google Scout, whereby iOS users could submit info about businesses and streets that lack data. Apple instead hires a ton of contractors in Austin (and now India) to manually trace roads and guess business hours based on anonymized GPS traces. Apple lacks the scale of Google's army of u…

This is not 100% true, if you go to an existing business listing and scroll to the bottom there's a "report an issue" option. Apple has fixed my reported issues within a few days in the past.

In another sense I'm not sure why it should matter to the end user how many interns Apple hires to do things behind the scenes. I'm imagining that Apple is well aware of these shortcomings. Not only that I wonder if operational information observations like this quickly become outdated. i.e. it's all manual and terrible until somebody gets around to automating it.

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