Live data from Hacker News

Redefining what a map can be with new information and AI

blog.google

141–150 of 293 posts

Re: Redefining what a map can be with new information and AI

#142
post #120

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>>I don't use Maps to express my environmental values Actually, you do. Your environmental values happen to be efficiency (Km/hour) trumps efficiency (Km/gram of CO2). You wish the software to continue to express only your environmental values. It is an activist stance nonetheless.

What percentage of the limited time in your life is worth what level of impact on climate change? Do something much more likely to be useful: implement a reasonable, even revenue-neutral carbon tax and stop with this non-sense.

To pseudo-quote quote Clay Shirky: nothing will work, everything might.

Re: Redefining what a map can be with new information and AI

#143
post #28

What I want is an option to find the route with the least amount of turns. I live in a place with little to no urban planning and extremely confusing street layout, and Google will consistently choose very twisty routes, only to later zoom out the map and find that I could have followed an L or S shaped route with just one or two turns.

I got a route from them recently that wanted me to turn left on a six lane road, no traffic light, to make a quick right turn from the farthest lane, during rush hour.

Re: Redefining what a map can be with new information and AI

#144

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Google also explicitly says that it only does it when the ETAs are very close, so realistically, it will still be doing what you want. It feels pretty extreme to write such an angry comment about maybe getting a route than 1-2% slower.

Wasn't intended to be angry. It's more frustration that I used to love Google Maps, but over the years it just gets less and less useful. I can't see street names like I used to, for instance. Now I have to have the overhead of choosing a route, when I used to know that the default is the fastest. Sure, I can turn it off in settings. But at what point does this get to be Windows Explorer, where the first thing I do o…

Hypothetically, given the choice between a 10 minute, higher-environmental-impact route and an 11-minute, lower-impact one: Are you really going to take the literally selfish, worse-for-the-planet route to save one minute? Wouldn't you like to make a small "sacrifice" (the choice is only given when the ETAs are similar) that might help slow the destruction of the only environment we have?

Re: Redefining what a map can be with new information and AI

#145
post #120

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What percentage of the limited time in your life is worth what level of impact on climate change? Do something much more likely to be useful: implement a reasonable, even revenue-neutral carbon tax and stop with this non-sense.

This is complex and will vary significantly by person. But for anyone the answer is almost certainly non-zero. Even if only marginally. And the trend seems to be increasing. The second part of your comment, seems to assume only one kind of action is possible. Others might say, great let's do both.

There is absolutely nothing I can do individually that will have any impact whatsoever on CO2 levels or the climate. Nothing. One person's activity is simply too small a contributor. By the same token, whether I vote or not, or who I vote for, is also irrelevant in the outcome of elections.

Re: Redefining what a map can be with new information and AI

#147

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> If I could, I'd usually choose the lowest stress route! Apple Maps sometimes features alternate routes that are "simpler" or with "fewer turns", which I think is a very nice feature. I'd rather not cut through small side streets just to save 1-2 minutes.

Ironically, if there were a feature that only cut through small side streets and avoided larger streets, I'd use that all the time!

The bike route feature does that, but please don't drive cars on bike paths.

Re: Redefining what a map can be with new information and AI

#148

It's also the cheapest route to drive, as it's optimizing for lower fuel consumption: With insights from the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Lab, we’re building a new routing model that optimizes for lower fuel consumption based on factors like road incline and traffic congestion. Provided that the few extra minutes aren't critical to one's wallet, it's a cost savings. For me those extra minutes…

> If I could, I'd usually choose the lowest stress route! Apple Maps sometimes features alternate routes that are "simpler" or with "fewer turns", which I think is a very nice feature. I'd rather not cut through small side streets just to save 1-2 minutes.

Apple Maps once sent me through what turned out to be a private apartment complex in order to avoid a signaled intersection. Not only is this probably illegal, I'm sure the owners would not appreciate it.

Re: Redefining what a map can be with new information and AI

#149
post #76

I find it more believable that Google attracts engineers who want to save the environment than Google is secretly manipulating the routes of the masses for profit.

> than Google is secretly manipulating the routes of the masses for profit That's the first I hear of this conspiracy, are there really people that believe this? FUD has honestly gotten out of control into very strange territory.

Well... things did get kind of fishy with Waze after Google bought it. Waze made money by showing you ads for things along your route when you weren't moving. How do you maximize the dollar signs in that equation? Maybe they stopped doing that in favor of a model that has less "conflict of use cases", but I wouldn't know.

What I want to know is how much increasing volume and congestion on the greenest route reduces its greenness.

Re: Redefining what a map can be with new information and AI

#150
post #117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I prefer a "green credit" to a "carbon tax". A tax will always be passed on to the consumer, even if the govt taxes Ford, it will just make the car more expensive. Using game theory, a question could be "how do we get Ford to make more electric cars, improve efficiency of electric car production, and incentivize them to advertise electric cars?" My take is that businesses drive change, not consumers. On the whole, co…

When you propose a "green credit" instead of a "carbon tax", what do you mean? Is it just a different name for the same thing, or would it work differently? If it would work differently, then HOW? I'm assuming that a carbon tax would put a fixed tax per weight of C02 released charged either to the end-user or somewhere higher in the value chain (eg: a gas tax).

it's a subsidy vs a tax.
Post reply on HN