Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Google Maps now requires WiFi scanning to use navigation

news.ycombinator.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

11–20 of 447 posts

Re: Google Maps now requires WiFi scanning to use navigation

#11

Post by morgunkorn »

bkovacev wrote: post #3

What are some reliable alternatives for both iOS and Android? I'm unsure how are Apple Maps, but they were hideous a while back for Eastern Europe at least.

I've been using Maps.me, it has great mapping material (OSM) and the navigation is decent. Been using it in the Caribbeans, GMaps and AMaps barely have street names there.

Re: Google Maps now requires WiFi scanning to use navigation

#12

Post by jamiepenney »

nkrisc wrote: post #7
bkovacev wrote: post #3

What are some reliable alternatives for both iOS and Android? I'm unsure how are Apple Maps, but they were hideous a while back for Eastern Europe at least.

I've used Apple Maps for a while now and haven't noticed any real difference in from when I used to use Google Maps. So for me: Google Maps and Apple Maps are utterly interchangeable.

Same here - Apple Maps in New Zealand works just fine.

Re: Google Maps now requires WiFi scanning to use navigation

#13

Post by fsflover »

culanuchachamim wrote: post #10
peakaboo wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

All information, and people are giving it to them for free. There is billions in dollar of profit from selling peoples data and the user gets nothing of that.

Just to remind you, the user get the whole functionality of the app. That's the trade-off.

> That's the trade-off.

Only if the user is aware of that.

Re: Google Maps now requires WiFi scanning to use navigation

#14

Post by fsflover »

bkovacev wrote: post #3

What are some reliable alternatives for both iOS and Android? I'm unsure how are Apple Maps, but they were hideous a while back for Eastern Europe at least.

Not as reliable as those but getting there (and with lifetime updates): https://puri.sm/products/librem-5 and https://pine64.org/pinephone.

Re: Google Maps now requires WiFi scanning to use navigation

#15

Post by Schiendelman »

bkovacev wrote: post #3

What are some reliable alternatives for both iOS and Android? I'm unsure how are Apple Maps, but they were hideous a while back for Eastern Europe at least.

There are still places in the world where Apple Maps isn't great, but for 90% of people they're now as good for navigation, if not better (since they've built a data gathering operation).

Last year I used Apple Maps for a 34,000 mile road trip. No significant issues.

Re: Google Maps now requires WiFi scanning to use navigation

#16

Post by adamrezich »

peakaboo wrote: post #6
mikece wrote: post #2

How much of your information does Google want? MORE! This is a big reason why I carry a Graphene OS phone... and searched eBay for a Garmin GPS -- that cannot phone home! -- for my car.

All information, and people are giving it to them for free. There is billions in dollar of profit from selling peoples data and the user gets nothing of that.

I still remember filling out my Facebook profile back when it was very new (after it was open to everyone but before it even had the timeline) and I'm just flabbergasted at how much information I was willing to fork over as a naïve child presented with a grid of form fields to fill out. crazy to see how it's only got more ridiculous over time. now Snapchat (which I'm about to convince my fiancée to uninstall so neither of us uses it anymore) is giving me notifications telling me about friends and family that I should add as friends, despite me never giving the app access to my contacts! I wish I could go back in time and convince my younger self about how bad things were going to get and why I should minimize my online footprint as much as possible. well, cat's out of the bag now...

Re: Google Maps now requires WiFi scanning to use navigation

#17

Post by jlg23 »

bkovacev wrote: post #3

What are some reliable alternatives for both iOS and Android? I'm unsure how are Apple Maps, but they were hideous a while back for Eastern Europe at least.

HERE WeGo[0] works remarkably well here in the north of Africa, much better than google maps or TomTom.

[0] https://wego.here.com/

Re: Google Maps now requires WiFi scanning to use navigation

#18

Post by christkv »

acomjean wrote: post #9
peakaboo wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

All information, and people are giving it to them for free. There is billions in dollar of profit from selling peoples data and the user gets nothing of that.

To be fair, the user is getting a pretty amazing map/gps program. It it worth it? Are they completely upfront about the data they’re harvesting? You can opt out. Stand alone gps is still available. Open Street maps is an amazing open source program too. My car has a 2010 gps. It works. It’s not great but it’s gets you close. In some ways I miss my old Tom Tom. It had the mr. T voice yelling at me where to go.

I just bought the Tom Tom app and paid for the maps I need. One of their big deals is privacy protection as no data is collected

Re: Google Maps now requires WiFi scanning to use navigation

#19

Post by mcast »

Maybe someone should build a portable (FCC compliant?) device to put in your car that spoofs and rotates a bunch of 2.4/5Ghz SSIDs periodically to "trick" apps that mine wifi data with GPS location. Bonus points for bogus names like "Starbucks Wifi" or "McDonalds Free Wifi" in the middle of the highway.

Even easier, just reverse engineer the API and send the SSIDs yourself.

Post reply on HN