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Google Maps now requires WiFi scanning to use navigation

news.ycombinator.com

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Re: Google Maps now requires WiFi scanning to use navigation

#251

Post by v64 »

wavefunction wrote: post #235
abandonliberty wrote: post #230

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If it makes you feel any better, it's a publicly traded company. Legally, everything it does must generate shareholder value. Smile is really just a way to get additional value from donations large companies have to make anyway for lobbying and tax purposes. They would've happened anyway, but you get to direct it. Maybe they can sell the data it generates to identify areas or people more likely to donate to charity,…

>Legally, everything it does must generate shareholder value. What's the basis for this claim?

The Supreme Court has ruled in opposition to this perspective [1]:

“Modern corporate law does not require for-profit corporations to pursue profit at the expense of everything else, and many do not.”

[1] https://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2015/04/16/what-are-co...

Re: Google Maps now requires WiFi scanning to use navigation

#252

Post by mhardcastle »

busymom0 wrote: post #245
mhardcastle wrote: post #224

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Shopping at Amazon has become such a blatantly user-hostile experience. More than any company I've dealt with in recent memory, they seem to tolerate just about any unethical behavior - allowing fake product reviews, facilitating sale of counterfeit merchandise, and evidently withholding charitable donations if you don't allow them to pester you via your own device. It's to the point that shopping at Amazon feels dir…

Amazon has also become a dumpster for poor quality products and high prices now a days here in Canada. Few months ago, I bought some bedsheets which claimed to be Egyptian cotton but upon delivery, that wasn't true. I have had this experience with other products too now on Amazon. Their customer service and returns are still very good but the product quality and online marketing is filled with lies.

In my experience they've always required me to go to a UPS store or retail location (Kohl's, Whole Foods, etc.) to process a return, even when it's a counterfeit product.

Returns I've elected are a great process; being forced to run errands for a $trillion+ company because they've deceived you about the bedsheets they are selling is something else entirely.

Re: Google Maps now requires WiFi scanning to use navigation

#253

Post by floatingatoll »

philsnow wrote: post #215

Not related to Google maps, but just today I got tired of the Amazon app sending me "you might like this deal" notifications and dug into whether it's possible to disable them. You can , but if you do, Amazon will no longer send Amazon "Smile" micro-donations to whatever charity you've selected: https://i.imgur.com/wNAkUAT.jpeg . I can't say that this is underhanded, but it does cast into sharp relief the fact that A…

That's probably a violation of the App Store Review Guidelines; you're not allowed to withdraw app functionality unrelated to notifications if a user denies notification access; Apple has various language in various places that hints at 'you can't arbitrarily take away features to compel users to opt-in' being a core intent. If you're an Apple developer, and you're willing to stake that claim with Apple, you can report it while logged in to your developer account.

Re: Google Maps now requires WiFi scanning to use navigation

#255

Post by Schiendelman »

jtbayly wrote: post #42
Schiendelman wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Woah. That’s quite the road trip! What was it?

Two trips around the US in a camper van; 41 states and about a year. It was amazing.

Re: Google Maps now requires WiFi scanning to use navigation

#256

Post by Schiendelman »

asdff wrote: post #101
Schiendelman wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

The big pain point imo is that apple maps doesn't crawl for local business information as well as google. Many local businesses in LA do not show up on apple maps but have a presence on google maps. I wonder why apple maps engineers don't just crawl google maps and steal this data from them, I'm sure google would do the same.

I think this is mostly that businesses don’t realize there are hundreds of millions of people using Apple Maps. It’s improving; it’s a tiny amount of work for them to get more customers, and they’re learning.

I use the “report an issue” link periodically to fix things.

Re: Google Maps now requires WiFi scanning to use navigation

#257

Post by astrange »

jlg23 wrote: post #17
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/

It's funny that their representation of Japan is just an empty island with a few highways on it. Does it work better if you're there?

Re: Google Maps now requires WiFi scanning to use navigation

#258

Post by rpdillon »

dsl wrote: post #184
dessant wrote: post #86

Refusing service when the user does not consent to non-essential data sharing is illegal in the EU, and it also breaches Google Play's developer agreement. WiFi scanning is not essential to navigate with an app, and the least they could do to follow the law is to gracefully degrade the service if the user does not consent to share data about nearby devices, such as disabling traffic predictions. Of course Google's la…

> non-essential data sharing But it is essential. Google (and Apple) maps provide lane specific navigation directions, which are really only possible with assisted GPS. In theory GPS has the accuracy, but remember you are in a big metal box filled with electrical wires. Not to mention other applications like isle specific navigation within stores, which is made possible by bluetooth beacons. Heck, we are on the verge…

Maps routinely tells me to "use the right two lanes to exit", but it doesn't show any awareness of where I am. It says the same thing whether I'm in the left lane or the exit lanes. Are others getting directions like "merge two lanes to the right to exit"?

Re: Google Maps now requires WiFi scanning to use navigation

#259

Post by jmkb »

j1elo wrote: post #250
jmkb wrote: post #226

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For hiking and biking, I like Windy Maps. It shows terrain contours and highlights foot and bike trail relations, and has an easy-to-use GPS track recorder. You can also ask for future weather forecasts along a navigation route, which is pretty keen if you're traveling long distances. Windy Maps does have a driving navigation mode, but I find that the extra map details that are handy for outdoors activities crowd the…

If you are lucky to live in a city covered by them, Citymapper is a very good app for public transit routing.

I tried it in NYC... the map says "Google." If I'm going to be using Google anyway, why not just use the real thing? (This thread lists some possible reasons, obviously.)

Re: Google Maps now requires WiFi scanning to use navigation

#260

Post by Minor49er »

philsnow wrote: post #215

Not related to Google maps, but just today I got tired of the Amazon app sending me "you might like this deal" notifications and dug into whether it's possible to disable them. You can , but if you do, Amazon will no longer send Amazon "Smile" micro-donations to whatever charity you've selected: https://i.imgur.com/wNAkUAT.jpeg . I can't say that this is underhanded, but it does cast into sharp relief the fact that A…

Why not just set aside some money yourself and donate to a charity of your choosing without tying it to how you spend your money on Amazon? Making your donations directly will help you better see how your money will be used. For example, Girls Educational & Mentoring Services (GEMS) tells you basically how contributions are used when you donate to them:

https://www.gems-girls.org/donate-now

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