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Good bye, Google Maps… thanks for all the fish

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Re: Good bye, Google Maps… thanks for all the fish

#151

Post by zecg »

technomancy wrote: post #141
ubercore wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not to sound like a downer, because I really appreciate open source mapping, but that's the part where I think the costs, long term, will swing back. Google maps is deceptively simple, in that the javascript library and tiling is a relatively solved problem. Google has the best datasets, and the best large-data know-how in the business, so outsourcing things like an up-to-date transit location and route database is b…

I'm a big fan of OpenStreetMap in theory as well, but once Google launched vector maps with really solid offline caching for their Android app it made it a lot harder for me to consider switching. I know OSM will let you cache tiles for offline viewing, but the level of caching you can do with vector data is a whole different level.

OsmAnd nightly build (0.7.0 branch) is GPL'd, with offline vector OSM maps and it's mind-blowing. Navigation works, with voice. There is now a native rendering option on some devices, it's pretty spiffy. It can also record GPX tracks, with optional background service. The vector map of Croatia is 20 MB compressed, with a huge amount of POI data. Daily, an average of 50000 points are added to the map of Croatia. I've actually stopped using Google Maps, OSMAnd is the best map app and it's completely offline.

Re: Good bye, Google Maps… thanks for all the fish

#153

Post by nzonbi »

MatthewPhillips wrote: post #25
eridius wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I think the problem lies much more with you and your phone than it does with Google Plus as a writing platform. The problem definitely lies with Google Plus as a web app. Whatever they're doing, it's just not a very good experience on a mobile device. Maybe on Android they redirect Google+ pages to their native app, but they don't even offer a way to do that for other platforms even if you have the native app insta…

I don't think a conspiracy is obvious at all. I think this is just a common Google problem; when you hire A+ level talent they don't want to spend their time adjusting css for every platform. That's not an interesting problem to them; self-driving cars is interesting. This is why I think every company should hire B and even a few C+ level talent. Someone has to do the boring details.

  I think this is just a common Google problem; when you hire A+
  level talent they don't want to spend their time adjusting css
  for every platform.
Maybe I'm wrong, but I thought that the criteria for defining A+ talent is people that (in short): Defines correct specs for a given project; does the jobs to the specs; Works fast; Makes the code as maintainable as the situation may require, according to change and growth prospects; Does not waste time in unnecessary or fancy stuff; Communicates well with the team;

In this case, Google plus as a blog, obviously all the platforms are targets. So the CSS should be adjusted for all the platforms, and that must be part of the specs. If you have A+ talent executing, either it will be done, or they haven't implemented that yet according to their priorities, or there is something more unknown to us.

Re: Good bye, Google Maps… thanks for all the fish

#154

Post by 4abhishekpathak »

cryptoz wrote: post #11
dpcan wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Also not on the topic of the article, but... I wish people would stop blogging on Google plus. Period. It's the worst reading experience ever on the iPhone - nearly impossible as the text blurs, and you have to drag the article around to see it all and then wait for the blur to go away.

Does the iPhone not open Google Plus posts in the Google Plus app? Or do you not have it installed? The reason your experience is awful is because Google doesn't care to make the G+ mobile web experience perfect since their app is the way to go. On Android, when I click one of these links it opens the app and the reading experience is very pleasant. Maybe I've just been spoiled, but I find the experience to be pretty…

Even on the browser, it renders correctly with proper wrap on my Android phone.I'm running the default ICS browser.

Re: Good bye, Google Maps… thanks for all the fish

#155

Post by grannyg00se »

nextparadigms wrote: post #64
Xuzz wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Should you need a third party app installed for a good reading experience? I don't use Google+ and don't want the app on iOS, even if it was launched when I click a Google+ link (which, fwiw, you are correct: it currently does not). (On the other hand, Tumblr looks great on mobile, and it doesn't need an app. Facebook, too, is at least readable on their mobile site.)

Can you imagine using Facebook without an app now?

I never understood why websites created apps of their websites. The browser is ubiquitous. Use it. I don't want to install seven different apps for my seven favourite sites. I don't see why this is acceptable on a mobile platform any more than it would be on a desktop platform.

Re: Good bye, Google Maps… thanks for all the fish

#156

Post by technomancy »

zecg wrote: post #151
technomancy wrote: post #141

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm a big fan of OpenStreetMap in theory as well, but once Google launched vector maps with really solid offline caching for their Android app it made it a lot harder for me to consider switching. I know OSM will let you cache tiles for offline viewing, but the level of caching you can do with vector data is a whole different level.

OsmAnd nightly build (0.7.0 branch) is GPL'd, with offline vector OSM maps and it's mind-blowing. Navigation works, with voice. There is now a native rendering option on some devices, it's pretty spiffy. It can also record GPX tracks, with optional background service. The vector map of Croatia is 20 MB compressed, with a huge amount of POI data. Daily, an average of 50000 points are added to the map of Croatia. I've…

Wow, it's come a long way since I tried it. Thanks for the heads-up.

Re: Good bye, Google Maps… thanks for all the fish

#157

Post by kooshball »

tintin wrote: post #143
kooshball wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Excellent. I was just about to write a Chrome extension to do this.

Why not ask PG to change it?

Well that was the whole point of my original post, asking HN to display it differently. In the mean time the userscript will do just fine.

Re: Good bye, Google Maps… thanks for all the fish

#158

Post by dpcan »

shazow wrote: post #80
dpcan wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Also not on the topic of the article, but... I wish people would stop blogging on Google plus. Period. It's the worst reading experience ever on the iPhone - nearly impossible as the text blurs, and you have to drag the article around to see it all and then wait for the blur to go away.

Could you post or email me a screenshot of this? I don't have my iPhone handy to reproduce it but I'll point the right people to this if I can explain it well enough. My handle at google.com.

I tried to take the screenshot, but when it's doing the blurry-loading thing it doesn't let me take the screen shot, and when it does take it, it's right after the page loads. So I guess it's "freezing" while it's trying to adjust the page.

While trying to do this, however, it just crashed Safari twice. I tried the same on my wife's 3GS, crashed Safari as well trying to read the Google Plus post.

Re: Good bye, Google Maps… thanks for all the fish

#160

Post by shazow »

dpcan wrote: post #158
shazow wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Could you post or email me a screenshot of this? I don't have my iPhone handy to reproduce it but I'll point the right people to this if I can explain it well enough. My handle at google.com.

I tried to take the screenshot, but when it's doing the blurry-loading thing it doesn't let me take the screen shot, and when it does take it, it's right after the page loads. So I guess it's "freezing" while it's trying to adjust the page. While trying to do this, however, it just crashed Safari twice. I tried the same on my wife's 3GS, crashed Safari as well trying to read the Google Plus post.

Thanks for making the effort!

Unfortunately I don't think there's anything we can do about Safari crashing while taking a screenshot at an inopportune time. Perhaps we can try to find someone on HN who works on at Apple?

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