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Google Maps has become an eyesore

fastcompany.com

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Re: Google Maps has become an eyesore

#231

Post by iggldiggl »

muricula wrote: post #172
CydeWeys wrote: post #125

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> {name of a local chain} - {neighborhood or city name} Wait, what's wrong with this? This is just good practice. It's helpful to be able to, when communicating with someone, unambiguously refer to the exact location, e.g. Westville Chelsea v Westville East v Westville Hudson v Westville Wall Street.

Because on a map it's already implicit in where the pin actually is. You're staring at a pin in Westville Chelsea.

Problem is the same name is also used for lists of search results – having a neighbourhood name being displayed there can definitively be helpful to distinguish multiple branches of the same company, while also having a higher chance of being at least roughly recognisable to people as compared to specific street names (which is what Google currently displays for POI listings).

Re: Google Maps has become an eyesore

#232

Post by ClumsyPilot »

AlbertCory wrote: post #34

I worked on Google Maps monetization, and then on Maps itself. Monetization was a dismal failure. I don't know how well they're doing now, but Maps was a gigantic money-loser, forever. I'd be a little surprised if it didn't still lose money, but maybe less. I don't what those "pin ads" cost, but I'd bet it's way less than a search ad. If you don't believe that, that's fine. "What about indirect revenue?" you ask? Goo…

Peole forget that millions of people submit data to Google Maps for free. I placed all the local postboxes on google maps, people sibmit information about their businesss, opening hours, etc. This is hugely valuable.

Also google grew laxy. Not tskes them a year to add a royal mail postbox

Re: Google Maps has become an eyesore

#233

Post by THENATHE »

konspence wrote: post #32

I would add to this article that a major issue with Google Maps has been businesses trying to SEO-pad their business names on Google Maps, to the detriment of readability. This is also against their TOS – the "business name" form is supposed to be their legally registered business name, the one that they probably have signage for. Moderators simply don't enforce this, and with Map Maker basically gone, the community…

All of those suck except the last example, which is actually extremely useful and helpful to users

Re: Google Maps has become an eyesore

#234

Post by aembleton »

ClumsyPilot wrote: post #232
AlbertCory wrote: post #34

I worked on Google Maps monetization, and then on Maps itself. Monetization was a dismal failure. I don't know how well they're doing now, but Maps was a gigantic money-loser, forever. I'd be a little surprised if it didn't still lose money, but maybe less. I don't what those "pin ads" cost, but I'd bet it's way less than a search ad. If you don't believe that, that's fine. "What about indirect revenue?" you ask? Goo…

Peole forget that millions of people submit data to Google Maps for free. I placed all the local postboxes on google maps, people sibmit information about their businesss, opening hours, etc. This is hugely valuable. Also google grew laxy. Not tskes them a year to add a royal mail postbox

Worth adding that information to open street maps so that it available for other maps too.

Re: Google Maps has become an eyesore

#235

Post by vmfunction »

brucethemoose2 wrote: post #79
AlbertCory wrote: post #34

I worked on Google Maps monetization, and then on Maps itself. Monetization was a dismal failure. I don't know how well they're doing now, but Maps was a gigantic money-loser, forever. I'd be a little surprised if it didn't still lose money, but maybe less. I don't what those "pin ads" cost, but I'd bet it's way less than a search ad. If you don't believe that, that's fine. "What about indirect revenue?" you ask? Goo…

> What about indirect revenue? Google decision makers must know of its importance as a moat, a data collection pipe, a vehicle for other services and so on. No offense, but trying to squeeze direct revenue out seems kinda laughable. Or maybe even a way to plausibly deny the indirect revenue importance.

with giant data beast company like google, everything is about indirect revenue. Just because map doesn't make money, doesn't mean it won't drive up other ad revues.

Re: Google Maps has become an eyesore

#236

Post by agumonkey »

khazhoux wrote: post #41

> Why won't you show me the street name? I've been running into this a lot lately. No matter how much I zoom -- no street name. This is Mapping 101.

Sometimes the decision is very complicated and lazy.. it can show, or not, change angle a bit and it comes back.. or comes back after 5 seconds.

Re: Google Maps has become an eyesore

#237

Post by underwater »

My beef with Maps is the UI. It's so skittish and modal I'm constantly fighting with it.

If I position the viewport ans run a query, it unhelpfully searches a different area. If I tap on a pin it moves the viewport again. If I dismiss the pin info it moves yet again to an arbitrary position. Same for a while other bunch of interactions.

It feels like a UX that thinks it's clever but doesn't respect me as the user.

Re: Google Maps has become an eyesore

#238

Post by ohgodplsno »

3LazTjBv-f wrote: post #226
ohgodplsno wrote: post #213

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Depends. Basically, the API is free if all you do is display a map, keep the Google branding at the bottom, and add a few of those pins. Make one of those pins move because it's actually a car, and suddenly your cheeks are getting clapped with 6+-figure bills.

I don't think this is true for a while (5 years). There are view limits and I still find embedded maps that look just like this: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/50977913/google-maps-sho... .

Currently working on multiple apps hitting anywhere between 5k and 150k maps loads a day, costs are zero because we do not do things outside of the free usage tier. The Maps Embed API (the one you see on websites) is pretty clear on that: https://developers.google.com/maps/documentation/embed/usage...

    Pricing for the Maps Embed API
    All Maps Embed API requests are available at no charge with unlimited usage.

    Other usage limits
    There are no short-term (queries per second) or long-term (queries per day) limits on the Maps Embed API.
Similar things apply to the Maps SDK for Android. Seeing the watermark means that there's either no API key being sent with the request or, in relatively new developments, that you haven't enabled billing/inputted a credit card. Which is a scary thing to do when you know that you're not doing anything out of the usage limits... but what if Google suddenly decided that ?

Re: Google Maps has become an eyesore

#239

Post by astrange »

afavour wrote: post #42
zbrozek wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My wife and I prefer navigating with Apple maps after Google Maps stagnated for years and years. Apple's voice instructions are incomparably better.

I want to like Apple Maps but their reliance upon Yelp for useful information infuriates me.

That extremely depends on your location - notice there's another thread above you complaining it doesn't use Yelp anymore.

eg the US and Australia now have built-in reviews.

Re: Google Maps has become an eyesore

#240

Post by caskstrength »

dietr1ch wrote: post #89
AlbertCory wrote: post #34

I worked on Google Maps monetization, and then on Maps itself. Monetization was a dismal failure. I don't know how well they're doing now, but Maps was a gigantic money-loser, forever. I'd be a little surprised if it didn't still lose money, but maybe less. I don't what those "pin ads" cost, but I'd bet it's way less than a search ad. If you don't believe that, that's fine. "What about indirect revenue?" you ask? Goo…

If google can't make money with maps, why isn't Maps taken out of google into a charity/non-profit backed thing. There's OpenStreetMap, and Wikipedia wouldn't mind having a Map I guess. That way it'd help a bit with the monopoly heat and maintaining it could be slightly cheaper. I don't know the legal stuff, but I'd rather have a company supporting a non-profit than burning money internally, so I hope the incentives…

So you already can use OpenStreetMap, but don't? Presumable because Google Maps is better? So maybe the answer is that "we" don't make Maps a non-profit majority of people (me and, apparently, you included) actually prefer superior ad-supported product?
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