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Google Maps has become an eyesore

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Re: Google Maps has become an eyesore

#291

Post by devnullbrain »

aembleton wrote: post #281
LimeLimestone wrote: post #193

Is it just me or have you guys also noticed that the routes suggested by Google Maps have gotten worse? It seems that it only takes into account current traffic jams and not the ones which will occur 30mins into the trip. For instance, there's this spot in my city where I know there is a traffic jam at around 3:20 PM every day. I usually set off from home around 2:50 PM, which means I'll hit that congested area by 3:…

Have you tried Waze? I find that better at detecting jams and routing around them.

It's deeply concerning that the only alternative to Google Maps being terrible is to use Google's Waze. The only thing stopping another Inbox situation is the threat of anti-competition law.

Re: Google Maps has become an eyesore

#292

Post by dagw »

kirushik wrote: post #287
makeitdouble wrote: post #182

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Google Maps has its pitfalls, but it's by far the most up to date in the cities I've used it. OSM lacks a lot of details that completely change how you'd move from point A to point B (I was missing overpass bridges and crossable paths in residential neighboorhoods), and point to point navigation is also not great. Then it completely lacks all the more commercial features Google has built on top of Maps (store details…

I'm curious if that's US vs Europe thing? For me in Europe, Google Maps coverage quality can be best described by this personal anecdote. I used to live in Nürnberg, which is in top 10 German cities by population, and where are some major and well-recognized international companies are headquartered. Nürnberg has a subway system (U-Bahn) since 1980s, and it's significant enough: a few dozen stations over three lines…

As a counter argument, here in Sweden I've yet to run into a place where Google maps has failed me when it comes to driving, public transport or address/POI search. OSM on the other hand is missing half the buildings once you get more then 15 km out from major city centers and even in major cities, things like house numbers and addresses is often wrong. The only scenario OSM is better than Google Maps is pedestrian and hiking routes.

Re: Google Maps has become an eyesore

#293

Post by devnullbrain »

LimeLimestone wrote: post #193

Is it just me or have you guys also noticed that the routes suggested by Google Maps have gotten worse? It seems that it only takes into account current traffic jams and not the ones which will occur 30mins into the trip. For instance, there's this spot in my city where I know there is a traffic jam at around 3:20 PM every day. I usually set off from home around 2:50 PM, which means I'll hit that congested area by 3:…

In the app, you also can't adjust your departure time to see if there's a better time to leave. You have to use the web UI which doesn't have a way to share this information (beyond a starting point and finishing point) with the app.

Re: Google Maps has become an eyesore

#294

Post by devnullbrain »

walthamstow wrote: post #159
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.

It's really bad in London. Instead of telling you the road is called Oxford Street (quite a famous road!) it shows instead the road number, A40, which is not known by 95% of the local population, nor by 100% of visitors.

A population of 9 million but big tech's allergy to scaling customer support means they don't pay a local person to adjust things for local expectations.

But why would they? We have to use it anyway.

Re: Google Maps has become an eyesore

#295

Post by sma3in »

I strongly recommend MAPS.ME as a great alternative to Google Maps. It comes with offline navigation and it's less cluttered than Gmaps. not sure if it's built around Gmaps API, I don't know much about that but it's nice to use.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.mapswithme...

Re: Google Maps has become an eyesore

#297

Post by baz00 »

aembleton wrote: post #279
baz00 wrote: post #260

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's even worse for us cyclists. Regularly tries to kill me in the routes it picks.

Try https://cycle.travel/ for cycle routes. I find it much better at finding quieter routes.

Oh that's pretty awesome. Thanks for the link!

Re: Google Maps has become an eyesore

#298

Post by matkoniecz »

KronisLV wrote: post #246
ComodoHacker wrote: post #196

Earlier quoted context omitted.

OSM can't show (and plan for) traffic, for one.

> OSM can't show (and plan for) traffic, for one. Unfortunately there's nothing to aggregate current traffic information (traffic jams etc.) as far as I know. The maps themselves support all sorts of routing options for walking/bikes/cars, at least: https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Routing#End_users:_routi... They also have a Wiki page on public transport: https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Public_transport Sadly…

> Sadly, they don't even attempt to have public transport schedules on the main maps, whereas Google has even added inter-city buses in some places

What Google is doing is to integrate public transport data (often in GTFS format). It is not mapped directly by Google, and unlikely that it would be doable in OSM (note that in many cities timetables change weekly, for example as result of construction).

There is some ongoing work to build similar things for OSM-using software, for example Organic Maps is at least trying: https://github.com/organicmaps/organicmaps/issues?q=is%3Aiss... (I bet that pull requests would be welcome, especially if discussed with people developing it)

Re: Google Maps has become an eyesore

#299

Post by matkoniecz »

LimeLimestone wrote: post #193

Is it just me or have you guys also noticed that the routes suggested by Google Maps have gotten worse? It seems that it only takes into account current traffic jams and not the ones which will occur 30mins into the trip. For instance, there's this spot in my city where I know there is a traffic jam at around 3:20 PM every day. I usually set off from home around 2:50 PM, which means I'll hit that congested area by 3:…

> Is it just me or have you guys also noticed that the routes suggested by Google Maps have gotten worse?

Maybe because more people use it? So you cannot really be sole person avoiding traffic jam.

Re: Google Maps has become an eyesore

#300

Post by matkoniecz »

gorbypark wrote: post #222
leokennis wrote: post #189

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’m an iPhone user and I’d pay good money for an OSM based app with these features: - Hard focus on “general mapping” like Google Maps, so not outdoor trails or sailing or… - Maps are streamed to my device, also when I zoom in to street level - no requirement to download offline maps first - Search is working and good enough - Routing is working and good enough - Big plus if it does turn by turn navigation, or can ki…

Organic Maps is the closest thing to what you want that I have found. The only thing it doesn't tick off your list is the streamed maps parts, as it's fully offline. It works really well in my experience, I use it frequently while travelling. The only downsides I've found are that it doesn't do real time traffic, and it doesn't seem to do multi lingual search very well. For example, if you are in Barcelona where the…

Sadly, search is still far from ideal. Not saying that you should not use it, but rather that reporting problems (such as say https://github.com/organicmaps/organicmaps/issues/5251 ) is useful and worth doing. And to not expect search as good as what Google provides, at least for now.
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