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Google Maps has become an eyesore

fastcompany.com

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Re: Google Maps has become an eyesore

#451

Post by aikinai »

tjbiddle wrote: post #60

What drives me nuts is using the "Search this area" feature once I zoom in. Especially if there's an add anywhere in a 20mi radius. Google Maps usually shows far too much stuff, so I zoom into the area where I am and want to just search that square so I can browse the list easier. But then it'll zoom out and auto-select the first ad miles away - completely defeating the purpose.

At least Google has this feature. I'd like to use Apple Maps sometimes, but the search is terrible and you can't even coerce it with a feature like "search in this area".

Re: Google Maps has become an eyesore

#452

Post by pbnjeh »

Ycdr4thfdd wrote: post #332
l33tman wrote: post #288

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah it's weird, very often a venue on a street is simply not visible unless zoomed in TO THE MAX. And then it's not any weird obscure thing, it's a restaurant or coffeeshop that's been there for years.

What's even worse is that often I'll click "restaurants", zoom in all the way, and then click "Search this area", yet Google will still refuse to show some popular restaurant, even when there are no other restaurants displayed in the window. The only way to get those restaurants to show up is to search them by name. Not sure if they're intentionally penalizing certain restaurants, but it's pretty bad.

Been noticing this, myself. E.g. for a local used bookstore that's reasonably popular and has been there for decades. I know the owner and can guess -- though I haven't asked -- that they aren't giving Google much if any money.

So, no Maps presence for you! (Except via direct search within Maps.) Just my anecdotal experience, but one of several similar on Maps that leave me thinking they "have that feel" to them.

Re: Google Maps has become an eyesore

#454

Post by makeitdouble »

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…

France and Spain had a pretty good coverage, Japan cities are decent as well. I've only seen Munchen and Kolhn's most touristic areas but there were decent enough we didn't hit any critical issue. Commerce data and opening hours was abysmal on the other hand.

OSM was pretty good too in France but has different issues: they don't get the same access to up to date commerce data as exposed through local aggregators, and there's just not enough user data to have good heuristics on navigation times.

Re: Google Maps has become an eyesore

#455

Post by perryizgr8 »

seb1204 wrote: post #372
perryizgr8 wrote: post #319

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Another stupid thing they've done is to use local language for street and place names. Why the hell even have a phone language then? Just switch everything over to whatever language people are speaking in my immediate vicinity then! There is a reason I have chosen English as the language of my phone, because that's what I can read properly.

Not sure if I understand your point. If you're in Spain you want to see Street names written in Kanji or Greek? Or do you want the street name translated to your phone language?

I want the names as they would appear in the language I can read, in my case that is English. Otherwise it is literally useless for me to show the names at all.

Re: Google Maps has become an eyesore

#456

Post by flskafdslaf »

BLKNSLVR wrote: post #414
xcdzvyn wrote: post #9

It's inflammatory, but this website is worse. There's some video playing of a stranger eating mustard skittles taking up the bottom quarter of the screen.

Brave + PiHole + uBlock Origin = no video ad, no top banner ad Firefox + PiHole + no extensions = dumbass video, blank top banner ad (all the space is taken up but no content)

Firefox + uBlock Origin = no ads

Re: Google Maps has become an eyesore

#457

Post by longitudinal93 »

It's even worse than just an eyesore. I live in Canada but on a recent trip to Denver GMap deliberately and repeatedly tried to make me catch an Uber from the airport to a train station close to the city centre, in spite of large signs in the airport that directed me to the train that would take me directly downtown (which I did after concluding that Google was deceiving me in order to make a cut from Uber). The experience was identical for a friend on an iPhone.

Re: Google Maps has become an eyesore

#458

Post by brohee »

KolenCh wrote: post #398
laurels-marts wrote: post #385

I've fully bought into Apple ecosystem but I refuse to use Apple Maps. Not sure how good they are in US but in Europe they are dismal. When they announced the release re-designed maps in Netherlands I gave them a shot but it honestly wasn't a big improvement. I took a screen of my area in Google Maps and the same screen using Apple Maps and the side-by-side difference was shocking. Google maps had orders of magnitude…

Once I was directed my Google Maps in Germany leading to a closed entrance of a highway. I passed that entrance and Google rerouted me, after driving for some time apparently I went through a big loop and go back to the same entrance. Then I drove off to the other direction, somehow I went back to the same entrance again, passing through a certain road that we already remembered from the last loop in the opposite dir…

I was once in a new rental Skoda (using Here maps), that tried to make me cross a river on a bridge that was never built (I looked it up afterward, the project was abandoned). Google Maps saved the day...

Re: Google Maps has become an eyesore

#459

Post by gpderetta »

coldtea wrote: post #391
Knee_Pain wrote: post #388

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

People reading in good faith understand what 99% means (it, as well as 95% etc., are commonly used that way, to mean "overwhelming majority"). Besides, if I wanted to write the actual number, which I happen to know, I'd have written 92,768%. In any case, you don't have to justify the rudeness, a simple "sorry" would have sufficed.

79.53% of statistics come from the nether region.

Re: Google Maps has become an eyesore

#460

Post by victor106 »

fnordpiglet wrote: post #443
wredue wrote: post #429

Earlier quoted context omitted.

GeForce experience tracks every single window you have open, sending the title and window information, along with every single spot that you click on your screen to Nvidia, tied to your now mandatory account. That was a couple years back. Who knows how much more invasive it’s gotten since. Oh. And this data is considered to be “valuable debugging information”, so is not prevented by opting out of analytics.

Good to know! Uninstalling when I get home. Windows has really become a big bag of certified malware and adware. I always feel a bit dirty when I play a game on my windows pc, and now I know why.

>Windows has really become a big bag of certified malware and adware.

This 100%. I would include Azure too.

I actively try not to use Windows every time I get a chance. I am so glad a company like Apple exists. I agree Apple might not be 100% right on privacy but they are pretty darn close that I a live with.

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