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Should this be a map or 500 maps?

escapethealgorithm.substack.com

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Re: Should this be a map or 500 maps?

#71

Post by c0nsumer »

reddalo wrote: post #21
nicbou wrote: post #10

We had a lively discussion about Google Maps in my cycling group. It's very annoying to have a map that is only designed to show the fastest route, and that forcefully reroutes you to it. It doesn't let you avoid a road or favour another. It does not show named bike routes and hiking trails. It doesn't even let you keep the screen on without having directions. For most people, the entire experience of using a map is…

Shout out to OsmAnd, it's a great app. Worth the money for the premium version.

I've personally been using Gaia more and more. OsmAnd is great, but the additional layers available (beyond OSM) in Gaia are really useful in remote areas.

Re: Should this be a map or 500 maps?

#72

Post by mensetmanusman »

arnorhs wrote: post #40
yen223 wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, you've got your wish. Every damned website now looks the same. Whatever creativity the early internet promised has now been snuffed out to appease the user-metrics gods.

I'm all for creativity but laying devil's advocate,.. who is this supposed creativity for? If the majority of people just want to scan headlines efficiently and read/parse.. isn't that a good thing for most people? Pragmatically speaking, the creativity is not needed for news articles/headlines. We need better reporting / journalism in online news, not more creative frills..

The left hemisphere wondering what creativity is for…

Re: Should this be a map or 500 maps?

#73

Post by Retric »

tnel77 wrote: post #67
Retric wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can use multiple map apps at the same time on one phone. Default + website (on multiple tap) are always available, but on long road trips I use Waze. There’s also a bunch of really nice apps for things like subway maps, trails, etc.

While you are correct, I think they were saying it would be nice to turn on Google Maps directions and then use the same app on the same phone to do research without disrupting the current navigation.

I regularly use Maps as an actual map not just a navigation system. I’d be nice if they included a topographic map view, etc but not every app needs to do everything at the same time.

Many people have serious issues even with how stripped down everything is, so IMO as a default app loaded on every device it’s a decent compromise.

Re: Should this be a map or 500 maps?

#74

Post by Retric »

TeMPOraL wrote: post #68
lupire wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Install Maps Go for another map, and set up a Work Profile for 2 more maps. Or use Maps in abBrowser. Interestingly, when you have public transit navigation running, Maps is able to run "current trip" in background while you plan an alternate/additional trip.

Yes. Then buy another phone for up to 4 extra maps. At this point paper maps start looking more useful than digital ones. Google Maps is not a map. It's a half-decent nav system slash ad delivery vector, that pretends to be a map, but sucks at it.

That seems like complaining for no reason. It’s the default app not your only option.

You can also have functionally unlimited maps on different browser tabs not just nav apps. https://nps.maps.arcgis.com/apps/webappviewer/index.html?id=...

Re: Should this be a map or 500 maps?

#75

Post by drivers99 »

> I don't want this to be mistaken for a story about web design. If you squint, you will find the same set of tradeoffs in all manner of creative work and systems thinking

Lots of comments about literal maps and then web design. This generalization of the idea quoted above made me think of something I believe about technological convergence (putting everything into phones and tablets). We’re losing the way custom made devices for different purposes were able to optimize for one purpose. I was thinking of the alarm-clock/radio (which itself is a converged device, it loses benefits of a wind up alarm clock and the benefits of a dedicated radio) vs just using your phone as an alarm clock and music/news player. For one thing, the alarm clock has the time always visible. For another, the radio is instantly available with a single click. And that’s just one of a hundred things that have been converged into the phone (starting with the actual telephone).

I’ve been working on learning to build my own small computers. Part of it is that each one could be for a unique purpose and designed accordingly. (Circuitry, buttons, etc.) Thinking about it like thus article, one could go further and not limit each application to being “a computer” at all.

Re: Should this be a map or 500 maps?

#76

Post by dataflow »

account42 wrote: post #64
dataflow wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It doesn't let you avoid a road or favour another This might be a computational cost thing. Modern routing algorithms preprocess the graph to find the optimal route orders of magnitude faster than you normally would without preprocessing. If you let each person customize the graph then such queries would be much more costly. Then again, I'm sure there are lots of other complications already and that most users woul…

> most users wouldn't want alternate routes I wouldn't be so sure about that. I have seen many different users intentionally deviate from the suggested route because they know more than Google about what is best for them (or at least they think they do).

s/users/queries/.

I wasn't saying this never happens. I myself deviated from Google Maps just yesterday. But, like, this was probably the only one out of my last 10 queries. And I was trying to say this is a minority of the queries.

Re: Should this be a map or 500 maps?

#77

Post by high_na_euv »

TeMPOraL wrote: post #68
lupire wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Install Maps Go for another map, and set up a Work Profile for 2 more maps. Or use Maps in abBrowser. Interestingly, when you have public transit navigation running, Maps is able to run "current trip" in background while you plan an alternate/additional trip.

Yes. Then buy another phone for up to 4 extra maps. At this point paper maps start looking more useful than digital ones. Google Maps is not a map. It's a half-decent nav system slash ad delivery vector, that pretends to be a map, but sucks at it.

Weird, Id say Google Maps is really good product

Re: Should this be a map or 500 maps?

#78

Post by TeMPOraL »

high_na_euv wrote: post #77
TeMPOraL wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes. Then buy another phone for up to 4 extra maps. At this point paper maps start looking more useful than digital ones. Google Maps is not a map. It's a half-decent nav system slash ad delivery vector, that pretends to be a map, but sucks at it.

Weird, Id say Google Maps is really good product

It's a good product. It's a bad map.

Maps are meant to help orient yourself and communicate rich information about the area. They're used for planning. Google Maps has long been moving away from this case, focusing instead on just-in-time point-by-point nav and searchable PoI database. This is an entirely different product category to a map, and has opposite goals.

Re: Should this be a map or 500 maps?

#80

Post by mFixman »

nicbou wrote: post #10

We had a lively discussion about Google Maps in my cycling group. It's very annoying to have a map that is only designed to show the fastest route, and that forcefully reroutes you to it. It doesn't let you avoid a road or favour another. It does not show named bike routes and hiking trails. It doesn't even let you keep the screen on without having directions. For most people, the entire experience of using a map is…

OsmAnd is great despite being so ugly, but for cycling I would should out Komoot.

It's made for long touring rides, but it works perfectly for shorter rides within the city and its routing is produces routes that are faster, more pleasant, and overall much better than Google Maps.

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