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Google Decides to Monetize Maps

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Re: Google Decides to Monetize Maps

#181

Post by evilduck »

snaky wrote: post #74
cageface wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ad free won’t be enough. I predict there will be some kind of monthly bundle that includes a lot of different services. News, music, video and premium features on top of things like maps. Getting people to pay small amounts for a bunch of individual services is harder than charging them one lump sum per month for everything.

We can imagine something like 'an iPhone experience' pack for Android, and it's technically feasible - and may attract some attention from the customers. But the question is - if you could get 'a pretty much iPhone' in your $200 Android for a couple of bucks a month, why would you ever buy an actual iPhone for $1000?

Google squandered all of their goodwill is why. People no longer believe they can maintain new initiatives long term.

Re: Google Decides to Monetize Maps

#182

Post by barbecue_sauce »

samirm wrote: post #162
hi5eyes wrote: post #139

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>People buy iPhones to keep up with fashion, but most of them won't pay for maps because they can't show that off to their acquaintances. juvenile take, didnt realize people still went with the apple logo meme argument

Just because it's a meme, doesn't mean it isn't at least somewhat true.

There are high-end trend-driven Apple customers who update their hardware constantly, but there are also people who have a general preference for Apple products and update occasionally. I'm still on a 2013 MacBook Pro and an iPhone 6. Personally, hardware-wise I just like things that are a) made out of aluminum and b) have hi-dpi screens, and I appreciate a non-finicky BSD-derived OS.

Re: Google Decides to Monetize Maps

#183

Post by couchand »

jedberg wrote: post #129
frosted-flakes wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Depends what you use it for. For driving directions, there are plenty of alternatives. An excellent one is a standalone GPS device like a Garmin nüvi or a TomTom, which works entirely offline (except traffic reports, which are received over FM radio or Bluetooth). The only time I actually use Google Maps is when I'm at my PC, and Bing maps works just as well.

I think if you tried using gmaps for navigation you’d find it to be a far superior to those devices. Does your TomTom tell you “turn into the driveway after the Vitamin Shop”? Because gmaps does.

Though I'd agree with the sibling who questions how much of a game changer it is, I can't help but notice how fantastic an example this is of the value in having a diverse team developing a product.

Re: Google Decides to Monetize Maps

#184

Post by givinguflac »

JohnFen wrote: post #66

I stopped using Google Maps a few years back. I received a notification on my phone that a store I was near was having a sale. It was clear that something was leaking my location, and that was being used to push ads to me through Android itself. A little investigation revealed that the culprit was Google Maps. I uninstalled it at that point and never looked back.

"It was clear that something was leaking my location, and that was being used to push ads to me through Android itself."

Android is leaking your location on purpose...

Re: Google Decides to Monetize Maps

#185

Post by geddy »

Tsubasachan wrote: post #54
cageface wrote: post #17

Google is really leaving the door open here for Apple to step in and offer a services bundle with a monthly fee that doesn’t involve stuffing advertising into every nook and cranny of the user experience. I generally prefer Google’s services to Apple’s but there might be a tipping point soon where I’m willing to sacrifice some features in exchange for a generally less creepy product.

You are assuming people would pay for an ad free GMAPS. Google tried this with YouTube Red. It doesn't work. Apple users may be willing to pay for apps, Android users don't swing that way.

>Google tried this with YouTube Red. It doesn't work.

I'm a Red/Premium subscriber, I love downloading my videos to my phone and, of course, no ads. What makes you say that it doesn't work?

Re: Google Decides to Monetize Maps

#186

Post by BubuIIC »

Doctor_Fegg wrote: post #143
tssva wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Although I appreciate the effort that has gone into and continues to go into OpenStreetMap the reality is that their data set is still pretty poor in comparison to Google Maps. I would not want to create a delivery business that depended upon it for success. Just last month I found myself in need of a source of map data for a personal use application and thought of OpenStreetMap which led me to looking up my home add…

Guessing you're American? OSM is very often better than Google in Europe and other parts of the world. It's spottier in the US.

Agreed on that. Although in Canada the OSM data seemed really, really good when it came to national parks and trails. Not so much inside Vancouver. (Still enough for navigation by car and on foot, but finding addresses was a major PITA.)

Re: Google Decides to Monetize Maps

#187

Post by blunte »

The cookie popup for this site... Which selection means No and which means Yes?

Also, after submitting my "preferences", I actually got to watch a custom progress meter creep thru the %s until I gave up around 80.

What a fucking disaster our modern internet is.

Re: Google Decides to Monetize Maps

#188

Post by BubuIIC »

aw3c2 wrote: post #135
julkali wrote: post #102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are always alternatives. For Maps, check out .) OsmAnd ( https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=net.osmand ) .) MAPS.ME ( https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.mapswithme... ) For other alternatives to avoid getting your habits turned into money by big companies, check out https://ethical.net/

I am not aware of a live location sharing function in OsmAnd.

There's this: https://osmand.net/blog/osmand-telegram-released

But I guess at that point you can just use Telegram for location sharing.

Re: Google Decides to Monetize Maps

#189

Post by mythz »

JohnFen wrote: post #179
mythz wrote: post #170

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There was no real-time Consumer Maps App that came close to competing with Google Maps UX. Now there are multiple Consumer Mapping Services that replicate the instant utility of Google Maps, but it was revolutionary with no equal at the time.

I agree (as I said) that Google offered a solution that was superior to the competition. My only point was that there was, in fact, competition.

As I'm being down voted without any discussion I'll remove why none of the existing competition did or could've done what Google Maps did and keep the insights I had at the time as a GEO developer to myself. Fly-by downvoters can continue believing the revisionist history they wish to.

Feel free to believe Google Maps had competition (they didn't), nothing else at the time provided the same instant utility of Google Maps which basically ushered in the new category of "real-time search-based Consumer Maps" of which there are plenty now.

Anything that existed previously would've needed a rewrite to achieve the same instant utility of Google Maps. Nothing without it could've become mainstream. The competition like ESRI still doesn't have it, but they're still focused on Internal/Enterprise Usage, they let you build GEO Maps but they don't let you build consumer maps that compete with Google Maps.

Re: Google Decides to Monetize Maps

#190

Post by fortybillion »

jandrese wrote: post #80
Gene_Parmesan wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And the app has become absolutely atrocious performance-wise. It used to load nearly immediately, but starting ~1.5 years ago I began noticing extreme slowdowns. Now it's barely functional for me. Every part of the UI is appallingly unresponsive -- taps that take 5 seconds to register, hitches in animation, etc. From tapping on the icon to being able to get underway (including typing in an address) used to be about f…

On my old iPhone the performance is still fine, but the volume controls have been broken for ages. Basically you can only change the volume while it is speaking (otherwise it changes the ringer volume). So you have to guess when the phone is speaking and then smash the volume up button in the hopes that you guessed correctly. And of course you have to do this blind because you're driving at the time to trigger the tu…

Settings -> Sounds & Haptics -> Change With Buttons: OFF. Now the volume controls will only ever change the audio volume and never the ringer volume.
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