191–200 of 619 posts
Google Maps is my pick for the coolest website on the internet. Truly a killer app.
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The more pedestrian reason for Google's investment for its own maps was that the licensing costs for data to use in turn-by-turn navigation, which is many times as expensive compared to simpler uses, were going to skyrocket once mobile adoption took off as projected. You could give millions or billions to TomTom, which is what Apple has been doing, or you could pour the same amounts into creating your own datasets, a…
Agree, Google has fundamentally understood the power of information/data since the very beginning - its part of their DNA.
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Google Maps has sent me astray a few times as well. Strangely, I've had the worst experience with GM in the Bay area. Going to the Golden Gate Recreation Area, Google Maps sent me to a trailhead parking lot instead of the visitor's center. And for a small business near the Bay Model, GM directions stopped about half a mile away, and the map pin was on top of the Bay Model building.
The problem I have with GM is that it will often send me past my destination, then have me do a U-turn, in an apparent attempt to make sure the building is on the right side of the street. Even if there is no center divider and a left turn lane. Even if there is a traffic-light-controlled intersection to get me into the parking lot of the building.
Google Maps is my pick for the coolest website on the internet. Truly a killer app.
It really is something. If you've never seen it, switch to satellite and start scrolling out. That's realtime cloud information that appears and as you keep going you get realtime night/day location rendering (complete with artificial lighting) and then realtime locations for all the major bodies in our solar system (which you can then hop over too and take a look at) (Edit: Ok, maybe this isn't locations of the bodi…
Google Maps, Apple Maps, and Bing Maps will all try to murder you if you ask for directions from Santa Maria, CA to Ventura, CA. The obvious route is to follow the freeway that was built on the best route between the two cities. Instead, all three really enjoy routing you onto a two-lane twisty mountain road that is five minutes shorter if you are driving a sports car and all the lights are green. Heaven help you if…
One thing I really appreciate about Google Maps is how accurate the times are. There have been numerous times where google maps says is will take x minutes to get there and I think "Nah, I'll be able to get there faster than that." Nope, I've never had google maps be off by more than a minute or so. I think it must take into account not just road conditions and traffic, but also how much I am likely to go over the sp…
I usually manage to knock a 4.5 hour drive down to 4 hours or less.
I use Apple Maps almost 95% of the time, and this is one of its major annoyances. If I'm trying to find a location by eyeballing it from the map, it can sometimes be impossible to do so because there's another label on top of it.
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Agree, Google has fundamentally understood the power of information/data since the very beginning - its part of their DNA.
I think they understood the economics of depending on an external source for a core part of their business. Much like Netflix, they understood that the way forward was to generate their own content.
Prime video is their main competitor. It’s like UPS renting its trucks from fedEx.