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Google Maps' Moat

justinobeirne.com

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Re: Google Maps' Moat

#211

Post by flor1s »

dvt wrote: post #31

I accidentally used Apple Maps once as I was going to a (new) doctor's office. I realized I was using Apple maps halfway through my drive and I joked with myself that it wouldn't bring me to the right place. I was heading to a fairly large medical complex in Orange County (CA) and I sort-of had an idea of where I was going anyway, but boy, was I wrong. According to Apple maps, the doctor's office was literally in the…

I was using Google Maps in Amsterdam a few months ago and tried to go to a restaurant. Google Maps led me into a tunnel and in the middle was it was happy to announce I reached my destination. It happened to be that this restaurant was located on an island above the tunnel and I actually drove right under it. I have no experience with Apple Maps though.

Re: Google Maps' Moat

#212

Post by saagarjha »

WillPostForFood wrote: post #105
turtlebits wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Google maps absolutely obliterates my battery life (iPhone 6S+). Last time I travelled it I was down to 40% at noon.

I've had the same experience, but is it Maps, or the continual use of GPS?

It's probably both. Apple Maps is lighter on the battery, but I'd assume it uses the GPS too since it uses the battery harder than would be expected with just keeping the screen on.

Re: Google Maps' Moat

#213

Post by adrianN »

djsumdog wrote: post #171
encoderer wrote: post #43

I recently switched to Apple maps primary for car play after 10+ years. I haven’t looked back. Building outlines are not much of a moat for me.

I was thinking the same thing of "who cares." I take the train and walk a lot more than I drive. I need street names, and GMaps have made them harder and harder to see for years: https://www.justinobeirne.com/what-happened-to-google-maps/ I gotta pinch zoom all the way in, jiggle the map around a bunch, just to see street names. It's annoying as fuck since it's the most important thing on the map when walking in a ci…

Or buy a proper hiking GPS. Garmin makes great products. They also run off two AA batteries for like a week.

Re: Google Maps' Moat

#214

Post by adrianN »

4684499 wrote: post #48

I can tell Google is pretty upset that they don't have real time cams everywhere.

That's the real reason why they invest so much in self-driving cars. It'll be just millions and millions of eyes for them.

Re: Google Maps' Moat

#215

Post by joering2 »

Splines wrote: post #192
zaptheimpaler wrote: post #160

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

They didn't have to look far for examples; I'm sure amongst Google, many employees felt bad when Google Reader got discontinued. Or hundred of other Google-owned projects.

Re: Google Maps' Moat

#216

Post by bfred_it »

tatersolid wrote: post #200
Splines wrote: post #192

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Then why is Netflix depending on AWS for the core of their business (their delivery platform)? Prime video is their main competitor. It’s like UPS renting its trucks from fedEx.

Probably because AWS is still more efficient/reliable than building/maintaining your own.

What you say already happens for MVNOs and it works: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mobile_virtual_network_operato...

Re: Google Maps' Moat

#217

Post by saagarjha »

cjensen wrote: post #120

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…

You're talking about 154, right? It's not that bad…

Re: Google Maps' Moat

#218

Post by [deleted] »

tatersolid wrote: post #200
Splines wrote: post #192

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Then why is Netflix depending on AWS for the core of their business (their delivery platform)? Prime video is their main competitor. It’s like UPS renting its trucks from fedEx.

[deleted]

Re: Google Maps' Moat

#219

Post by saagarjha »

ClassyJacket wrote: post #108

It's surprising to me that Apple has 3D building data from Flyover already, but doesn't use it. They have reasonably good 3D scans of cities, with textures, and it doesn't seem that much of a stretch for them to differentiate between trees, cars etc. and turn that into building shapes - even if it requires human sorting, Apple does have billions of dollars. They could end up with more detailed buildings on their 2D v…

> They have reasonably good 3D scans of cities, with textures, and it doesn't seem that much of a stretch for them to differentiate between trees, cars etc. and turn that into building shapes

Are they not? The area around me has somewhat decent outlines of stuff like trees that I'd assume is coming from the satellite data, since it looks too odd for a human to do manually…

> I don't get the feeling anybody actually likes it

I enjoy using it. It's well integrated with iOS (and IMHO looks prettier than Google Maps as well).

Re: Google Maps' Moat

#220

Post by tomaskafka »

Just in case anyone would ask 'why' or 'where's the money':

- even privacy conscious people give their location data to their map app

- google maps + google services (android) do everything they can to collect your location data even while not using the app

- how to monetize that data? Measuring online-to-offline conversions! Store visits. This is what retail is after.

Anyone can take $5M for an ad campaign, but if there is a single company that can prove that their ads deliver people to the stores, they get the money and they make case for getting more next time.

To paraphrase Zenyep Tufekci, we're not just building dystopia to make people click ads, we're also surveilling bilions of people to measure retail ad conversions.

https://www.ted.com/talks/zeynep_tufekci_we_re_building_a_dy...

(oh, and there will be a lot of byproducts of course, as the article mentions. Some of them will even be great PR, such as the self-driving cars)

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