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Google sends anti-regulation propaganda to small businesses using Google Maps

arstechnica.com

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Re: Google sends anti-regulation propaganda to small businesses using Google Maps

#31

Post by nightcracker »

swiley wrote: post #28
giga_chad wrote: post #26

Google has us all by the balls. As a small business owner, in my particular market, I can't survive without their services, even though they suck and I hate them, and their entire company. My business can be destroyed by Google on a whim at a moment's notice. How did it get to be so bad?

Work to get away from them and try to think ahead next time you use online services.

If a significant amount of your new customers find your physical shop through Google maps, what can you do? If someone wants to find a hardware store near them, good chance they'll just write "hardware store" on Google maps. The entry point of people's search is Google - you've already lost the game before it ever started.

Re: Google sends anti-regulation propaganda to small businesses using Google Maps

#32

Post by concinds »

giga_chad wrote: post #26

Google has us all by the balls. As a small business owner, in my particular market, I can't survive without their services, even though they suck and I hate them, and their entire company. My business can be destroyed by Google on a whim at a moment's notice. How did it get to be so bad?

The best thing to do is add opening hours/other info to Apple Maps, Bing Maps, and OpenStreetMaps once they start allowing that. Right now Google has a monopoly because every local business in most countries just bother updating opening hours in Google Maps, so consumers have no choice but to use it. Apple and Bing aren't open, but at least it would help remove Google's monopoly on useful information.

Re: Google sends anti-regulation propaganda to small businesses using Google Maps

#33

Post by giga_chad »

swiley wrote: post #28
giga_chad wrote: post #26

Google has us all by the balls. As a small business owner, in my particular market, I can't survive without their services, even though they suck and I hate them, and their entire company. My business can be destroyed by Google on a whim at a moment's notice. How did it get to be so bad?

Work to get away from them and try to think ahead next time you use online services.

I don't use their services and yet my livelihood is entirely dependent on them (and Facebook). That's how bad it is.

Re: Google sends anti-regulation propaganda to small businesses using Google Maps

#34

Post by mariushn »

Notes on "Now / After" screen: 1. What they don't mention is that first results are usually ads, usually to competition. If you really want to be the first result then your business name is searched, you must pay for an ad too. Just tested this.

2. Hovering over an ad link on Chrome, it shows in bottom bar the link as going to brand.com . How can this be done, it's just an ? Inspecting or right-click shows the true link to www.googleadservices.com/pagead/aclk...

Re: Google sends anti-regulation propaganda to small businesses using Google Maps

#35

Post by m4rtink »

yosito wrote: post #29

Google Maps may silently be Alphabet's most powerful property. As someone who has spent the last 8 months religiously degoogling my life, I've found that Google Maps features are incredibly hard to replace, while at the same time, giving Google direct abilities to influence behavior in the physical world. People see it as "just a map", but it's so much more. OSM-based map tools are pretty good as maps, but they utter…

The data directory part of OSM is being improved by an interesting way:

https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/StreetComplete

Basicaly a gamified editor that makes it easy and fun to fill in opening hours and onther important metadata while on the go. Frankly its almost addictive. :)

Re: Google sends anti-regulation propaganda to small businesses using Google Maps

#36

Post by t0mas88 »

netcan wrote: post #21

It's almost a microcosm of the issue. OOH, Google can do what they want. Why can't they campaign for or against stuff, enlist their customers, and such. OTOH... Google are the gate to online information. Google "lobbying" is not like a normal company lobbying the public.

They can do what they want, but it's the role of the media to call out bullshit so the public is more informed. That's what this article is doing, pointing out how extreme Google is framing things here while the thruth could be very different.

Re: Google sends anti-regulation propaganda to small businesses using Google Maps

#37

Post by dariosalvi78 »

vosper wrote: post #6
durnygbur wrote: post #4

I cannot comprehend how the developed world gave up the POI landscape to one American company. Without a fight or second thought.

Didn’t Google put a lot of the POI data together themselves? And aren’t there lots of competitors? And nothing but money stopping another player from entering the market?

one way for making Google maps less relevant would be if all the other companies working on maps, including Apple, would instead curate an open repository, like on OSM. Yes, Google could also make use of it, but it will have to "give back" for example when updating info. I see maps and POIs as an infrastructure-like good, like Linux or Wikipedia, which could be shared and companies could still make money on top of it.

Re: Google sends anti-regulation propaganda to small businesses using Google Maps

#38

Post by slownews45 »

Freak_NL wrote: post #22
slownews45 wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Some people are even using google street view to do this - not sure what the licensing rules if any are there.

Don't stimulate this. It is a legal grey area and actively discouraged by the OSM community. It's just too close to directly copying from Google Maps, which is infringement of their IP. Morally speaking, any information you derive from a photograph taken in a public area should not be encumbered in any way, but Google's pockets are a little too deep to risk a lawsuit for OpenStreetMap.

Not an attorney, but I always thought google had TOS against using their data to create or augment any other mapping related dataset. So I'm not recommending this either.

Just wanted to mention that while the OSM community get's very bent out of shape around potential copying by google, it's not impossible people are sneaking a peak at street view and google sat data to augment OSM.

Re: Google sends anti-regulation propaganda to small businesses using Google Maps

#40

Post by authed »

mariushn wrote: post #34

Notes on "Now / After" screen: 1. What they don't mention is that first results are usually ads, usually to competition. If you really want to be the first result then your business name is searched, you must pay for an ad too. Just tested this. 2. Hovering over an ad link on Chrome, it shows in bottom bar the link as going to brand.com . How can this be done, it's just an ? Inspecting or right-click shows the true l…

> Hovering over an ad link on Chrome, it shows in bottom bar the link as going to brand.com . How can this be done, it's just an ? Inspecting or right-click shows the true link to www.googleadservices.com/pagead/aclk...

Google has been doing this since forever (for any search results too)... They update the link target on-click using javascript to be able to track everything you click on.

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