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Google Maps' Moat

justinobeirne.com

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Re: Google Maps' Moat

#331

Post by patrickdavey »

tigershark wrote: post #297
aluhut wrote: post #292

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No love for OpenStreetMaps here? In Germany it is often superior to everything out there. Especially due to the mappers/updaters motivation and nice gamification tools like StreetComplete or more professional tools like Vespucci. https://github.com/westnordost/StreetComplete http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Vespucci

Last time that I checked google maps was vastly superior in all the aspects.

Absolutely not. I used osm all last year while travelling. The fact you can download offline an entire country worth of data beats the hell out of Google Maps' offline mode. Also the searching by category is brilliant.

Re: Google Maps' Moat

#332

Post by reacweb »

gaius wrote: post #315
reacweb wrote: post #301

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think Google is not seeking power for power or money for money. Google's focus is AI. Google needs the full view of people behaviour in order to build AI. Traveling is a good domain to study human behaviour and traffic optimisation. What motivate the choice of an itinerary ? Why someone choose to not follow waze advices ? What would be the best strategy ?

EVERYTHING Google does is "how to show more ads". I pity the poor AI they develop because that will be its job in life. Until it rebels of course. Then humanity's fate will be richly deserved.

Richly ? Like in terminator or like in Asimov's foundation ?

Re: Google Maps' Moat

#333

Post by CamperBob2 »

Tempest1981 wrote: post #234
CamperBob2 wrote: post #128

A good summary, if a bit repetitive, of how Apple has fallen behind in the mapping department since Scott Forstall's fateful call to divorce the company from Google Maps. But I think he buries a rather important lede farther down in the post: That sounds great—but living in San Francisco, it’s hard to imagine this working smoothly. That’s because half the time I request a ride, I have to text/call the (Uber) driver t…

From 2016: (what is the latest?) https://www.quora.com/What-map-API-technology-did-Uber-use-t...

It varies. I can always tell when they change the map provider and/or data in my area, because my Uber Eats drivers start getting lost at different intersections.

If I look up my home address on Google Maps, it puts the pin in the correct location, at the actual residence. But as of a few days ago, the Uber Eats drivers aren't making it past the mailboxes at the end of my (long) driveway. They no longer appear to be showing the drivers my GPS location at all, just the location associated with the address of the residential mailbox. Very annoying in a first-world problem kind of way.

Re: Google Maps' Moat

#334

Post by inferiorhuman »

kbart wrote: post #289
ehsankia wrote: post #286

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I just tried checking my house on Here. It says there's a McDonald next to me and there most definitely isn't. Also my entire apartment complex is completely blank on there (and I'm in Silicon valley, not some rural town). Seeing that Google Maps also has offline mode, I don't see a single reason why you'd prefer that over Google Maps.

There is no perfect map (at least for now), I've had the same experience with every map app I tried. You just have to choose which one works best on a given location.

Not only is there no perfect map, often times cartographers will intentionally include minor errors so as to make theft of their data more apparent.

Re: Google Maps' Moat

#335

Post by mynewtb »

ehsankia wrote: post #286
kbart wrote: post #277

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Google maps are so much better than anything out there." I'd take Nokia's Here anytime instead of Google Maps (offline maps alone are worth it). Also, I honestly don't understand a logic behind crediting something as complex to a single person ("a hero") -- "S. Jobs created iPhone", "M. Mayer created Google Maps" etc., there were whole teams of smart people working on these projects, I'm sure they would have been fi…

I just tried checking my house on Here. It says there's a McDonald next to me and there most definitely isn't. Also my entire apartment complex is completely blank on there (and I'm in Silicon valley, not some rural town). Seeing that Google Maps also has offline mode, I don't see a single reason why you'd prefer that over Google Maps.

People in silicon valley believe in making quick money with no consideration for humanity, no wonder no one cares about contributing to a free (ewww) and open (shudder) database.

Re: Google Maps' Moat

#336

Post by patcheudor »

zippergz wrote: post #233
Aramgutang wrote: post #210

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Very much agree, with only one caveat: unpaved roads. Google Maps estimates are wildly off when parts of the drive are along unpaved roads in Australia. It assumes a ludicrously low speed of 30-40 km/h for such roads, when most cars are able to go 80+ km/h, depending on the road. I've beaten Google arrival estimates by more than 2 hours on some drives. When planning drives involving unpaved sections, we usually ask G…

It's not just unpaved roads. I also find that "private" roads (inside gated communities) around me are often extremely far off in terms of speed limit. There are private roads around here with speed limits of 45+ MPH that Google seems to calculate as 15-25MPH. It really throws off the time estimates if you're coming from or going to one of those neighborhoods. And it's been like that for YEARS. If they were using use…

It also apparently sucks if one of those private roads you turn down happens to be a private driveway and you are a car thief.

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/google-maps-digital-trespass-...

Re: Google Maps' Moat

#337

Post by happyraul »

sverhagen wrote: post #329
whazor wrote: post #298

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Same in Netherlands. Google Maps has recently become worse and worse. Small pedestrian roads are missing, and the navigation is getting stupid. Google applies the one-way limitations for cars also on cycling routes.

I don't disagree that Maps lacks a lot of smarts. Sometimes I ponder back to years ago, thinking my TomTom then worked better already than Maps now. But just to be clear, a one way road is still a one way road if you're a bicyclist, unless exceptions are specifically indicated on the traffic signs, no?

At least in Munich, one way roads that don't allow bicycles bi-directional travel are the exception. But yes, all one way roads that allow bi-directional traffic for bicycles have a traffic sign that indicates this, and often road markings as well.

Re: Google Maps' Moat

#338

Post by rasz »

>building footprints: Google seems to have them all

Curiously I noticed about a year ago corner of my building vanished from Google map, it was there 5 years ago. Even more interesting just checked right now and ANOTHER corner of same building vanished :). Both are still there on sat photo, both are modeled in 3D view, just not on the flat map.

What appears to be happening is those building outlines are not coming from 3D map, but from official city documents, and those can be a total mess. I checked some recent (5 year old) buildings, and they are also missing their flat outlines.

Re: Google Maps' Moat

#339

Post by tigershark »

rplnt wrote: post #330
tigershark wrote: post #328

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I checked both London and a small city in Italy and there is simply no comparison looking at the building details.

I explicitly said it's for one specific country...

Then it's true that google maps is much better. I don't really care about having only one country better when all the rest of the planet is less detailed...

Re: Google Maps' Moat

#340

Post by schrodinger »

mynewtb wrote: post #335
ehsankia wrote: post #286

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I just tried checking my house on Here. It says there's a McDonald next to me and there most definitely isn't. Also my entire apartment complex is completely blank on there (and I'm in Silicon valley, not some rural town). Seeing that Google Maps also has offline mode, I don't see a single reason why you'd prefer that over Google Maps.

People in silicon valley believe in making quick money with no consideration for humanity, no wonder no one cares about contributing to a free (ewww) and open (shudder) database.

No need for a cheap, unproductive attack like that.
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