"better" - determined by who?
Ad buyers
Google Maps will soon give you better recommendations
51–60 of 93 posts
Re: Google Maps will soon give you better recommendations
#52Earlier quoted context omitted.
I use Maps as a gateway to new areas. If I can't see new places automatically, if I'm not notified, if I'm not otherwise aware of new places, how am I going to come across them?
I think asking locals can be one solution. If not, check out a blog of the city you are visiting, they might publish new places there.
I get a local newspaper that shows restaurant openings and closings; it seems like a much better fit for that kind of information than something global like google maps.
Google maps should be answering two questions: Where is it, and how do I get there. "What's cool and new in my city" seems like a feature that's being shoehorned on because it's a possible revenue channel.
>asking locals
I like that for hippie reasons like building community and a sense of connection to other people, but I'm also a little disappointed I didn't instantly recognize that the objectively best way to know "what the locals are doing in their neighborhood" is to "ask them"
Re: Google Maps will soon give you better recommendations
#53Earlier quoted context omitted.
It definitely could be. Apple literally admitted to slowing down older generation iPhones. I don't know how you can really consider it a non-factor.
2 reasons. 1) they’ve only acknowledged doing this on iPhone 6 and later. 2) it’s slow as shit on my brand spanking new iPhone X as well. A slower phone def doesn’t help, but it’s not the primary issue here.
Whoa, really? I noticed Google Maps being slow as shit on my Galaxy S5 and thought it was just because it was an old phone. I guess getting a new phone isn't going to help then?
(I've been meaning to upgrade to a newer phone, maybe an LG V10 or V20, soon for several reasons; the S5 has been great but it's now 4 years old. But I guess Google Maps being slow isn't a valid reason any more.)
Re: Google Maps will soon give you better recommendations
#54idk about recommendations, but I've started using Google Maps more than Yelp for calling restaurants and sharing addresses with friends because Yelp takes way too long to boot up compared to Google Maps. Speed matters!
Never thought Gmaps was considered fast. When I open it on a new, top shelf Android, it takes a few seconds to boot. And it boots directly into whatever I searched a few days ago. Then I have to click back, wait for it to not lag, back again, repeat. Then finally I can search. Most often I click back and close it...
Just tested on my iPhons 6S+. Maps took about 2.5 seconds to boot, 1 second to load search predictions, then showed exacty results instantly after I chose the search term.
Yelp took about a second longer on each step, with worse search predictions with partial string input, making me spend more time typing. Also the text is harder to read and the search box is harder to activate. So UX seems to also be a factor adding human lag time to the equation.
Maps isn't instant but it's the better of two nonideal options.
Re: Google Maps will soon give you better recommendations
#55instead, how about giving me directions that dont involve 20 turns down tiny residential streets with 10 stop signs to travel 2 miles. when it can be done with 1 turn on 2 major roads with 2 traffic lights and an extra 0.1 mile? or multi-point routes on mobile? or a maps app UI that doesnt obstruct 60% of the actual map? so many google products seem to reach EOL at "good enough". see also: Gmail, etc.
How about excluding unpaved trails from bicycle directions? I've been screwed by that too many times. A gravel trail is not a bike route, for most bikes anyway.
Here's my suggestion for Google Maps: how about handling toll roads better? It's all-or-nothing. Why not put a little gray box saying "20 minutes shorter, $1.50", or "1 minute shorter, $29.50"? If you turn on toll roads, it'll happily always route you on a toll road or toll lane, even if it isn't any faster. And here in DC, toll roads can easily cost you $30-50 per trip.
Maps already gives you route options to choose from, both when you first start, and during your drive; why can't they do this with toll roads? Are they secretly working with EZ-Pass?
Re: Google Maps will soon give you better recommendations
#56The feature I want can be found in Microsoft's MapPoint for DOS back in 1993: the option to plot the shortest route based on distance. I drive a slow, old truck that tops out at about 60 on flat roads and I prefer to avoid interstates and to take the shortest mileage route, since the lower speed limits of small roads are rarely applicable to me. On a drive from the Midwest out to the western deserts, 150 miles makes…
Google Maps (and in fact just about every nav program) has an option for "no highways". That'll probably be better for your objective than just plotting the shortest route, which may very well follow a highway at some point since highways frequently are more direct.
Re: Google Maps will soon give you better recommendations
#57> “Today, our users aren’t just asking for the fastest route to a place but also what’s happening around them, what the new places are and what the locals are doing in their neighborhood,” Google VP for engineering and product management Jen Fitzpatrick noted in today’s keynote. Are users really asking for this? I only ever use Google Maps for driving directions. I like that I can type the name of a place and it find…
While we're at it, I hate when you click on a search result hoping to see the location, but instead it covers up your entire screen with pictures of food.
Re: Google Maps will soon give you better recommendations
#58Anyone still use Maps in the car? I use Waze.
Yes. I've tried Waze, and the only advantage it has is showing where cops are (which isn't very reliable, the data is frequently out of date and it shows cops where there aren't any, or doesn't show ones that set up their speed trap recently or are on a rural road).
Google Maps will show you alternative routes as you drive, telling you how much extra time they'll take (or save). Waze does not do this, it only shows you one route. I frequently want to take a slightly different route than the one shown, perhaps because I'm coming to a stoplight and it shows the alternate route of turning right to be "similar ETA", and by turning right I can avoid spending 1-3 minutes at the light.
Basically, Waze is just too minimalist. I want more information, not less.
Re: Google Maps will soon give you better recommendations
#59instead, how about giving me directions that dont involve 20 turns down tiny residential streets with 10 stop signs to travel 2 miles. when it can be done with 1 turn on 2 major roads with 2 traffic lights and an extra 0.1 mile? or multi-point routes on mobile? or a maps app UI that doesnt obstruct 60% of the actual map? so many google products seem to reach EOL at "good enough". see also: Gmail, etc.
How about excluding unpaved trails from bicycle directions? I've been screwed by that too many times. A gravel trail is not a bike route, for most bikes anyway.
I have requested and gotten added several bike paths (all paved) to Google Maps so it would route properly through a park, so it might be someone with an mountain bike who requested Google to add it?
Re: Google Maps will soon give you better recommendations
#60Earlier quoted context omitted.
Not the person you are replying to, but I find in Vancouver it does that a lot as well. Instead of turning left at an intersection with a light and dedicated turn lane, I find it will often suggest I turn left then right then left to skip the intersection. It always turns out worse.
Very interesting, thanks. Does the map show lane information? I don't know how accurate that is outside of the US. Or maybe in this case it's overestimating the impact of live traffic data for that red light. Sometimes it feels to me as if, over time, it learns from routes that it suggests and I repeatedly avoid, but that might have been just a coincidence and it might have learned that from aggregate data, not just…
It's pretty accurate about which lane you need to be in. I wish it would announce with more notice, but the info is dead on.
I find Google Maps _vastly_ underestimates how hard it is to turn onto a major artery without a light. It seems to think that turning left across three lanes of traffic without a light is "free". In practice, I have been stuck making these turns for 10+ minutes before. I've noticed it underestimates bridges as well.
> Sometimes it feels to me as if, over time, it learns from routes that it suggests and I repeatedly avoid, but that might have been just a coincidence and it might have learned that from aggregate data, not just mine.
That could be the case. Given my usage of Google Maps was less than once a month, it may not have had much to learn from me. I would also rate these poor experiences as bad.