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Google Maps' Moat

justinobeirne.com

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Re: Google Maps' Moat

#561

Post by s0rce »

aluhut wrote: post #292
sytelus wrote: post #142

Many people don't realize why Google maps are so much better than anything out there. I would actually give lot of credit to Marissa Mayer who suddenly became in charge of maps from otherwise more higher position. Thanks to her influence in Google SLT and ability to make impressive arguments, she was able to make a case for maps as core pillar in Google's offering and consequently obtain huge investment and large tal…

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

Open street/hiking map is great for hiking trails but the lack of traffic info makes it much less useful for driving compared to google's offering.

Re: Google Maps' Moat

#562

Post by s0rce »

carlob wrote: post #389
iNerdier wrote: post #362

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To go with the comparison mentioned in the article though, Apple maps doesn’t even have an option to cycle at the moment. I never use it in London for just that reason. They’ve decided that it’s more important to add ride sharing as an option before cycling in what I can only assume is a product of their being in suburban America.

> They’ve decided that it’s more important to add ride sharing as an option before cycling in what I can only assume is a product of their being in suburban America. Or that cycling doesn't offer referrals…

Maybe bike shares? I wish the cycle directions had an option if you have a bike or not and if not it will determine where the closest spots to get a bike share and go from there as opposed to walking/bus to the destination.

Re: Google Maps' Moat

#563

Post by lucb1e »

pronik wrote: post #422
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

You are right when it comes to streets and bicycle lanes and such. When talking about usability, display quality and search, not so much. I realize the value lies in the data, but for the casual map user there is a long way for OSM to go. Besides, I don't see any reason why Google can't add OpenStreetMap as an additional data source in some or all areas (right in the spirit of the article). It will be interesting to…

The display quality is equal or better: now that I'm used to OSM, I find it completely impossible to orient myself on Google Maps.

There is so much more information at a glance on OSM, whereas for Google you have to go to the highest zoom level to see all POIs. Smaller, local shops are often hidden by large chain brands that Google deems more important, and they don't show up until the shop's building almost covers your whole screen. Rather than showing the icon without a name, so you know what's there just not which specific brand, it just shows you nothing.

As for search... yeah that company owns search. I'm not surprised they excel at that one :)

Re: Google Maps' Moat

#564

Post by raz32dust »

danso wrote: post #256
raz32dust wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Apple Maps automatically tracks my parking location. Have to do that manually in GMaps.

Really? Google Maps used to ask me if it should remember where I was parked (as of last year). Last week I noticed while visiting Google Maps when waiting in line to checkout that GMaps had automatically labeled where I was parked without input from me.

Possible they started doing it already... it should be easy for them. I don't see it happening yet though.

Re: Google Maps' Moat

#565

Post by Scarblac »

sandworm101 wrote: post #554
tintor wrote: post #551

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"And the one-way thing for bike routes is likely based on the widespread understanding ..." There are many examples of one-way roads with two-way bike lanes, ie San Francisco: https://www.google.com/maps/place/San+Francisco+City+Hall/@3...

And the presence of those only adds to my point. Where bike lanes are not specifically states as being 2-way, the default for someone like google is to treat them according to the rules of the road they run alongside.

The point is that in the Netherlands there is a huge number of streets that are specifically signed as "one way, except for bicycles", it's a core feature of our urban infrastructure. Google treats them all as one way for everybody, in a country where over a quarter of all journeys is made by bicycle.

Re: Google Maps' Moat

#566

Post by gspetr »

slackoverflower wrote: post #449
rmc wrote: post #324

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's kind of a shame that Google doesn't release all this data they have collected/created as open data.

That's like McDonalds giving away food. Or Ford giving away cars. Google's business quite literally is data.

> McDonalds giving away food.

Not the best example. McDonalds is so much more than food:

http://blog.wallstreetsurvivor.com/2015/10/08/mcdonalds-beyo...

Re: Google Maps' Moat

#567

Post by tinus_hn »

c0nfused wrote: post #535
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

I have been using open street map in one of my projects and am considering dropping it. I had the fun experience last week to discover that this was one of the cities in north Texas. https://i.imgur.com/BkBcuzN.png The "Boy's Bathroom Tascosa Drive In" Residents are hopefully not going to look at my app any time soon. I am now a bit concerned about the quality in the states as a whole.

It's not like Google is immune from this kind of thing:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-switch/wp/2015/05/19...

Re: Google Maps' Moat

#568

Post by panglott »

aluhut wrote: post #292
sytelus wrote: post #142

Many people don't realize why Google maps are so much better than anything out there. I would actually give lot of credit to Marissa Mayer who suddenly became in charge of maps from otherwise more higher position. Thanks to her influence in Google SLT and ability to make impressive arguments, she was able to make a case for maps as core pillar in Google's offering and consequently obtain huge investment and large tal…

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

Data for the US is still extremely sparse. Many US towns don't have addresses. But it is improving rapidly; mid-sized towns have been getting building outlines for a while. OSM Europe is far, far ahead of the US in what is mapped.

But OSM has some advantages over the others. You can do Simple Indoor Tagging of your building, say for accessibility reasons, and you can even modify it later.

Re: Google Maps' Moat

#569

Post by tinus_hn »

rplnt wrote: post #280
sytelus wrote: post #142

Many people don't realize why Google maps are so much better than anything out there. I would actually give lot of credit to Marissa Mayer who suddenly became in charge of maps from otherwise more higher position. Thanks to her influence in Google SLT and ability to make impressive arguments, she was able to make a case for maps as core pillar in Google's offering and consequently obtain huge investment and large tal…

> Many people don't realize why Google maps are so much better than anything out there. Absolutely not true. I don't use Google Maps in Czech Republic at all as there is a solid local map provider[1] - (they offer whole world through OSM, so I use that on phone as well[2], but it's not that great). They lost some edge with Google going full-textured 3D few years back (actually the Czech map had it sooner, just not as…

That's some really neat rendering, I can't remember seeing a better representation of the OSM data.

Re: Google Maps' Moat

#570

Post by reaperducer »

notahacker wrote: post #504
Karrot_Kream wrote: post #325

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Google Maps actually has the shape of the buildings in my neighborhood incorrect because earlier it was blocked by huge trees, shrouding the shape of the building.

It seems to really struggle with single storey extensions and garages in my area, even when they're nearly as large as the main house floorpan and the Google car drove right past them. I think there's probably human intelligence as well as higher resolution imagery in getting those cathedral and space needle details right... And it doesn't have any buildings at all in my friends' neighbourhood, because it was fields…

In larger cities, such as Chicago, the building shapes are part of the data the local government makes available to the public. All Google has to do is translate it into its format.
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