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Google Maps' Moat

justinobeirne.com

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Re: Google Maps' Moat

#571

Post by panglott »

maxerickson wrote: post #503
sandworm101 wrote: post #481

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>> is a product of their being in suburban America. Close, but imho is has more to do with liability, a fear common at all american companies. Car drivers are licensed. They can be expected to obey traffic laws. So when google sends them down the wrong way on a one-way road, nobody blames google. They blame the adult who listened to their phone rather than the signs. But bicyclists are not licensed. If google says th…

On my phone, Google's bike routing happily sends me down a 35 MPH, 4 lane highway, crossing under a rail bridge where there is no shoulder. It also presents an alternate route, but the traffic environment here isn't such that the route under the viaduct makes any sense. (this is in small town usa)

I cycle in a mid-cized American city that has had a "Bicycle Friendly America" Silver ranking for several years now, and the Google Maps bicycle directions have been extremely iffy since they were introduced. I just checked how Google Maps routes my normal cycle route home, and it's very close to good, but in fact is quite bad.

It routes me onto a dangerous arterial road rather than the pleasant multiuse park path that is directly adjacent to the arterial road (and which is my normal cycling route). The Google Maps recommendation here is quite bad and possibly dangerous. The alternate route goes on another heavily-trafficked road rather than the quiet surburban street a block away that is a designated cycle route marked with bicycle signs and sharrows (which was my previous cycling route).

Re: Google Maps' Moat

#572

Post by jotux »

chmaynard wrote: post #431

Earlier this year, Google Maps was directing people traveling to my newly-constructed home to a different location several miles away. I reported the problem to Google via their app, which prompted me to indicate the correct location on a map. The new location was in their database within a day or two, and I received a thank-you email from Google. Amazing.

Google maps has the name of the street I live near spelled incorrectly (O'Neil vs O'Neill). They're the only mapping service that has it wrong and I've tried to submit the error through google maps multiple times to get it fixed -- it's still not fixed. It's odd to me, because I've submitted other fixes in the past for mapping errors and they're usually accepted within a few days. When I direct people to my house now I have to intentionally misspell the name so google maps will route them correctly.

Re: Google Maps' Moat

#573

Post by kuon »

Here in switzerland, we've had building shapes for decades (if not hundred of years).

Here it what it looks like:

https://map.geo.admin.ch/?topic=ech&lang=en&bgLayer=ch.swiss...

I've always found that kind of map way superior to the original "google like" maps. It's great to see that google is catching up, but I am really surprised that a database of building footprint is not something public like it is here in switzerland.

Edit: Just discovered the time travel function, here in 1860:

https://map.geo.admin.ch/?topic=ech&lang=en&bgLayer=ch.swiss...

Re: Google Maps' Moat

#574

Post by Rebelgecko »

sytelus wrote: post #351
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…

Google maps works offline in most countries. I wouldn’t have survived my International trips without it. I’ve used Google map for public transit in many countries. Most time I get SIM card while travelling just to use Google maps.

When I've used it in the past, the offline maps kind) weren't very dependable.

They expired after 30 days (not 30 days of being offline, just 30 days from when you downloaded the map). If you had internet when they expired, the map would refresh and you'd be good for another 30 days. If the 30th day happened to be the first day of your trip, you were SOL until you found wifi.

Some of the other annoyances have been fixed (initially they only supported navigating to addresses, not business names). Some of them haven't (still no walking directions). But if I can't count on the maps to actually be there when I need them, nothing else matters.

Re: Google Maps' Moat

#575

Post by ucaetano »

paloaltokid wrote: post #240
ucaetano wrote: post #182

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Some things should be shared in common and competitive services built on top. Only when the existence of one incumbent inhibits the entrance of new ones, like physical infrastructure and natural monopolies. As you can see, there is an abundance of mapping services. So yeah, competition is working great here.

That is 100% just your opinion. :) Same as me.

No, it's economics and game theory.

In situations where most of the cost to set up a business is upfront, the marginal cost is very low and you can't "move" the immobilized capital after (like power lines, train lines, water main, fiber optic networks), there is a massive advantage to the first entrant (the "incumbent").

In these cases, there are massive barriers for new entrants: any new entrant would have to make an immense investment with zero chance of making it back, as the incumbent could just retaliate by lowering prices and driving the entrant out of business.

This situation means that there is little chance that competition will happen, so it is the best interest of society to mandate the operation of the infrastructure from the service. That's what happens with local-loop unbundling, or when the ownership and operation of the rail infrastructure must be separate from the ownership and operation of train lines and services.

That is not the case with mapping the world: anyone can do it, and having an incumbent doesn't block new entrants. There were already many incumbents when Google entered the mapping business, and there's still plenty of competition.

Therefore, there is no reason to mandate separation.

So no, it isn't "100% just your opinion".

But I appreciate the Lebowski reference :)

Re: Google Maps' Moat

#576

Post by fudged71 »

chmaynard wrote: post #431

Earlier this year, Google Maps was directing people traveling to my newly-constructed home to a different location several miles away. I reported the problem to Google via their app, which prompted me to indicate the correct location on a map. The new location was in their database within a day or two, and I received a thank-you email from Google. Amazing.

I laugh when people tell me their address but say "Google maps doesn't show the right location". I go in and change it for them and they never have to tell people that again. Crowdsourcing is wonderful.

Re: Google Maps' Moat

#577

Post by fudged71 »

chmaynard wrote: post #431

Earlier this year, Google Maps was directing people traveling to my newly-constructed home to a different location several miles away. I reported the problem to Google via their app, which prompted me to indicate the correct location on a map. The new location was in their database within a day or two, and I received a thank-you email from Google. Amazing.

There are two instances where Google has not accepted my changes:

1) A restaurant in Vancouver was known for their oysters. I went back years later and although the name and reviews remained, the owners completely changed the restaurant. Completely different style of food, seating, service, everything. I reported that their reviews should be wiped clean, and Google didn't change anything. Disappointing.

2) When you hop on a road while navigating and Maps says "follow this road for x kilometers" you expect to be on that road for x kilometers. In my town it seems that google decided that the road should change visual style in the more trafficked part of the city, so it seems they split it up. Now navigation says multiple times "continue on road for x kilometers" but with shorter distances. It's not intuitive. They wouldn't change it.

Re: Google Maps' Moat

#578

Post by fudged71 »

njarboe wrote: post #186

Google Project Sunroof[1] is a pretty cool project that I imagine uses this very detailed mapping of buildings. Check it out, especially if you are thinking about getting solar power installed at your home. I think many solar companies use it to do estimates. [1] https://www.google.com/get/sunroof

There may be many more potential uses of this data in the future. Augmented reality, indoor mapping, robotics, etc.

Re: Google Maps' Moat

#579

Post by binarycrusader »

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…

It's not always better than everything out there; where I live in the greater Seattle area (in particular my current home), Google Maps doesn't have an accurate location-to-address mapping (it's not an apartment either) and the map visualization is not quite right either.

However, Bing and Apple maps get the correct location and have the right visualizations for the same area.

Re: Google Maps' Moat

#580

Post by fudged71 »

jld wrote: post #7

Google Maps is my pick for the coolest website on the internet. Truly a killer app.

Can't live without it. I travel a lot.

Lately I have even been wanting an operating system that has maps as the main UI, or a majorly core feature. With the amount that I use maps, it is an absolute pain to have to switch to it all the time.

I pin every place recommendation I find in my social circles online and tag them with who suggested them. When I'm driving I'd like to pin/note places I see without interacting with the phone. When I'm flying I wan't to know what specific features I am seeing from the air (towns, mountains, lakes). When I'm on a road trip I want to hear snippets of info about the small towns that I'm passing through or the things I see out the window. When I'm walking I want to use the camera for input and output to the map to pin and locate myself. When I'm indoors I don't want to feel lost again or ask where the restroom is.

Location has become a core part of my interaction with the world but it still feels rather basic as a 3rd party app on my phone. Or another tab on my desktop.

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