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Google Maps' Moat Is Evaporating

joemorrison.substack.com

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Re: Google Maps' Moat Is Evaporating

#61

Post by uptown »

faitswulff wrote: post #58
morsch wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Google Maps just isn't very good for hiking. But it's not just a map, it's got the yellow pages, Yelp, and, depending on where you are, various other things like hotel booking and public transport routing thrown in. My recent favorite feature is the live estimation of how crowded a store is, very useful during the pandemic. Much of this is stuff the software based on OSM isn't even trying, or doing so only very half…

> My recent favorite feature is the live estimation of how crowded a store is, very useful during the pandemic. Unfortunately it's been completely useless in my area. I wish stores just allowed access to the cctv cameras on their parking lots so I could estimate for myself.

That’s valuable data for sale by other vendors.

Re: Google Maps' Moat Is Evaporating

#63

Post by sub7 »

Can't think of a product they've fucked up more with every iteration than Maps. Could argue Search here but Maps has been absurd.

It started around the time they were pushing Material design and hasn't stopped since then.

Re: Google Maps' Moat Is Evaporating

#64

Post by alisonkisk »

roenxi wrote: post #19
akmarinov wrote: post #5

Apple is so far behind outside of the places they prioritize that it'll take decades at this pace to get on Google Maps' current level. It's really useless in places like Eastern Europe, where Apple has no interest in supporting and isn't likely that it'll turn that around any time soon.

> ...it'll take decades ... I'm very literal. Google maps was released in 2005. The upper limit on how long it would take Apple to build the whole thing from literally nothing is 15 years, if they are investing to improve their service. Let alone with computer vision, satellite imagery, hardware improvements and the ability to lazily copy the interface Google has created which would speed the process up.

Of someone at Apple copied the Google interface they'd be fired for substandard results.

Re: Google Maps' Moat Is Evaporating

#65

Post by alisonkisk »

howlgarnish wrote: post #3

> They appear, to me, to be acting from a place of fear and conservatism rather than innovation. Bingo. Here's a fun exercise: try to find the last genuinely useful feature added to the Maps API in the release notes. https://developers.google.com/maps/documentation/javascript/... To give you a taste, here's the largest change made in 3.42: > InfoWindows now have a default max width of 648px which can be overridden by…

That's a different issue. Big companies hate APIs because that interferes with product development and brand control.

Re: Google Maps' Moat Is Evaporating

#66

Post by sildur »

bobviolier wrote: post #7

These street maps are becoming insanely precise, probably helped by the competition. I see that Google Maps is now testing "detailed street maps" in some cities: https://www.justinobeirne.com/google-testing-detailed-street... Just a thought: maybe they are scanning cities for their self-driving cars and are also using this data for Maps?

Ah, they now have the same detail OSM had five years ago. Who knows, maybe some day they will be on par.

Re: Google Maps' Moat Is Evaporating

#68

Post by broknbottle »

cowsandmilk wrote: post #56
akmarinov wrote: post #5

Apple is so far behind outside of the places they prioritize that it'll take decades at this pace to get on Google Maps' current level. It's really useless in places like Eastern Europe, where Apple has no interest in supporting and isn't likely that it'll turn that around any time soon.

Google Maps is not that great in places they don’t prioritize. They have no ability to handle tolls and direction of roads that are based on day of the week and hour. Local examples from the DC Area: I-66 is marked as a toll road 100% of the time despite only being tolled at rush hour in one direction; Clara Barton parkway is always marked as two way, but it becomes one way during rush hour, I regularly am routed dow…

I'm located in NoVA and I've noticed this as well. It seems like instead of having the option "Avoid Tolls" it needs to be "Avoid Tolls when I have to Pay".

Re: Google Maps' Moat Is Evaporating

#69

Post by system16 »

akmarinov wrote: post #5

Apple is so far behind outside of the places they prioritize that it'll take decades at this pace to get on Google Maps' current level. It's really useless in places like Eastern Europe, where Apple has no interest in supporting and isn't likely that it'll turn that around any time soon.

A year ago I would have agreed, but I am now more optimistic. They recently launched a huge update for Canada that has made it competitive with Google Maps, and their "Look Around" is a lot more impressive than Street View in my experience with it.

Like the article states, the pace of their updates is increasing. While it may still be a while until they support the rest of the world, the fact that somebody there seems to finally understand people use iPhones in places other than the Bay Area is promising.

Re: Google Maps' Moat Is Evaporating

#70

Post by akudha »

partingshots wrote: post #2

Anecdotally, a potential counterpoint: https://www.justinobeirne.com/google-maps-moat And the discussion that came with it: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15965653

This is an insanely good article, thank you for sharing. Must've take a ton of time for the author to put this together.
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