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Google Decides to Monetize Maps

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Re: Google Decides to Monetize Maps

#91

Post by orev »

dininski wrote: post #4

I can't stress enough how much of a bad idea this is. I was stunned when a few days ago I was looking up something on Google Maps and started seeing advertised locations/suggestions. Even though I love the product and have been a fan of Google products for the longest time, their current strategy of monetizing everything they can is very off putting. The direction Chrome is taking is also concerning. Don't know what…

Wall St only cares about growth. If you make $100B profit two quarters in a row, that’s 0% growth and you’re dead to them. The approach makes sense with smaller companies, but it seems to kill those who reach global dominance.

Re: Google Decides to Monetize Maps

#92

Post by ucaetano »

maracuja-juice wrote: post #72
cageface wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Apple maps is inferior to Google in almost every respect in Asia. I open it now and again just to see if it’s improved and always switch back immediately to Gmaps. With hardware sales slowing Apple has a lot more incentive to improve it than they did when the iPhone gravy train seemed unstoppable though.

In China I experienced that it's exactly the other way around.

Which isn't surprising as Google is blocked in China.

Also, by being blocked, they can't use the Chinese government's service to "correct" the errors that China introduces in the maps:

https://geoawesomeness.com/china-messing-gps-coordinates/

Re: Google Decides to Monetize Maps

#93

Post by JohnFen »

gowld wrote: post #81
JohnFen wrote: post #66

I stopped using Google Maps a few years back. I received a notification on my phone that a store I was near was having a sale. It was clear that something was leaking my location, and that was being used to push ads to me through Android itself. A little investigation revealed that the culprit was Google Maps. I uninstalled it at that point and never looked back.

Using your activity as a substrate for ads has always been Google's business model, and never been a secret. You don't have to go along with it, but it's not a revelation.

You're right, and that's why I firewall off all apps by default so that they can't communicate out. I had granted an exception for Google Maps, accepting that I'll be supplying data to Google.

The revelation was that Google Maps was no longer just being used to collect data, but was being used to actively push ads outside of Maps itself. That was a bridge too far for me.

In the time since, I have rid my device of all Google applications, as Google's overall model is not something I can tolerate any more.

Re: Google Decides to Monetize Maps

#95

Post by JohnFen »

sabareesh wrote: post #75
JohnFen wrote: post #66

I stopped using Google Maps a few years back. I received a notification on my phone that a store I was near was having a sale. It was clear that something was leaking my location, and that was being used to push ads to me through Android itself. A little investigation revealed that the culprit was Google Maps. I uninstalled it at that point and never looked back.

So what do you use now

It depends on where I am. Where I live, OSM is quite good and I use that. In areas where OSM is not so good, I just download map images and refer to those by hand.

Re: Google Decides to Monetize Maps

#96

Post by shostack »

dininski wrote: post #4

I can't stress enough how much of a bad idea this is. I was stunned when a few days ago I was looking up something on Google Maps and started seeing advertised locations/suggestions. Even though I love the product and have been a fan of Google products for the longest time, their current strategy of monetizing everything they can is very off putting. The direction Chrome is taking is also concerning. Don't know what…

There are two main ways an ad business grows. Create more inventory to sell, and increase the value of that inventory.

Maps data had presumably been doing the latter behind the scenes. Now it appears to also be doing the former.

Would you be ok with them using the data to improve their targeting models as long as they didn't include the placements in the Maps experience itself?

Re: Google Decides to Monetize Maps

#97

Post by Causality1 »

I'd be happy to do a one time purchase for a permanently ad-free maps experience but I doubt Google would offer that. I stayed on an old version of maps for years after Google crippled functionality by combining Navigation and Maps into a single app, I'll be happy to do it again to avoid ads.

Re: Google Decides to Monetize Maps

#98

Post by manigandham »

coldtea wrote: post #69
technotony wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why should they offer a free maps service? They are a business with shareholder responsibilities, not a charity, and maps must cost them a ton of money to operate.

> Why should they offer a free maps service? The shouldn't. They should be forced to close, and Maps and Search should be provided by a non-profit, internationally controlled (UN etc), organization, not a for-profit company. That's my opinion of what would be best. Some services (like "indexing the world's knowledge") are too important to be left to private interests and be monetized via ads...

Forced to close? Why? That's a terrible authoritarian idea.

The only solution is more competition, not less. Trying to limit who can do what has only ever led to worse outcomes. There's nothing stopping a non-profit group from creating maps today if they wanted to.

Re: Google Decides to Monetize Maps

#99

Post by est31 »

orev wrote: post #91
dininski wrote: post #4

I can't stress enough how much of a bad idea this is. I was stunned when a few days ago I was looking up something on Google Maps and started seeing advertised locations/suggestions. Even though I love the product and have been a fan of Google products for the longest time, their current strategy of monetizing everything they can is very off putting. The direction Chrome is taking is also concerning. Don't know what…

Wall St only cares about growth. If you make $100B profit two quarters in a row, that’s 0% growth and you’re dead to them. The approach makes sense with smaller companies, but it seems to kill those who reach global dominance.

Obligatory Peter Thiel statement on this (2012): https://youtu.be/2Q26XIKtwXQ?t=195

> Google is no longer a technology company, and [...] it's basically [...] a search engine. The search technology was developed a decade ago, it's a bet that [...] no one else will come up with a better search technology so you invest in Google because you're betting against technological innovation in search, and it's like [...] a bank that generates enormous cash flows every year but you can't issue a dividend because the day you take that 30 billion and send it back to people you're admitting that you're no longer a technology company.

Still relevant today.

Re: Google Decides to Monetize Maps

#100

Post by JohnFen »

shostack wrote: post #96
dininski wrote: post #4

I can't stress enough how much of a bad idea this is. I was stunned when a few days ago I was looking up something on Google Maps and started seeing advertised locations/suggestions. Even though I love the product and have been a fan of Google products for the longest time, their current strategy of monetizing everything they can is very off putting. The direction Chrome is taking is also concerning. Don't know what…

There are two main ways an ad business grows. Create more inventory to sell, and increase the value of that inventory. Maps data had presumably been doing the latter behind the scenes. Now it appears to also be doing the former. Would you be ok with them using the data to improve their targeting models as long as they didn't include the placements in the Maps experience itself?

> Would you be ok with them using the data to improve their targeting models as long as they didn't include the placements in the Maps experience itself?

There was a day when I would have been OK with that, but for me, those days are long gone. I would not be OK with that now.

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