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Anon thinks about Google
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this post was submitted on 27 Jun 2024
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I hate Google and try not use it anymore but there's still one thing I can't do without : Google Maps.
Have you tried open street maps? I suggest organic street maps for your phone
Organic Maps are great, however if you're looking for shops and restaurants (or rather their reviews) Google Maps are second to none.
OSM can technically replace Gmaps for shops and restaurants if enough people were using and updating it.
However, Gmaps in unbeatable for public transportation :( no alternative at all
In Europe you can usually download an app for the public transit in that specific country/city. However, Google Maps is the only one that will show you how to get to a specific address (not just the train/bus station).
I use Transportr for that. It integrates with the different local metro systems. Works great in Sweden at least🙂
Cool, thanks for the tip!
Oh, I'm well aware of that, but there are so few cities that have been mapped to the degree to compete with gmaps, that I doubt we ever will reach that level.
Also reviews. I'm not sure if there even is a way to fix that without creating a separate program with a separate ecosystem in the process...
Unfortunately the reviews at GMaps are becoming less and less reliable though, as many businesses begin to have bad reviews removed through lawyers.
I've had it happen to a couple of mine, where Google forwarded the request of a law firm to prove I had actually been at a restaurant more than 5 years ago (where I reviewed it with 3*).
Even if you can prove it, most people won't and in that case the restaurant went from 3.8 stars to 4.6, which is a shame really. It confirms a hunch that just as with Amazon the reviews get a lot less reliable.
citymapper
Ooh, nice. Thanks for making me discover it! I would have liked a FOSS alternative, but this is pretty good.
Edit: argh, it's nice for local urban commute, but it doesn't work outside or between big cities :(
In Europe at least I had some minor functionality with OSMAnd... but Google beats it out no contest, in terms of speed, accuracy, and being up-to-date... which is depressing but that's the reality.
it's the only reason I haven't stopped using Maps
Facts, Google maps drive mode is also super handy
Drive mode = turn by turn, like the regular get directions and tap to begin navigation?
It's like the map from an angle without a specific destination. Helpful for showing the surrounding map area.
If you've driven a car with a built in map display, it's basically that but for your phone.
I can never stick with those alternatives, the traffic conditions feature is simply too good to miss
I'd be okay with Google dwindling all the way down to just Google Maps.
I find Waze quite good for traffic conditions. The only thing it always tries to steer me wrong with is that there's 2 main routes home from work, around the North East of the city, and on the bypass around the West/South of the city. It always wants to take me on the bypass as when I'm at the exit for the other route, traffic is way lighter. However by the time I'm halfway home on the bypass traffic has brought itself to an essential standstill. And there's no real ways cutting across the city that avoids the high traffic section of the bypass that doesn't take longer than sitting in traffic. Also...the NE route is at most 15mins longer due to speed limits, but it's 20ish km shorter.
Surprise! Waze is owned by Google :-(
FUCK.
Well, here's hoping they don't kill it like they kill everything good they've ever made....
https://www.cnbc.com/2023/06/27/google-cuts-jobs-at-waze-as-it-continues-to-merge-mapping-products.html
Goddammit
Waze isn't technically difficult to replace, but it is going to be difficult to replace because the replacement needs critical mass to become useful. There's no point using it over some other navigation app if people don't report stuff.
OSM is great in some places. But outside of the more techy areas, it's a barren land. I something do my part with streetcomplete, but anyway, it's not there yet (in most places)
Yeah I contribute to OSM but apps like OsmAnd are a far cry in features from Google Maps. The paths are very much not optimized. If I tell it to go back to my hometown it takes me about 15 minutes out of the way. And I can't tell it to go to a certain house because the houses aren't mapped yet.
Should I help map them? Yes. But for your average user that's not going to work.
OsmAnd blows google maps out of the water in terms of features, but google does better with less. It's easier to use and it has everyone contributing to traffic analysis without them even realizing.
I have tried using it for a while but a few updates ago the search functionality was kinda messed up (and still is) so I had to switch back to gmaps :(
I tried it but in my area it doesn't have a lot of places on it. Especially the satellite view being so old it's hard for me to figure out how to contribute