The city (and district) I live in still has its name spelled incredibly wrong, and has had so for the past decade.

You cannot select a municipality name. They're not buildings or roads marked by mere mortals. And what you can't select you can't correct. It is just believed that they are always correct. Immaculate. Immutable.

Every attempt to fix it has failed, from contacting support (as a "premium Google One customer") or looking for senior Google Maps contributors (all of whom lost all their contacts with "higher up" Googlers when the old map transitioned into new, or just vanished once the forums closed).

In a country where last mile location is often ambiguous, that Google manages to fail at it on a scale large enough to be visible from space says volumes about how worthless their services are.

P.S: Yes, of course it's correctly marked on OSM. And a lot more.

The rival is openstreetmaps

[Laughing in OSM]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Predatory_pricing

This is the best summary I could come up with:

"We're making it easier for developers to start up and scale quickly in India with lower pricing and the ability to be charged and pay their bill in INR (Indian Rupees)," states the search and ads giant's explanation for the change, which comes into effect from August 1.

It pointed to rivals not offering complete rural coverage, keeping up with new or changed roads, and not understanding how potholes and other tarmac quality issues impact travel times.

In 2022 Singaporean rideshare and delivery platform Grab created its own maps that capture info specific to the layout of Asian cities, taking into account the prevalence of motorbikes across the region.

"Our recent #ExitGoogleMaps campaign wasn't just about a product – it's a battle cry for India's technological freedom," wrote Ola Group co-founder and chair Bhavish Aggarwal.

Another new offer means developers will get access to Ola Maps at no charge for three years if they use them alongside the Indian government's e-commerce hub – the Open Network for Digital Commerce.

But local regulators have previously gone after Google over its Android and Play Store market dominance, and Smart TV licensing practices.

The original article contains 540 words, the summary contains 190 words. Saved 65%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!