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Google Maps gets worse!bsky.app/profile/whitelabel.org/post/3l4wuarh4dl2i

687 sats \ 11 comments \ @StillStackinAfterAllTheseYears 30 Sep tech

This is a link to an embedded video in a BlueSky post, but I've checked it on a non-logged-in incognito browser and it plays fine. Worth the watch.

Basically, Google Maps will point you to whoever pays them instead of giving you the info you need. Which I think we all knew, to a degree, but this is just so brazen, even for Google.

Obviously, you should be using Organic Maps or another open-source option, but if you're not, this should push you over the edge.

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21 sats \ 1 reply \ @openyoureyes 1 Oct

Have you watched "the billion dollar code" on netflix? It was all stolen from german startup Terravision.

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @StillStackinAfterAllTheseYears OP 1 Oct

I haven't -- will look out for it.

21 sats \ 0 replies \ @DesertDave 30 Sep

I have removed google from my life entirely. There are generally always better open source options. Organic maps works great.

21 sats \ 1 reply \ @Signal312 30 Sep

I watched this, and it's interesting.

However, I still use Google Maps a lot (I know, I should be switching), and haven't encountered anything like this. And believe me, I'd notice, I'm very skeptical when it comes to Google.

Has anyone else actually encountered a situation like this (being pushed to a business that's paying for google ads, while google maps disappears a close-by competitor, that's apparently not paying for ads)? Not saying it doesn't happen, just saying I haven't yet noticed it.

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @StillStackinAfterAllTheseYears OP 30 Sep

My use case for map apps is usually, "okay, I need to walk to a store on 123 Main St., so give me directions," and while I may sometimes not have the address (so it's "I need to walk to the Amtrak station"), I rarely use it for discovery like the person in the app does, so I can't say I've experienced it myself.

1 sat \ 2 replies \ @SimpleStacker 30 Sep

All Google products get worse over time. Gmail has been getting consistently worse for over a decade.

It's all baked into the economics, both intentional and unintentional.

Intentional. Give users a great, free product and get them to start depending on it. Then start adding features to enhance monetization which usually degrades the product experience.

Unintentional. Great, free product starts developing a life of its own within the company. Engineers add features no one cares about or needs, so the engineers can look productive. Product just gets bloated and bad, but few feedback mechanisms exist to tell that to the company because users have become locked in.

11 sats \ 1 reply \ @StillStackinAfterAllTheseYears OP 30 Sep

Yup -- it's called enshittification.

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @SimpleStacker 30 Sep

Nice to know there's a whole wikipedia article about it.

1 sat \ 0 replies \ @flat24 30 Sep

Thanks for the recommendation, recently in another post someone talked about Organic Maps, I installed it and downloaded the map of my city and have started using it as a replacement for Google Maps.

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @xz 30 Sep

Love OMaps.

Hope there will be a way to point the desktop version's data to another drive in the future, but I know this is a volunteer foss thing, so what's to say other than an amazing cooperative work across countries.

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @Satosora 30 Sep

They are just taking advantage of you.