• JeffreyOrange@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        2
        ·
        edit-2
        6 months ago

        Well I usually only ride my bike, so I have barely any use for google maps. I usually use naviki or osmand. Maps is trash for bikes. But sometimes maps is nice to find a shop in the city and see opening times, reviews and a website link.

        • fossphi@lemm.ee
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          2
          ·
          6 months ago

          But sometimes maps is nice to find a shop in the city and see opening times, reviews and a website link.

          Unfortunately yes. It’s really hard to beat Google maps for stuff like that

  • Carighan Maconar@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    12
    ·
    6 months ago

    As they say in the update, this is in fact nothing new, and isn’t distracting or detouring in any way.

    It’s always existed, and is meant to show you something like gas stations along the way. It’s actually quite helpful, even though it is of course - in a lot of ways - ads. But for businesses i might actually need while driving, so fuck if I mind. And also as said in the update, these only appear briefly, and do not pop up. I’ve seen this before plenty of times, they’re really not intrusive at all.

    • Skua@kbin.earth
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      5
      ·
      6 months ago

      How is it helpful? It isn’t going to know what you need because it doesn’t know if you’re hungry or low on fuel or whatever. It also isn’t going to let you see your options and could just as well be sending you to the worst local option because that’s who paid to advertise

      • Carighan Maconar@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        3
        ·
        6 months ago

        It’s pretty common to show various things near your routes? It’s a feature built-in car map systems had since forever, at least. Always got the odd moment where you want to detour to a gas station or need to stop at a pharmacy.

        • Skua@kbin.earth
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          1
          ·
          6 months ago

          That’s just saying it’s common, though, not that it’s helpful. Do you actually ever use those recommendations?

      • Old_Dude@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        3
        ·
        6 months ago

        It’s just like any other website or subscription that offers their “suggestions.” Whether it’s helpful is subjective, but it’s certainly not out of the ordinary.

    • chaospatterns@lemmy.worldOP
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      11
      ·
      6 months ago

      Totally. I used to contribute to Google maps quite a bit and got higher up in the Local Guides levels, but now I find myself contributing a lot to OSM. I feel a lot better about contributing to an open platform vs letting a company close up my changes.

      I just haven’t made the switch to use it as a mobile client yet

  • Daxtron2@startrek.website
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    12
    ·
    6 months ago

    Poor startup google must not be making enough money selling our travel data that they need to put ads to keep the lights on

  • someone_secret@kbin.burggit.moe
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    9
    ·
    6 months ago

    How does one of the largest and richest Sillicon Valley companies of all time still resort to this type of behavior?

    If it was a fledgling startup that desperately needed the money or else they went bankrupt then I would understand. But google?

    • Auli@lemmy.ca
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      1
      ·
      6 months ago

      Line has to go up is the answer. So must find ways to make more money.

  • CileTheSane@lemmy.ca
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    8
    ·
    6 months ago

    Alright, so I’ve replaced Google with duckduckgo, Chrome with Firefox, Gmail with Protonmail…

    What’s the replacement for Google maps?

  • Shimitar@feddit.it
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    8
    ·
    6 months ago

    I have nothing against OpenStreetMao, and in fact I use it quite a bit, even contribute (using StreetComplete app).

    But the reasons I use google maps and find it unreplaceable is trafic information, which is quite good and there is no real alternative.

    That’s unfortunate.

  • Curator0115@discuss.tchncs.de
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    1
    ·
    6 months ago

    There is a client for android called magic earth There osm based and have a lot of features (some you really may not need). But they dont track or keep any kind of profile