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Google's Next Big Money Maker Could Be the Maps on Your Phone (bloomberg.com)

Posted by msmash on from the shape-of-things-to-come dept.

Google became the world's most profitable internet company on the back of search advertising. Now, it's turning another popular web service into a major cash machine. From a report: Google Maps is an indispensable part of life for more than 1 billion people, who use it to commute, explore new cities or find a hot new restaurant. The service has been mostly free, and free from ads, since it launched 14 years ago.

Interviews with Google executives and customers show this is changing as the internet giant increases the ways advertisers can reach Maps users, while raising prices for some businesses that use the underlying technology. The app now regularly highlights sponsored locations, and shows extra paid listings when people look for nearby gas stations, coffee shops or other businesses. "There's a big opportunity for them to ramp up monetization," said Andy Taylor, associate director of research at digital marketing agency Merkle. "They've been slow-playing it."

"Sometimes I say the most under-monetized asset that I cover is Google Maps," Brian Nowak, an analyst at Morgan Stanley, said while interviewing Google's business chief Philipp Schindler at a recent conference. "It's almost like a utility where it's kind of waiting for you to flip the switch on." Schindler's response showed that Google isn't waiting anymore.

86 comments

  1. Go on. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Fuck up your best thing going, see who replaces you.

    1. Re: Go on. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      This.

    2. Re:Go on. by Rick+Schumann · · Score: 2

      I wouldn't call it their 'best thing going', it's been massively bloated for quite some time now. You shouldn't need a quad-core 3GHz processor just to look at a fucking map.

    3. Re:Go on. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Pray to god it isn't Yelp. Or Facebook. Or YP.com. Or pretty much any of the other 'local listing' quacks who proliferate with warez copies of the Axciom databases.

      The best we could hope for is that OpenStreetMaps.org stays free and grows in capability to fill the void.

    4. Re:Go on. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Just go buy a Rand McNally and navigate like someone who can be counted on in a tight spot. You'll get more that way than with f*ing roses.

    5. Re:Go on. by geekmux · · Score: 1

      I wouldn't call it their 'best thing going', it's been massively bloated for quite some time now. You shouldn't need a quad-core 3GHz processor just to look at a fucking map.

      You shouldn't need a computer at all to look at a fucking map. Ironically, that doesn't compute for anyone under the age of 30.

      God help the technoaddicts if GPS goes down. The wanderlost masses will look worse than a zombie horde playing Pokemon Go.

    6. Re:Go on. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Fuck up your best thing going, see who replaces you.

      Yeah, we'll see who else wants to pony up billions per year to provide a high-quality free service, without compensation.

    7. Re:Go on. by swillden · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I wouldn't call it their 'best thing going', it's been massively bloated for quite some time now. You shouldn't need a quad-core 3GHz processor just to look at a fucking map.

      You shouldn't need a computer at all to look at a fucking map. Ironically, that doesn't compute for anyone under the age of 30.

      Bah (and I'm long past 30).

      Who wants to deal with paper maps? Certainly no one who travels very much. I remember the pre-mobile maps days quite well, and NO THANK YOU! What a pain in the ass. You either had to find a place to buy a real map every time you went somewhere, or try to make do with the crappy, detail-free maps provided by the car rental agency. Oh, and you had better not be traveling alone, because trying to navigate with a paper map while driving basically meant having to choose between dying or getting repeatedly lost and having to pull over and stop to examine the map and figure out where you went wrong.

      Oh, and forget trying to navigate by paper map in a foreign country where you don't speak the language -- especially if they don't use a latin alphabet. Back in the day, it would never have occurred to me even to try to drive -- or use the mass transit system -- in any Asian country. Now, no problem.

      And good luck trying to refold a blasted paper map. (Actually, I'm pretty good at it, but it's a rare and hard-won skill.)

      Nope, I'll take mobile maps with offline download, automatic route calculation, incredibly-accurate travel time estimates, in my language, with excellent mass transit support (often with real-time arrival info) and voice prompts while driving every day of the week and twice on Sunday. Oh, and walking directions that don't tell you to walk where you shouldn't (though I'll grant that walking directions have only recently gotten good enough to be really useful in Google Maps).

      And that's just for getting around. Those cruddy paper maps were almost, but not quite, utterly useless for finding restaurants, gas stations or anything else. Sometimes they had a marginally-useful gazetteer, but that was rare (and generally only included places who'd paid for the privilege of being listed -- hmm). And on the rare occasions where restaurant info was provided, the maps completely and totally failed to provide reviews on the food quality, timeliness and friendliness of the waitstaff, or even price range! Much less the full menu (that's hit or miss even today; but happens often enough that I usually skip any place that doesn't provide it.)

      Paper. Maps. Suck.

      Not because I don't know how to use them, but because they are severely feature-deficient. They only tell me a tiny fraction of what I want to know, and do it in an extremely inconvenient way.

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      Note to ACs: I usually delete AC replies without reading them. If you want to talk to me, log in.
    8. Re:Go on. by GaryBright · · Score: 0

      We should know it's too good to be true for Google to a offer something as useful as maps without eventually letting money fuck up the relationship. Google maps already has too many internet dependencies for a GPS Nav app. If they plan on hitting me with adds and monetizing the location info, then society needs a better alternative. I already hate you Google, don't pervert a single purpose app into a bloated advertising vehicle. Fuck you Google, give me free stuff and stay out of my way.

    9. Re:Go on. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I wouldn't call it their 'best thing going', it's been massively bloated for quite some time now. You shouldn't need a quad-core 3GHz processor just to look at a fucking map.

      This! Twice now my #1 problem with an old phone was is couldn't handle Google maps any more, so I had to update. I have eight cores now, so I should be good for a couple years.

    10. Re:Go on. by Cederic · · Score: 2, Insightful

      While I do agree with you, I will point out a benefit paper maps do offer.

      Bloody good battery life.

    11. Re:Go on. by Cederic · · Score: 1

      Even with Google taking most of the market there are multiple free-to-use maps available on the internet and on mobile devices.

      I used one of them to circumnavigate the world. It had better offline support than Google Maps and the internet link wasn't so good in the Conflict Islands.

    12. Re:Go on. by DogDude · · Score: 1

      Their "best thing going"? How much money do they make from it now?

      --
      I don't respond to AC's.
    13. Re:Go on. by ceoyoyo · · Score: 1

      A paper map doesn't replace GPS. Nor is GPS required to use Google Maps. Electronic maps got popular way before most people had smartphones that would run them. That happened because paper maps suck, unless you're in a situation where one of their few advantages really shines. I say that as a trained celestial navigator with a (paper) chart collection.

    14. Re:Go on. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The big advantage of paper maps is you do the work in your head and thus actually learn to navigate the city. That's really not possible with google maps due to interface limitations so you are forced to rely on Google for navigation and leaving you with no fucking idea where you actually are when it inevitably fucks up.

    15. Re:Go on. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Except when you store them in the door slots and you open the door when it's poring. Seriously, why don't those things have covers or an overhang?

    16. Re:Go on. by Pseudonym · · Score: 1

      On the other hand, that's a moderate disadvantage if there is construction work or a traffic jam or something else which makes your geographic knowledge unhelpful. The main benefit of an online map system is that it can route around bottlenecks as they happen.

      --
      sub f{($f)=@_;print"$f(q{$f});";}f(q{sub f{($f)=@_;print"$f(q{$f});";}f});
    17. Re:Go on. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Just use OsmAnd, which is totally free and open source and can be used totally offline. Fuck Google and Microsoft.

      OsmAnd+ on F-Droid

    18. Re:Go on. by phantomfive · · Score: 1

      Next thing you know, Google will insert advertising into their search results.

      --
      "First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
    19. Re:Go on. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Big Maps Conspiracy.

    20. Re:Go on. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Paper maps still have their place for dense cities. I prefer the ring-band books that have a page size of between A5 and A4. So much more detail (I want to see ALL street names at ALL times) and oversight than a tiny mobile screen that is also only half used as it wants to show lots of UI around the map view. (I'm looking at you defunct google maps).
      So when I use digital maps, it is on a larger device preloaded with Open Street Maps maps. Those are very good in my country.

    21. Re: Go on. by oyeoye2 · · Score: 0

      Google is Advancing everyday and that why technology is Advancing but will all of these there will be certain time your privacy will breeched badly

    22. Re:Go on. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      This! Twice now my #1 problem with an old phone was is couldn't handle Google maps any more, so I had to update. I have eight cores now, so I should be good for a couple years.

      Too bad, you'll need 8 cores just for running the blinking video ads that comes with the next iteration of google maps.

    23. Re:Go on. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Side benefits of Osmand, beyond loosing google ads:

      * The map is downloaded once to the phone. So no third party knows where you are using it. A google map user can be tracked by seeing which map tiles they constantly request from the server.

      * the map is on the phone, so you don't need internet connectivity to use it
          - useable outdoors, far from the nearest cell tower
          - saves a lot of battery in such locations, where there isn't electricity either
          - works in flight mode. You can pass the time seeing what you're flying over.

      * if you notice an error, you have the option of correcting the map for the benefit of everyone.

    24. Re:Go on. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You shouldn't need to look at a fucking map at all when you have the sun and the stars to guide you. Only stupid little babies would use maps.

      But seriously, grow up. You act like a child.

    25. Re:Go on. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Huh, I went to Japan and exclusively walked or used the train.

      My Japanese was limited to "Konechewa" and "domo arigato (mister roboto)."

      Mostly, I pointed and grunted when people didn't know English. I ate at restaurants by pointing randomly at the menu. The ticket offices at the train stations were staffed with English speakers, and after that I just pointed at the ticket and grunted (technically I spoke English) people in the station pointed and I got on the train. I got off the train when the squiggles on the ticket matched those on the screen.

      That said, I don't think I would want to drive in a city down there.

    26. Re:Go on. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Put them in the seat-back pocket, FFS. Then make your kids navigate.

      I was a military brat. I learned to use a compass and map before I can recall. It's a good skill, especially when you realize you don't need a map or compass 90% of the time because your seat-of-the-pants dead-reckoning works just fine.

    27. Re:Go on. by geoscodin · · Score: 1

      Mapquest worked pretty well for me as a transition between paper maps and Google Maps. I would get the occasional "Take I-295 East" when I passed through Atlanta, but 295 is a circle, so my only options would be North or South, and I would have to scramble through my brain quickly in heavy traffic as to which of those I wanted. But it worked better than unraveling a giant paper map in my car and trying to find where I was versus where I wanted to go.

    28. Re:Go on. by swillden · · Score: 1

      While I do agree with you, I will point out a benefit paper maps do offer.

      Bloody good battery life.

      If you're navigating in the back country, this is a good point. If you're in a car... do you seriously not carry a cable so you can plug your phone in? Cars provide all the power you could possibly need.

      As a practical matter, my Pixel 3's battery never gets below about 25% full. It lasts all day and recharges very quickly so with just a few minutes' time plugged in I'm good for several more hours. It's really not a problem for me. YMMV, I suppose.

      --
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    29. Re:Go on. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You shouldn't need a quad-core 3GHz processor just to look at a fucking map.

      I think you must have some malware or something killing your PC.

      Google maps works fine on my ancient Linux desktop (core2duo, 2.2Ghz, a pathetic 2Gb of RAM).

      Works fine also on my cheapo LG 2017 phone.

      Works fine on my crappy old tablet.

      What the fuck are you doing?

  2. Better by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Barr

    Busted

  3. Offline Support by foxalopex · · Score: 1

    I've tried using Google Maps as a Car Navigation tool and it works reasonably well but the biggest problem is that you need to be Online for it to work properly. If it worked almost as well offline, I'd pay for such a service. I know you download offline maps which is fine for in city use but they don't work too well when you go cross-country.

  4. Let me pay for it by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

    If it must be monetized, I'd rather pay for it than have it direct my to a business that has paid to promote itself, if at the same time it does not show others.

    1. Re:Let me pay for it by OneOfMany07 · · Score: 1

      But then how do they get businesses to pay them for uselessly annoying both company's potential customers? "If all you have is a hammer, then everything looks like a nail." All profits are advertising profits in Google land.

      Wonder what would happen if someone tried to measure effectiveness of that money being spent? Of course to truly measure you'd need to factor in all the hate that forcing advertisements adds too, not just any additional sales.

      I'll fully admit to being pissed at Waze for popping up ads when my car stops at a light or for traffic. Speed traps and red light cameras be damned. We the users give them the information that benefits their products by reporting events. And we get nada from that.

    2. Re:Let me pay for it by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      If it is just preferential treatment when you search for " near " I doubt users will notice much (unless it omits something they know to be there). I would guess that paying a certain amount also gets you a "marker" at a specified zoom.

  5. They all ready are monitizing maps by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Google has effectively killed off all of those applications that used their "free" map API. Just look at Geotracker, ExifTool GUI or presubscription Adobe Lightroom Maps. All of them are essentially dead since the projects are no longer being developed. There is a real cost to developing freely available programs now. FOSS software using Google's new API will now cost the developers money.

    Start using Bing Maps - at least Microsoft is not charging for that service - yet.

    1. Re:They all ready are monitizing maps by Actually,+I+do+RTFA · · Score: 2

      Never use any Google services, unless you are prototyping something that doesn't have a lifespan of more than a year. They deprecate APIs and whole services at random. I am shocked when I heard a friend say their start-up uses Go. Go! And tried to sell me how great it was. Which may be true, but it probably only has a year left. Hard to build on that rock-solid base..

      Microsoft, whatever else they do, has a strategy of supporting things for years, with public EOLs and new iterations to migrate to. It's extremely developer friendly. Although, they used to be just interested in taking my money, and have since moved to that whole DaaS, ad-based spyware. Hopefully they abandon that soon. It's not like they don't have the cash.

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    2. Re:They all ready are monitizing maps by swillden · · Score: 1

      Never use any Google services, unless you are prototyping something that doesn't have a lifespan of more than a year. They deprecate APIs and whole services at random. I am shocked when I heard a friend say their start-up uses Go. Go! And tried to sell me how great it was. Which may be true, but it probably only has a year left.

      Go is already nine years old. At what point does the one-year lifespan limit start?

      --
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    3. Re:They all ready are monitizing maps by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Go is a bit of an outlier; it's a standard compiled language with all of the toolset MIT-licensed, no tether to online APIs controlled by Google and there is a large dev community outside of Google so the language is unable to be strangled in Google's cradle.

    4. Re:They all ready are monitizing maps by Actually,+I+do+RTFA · · Score: 1

      Go is already nine years old. At what point does the one-year lifespan limit start?

      I didn't say one-year lifespan. I said one year left. Google products tend to have a 5-10 year lifespan.

      Dart released in 2011, had the tooling ceased being maintained in 2015, and was removed from Chrome just recently.

      Go was released in 2012, has several major changes being discussed, and is likely to fracture soon into Go 1 and Go 2 (ala Python 2 and Python 3). Google will no doubt continue to support exactly one of these (probably Go 2), and everyone will have to migrate because the tools are not going to be maintained (any more than Dart's were).

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    5. Re:They all ready are monitizing maps by stooo · · Score: 1

      >> Google services, have a lifespan of a year
      >> Microsoft, has a strategy of supporting shit for years
      Better rise fast and move on than languish in smelly shit.

      --
      aaaaaaa
    6. Re:They all ready are monitizing maps by Actually,+I+do+RTFA · · Score: 1

      Not really. If I build a factory out of smelly shit, and it gets bulldozed, and I have to start again, I may end up with a better factory. But I didn't spend that time building a cool different factory. And I lost money while the factory didn't exist.

      It may be better overall, but it's not better for my company

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  6. Open Street Map? by Freischutz · · Score: 5, Insightful

    "Sometimes I say the most under-monetized asset that I cover is Google Maps," Brian Nowak, an analyst at Morgan Stanley, said while interviewing Google's business chief Philipp Schindler at a recent conference...

    Morgan Stanley, Brrrr.... just hearing those two words makes my skin crawl. People should consider replacing Google Maps with Open Street Map. I've been using mobile apps that use this mapping service for a few years now. It's every bit as good as Google Maps and the offline function is vastly superior to what you get with Google Maps app. Using Open Street Map also has the added benefit of starving the beast (a.k.a. Google).

    1. Re:Open Street Map? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Can you recommend a privacy respecting implementation for Android? I think you're right, and it's a bit past time to be switching.

      Nail in the coffin and all that jazz. I'm moving *everything* off Google gradually. We tried the experiment, and got fucked. I'd rather pay for services and have some leverage with misbehaving corporations.

    2. Re:Open Street Map? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You cannot survive in today's technologically connected environment without google.
      Unless you are off the grid.

      See recent reports of people who have tried.

    3. Re:Open Street Map? by Freischutz · · Score: 3, Informative

      Can you recommend a privacy respecting implementation for Android? I think you're right, and it's a bit past time to be switching.

      Nail in the coffin and all that jazz. I'm moving *everything* off Google gradually. We tried the experiment, and got fucked. I'd rather pay for services and have some leverage with misbehaving corporations.

      Karta GPS and Maps.me are the most popular ones on iOS and Android. I've only used Maps.me but it did OK enough for my purposes. I picked it mainly because the offline option is really good and the offline feature on Google Maps sucked ass by comparison back then. Be prepared to download a couple of gigabytes of maps for the offline functionality so better do that on a Wifi. Maps.me is ad-supported, and it is Russian if that scares you, Karta GPS was developed by a Portuguese company (I think), not sure how they support themselves. You are never going to find a free app like this that does not finance themselves through either ads, selling your data or charging companies for overlaying their store/restaurant/garage/hotel locations onto the OpenStreetMap's map data. That being said, at least they are not Google and will probably not rape your privacy anything as outrageously as Google and Morgan Stanley will. There is a list of mobile Apps on the OpenStreetMap Wiki:

      iOS apps: https://wiki.openstreetmap.org...
      Android apps: https://wiki.openstreetmap.org...

    4. Re:Open Street Map? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      source please?

      I use my blackberry that connects to a private encrypted satellite that defaults to the duck duck go search engine. meanwhile i host my email at protonmail.com and use open street map. I'm surviving just fine. do you by chance work for google?

    5. Re:Open Street Map? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      https://lineage.microg.org/

    6. Re:Open Street Map? by Edis+Krad · · Score: 1

      My beef with OSM is that is incomplete / outdated af. Specially in small, countryside towns.

    7. Re:Open Street Map? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      What you meant to say is that *you* cannot survive in today's technologically connected environment without Google. Many of us have absolutely no problem because we are competent and responsible enough to handle things for ourselves.

      You are a noob, that's why you need to leech off of Google and they off of you.

    8. Re:Open Street Map? by Freischutz · · Score: 1

      My beef with OSM is that is incomplete / outdated af. Specially in small, countryside towns.

      Well, It's a crowd-sourced project, not a for-profit monstrosity. If you encounter inaccuracies, contribute corrections.

    9. Re:Open Street Map? by Freischutz · · Score: 1

      You cannot survive in today's technologically connected environment without google. Unless you are off the grid.

      See recent reports of people who have tried.

      I think you'll find one can.

    10. Re:Open Street Map? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      My beef with OSM is that is incomplete / outdated af. Specially in small, countryside towns.

      My beef with Google (as well as most commercial providers) is that they are incomplete and outdated everywhere. They built a new motorway where I live. OSM had it down as "construction work" as soon as it was planned - while the bulldozers where just starting to carve up the landscape. The road just opened, and my new car does not have that road. Neither did Google. Google and friends are always late to such parties.

      As for being incomplete everywhere - sure Google has a useable map for driving. But where are the footpaths, the stairs, the cycleways, the ski or horse routes? Moving around is so much more than just driving. OSM has all this and more. As a tourist, I fly somewhere, then a taxi - and then I spend a week walking around the place. So I need a map that knows the shortcuts that only works on foot, and I need being able to prefer footways and avoid motorways.

        And sure, OSM may be a little lacking in some little unpopular place - but Google lacks all except car roads everywhere. If a hiking trail or cycleway is popular, OSM has it.

    11. Re:Open Street Map? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I've only used Maps.me but it did OK enough for my purposes.

      Because I always read country codes as state abbreviations first...

      Welcome to another thrilling episode of the exciting adventures of Maps from Maine. Today, Lem is trying to find his way to Three Dollar Dewey's with the map on his new smartphone as Ephus comes over to see what he's doing.

      "Hey Lem, is that one of them newfangled smartphones?"

      "Ay-yup, but it sure ain't seeming too smart."

      "What's wrong with it?"

      "Well, I opened it up first thing in the morning to plan out my day just like I used to do with my old map."

      "And you couldn't find anything in that tiny little box?"

      "Naw, it was no trouble at all. It even has all the new roads they built back in '74. Then I used it to find my way across town to the hardware store just like I used to do with my old map."

      "And it gave you bad directions?"

      "Naw, the directions were perfect. Got me there faster'n usual. When I got there, I put it in my back pocket just like I used to do with my old map."

      "So what's the problem?"

      "That dang phone was a royal pain in the kiester to fold and now it won't show me anything!"

      Tune in next week for another exciting adventure of Maps from Maine.

    12. Re:Open Street Map? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      >the most under-monetized asset that I cover

      that one made my skin crawl pretty good...

      if monetization was benevolant or at least tramsparant to the end user then, yeah, fine we all gotta eat.

      Taking a perfectly good service and degrading it's experience solely to collect more money is disturbing. These people's minds are broken.

    13. Re: Open Street Map? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I'll make sure I contact Rand McNally and ask them to stop selling advertising

  7. Maps next? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    (Just a sampling...)
    Google+
    Inbox
    Picasa
    Dodgeball
    Goo.gl
    Project Ara
    Orkut
    Wave
    Reader

  8. My phone runs Osmand~ from f-droid.org just fine by ffkom · · Score: 1

    ... also with offline maps, of course. I see absolutely no reason to install some commercial data sucking malware from Google or whatever instead.

  9. OSMand is vastly superior. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Sure, Mapillary is pretty new, if you need a StreetView feature.
    Sure, free form search could use some fuzziness.

    But in terms of details and functionality, OpenStreetmap is *insanely* ahead of Google Maps et al.

    Full offline *everything* alone makes every service that does not offer that dead in the water.
    Frankly, they do not even qualify anymore.
    Not that you can't add/use online/satellite tiles anyway.

    I have no idea why I ever would want to go back. Even as a Joe Noobpack.
    To get spied on, crippled and feel basically half blind, map-detail-wise?

    1. Re:OSMand is vastly superior. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Isn't OSMand that program where you have to pay just for the privilege of downloading map files?

    2. Re:OSMand is vastly superior. by ffkom · · Score: 1

      No.

      (There may be all sorts of commercialized or faked Osmand-derivatives on offer at the usual malware sites, such as the Google "Play Store". But there is no such thing in the open source version from https://f-droid.org/ )

    3. Re:OSMand is vastly superior. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Three maps are free. More than that and you pay for the privilege. (iOS)

    4. Re:OSMand is vastly superior. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Three maps are free. More than that and you pay for the privilege. (iOS)

      The maps are free - the app itself you pay for.

      On android, the free edition of the app lets you download 10 maps, the pay-once app is unlimited. If you want to be cheap, you can get around the limits in at least two ways:

      1. Uninstall the app, reinstall and get 10 other maps. Limits you to 10 maps simultaneously.

      2. Download the maps manually, from the same site as the app do. Then get them onto the phone manually - no limit. The app will use any map file appearing in the right folder. Too hard for noobs though.

      I did this for a while, till I realized that the constant extra work isn't worth the one-time price of the unlimited app. So I bought it, nothing wrong in paying reasonably for a good app. Nice being able to try it out for free first, though.

    5. Re:OSMand is vastly superior. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Or get the full OsmAnd+ from F-Droid for free. You only have to pay for the full version if you use the Play Store.

  10. Sounds like a recipe for disaster. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

    OpenStreetMap's Android app works like a charm offline, is in F-Droid, and costs nothing.

    I especially like its track recording feature with height map and everything. Plus favorites/notes with text/images/sound. And all are just simple files.

    But the fact that every damn trash can (literally!) and footpath in our city and surrounding forests is in there is just damn amazing!

    Why again would I use Google Maps?
    Has it any features to offer that OSM hasn't?

    1. Re:Sounds like a recipe for disaster. by demonlapin · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Traffic data. The shortest route is a problem well solved by now, the fastest-assuming-normal-speeds is as well. But I’ve had GM spare me hours in traffic because it knows what is happening right now and can route around the problem. In one case, 2+ hours, just because of a bridge closure. I didn’t need to cross it, but it backed the highway up so badly. I don’t use it at home for short distances, but I always use it when traveling.

  11. Google maps and Dodge by Archfeld · · Score: 2

    I have a 2016 Dodge Durango. I love the car, and the nav. system works great as well. The maps in the nav. system are Google and the most recent upgrade is for retail purchase and they want 149.00 for the update which is ridiculous and I won't buy it, which means my nav. system will slowly lose usefulness. Granted I will probably trade in the car within 2 years as my warranty expires, but still it shows that Google isn't missing too many opportunities to monetize anything and everything. I used to use Gmail and many of their other services, but as the company went from 'do no evil' to 'make a buck' at any cost lower than a buck I moved over to other providers for everything including a search engine.

    --
    errr....umm...*whooosh* *whoosh* Is this thing on ?
    1. Re:Google maps and Dodge by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Either uj3wazyk5u4hnvtk.onion for an iso or buy a different GPS.

      If you buy a Garmin you should put a 32GB micro sd in it and update it for all states. Better than Google versions.

  12. Alternatives by Arkham · · Score: 3, Informative

    I've been trying to get rid of Google for years, but gmail and google maps (especially via Waze) are the most valuable things in Google's portfolio. Replacing Google search with Duck Duck Go was painless. But Google's map product is the best one on the market.

    Alternatives:

    Apple Maps -- not bad really, but the estimates are too conservative, and the routes aren't always optimal, and the traffic is often out of date
    HERE Maps -- formerly Nokia HERE, these offer offline navigation. Traffic is optional.I am not sure if it does voice or not.

    Are there others? I don't know. I use Waze mostly for the police identification (not that I even drive fast anymore, but I think it's fun to screw the opportunists trying to make money off people who just want to get home).

    --
    - Vincit qui patitur.
    1. Re:Alternatives by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I still have my Navigon app

    2. Re:Alternatives by Shikaku · · Score: 2

      Osmand. The version on https://f-droid.org/ not the Google Play Store version. Free to download forever, uses openstreetmap.org data.

  13. It's sort of possible by SuperKendall · · Score: 1

    See recent reports of people who have tried.

    The report where hey used a VPN to shut off access to all 8 million Google servers was pretty illuminating...

    But there are absolutely vectors you can use to fight back. As a base - sorry, do not use an Android phone. An iOS device means Google will not get any location data you do not feed it, and you can be careful.

    For email you can use something like ProtonMail, and be secure... for search you can use duckduckgo or bing.

    Once you start browsing the game is kind of up. But even there if you replace the use of a lot of app websites by apps, you can probably avoid giving Google too much data...

    It would be interesting to expand on that idea and see what was possible on that magic blocking VPN if you tried more carefully.

    --
    "There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
  14. i hope it's disabled when you're driving by gettin2old · · Score: 1

    I can only imagine your Phone/GPS telling you "There is an McDonald's in 1 mile on exit 54. The next McDonald's is 38 miles away on exit 92. Also there is a Burger King on exit 54. Next Burger King is 25 miles ahead. You can also get gas from Valero, BP, Mobile and Shell at exit 54. Buy the way, exit 54 was also your exit and you missed it. Recalculating....."

    1. Re:i hope it's disabled when you're driving by fluffernutter · · Score: 1

      Maybe it could start pleading with you to attend the business as they pay more.

      --
      Laws are rules for the court, but merely a bottom bar to hit for life. Think beyond laws in your actions always.
    2. Re:i hope it's disabled when you're driving by ceoyoyo · · Score: 1

      I'm lovin' it....

      OMG, I'm hungry! I could go for a nice juicy quarter pounder with cheese! And I bet the car is thirsty too, you should put in some high performance Shell V-Power gasoline, only the best! Oh, and you need new drapes right? Oh yeah, turn here.

  15. Well then by quonset · · Score: 1

    Good thing I don't use their maps on my corporate issue phone and since my personal phone isn't "smart", they're out of luck there as well.

    How horrible they won't be able to force feed me garbage.

  16. Use google maps rarely.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Rarely use google maps even while on vacation in a distant city.

    No need, forces me to actually plan out what I want to do, where to do it.

    Mostly helps avoid the high consumption lifestyle my 20 something co workers have....and without the debt piled on top of another debt

  17. A world without Google by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I'm a regular poster here who runs my own $9 mil/year company. 37 full time employees. Zero Google. Not even an Android phone.

  18. Ditch Google maps, use OSM by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Use Openstreetmap (OsmAnd is one of the nice apps). And help improve it.

    In some regions it is already far better than the commercial alternatives.

  19. More targeted advertising by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Sounds to me like yet another reason to avoid Google Maps.

  20. Just what we need...more f**king ads... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I love google maps but if they go this stupid approach and I can't turn it off I'll go back to paper maps! I just don't need any more of this ad driven crap.

  21. I used to really support Google by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I find it to be ever more intrusive. First ads on searches. Then ads in my inbox. Then adds/highlighted stories in push notifications. Then adds/highlighted stories as soon as I open chrome on my phone. Now ads in maps.

    How do I start to walk away from Google?

    1. Re:I used to really support Google by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      https://eu.startpage.com/
      https://protonmail.com/
      https://f-droid.org/en/package...

  22. Proximity-based real time bidding by jasonharrop · · Score: 1

    Just wait til they get to the point where maps says "I can see you want to buy gizmo xyz. Here are bids for your business from nearby retailers."

    You'd expect some of the further away retailers to bid cheaper prices to entice you.

    I'm surprised they didn't do this years ago...

  23. Re:Jew as fuck yep. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Oh, it's the representative of the fucking master race.

    They always make me feel bored and hungry.