Jesus, that is a gross way to inject advertising into turn-by-turn navigation.
Edit/update from 9to5google so this post does not spread what is apparently inaccurate information: https://9to5google.com/2024/07/08/google-maps-pop-up-quick-detour-ad/
2024: year of the openstreetmaps
Time to switch to open street maps
I’m willing to pay for an ad-free version. Google maps are very useful. I don’t need it to be free. But ads are poison.
I would too, but they need to also not collect my data. Like, at all. I’d pay $2-3/month for that.
Interesting, you don’t think they make enough off your data already? I’m sure I’m not alone in saying I will never pay google a single cent for anything they have to offer, ever.
I’d much rather pay with money than data.
You’ll pay with money and they’ll still harvest your data.
Exactly. I would be happy to pay for a privacy-focused version of these products, but those doesn’t exist. You can pay facebook to not show you ads, but they never promise to stop harvesting your data, so you would be actually just paying them twice, no thanks, as much as I hate ads.
The EU needs to step up and start regulating data more. Every person should be the legal owner of their data. Meaning not just personal data, but also data synthesized from their behaviour (it is illegal to follow me in a cat during the day and take photos of my activities without my permission, the same should be the case in the digital world). And every person should have a right to sell the rights to collect and use this data, but it shouldn’t be mandatory for the usage of any app. So you could decide to keep your data private, and pay a monthly fee to use apps like navigation, or social media, or you could decide to give access to your data, and use these apps for free.
Me too. Problem is, that’s not an option. They’re taking your data regardless, so if you pay them, you’re paying them to take your data.
There is no such thing as making “enough” money under the chicago-school dominated business thought. A business should always make as much money as it can for its investors, always. A friend who read Friedman’s works says that the Friedman doctrine makes room to say that a wise business will optimize investor outcomes by investing in its product, workforce, and other smart long-term choices, but in practice, nobody ever reads that deep into the Friedman doctrine. It’s just “philosophical” license to make (and demand, on the part of investors) the shallowest slash-and-burn business decisions possible to make line go up NOW. I will accept arguments about how it’s capitalism, but I’d like to point out that we experienced a very distinct culture shift in business leadership starting around the time that Chicago school thought became all the rage.
I understand it’s business. I’m just not going to participate in them making anymore money off ME.
“Google, tell me how to get to this place”
“Here are your directions, including a McDonalds break! You deserve a break today, with a delicious tiny BIG MAC being sold for 400% of what it was 5 years ago, at 50% the size.”
“…when did the movie idiocracy go from being a mockumentary to a documentary?”
2016
Legit had an Idiocracy-watching party in 2016 hahaha
It’s too bad androidauthority doesn’t think the “reject all” cookies rule applies to them.
Anyone who capitalizes every word should be shot. I will not take questions on this.
Who Is Doing That?
Who The Fuck Types In Sentence Case All The Time Like This?
Germans.
But… why?
It’s not true. We write nouns with a capital letter, not every word. It’s kind of important because sometimes verbs can be expressed as nouns. It’d be confusing to read. It’s generally nicer to read with capitalized (?) nouns.
Is it too much to ask for an app that just does one single thing. Everything doesn’t need to be an advertising platform.
They need the money for the next quarter earnings report.
So do I :((
Those AI electricity bills don’t pay for themselves.
Yeah… we pay…
Is it too much to ask
Are you willing to deliver them consequences if they don’t do it the way you want?
I stopped using Google maps so I guess so
What do you use?
Apple Maps. It sucks lol
Looked pretty good the last couple of times I looked at it. What sucks about it?
Interesting to observe how our intuition is failing us while dealing with digital products. When someone gives you something for free on the street, naturally you get suspicious and start asking yourself “where is the catch?” But when there’s a free app - no second thought. Everyone is using it so it must be ok. Well, Google and Facebook are nothing but glorified advertising agencies. The whole reason of their existence is to make money on ads. Edited: typos.
But line no go up.
Google is definitely turning into IBM where they just exist because of inertia and not because of anything they actually produce.
The only line I care about is the line that takes me from A to B
Siri, why are we back at the adult book store?
Bob, based on you browsing history, this is the place you are most likely to visit on a daily basis at 7 am before work…
Stallman was right
Not to defend Google, but it seems unclear right now if this is something that will happen while driving, or similar to something Waze already does.
I’m honestly surprised it’s taken them this long. They bought Waze in 2013. I feel like Waze has been doing this kind of ad for at least that long.
In Virginia, at least, it’s not a meaningful distinction.
There used to be an exception for GPS, but the state changed the law a few years ago so that any non-hands-free use of a phone in a non-parked is a ticketable offense. Swiping away an ad at a red light would technically be illegal.
I do not live in Virginia. Is this law actively enforced? Lots of things are “technically illegal”.
Anecdotal, but a friend of mine was ticketed for it within the first week it went into effect. She (understandably) assumed that being stopped at a stop light was acceptable. That said, I’m not aware of any enforcement since then and wouldn’t be surprised if they deliberately only enforced it right after it took effect.
Still wouldn’t risk it, though.
Waze has popped up ads on me plenty of times while I’m driving. Yes it knows I’m driving, the map is still scrolling along my route. At one point it was bad enough that the ads were remaining after every stop light, and finally clearing about half way to the next light. I haven’t seen it happen in awhile though, maybe they finally got it fixed.
For some reason, this got me imagining an ad causing an unnecessary detour the wrong way on a one way road and cause a head-on collision. which is going to get them hit with a class action lawsuit that could send their line graph all the way down into the ground.
I’ve had something like this happening to me a long time ago. While going from a city in Uruguay to a city in Argentina, Google Maps “suggested” a route that was 2 hours longer but took me through the ferry (a paid business). Even though I chose “keep my route” several times, from time to time, the suggestion popped up with a “time limit” to confirm. If I failed to notice it, the suggested route would be selected.
I wish I could get satellite view but I totally get why that’s not a thing
Is there any way I can help contribute public transport information to OSM? It’s the one thing that Google maps does that I can’t replace.
Yes! https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Public_transport though it is a bit complex to fully add routes, adding stops is super easy!
If public transport mapping is your goal, it might make sense to try out the MapComplete Train Station https://mapcomplete.org/stations and Bus Routes https://mapcomplete.org/transit themes which give an easier, more focused, mapping interface. Quest apps like Street Complete can also make getting into OSM a bit easier, though OSM Beginners Guise is great too. https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Beginners'_guide
OSM doesn’t really track live and exact public transport schedules (you can define static routes and say which interval the tram/whatever comes but that’s about it). Organic Maps is working on implementing live data: https://github.com/organicmaps/organicmaps/issues/5331
Does it have traffic data?
No, if you want that, just use Magic Earth. It’s a great app, btw.
No.
The only OpenStreetMap based navigation app with live traffic data is Magic Earth. It’s not foss, but gratis.
They get the traffic data from some third party, not by following their users like gmaps. That is the reason live traffic is only available in just some countries: https://www.magicearth.com/feature-availablity/#hd_traffic
But at that point what are you even gaining? If you’re looking for privacy you’re just trading Google tracking you for “third party service provider” tracking you
No. It means they get the data from somewhere else, maybe from some carsharing app, or from some government db from car counting thingies mounted on traffic lights, etc. There are other sources to get traffic data ftom, but usually following users is more convenient and reliable
They wont tell us where they get it from, they only say it’s not generated via this app. They are followimg someone, but not me.
Thanks for this, I’m going to try this out on my way home. My main use for Gmaps is to determine the quickest way to and from work during peak hour, so keen to see how Magic Earth’s traffic data compares.
the quickest way to and from work during peak hour
Everyone is using Google for that, so on average, traffic on all alternative routes will level out quickly and it doesn’t matter which one you choose.
This assumes everyone has the same destination, which is rarely the case
not really, not everybody has the same destination, but a lot of people need to go in the same direction at a given moment (thats why you are stuck in traffic in this situation).
They get the traffic data from some third party, not by following their users like gmaps.
https://www.magicearth.com/faq-en/
Do you share data with third parties?
We send position data to our traffic provider to generate real-time traffic information. The data is anonymized on the phone, using a changing key (so it’s not linked to you), and it is deleted after 5 minutes.
They have a good privacy policy though. I haven’t really had many issues with their app.
Unfortunately not, and the time estimates are quite inaccurate. Sigh, it’s the price for not having to deal with Googles shit
Sounds like you just have different shit to deal with
Id recommend osmand over organic maps
Did Osmand change that bullshit where if you changed your device you can fuck right off with your previously bought maps and pay for them again because they didn’t tie them to store account
Personally I been using organic maps because Osmand isn’t giving me better directions and it needs more permissions and it doesn’t have working voice directions
I don’t like how OsmAnd limits the number of maps you can download for free, Organic Maps’s donation model is much better in my opinion.
Organic Maps is fine. It’s what I use, although I am not located in a great area for OSM. Are there any specific benefits to OSMand?
Contributing by updating roads and POIs is fairly straightforward and can be pretty fun ^^ https://openstreetmaps.org/edit
Of course! I do that all the time, and I agree it’s fun. OrganicMaps uses the same data, I just find it a little simpler to use and clearer to read.
Osmand would be the best one if it wasn’t so slow. Compared to organic maps the rendering lag is not only noticeable but very annoying
Just a reminder about the open-source OpenStreetMap. You can improve it online by adding features like a Wikipedia for maps. You can even use the gamified app StreetComplete to add stuff and get points for walking around and mapping.
