Yahoo Edges out Google in Customer Satisfaction 212
athloi writes "The University of Michigan's American Consumer Satisfaction Index shows some significant shifts this year in consumer satisfaction among several major online players: Google, Yahoo, Ask, and AOL. For one, Google no longer holds first place. 'The ACSI report notes that Yahoo's jump into first place was a 4 percent increase over its score from last year, while Google saw a 4 percent decrease during the same time period. ACSI says that to the untrained eye, Google's home page today looks almost identical to the way it looked years ago. This is where Google's simplicity is apparently hurting it in the long-term, as new users just aren't seeing Google's new offerings--such as increased storage options, additions to Google Maps, and tweaks to Google Image Search--right in front of their faces like they do with other sites.'"
Re:Spot on (Score:4, Informative)
Even for parts of the US...
There have been times I've entered an address in google maps and it's come back empty. I can go to yahoo maps and enter the same thing and get a valid result.
It used to be that google maps had the edge with its hybrid and satellite views, but yahoo has all that now too.
Re:Spot on (Score:5, Informative)
http://maps.yahoo.com/broadband#mvt=h&q1=calle+gre gorio+maranon%2C+boadilla+del+monte%2C+spain&trf=0 &lon=-3.892947&lat=40.406177&mag=2 [yahoo.com]
(Please zoom to street level. Btw is there anything in Yahoo Maps similar to Google's "Link to this Page"? Can't find it anywhere, it's hard to believe such a basic functionality is missing, and yet it's... done!)
Now the same spot in Google Maps:
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=b oadilla+del+monte,+spain&ie=UTF8&ll=40.404657,-3.8 94675&spn=0.012876,0.020514&t=h&z=16&om=1 [google.com]
Can you spot the differences? And please note that Google Maps is a couple of years outdated! Yahoo must be 5 years old, M50 ring road isn't even there!
http://maps.yahoo.com/broadband#mvt=h&q1=aeropuert o+de+madrid-barajas%2C+madrid%2C+spain&trf=0&lon=- 3.583539&lat=40.493698&mag=3 [yahoo.com]
Please zoom to street level. This is Barajas, Madrid's Airport. That big building site you see is T4, the new terminal, the one that has been opened since February 2006.
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=a venida+de+aragon,+madrid&sll=40.416706,-3.703269&s spn=0.205974,0.328217&ie=UTF8&ll=40.490843,-3.5920 79&spn=0.012859,0.020514&t=h&z=16&om=1 [google.com]
Similarly, Real Madrid's (David Beckham's former club) new training grounds:
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=a venida+de+aragon,+madrid&sll=40.416706,-3.703269&s spn=0.205974,0.328217&ie=UTF8&ll=40.478439,-3.6132 36&spn=0.012862,0.020514&t=h&z=16&om=1 [google.com]
Nowhere to be seen on Yahoo Maps.
This is the Cuatro Torres [wikipedia.org] (Four Towers) Business Area, named after the 4 skyscrapers that are being erected there for the past two years or so. Strangely enough, Yahoo still seems to think it's Real Madrid's old training grounds!
http://maps.yahoo.com/broadband#mvt=h&q1=calle+man uel+caldeiro%2C+madrid%2C+spain&trf=0&lon=-3.68568 8&lat=40.476579&mag=2 [yahoo.com]
Now contrast with Google Maps:
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl [google.com]
Re:Spot on (Score:5, Informative)
Fuck Yahoo and Google. As shitty as it is for me to say this, Microsoft's Live Maps' (in many areas) aerial photos (taken very recently from less than 100 yards and 360 degrees) blows Yahoo, Ask, Google, etc away.
I still use Google Maps/Earth, especially w/topo via GPSVisualizer, plotting shit for work, and viewing converted ARCView files (shapefiles) but when I'm researching a place to camp, a house to buy, or to quickly survey an area we will be visiting, it's Microsoft's Live Maps. I'm very disappointed that Google hasn't kept up and I'm not sure why.