The Geek Behind Google's Takeover of the Map (fastcompany.com) 97
tedlistens writes: Google's map isn't just a map. It's a living, complex manifestation of the data that billions of users and a team of thousands of engineers and designers feed it every day. The public face of the company's mapping effort is Ed Parsons, a gregarious Briton and geographer who as Google's Geospatial Technologist evangelizes for its mission of organizing the world's geographic information. He also works on building the trust the company needs to make Google Maps and Google Earth more detailed, useful, and increasingly, 3-D and interactive -- what he describes as "a selfie for the planet."
The terrain isn't easy: that mission faces challenges from cartographical purists, hoping to preserve the art of cartography, and the democratic mappers of OpenStreetMap ("it's become almost a parody"); from governments seeking to police sensitive borders; from a host of tech companies fighting over the map business; and from privacy defenders concerned about what Google does with that data. "We're kind of looking at what to do with it. We've got a very rich source of data there, but also one that we have to be very careful of," he says. "Your location on the planet is one of the most sensitive pieces of information that anyone can hold on you."
The terrain isn't easy: that mission faces challenges from cartographical purists, hoping to preserve the art of cartography, and the democratic mappers of OpenStreetMap ("it's become almost a parody"); from governments seeking to police sensitive borders; from a host of tech companies fighting over the map business; and from privacy defenders concerned about what Google does with that data. "We're kind of looking at what to do with it. We've got a very rich source of data there, but also one that we have to be very careful of," he says. "Your location on the planet is one of the most sensitive pieces of information that anyone can hold on you."
Privacy my ass (Score:1)
How about this? I get that providing more relevant information to me requires storing some location history information. Fine. But let me be in charge of it and able to selectively delete entries, reduce the resolution of the data, or easily erase it altogether. Furthermore, the most difficult thing for Google (another services) seems to be resisting the urge to share all that data with advertisers. I would find it far easier to appreciate what the nerds at Google have done if it was really about the techno
Re: (Score:2)
You can do all of this, already. Kinda makes you wonder, what else are you wrong about?
Re: (Score:3)
yes you can delete the data, but it isn't easy to find, especially on mobile devices.
my google maps still shows a favorite spot, from a year ago. on one hand this make sense on the other it is an ex girlfriend, and I have purged the data from google maps several times since then.
You can never erase it all, and it keeps coming back. echoes of the past that should be forgotten.
Re: (Score:2)
Click on the star on the map, and when the menu slides up from the bottom, click on the gold star there, when it turns the star white, it will be gone.
Re: (Score:2)
I did that.
Yet once started you have to unstar it from all devices separately. Which is what gets me. You can unstar it from your phone, but if you don't also unstar it from your tablet it shows back up again. Now this is only for starred locations that you visited with both, etc.
Re: (Score:3)
You can do all of this, already. Kinda makes you wonder, what else are you wrong about?
You can ask Google to do this. Once it's off your device, it's off your device.
Hopefully, we'll start demanding en masse for more and more data to remain on your device. F Google, Apple, and Facebook's cloud learning systems. For the actual processing and interpretation of data, we all have more than enough processing speed and more than enough space in the devices sitting in our pockets to parse through it offline.
Download Offline Maps, download a daily set of ads and rules, and let the CPU in my phone dec
Re: (Score:1)
Vacuuming up your personal information and selling it to advertisers is literally google's entire reason for being.
That's like saying you'd like McDonald's better if there wasn't so damn much food there.
Re: Privacy my ass (Score:1)
McDonalds serves food? When did that start? :-)
Re: (Score:2)
When they started to use inattentive customers as grinder-fodder.
Re: (Score:3)
"Your location on the planet is one of the most sensitive pieces of information that anyone can hold on you."
"sensitive" = valuable to Google
But let me be in charge of it
Ha, Ha. You're a funny guy. That was a joke, right?
Re: (Score:2)
"the most difficult thing for Google (another services) seems to be resisting the urge to share all that data with advertisers. "
Sharing the data with advertisers is why Google search as a whole remains the incredible free resource we take for granted. I have seen estimates that if Google were run entirely by subscription. it would cost each of us about $150 per month.
Furthermore, a large percentage of my searches on Maps are for businesses. Why wouldn't you want the staff to know which businesses, and kind
Re: (Score:2)
Looney Tunes. Apparently they didn't bother to subtract out the cost of delivering all that advertising content, which might well be the greater half of running Google as it presently exists.
Furthermore, Google current cost structure is heavily anchored by their desire to own all the data and—soon—to have all the best machine intelligence. I suspect that the $150/month propose
Re: (Score:2)
Alternatively, only turn on location services when you need your phone/ device to tell you your location. Which for most people isn't more than a few minutes a month. Otherwise ... well you know where you are.
Re: (Score:1)
Historically Significant (Score:5, Interesting)
The Google Maps UI is fucking unusable. (Score:4, Insightful)
All joking aside, the newest version of the Google Maps UI is fucking unusable.
First of all, it's way slower than the "classic" Google Maps was. I zoom, and sit and wait for the goddamn images to load. The fuzzy placeholder images they show are more annoying than just showing no image at all!
Second of all, the search panel is fucked. When I search for something it shows the panel on the left listing the results. The panel takes up 1/3rd of the screen, which is really fucking annoying. But let's say I find what I'm looking for, and so I click on the search result. The map moves to that location. Now that I found what I was looking for, I want to get rid of the search panel since it's so goddamn huge. My first instinct is to click on the large "X" next to the search input. That hides the search panel, but it also clears the search results and the markers on the map, which is really fucking annoying! It turns out you need to click the tiny little arrow button outside of the search panel to close the panel. It's some of the stupidest Millennial/Hipster design I've ever seen. Maybe those shitheads don't realize it, but an "X" icon means close, not clear! And eraser icon is what should be used to indicate an input can be cleared!
Third or all, the goddamn street view dragging never works reliably for me. On my desktop it takes 3 or 4 drags before it finally starts showing the goddamn street view, and it doesn't work at all on my iPad! I should just be able to right-click or press-hold somewhere on the map, select a "Street View Here" menu item and it shows me the closest street view to that point! There shouldn't be any of this goddamn dragging nonsense that Millennial/Hipster designers used!
I don't even bother with Google Maps any more. I just use OpenStreetMap most of the time.
Google Maps used to have a really good, really usable UI. Then a bunch of Millennials/Hipsters must have had their way with it, because like every other piece of software that these people have touched (Firefox, GNOME 3, Windows 8/10, Chrome, Slashdot Beta) it became a fucking awful mess.
Re: (Score:2, Informative)
All joking aside, the newest version of the Google Maps UI is fucking unusable.
Just as another example, once upon a time, I could map out routes in Google Maps the way I wanted to. I might want to make a side trip on the way to another destination, I'd just make waypoints. Now? I get two choices of directions. If neither go through where I'm trying to go, its TTC.
Anyone that doubts it should DDGo "Google maps suck".
You should be modded up to +5, AC.
Re:The Google Maps UI is fucking unusable. (Score:4, Informative)
Click on the route and drag to make a new waypoint where you want.
If you want to add another destination click on the + next to the departure time.
I use both all the time.
Re: (Score:2)
Click on the route and drag to make a new waypoint where you want.
If you want to add another destination click on the + next to the departure time.
I use both all the time.
I tried that - it did not work. I spent way too much time trying to create a trip to florida this winter with a stop off at a friend in Tennessee's place. The issue I had was confirmed. Coupled with th egoogle smartphone app, it was less than useless.
Maybe it was fixed, maybe not. Do not care, do not use anymore.
Re: (Score:1)
Sad but true, this generation really screws up everything it touches.
Re: (Score:2)
Third or all, the goddamn street view dragging never works reliably for me. On my desktop it takes 3 or 4 drags before it finally starts showing the goddamn street view, and it doesn't work at all on my iPad! I should just be able to right-click or press-hold somewhere on the map, select a "Street View Here" menu item and it shows me the closest street view to that point!
Yeah, I've been having trouble using the streetview UI recently, too.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:3)
You already can to that to some extent. When I look at streets in London I can often choose to go back and look at previous Street View images over several years:
Eg looking at the end of Ely Place here in 2009:
https://www.google.co.uk/maps/... [google.co.uk]
Rgds
Damon
Is he also responsible for the maps interfaces? (Score:4, Insightful)
Because if he is, he is a massive fuckup. Maps has become steadily less useful over the years, both the Android app and the website. The interfaces are both just pure garbage.
I use maps regularly, but I gave up on using it for navigation/directions beyond point to point and just use my Garmin for multi-stop trips in spite of its crap interface.
Re: (Score:2)
Re:Is he also responsible for the maps interfaces? (Score:4, Interesting)
Funny, I gave up on my Garmin for the exact same reason.
Using the Garmin is almost unbearably slow, but I can successfully enter multi-stop trips into it, whereas with google maps most of the time when I try that on the web it decides to shit the bed almost every time. Slow and poky is better than not working at all.
Re: (Score:2)
Just get a new one.
I am a cheap bastard, so I will keep using this one until it goes to hell like the digitizer on my Magellan did. It has lifetime maps and traffic...
Re: (Score:3)
Re:Is he also responsible for the maps interfaces? (Score:4, Interesting)
Because if he is, he is a massive fuckup. Maps has become steadily less useful over the years, both the Android app and the website. The interfaces are both just pure garbage.
I use maps regularly, but I gave up on using it for navigation/directions beyond point to point and just use my Garmin for multi-stop trips in spite of its crap interface.
I agree. I sort of wonder if they eliminated all but the most obvious route was in response to the dumpkoffs that got lost or killed by trying weird directions and found themselves driving off cliffs when trying to drive their Camry on Jeep roads?
We live in a world where people can sue for stupidity, like not knowing that alligators live in ponds in Florida, so why not?
Re: (Score:2)
I agree. I sort of wonder if they eliminated all but the most obvious route was in response to the dumpkoffs that got lost or killed by trying weird directions and found themselves driving off cliffs when trying to drive their Camry on Jeep roads?
We live in a world where people can sue for stupidity, like not knowing that alligators live in ponds in Florida, so why not?
Most likely they eliminated those secondary routes as the most obvious ones have been upgraded. That's been my experience so far. Google still takes me some weird and wonderful ways when I go to places that aren't so well known and are off the beaten track, but back in the day when travelling between major cities it would recommend side streets because they were faster. Well now with highway bypasses and extra lanes that's no longer the case.
Re: (Score:2)
I agree. I sort of wonder if they eliminated all but the most obvious route was in response to the dumpkoffs that got lost or killed by trying weird directions and found themselves driving off cliffs when trying to drive their Camry on Jeep roads?
We live in a world where people can sue for stupidity, like not knowing that alligators live in ponds in Florida, so why not?
Most likely they eliminated those secondary routes as the most obvious ones have been upgraded.
I'd certainly like to have some control over my routing. NOt have some eliminated because of someone elses decision.
Re: (Score:2)
I'd certainly like to have some control over my routing. NOt have some eliminated because of someone elses decision.
Note they are not eliminated, just no longer the fastest route and thus not presented as a first option. The longer your travel the less likely it is to present to you an option that saves you a minute here or there. Interesting I am finding it increasingly common that during a drive an alternate route is suggested. Actually I can't remember the last time that I took a trip longer than about an hour and I ended up using the route that was originally suggested when I started.
Personally I like NOT having the
Re: (Score:2)
Personally I like NOT having the choice. For a long time I thought I was smarter than Google with my local knowledge of roads. That's nice, but in the end, It didn't work at all.
Even when I split it up on the home computer and sent it to the phone. Google maps for my phone screwed it up.
Re: (Score:2)
I'm generally okay with what they've done with the interface.
The cartography on the other hand has turned to absolute shit. Compare Google maps now to the version 5 years ago and you used to see a lot more useful information. More city names, more suburb names. Not everyone using maps knows the exact name of their destination, some people use the damn thing like a map and for that ironically enough Google maps is terrible.
Please put all your google maps complaints here (Score:4, Insightful)
Google maps is pretty good, I'll admit. But their driving directions, don't get me started!
Why isn't there an "easy" routing option? Just yesterday maps sent me to an interstate exit going in the opposite direction with an immediate u-turn, instead of the normal, right-hand exit. Maybe the u-turn was a few seconds faster, but it's about 200% more dangerous, it's confusing, and just maddening beyond belief.
Another time, maps took me off a paved road onto a gravel road, over a one-lane bridge almost axle-deep in mud next to a cattle yard, onto a dirt road, and then: back on to the same paved road again, a quarter-mile down the road! The routing algorithm had basically just cut out a bend in the road. It was so outrageous that I imagined Google engineers were actually trying to punk us -- hey, Larry, look, I can't believe that guy actually took the cow path!
OK, don't be evil, I get that. But also, don't make your customers want to throttle your apps with their bare hands.
Re:Please put all your google maps complaints here (Score:5, Informative)
Google maps is pretty good, I'll admit. But their driving directions, don't get me started!
Why isn't there an "easy" routing option?
There was at one time. You could enter waypoints, and map it out. Then they changed it in 2015. Somehow taking command of your own trip was a bad thing that had to be eliminated.
Re: (Score:1)
You can still do waypoints; I use them all the time. Just grab the route line anywhere and drag it to where you want to waypoint to be.
Re:Please put all your google maps complaints here (Score:4, Informative)
Re: (Score:1)
http://arstechnica.com/cars/20... [arstechnica.com]
Hey Ed . . . (Score:5, Insightful)
Your maps continue to get worse and worse. Why can't I rotate a map to orient it on North? Why does the sidebar continually pop out even after I close it? Why is it so difficult to drag the line of a route to a different route without it doubling back on itself?
Hey Ed, how about taking care of the things which are important rather than worrying about shiny. All of the above are why paper maps are still superior in many ways to what you produce.
Re: (Score:2)
Why can't I rotate a map to orient it on North?
Click the compass.
Why does the sidebar continually pop out even after I close it?
Your phone has issues
Why is it so difficult to drag the line of a route to a different route without it doubling back on itself?
Grab a key waypoint.
Any other user errors I can help you with?
Re: (Score:2)
Any other user errors I can help you with?
Yeah, is there any way, when I am focused on a location, to see the streetview of that place easily?
For example, in this image, there's a red dot marking a location [imgur.com]. I want to see the street view of exactly that location. Is there a way I can do that?
Re: (Score:2)
Click in the street right in front of the address until a little red pointer is in the road, then it should show the street view picture in a little box on the lower left.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
If you click on the little picture it will open up the normal street view interface.
It seems they replaced the old street view with advertising pictures, now you have to be in the street to get street view.
Re: (Score:1)
You have made the classic mistake of thinking there is only one way to access data. You must be either a developer or database admin.
Everything I talked about occurs on a computer and none of what you suggested will work.
Re: (Score:2)
Does the location that you're talking about have a unique solution for north. In the natural world, there are places where the direction of the magnetic field changes by 50deg of azimuth in 100m of ground travel. I would be unsurprised if you didn't get the same thing on steel-structured bridges, near power lines, etc.
Personally, I start with either the Sun + clock, or stars when I'm trying to work out where north is. Works both sides of the equator, of course
Re: (Score:2)
I use (Score:5, Informative)
For viewing locations of Wikipedia articles on the map I use http://ausleuchtung.ch/geo_wik... [ausleuchtung.ch] . It works for different Wikipedia language versions.
Re: (Score:3)
Re: (Score:3)
The OsmAnd app allows you to download OpenStreetMap data ahead of time and use it offline.
It was a lifesaver when I recently visited a third world country and my data plan stopped working.
Re: (Score:2)
Maps.me still asked me to download LA area. :(
Just fix the imagery problems (Score:2)
Please, just shoot the satellite imagery in the summer months in the middle of the day so the shadows aren't so awful. Oh, and can you make the tiles line up with reality instead of being shifted by more than a meter. That would be great, thanks.
a) IT IS NOT SATELLITE IMAGERY (Score:1)
most of it is plain old aerial photography (i.e out of planes).
b) A lot of it is done by the government.
Re: (Score:2)
As some one pointed out most of the images are arial photographs of lower quality - where they use satellite images (res. >1m) they have no control over the time of flyover - that is determined by the flightpath of the commercial operators. Only military sentinels and some scientific platforms carry enough fuel (or have a very short life span) to adapt their flight paths to the customers need.
Aligning images is non-trivial - you got minimal tilts which could be corrected and profession
Stopped using it after they fucked up the UI (Score:1)
The current Google Maps UI is, like most current UI redesign, a major step back when not using a touch device.
I switched to Bing Maps because of it.
Re: (Score:2)
Parody (Score:1)
So, OpenStreetMap is a parody?
How does he explain that?
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Is this because you added it to OSM yourself?
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:1)
The full quote is:
Re: (Score:1)
Still not sure what he means.
I also read the whole think without really understanding what he meant. I didn't know if the quote itself had been taken from another context.