Talk:2617: Maps

Comments in the comment section please. 172.70.110.241 02:52, 10 May 2022 (UTC)

What was the page with all the repeating photos (of a man I didn’t recognize) going down the page? Or the page with the ascii teletubby face? Some kind of vandalism? 172.70.114.247 03:40, 10 May 2022 (UTC)

It was this IP. 172.68.66.37 03:41, 10 May 2022 (UTC)

"Immutable constants of the universe have changed"? Somehow I expected something based on the 2019 SI base unit redefinition, which made approximately zero difference to anyone's lives, but is a fundamental change to the way that we (notionally) measure things. 162.158.2.215 05:41, 10 May 2022 (UTC)

"Pi"? Don't "immutable constants of the universe" usually refer to fundamental physical constants, like the gravitational constant G, the speed of light c or the Planck constant h? The circle constant π is a mathematical one and thus most likely not a property of the universe (but an even more general one). --Das-g (talk) 07:04, 10 May 2022 (UTC)

I suspect this is referencing recent experimental results that appear to suggest/confirm that the standard model is incomplete, and that an additional fundamental force may need to be added to it.172.70.162.5 08:07, 10 May 2022 (UTC)

Interesting. So in the US, Apple Maps is useful now? Here in Switzerland, it still doesn't do bicycle routing, regularly screws up routes even by car, and doesn't know all the places I want to go. My current favorite Google Maps alternative is Mapy.cz (OSM based), but it doesn't always cut it either.162.158.129.49 08:22, 10 May 2022 (UTC)

I think it depends on where you are. I am just across the border in Südtirol, and here I've found both Apple Maps and Google Maps to have their strengths and weaknesses. Here, Apple Maps' biggest weakness is that it doesn't have any public transport information, so can't calculate bus routes. Google Maps is better for this. However, Google Maps' biggest weakness is that it sometimes gets confused by the fact that streets here have both a German and an Italian name. Typing my address in German in Google Maps takes you to completely the wrong place, but it works in Italian. Apple Maps copes with both German and Italian addresses. Zoid42 (talk) 12:21, 10 May 2022 (UTC)

Google Maps, satellite view, search for “Corinth canal old bridge” and rotate it various ways, then try to tell me Google Maps is good. 172.70.178.115 10:04, 10 May 2022 (UTC)

What did Google Maps innovate (if anything)?

The current explanation reads as if Google Maps were the first map service to overlay a database of site coordinates onto satellite imagery; but that's not true at all. It wasn't even the first widely used one: MapQuest was virtually eponymous with online maps & satellite views, for many years before Google Maps was introduced. Services such as MapQuest also introduced most of the common features associated with online mapping\wayfinding tools (such as manually setting waypoints along a route), before Google Maps was even released. At introduction, Google Maps was playing catch-up, in terms of features & viewable routes. Eventually, Google Maps & Apple Maps became the most prevalent, through bundling, wherein their (rather large) app came pre-installed on new devices; not because they were intrinsically superior at that time. Availability by default was (is?) the primary means of new user acquisition, by both Apple Maps & Google Maps. Their reliability has improved largely as a result of more numerous user contributions, not the other way around: They didn't take over purely because they were a better/new style of map, they took over because they were already included by OEMs; & their most crucial improvements were made possible after they gained market dominance. The explanation should reflect this, rather than claiming Google Maps satellite view somehow "revolutionized how maps were perceived all over the world", which makes it sound as if their map style was somehow revolutionary; it wasn't. Having a map available, anywhere you're online, by default, was the "revolution". IE: Preinstallation revolutionized how maps were perceived. (The original features & map view itself pre-date Google Maps by nearly a decade.) Even the addition of listings for businesses, was introduced long before Google Maps (or Apple Maps); it was again the pre-installed ubiquity, which drew businesses to register their locations with these map services instead of others. MapQuest already strove to map such info, but Google received more of that info over time, because they demonstrated clear market dominance through their default installation. Businesses could list their location with each mapping service, but the mapping services pre-installed on user's devices, were clearly better positioned to reach users on the go. TLDR: Preinstallation of an online mapping tool, was the revolution which changed how people perceive & use maps; not any feature of Google Maps in particular. What's the most concise way to convey this?