Comment by Eager Eagle@lemmy.world on Google is redesigning its search engine

Search sucks for some time now. I’d say the best thing google offers today is Gmail - but there are plenty of arguments against that too.

No, gmail’s Inbox is the best mail client out there!

…wait

I like most of their basic tool apps for being so basic. Notes, clock, calendar, Gmail, etc. I will lament the day they fuck all these up.

ProtonMail is like the best if you can get if you’re a small user that regularly cleans their inbox and keeps things that matter.

I never use more than a handful of MBs, so I find 15GB of storage that GMail offers me a bit much. It’s been this way for me for years so ProtonMail does it.

Google Maps, their traffic data has no rivals, unlike gmail which has plenty of good competition. It’s the one thing I couldn’t easily replace yet.

How good can it be? I’ve been driving 35-40 miles to work and the same back for a year now and Apple Maps tells me what minute I’ll arrive and I usually arrive within 3-5 mins either side.

I only use google maps to find bussinesses. It’s pretty awful for navigating, which is kind of what maps are made for.

I’ll plug Mapy.cz here. I’ve been using it for about 7 years now. It has even the most obscure paths that you wouldn’t believe would be on a map (at least in Europe) and the bussiness search is alright.

No idea if it’s based on OSM or is its own thing, but if I were to guess, it is.

I switched away from google maps to Apple Maps a few years ago and I honestly can’t tell any difference. If google maps traffic data is better, it’s not in any noticeable kind of way for regular day to day usage.

That would require me to buy an iPhone which I won’t do for many many reasons… but ok, maybe Apple Maps is a decent competitor nowadays, good to know.

Honestly Apple Maps is better in my area by a decent margin. It’s up to date sooner and that matters in a rapidly growing city. Google still beats it in search but even then AM finds things it doesn’t at times. i just wish they’d move on from shitty Yelp. I vastly prefer AMs navigation over GM as well.

I prefer OSM since I can use the maps offline. Google maps is useless out in the middle of nowhere without any cell service.

OSM is great for everything non-commercial. Hiking path, finding a playground, public toilets or even the closest with few benches to eat a sandwich.

But for everything commercial and car navigation google maps is unfortunately much better.

Yes, I also use and highly recommend OsmAnd, great for offline maps, outdoor activities and lots of stuff… but no traffic data.

I tried OSM and it completely failed. Downloaded the offline region, loaded it up at home fine. Went to the location and the offline map wouldn’t load. Had a connection and tried to load an online map, nothing. Ended up right back using Google maps. I support the concept of OSM, it just doesn’t work.

Strange, it’s been very very reliable for many years, for me. Did you use OsmAnd?

No, I used solely on my phone. It worked fine at home and looked promising. When I went out 2 days later it wouldn’t load anything, was on cell only with excellent 5g data. Tried for about an hour and it just wouldn’t load a map.

Uh, but…OsmAnd is a phone app. So you’re saying you used the website on your phone’s browser, then? I’m not sure if that has an offline function, though I never used it myself. Does it say it has that function? Otherwise I think you will have to install an app, first.

Maybe you downloaded the offline map files, but had nothing to open them with. Apps use their own versions of the map files, by the way, those files you download from the website are for other use-cases.

But what app did you use to access OSM and download the maps for offline use… was it a web browser? OsmAnd? Vespucci?

Far from any desire to give kudos to Google: Maps does allow offline maps.I had greater London available on my iphone recently, and that worked.

I do the same when I go on vacation. Take an old phone, no cell plan, just use the wireless at the hotel and take the phone as a map and camera. No cell plan means work can’t call me, map still works bc of GPS and bc the data is manually downloaded (under profile menu.)

But what if you’re not in london

Sorry, only London available

If you want to experience offline maps, you gotta go to London

This is a great question.
The obvious answer is to then go to London.
But if you are unable to do so AND have no mobile network, you can download the maps via avian carrier.

Which makes it good for hiking, and I’ve found it’s better for bike routes too. However, I can’t easily search for places to go, there’s no recommendations, and generally you need to know the address of the place you’re going to (not just a restaurant/bar etc.).

Not to discourage usage of OSM at all, but you can absolutely download offline maps on mobile with Google Maps, they’ve just hidden it a bit. If you tap your account icon in the upper right, a menu pops up that includes offline maps, and it’ll let you select boundaries to download.

Its only car routes though, useless for footpaths and public transport

Edit: I may be stupid

It has all the path data

Source: I just tested it

It’s not only car routes

their traffic data has no rivals

do you mean the waze traffic data, or does google actually have some of its own?

Waze is owned by Google.

And just like their ridiculous chat apps, they have no beneficial feature integration or consolidation between the two.

Google Maps has the ability to report speed traps and hazards, but none of that data comes from Waze or vice-versa.

or does google actually have some of its own

every phone running Google’s version of Android with location enabled.

True. I wanted to replace it with OSM or similar, but my main use of Maps after navigation is exploring places, reading reviews, and browsing pictures. They have a database that is tough to replace.

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