More details emerged this week on how Google Maps is changing how it stores users’ location data—which is that as of December 2024 it basically won’t: Location History has been rebranded Google Timeline and will be stored on-device, where you can set it to auto-delete after a specified period of time, rather than on Google’s servers. Not having your location data in the cloud is better for your personal security (Google can’t respond to geofence warrants if it doesn’t collect and store location data), but it also means that Timeline won’t be available via the web. This is a bit more definitive than what I understood it to be last December. See news coverage from 9to5Google, The Guardian and The Verge.
Category: Mobile
Online Maps Roundup: April 2024
Custom route creation and topographic maps are rumored to be coming to Apple Maps in the next iOS release, iOS 18. Google Maps has had custom routes since approximately forever; on Apple Maps we’ve had to choose between Apple’s generated routes without being able to edit them.
Google Maps announced updates focusing on EVs (EV charger search, nearby chargers in the in-car map, suggested charging stops, forecast energy consumption) and sustainability (lower-carbon travel options rolling out in 15 cities, estimated flight emissions). Also, Street View came to Kazakhstan last month. Meanwhile, Ben Schoon at 9to5Google says that while Google Maps on Android Auto is “a pretty solid experience,” it’s a different matter when you use Google Maps via Apple CarPlay, an experience he calls “a bit of a dumpster fire.”
Google-owned Waze announced updates last month that include roundabout assistance and notifications for the presence of emergency vehicles, speed limit changes, and things like sharp curves, speed bumps and toll booths [TechCrunch].
The NJ Transit App Is Apparently Terrible
The Verge’s Victoria Song moved from New York City to New Jersey and discovered the awfulness of the NJ Transit app.
Many of my friends who’d migrated to Jersey warned me about the NJ Transit app. It’s not good, they said. I didn’t take them too seriously. I was forged in the fires of the Metropolitan Transit Authority’s continually broken website circa 2001. After a seven-year stint in Tokyo navigating the labyrinthian Tokyo subway and bus system, what public transit app could ever befuddle me?
Hubris is a bitch.
(It’s reportedly okay for trains; the bus—which is what she’s taking—seems to be Another Matter.)
Google Maps Updates Will Make It Impossible for Google to Respond to Geofence Warrants
Last week I mentioned forthcoming changes to how Google Maps stores users’ location data. According to the Electronic Frontier Foundation, those changes could spell the end of what are known as geofence warrants, which “require a provider—almost always Google—to search its entire reserve of user location data to identify all users or devices located within a geographic area during a time period specified by law enforcement.” The EFF believes geofence warrants are unconstitutional in the United States. Defaulting to on-device storage, deletion after three months, and encrypted cloud backups means Google can’t access that data: there’s nothing for them to turn over.
“All of this is fantastic news for users, and we are cautiously optimistic that this will effectively mean the end of geofence warrants,” says the EFF. “However, we are not yet prepared to declare total victory. Google’s collection of users’ location data isn’t limited to just the ‘Location History’ data searched in response to geofence warrants; Google collects additional location information as well. It remains to be seen whether law enforcement will find a way to access these other stores of location data on a mass basis in the future.”
Via Daring Fireball (where Gruber notes that Apple has never collected location data, i.e. there’s a reason it’s “almost always Google”).
Google Maps Updates Offer Users More Control Over Their Data
Forthcoming updates to Google Maps will give users a bit more control over their location data. Location History—off by default—will have the option of being stored on-device rather than on Google’s servers, and auto-delete will default to three months instead of 18. Meanwhile, users will be able to delete activity (“searches, directions, visits, and shares”) related to a specific location—the online maps equivalent of clearing your browser history, I guess. (I can’t help but notice that announcing greater user control over this information highlights the fact that this information is being collected in the first place.)
Thoughts on Google Maps’ New Design From a Former Google Maps Designer
Among the recent updates to Google Maps is a new colour palette, which has been rolling out incrementally to users. Elizabeth Laraki, who worked on the design of Google Maps 15 years ago, has some thoughts.
It seems the goal was to improve usability and make the maps more readable. Admittedly, I do think major roads, traffic, and trails stand out more now. But the colors of water and parks/open spaces blend together. And to me, the palette feels colder and more computer generated. But color choices aside … If the goal was better usability, the team missed a big opportunity: Google Maps should have cleaned up the crud overlaying the map.
Man Dies After Driving Across Collapsed Bridge, Family Sues Google
The family of a man who died after driving off a collapsed bridge is suing Google; they allege that despite multiple reports from users, Google Maps continued to mark the bridge in North Carolina, which partially collapsed in 2013, as passable, directing him and other drivers across it. The family is also suing local companies for failing to maintain the bridge or put up barricades and hazard warnings.
Can Places on Google Maps Be Trusted?
Google has been plagued with fraudulent and scammy business listings on Google Maps for years (1, 2). Last April, Google posted about the steps it takes to combat fake content. James Killick points to more recent incidents and wonders whether places on Google Maps can still be trusted; given that he was able to add a fake listing and have it appear on the map within hours, signs point to no.
Apple Maps Roundup for July 2023
Downloadable maps are coming to Apple Maps in iOS 17 this fall. Ars Technica looks at how they’ll work, and how they’ll compare to Google Maps’ offline maps (at the moment—which to be sure is with the iOS 17 public beta—Apple’s offline maps take up much more space but also offer more detail).
James Killick considers Apple’s forthcoming Vision Pro headset and wonders whether something might not be afoot in the mapping space. “The real kicker for geospatial is its ability to immerse you in a truly 3D experience. […] So given a truly immersive 3D experience is possible, think of the wonders it will do for maps and mapping in general.”
After expanding its new maps to central Europe—Austria, Croatia, Czechia, Hungary, Poland and Slovenia—in April, Apple brought detailed city maps to Paris, cycling directions to the whole of France, and its new maps to Hong Kong, Taiwan and Slovakia in June. As usual, Justin O’Beirne has all the details at the above links.
Google Maps as Social Space (and Time Waster)
Writing for The Atlantic, Will Peischel suggests an alternative to wasting all your time on social media: wasting all your time poking around in Google Maps.
Google Maps’ main purpose is to enable people to get directions and look up businesses. But along the way, it has become a social space too. Sort of. To fill out the world map it created, Google invited people to add snippets to all the digital places. You upload your photos; you leave your reviews; you look at the artifacts others have left behind. The pictures of a restaurant on Google Maps are often a mismatched succession of interior-design shots, flash photos of messy plates, and outdated menus. There’s plenty of detritus too: irrelevant photos, businesses that don’t exist, three-star reviews without an explanation.
The result is random and messy in a way that is different from the rest of the social web. […] But especially as algorithmic content has taken over the web, many of the surprises don’t feel fresh. They are our kind of surprises. Google Maps offers something many other platforms no longer can: a hodgepodge of truly unfamiliar stuff that hasn’t been packaged for your taste or mine. […] Because zooming out and scrolling around are so easy, you can bump into little treasures at every turn that would never land on an Instagram feed.
Google Maps to Upgrade Its Coverage of U.S. National Parks
Google Maps will be improving its coverage of U.S. national parks: an update later this month to both the Android and iOS versions will add park attractions, trail maps (and directions to the trailhead) and offline park maps. [Jalopnik/TechCrunch]
How Google Deals with Fake Content on Google Maps
In a blog post last Friday, Google offers some detail on how it combats fraudulent user-submitted content on Google Maps. These include fake business profiles, fake reviews, contributed photos with fake phone numbers—it’s basically about business listings. (There was a time, of course, when fake user-submitted content was to the map itself.) They report something like 115 million reviews, 200 million photos and 20 million fake business profiles—no wonder they’re using machine learning to deal with it all. (Compare with Google’s February 2021 post on the same subject: the numbers are up.)
Previously: Millions of Business Listings on Google Maps Are Fake: WSJ; How Many Fake Business Listings Are There on Google Maps?
Apple Updates Its Map in Europe
Apple has added its detailed 3D city “experience” to Berlin, Hamburg and Munich and cycling directions to Germany in general: see Justin O’Beirne and MacRumors.
Its redesigned maps have also come to Norway, Sweden and Finland: see AppleInsider, Justin O’Beirne and MacRumors for details.
Google Maps Updates (February 2023)
Updates to Google Maps announced earlier this month include a rollout of immersive view—first announced last year—in the previously announced cities of London, Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco and Tokyo (the rollout is delayed somewhat: it was promised for later this year last year), with more cities, including Amsterdam, Dublin, Florence and Venice, coming soon [Engadget]. Also announced: an expansion of the augmented-reality Live View feature (previously: 1, 2) to more cities and indoor venues [AppleInsider]; “glanceable directions” enabling navigation from the lock screen (“in the coming months”) [9to5Google]; and improved charging station search results for electric vehicles with built-in Google search [Jalopnik].
Previously: Immersive View and the Death of Consumer Maps.
Online Map Roundup for January 2023
Apple Maps
Apple Maps now provides parking information for 8,000 locations in the U.S. and Canada.
Apple also launched Business Connect, a tool for businesses to upload their information to be used by Apple’s various apps: not just Maps, though that’s obvious (and something Google has been offering for quite some time: see James’s post for context). More at Ars Technica.
Google Maps
The first cars to get Google’s enhanced maps (previously), which include things like traffic lights and stop signs, will be the Volvo EX90 and Polestar 3, via Android Auto.
Meanwhile, turn-by-turn directions on Google’s Wear OS smart watch platform will no longer require a connected smartphone.