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A bit further on the west (in Bosnia & Herzegovina) Google's street view is still not available (not even in our capital). As for the names of the streets, Open

by r3bl 11y ago

A bit further on the west (in Bosnia & Herzegovina) Google's street view is still not available (not even in our capital). As for the names of the streets, OpenStreetMap is far more detailed (and precise). Even Bing's Maps are more usable.

tanzam75 11y ago
> It's a shame that Google Maps is inferior to my iGo tablet running Windows Mobile from 10 years ago. And it didn't need to have continuous wireless data access. ... How was iGo capable to deliver superior maps so many years ago? They purchased data from a mapping company. Ten years ago, the two largest mapping companies in the world were Navteq and Tele Atlas. Google used to buy data from these companies as well, but they stopped paying and decided to build up their own maps data from scratch. > Even Bing's Maps are more usable. If you zoom to Sarajevo and look at the bottom-right of the Bing Maps window, it says: "© 2015 HERE. © 2015 Microsoft Corporation." Navteq was bought by Nokia, got renamed HERE Maps, and has just been sold to a consortium of German automakers. Microsoft currently has a multi-year contract with HERE Maps as part of their deal with Nokia. Also, Helmut Panke is on the Microsoft Board of Directors. He used to be the Chairman of the Management Board of BMW.
discardorama 11y ago
> A bit further on the west (in Bosnia & Herzegovina) Google's street view is still not available Could it be because of the maze of laws that governs public photography? In the US, it's somewhat simple: what's visible from the street can be photographed. But in other countries, you have murky laws, and Google, with deep pockets, can get sued easily.
- kuschku 11y ago
  In Germany, where Google famously lost, the law is also simple: From eyelevel, you can photograph everything. Above eyelevel, you need permission, or it has to be only imagery that could have been seen from eye level, too. One reason for this is that people might build a 2m tall fence around their frontyard and walk around naked, but Google with a 3m tall StreetView camera could obviously photograph that. Google ignored the law, and hoped it would be easier to ask for forgiveness than for permission, but, as Germans are, everyone asking for forgiveness will be punished even harder to prevent such business policies.

by r3bl 11y ago

tanzam75 11y ago

> It's a shame that Google Maps is inferior to my iGo tablet running Windows Mobile from 10 years ago. And it didn't need to have continuous wireless data access. ... How was iGo capable to deliver superior maps so many years ago? They purchased data from a mapping company. Ten years ago, the two largest mapping companies in the world were Navteq and Tele Atlas. Google used to buy data from these companies as well, but they stopped paying and decided to build up their own maps data from scratch. > Even Bing's Maps are more usable. If you zoom to Sarajevo and look at the bottom-right of the Bing Maps window, it says: "© 2015 HERE. © 2015 Microsoft Corporation." Navteq was bought by Nokia, got renamed HERE Maps, and has just been sold to a consortium of German automakers. Microsoft currently has a multi-year contract with HERE Maps as part of their deal with Nokia. Also, Helmut Panke is on the Microsoft Board of Directors. He used to be the Chairman of the Management Board of BMW.

discardorama 11y ago

> A bit further on the west (in Bosnia & Herzegovina) Google's street view is still not available Could it be because of the maze of laws that governs public photography? In the US, it's somewhat simple: what's visible from the street can be photographed. But in other countries, you have murky laws, and Google, with deep pockets, can get sued easily.

kuschku 11y ago
In Germany, where Google famously lost, the law is also simple: From eyelevel, you can photograph everything. Above eyelevel, you need permission, or it has to be only imagery that could have been seen from eye level, too. One reason for this is that people might build a 2m tall fence around their frontyard and walk around naked, but Google with a 3m tall StreetView camera could obviously photograph that. Google ignored the law, and hoped it would be easier to ask for forgiveness than for permission, but, as Germans are, everyone asking for forgiveness will be punished even harder to prevent such business policies.