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You're comparing two vastly different things. Maps for Google (I assume people are referring to google maps) is a very important part of its business, up there

by ktta 10y ago

You're comparing two vastly different things. Maps for Google (I assume people are referring to google maps) is a very important part of its business, up there with gmail. But maps for car companies is an afterthought, a secondary luxury feature. You can't expect car companies to drop billions on mapping and full time software devs in perfecting the navigation system. The way I see it, the best way would be for them to use google maps in their car. There'll probably be a slew of privacy issues with that though, because you can close the maps app but it'll be more difficult to control the GPS system build into you car.

astrodust 10y ago
Sure, but I expect Google could make a kazillion dollars with some kind of licensing deal to provide Android and a stripped down offline version of Google Maps as a backup if there's no data available to car manufacturers. Customizing an existing Android-for-cars platform sounds like a way better plan than whatever junk these manufacturers are shipping today. I've seen better systems in the 1990s in terms of responsiveness and performance. The only thing consistently worse than the UI in cars is the UI in set-top boxes which I can only presume are designed and implemented in North Korea and intended to run on CPUs made in 1985. Apple is probably working on this exact thing, so I'm surprised Google hasn't made any inroads here. They can take more chances than Apple can.
- ktta 10y ago
  >some kind of licensing deal to provide Android and a stripped down offline version of Google Maps as a backup I don't think a default offline android will ever be in the picture. If everyone is offline, how will it make money? (android is free, so its far fetched to think it will start charging for that). It is risky for google to just give away lot of map data. Google spent a lot of money trying to acquire it. If it starts distributing it in a nice little package, people will start flashing their in-car devices with it.
  - astrodust 10y ago
    I refuse to believe that Google can't pre-fetch ads and monetize their maps in other ways. Want your company logo to appear on the map itself? Pay up. I'm sure fast food chains and places like Starbucks would fork out to get custom pins. Garmin has tons of map data too, and they "give it away" when you download it for your device. The offline mode might not have all the detail of the live version, but it could be good enough for travelling in remote areas without reception.

by ktta 10y ago

astrodust 10y ago

Sure, but I expect Google could make a kazillion dollars with some kind of licensing deal to provide Android and a stripped down offline version of Google Maps as a backup if there's no data available to car manufacturers. Customizing an existing Android-for-cars platform sounds like a way better plan than whatever junk these manufacturers are shipping today. I've seen better systems in the 1990s in terms of responsiveness and performance. The only thing consistently worse than the UI in cars is the UI in set-top boxes which I can only presume are designed and implemented in North Korea and intended to run on CPUs made in 1985. Apple is probably working on this exact thing, so I'm surprised Google hasn't made any inroads here. They can take more chances than Apple can.

ktta 10y ago
>some kind of licensing deal to provide Android and a stripped down offline version of Google Maps as a backup I don't think a default offline android will ever be in the picture. If everyone is offline, how will it make money? (android is free, so its far fetched to think it will start charging for that). It is risky for google to just give away lot of map data. Google spent a lot of money trying to acquire it. If it starts distributing it in a nice little package, people will start flashing their in-car devices with it.
- astrodust 10y ago
  I refuse to believe that Google can't pre-fetch ads and monetize their maps in other ways. Want your company logo to appear on the map itself? Pay up. I'm sure fast food chains and places like Starbucks would fork out to get custom pins. Garmin has tons of map data too, and they "give it away" when you download it for your device. The offline mode might not have all the detail of the live version, but it could be good enough for travelling in remote areas without reception.