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I tend to agree, but it has also improved Google Maps, so maybe it is still a plus for the business overall?

by jsight 7y ago

jsjohnst 7y ago
I agree Google Maps has improved, but I’m not convinced it was directly because of acquiring Waze. Waze UX has dropped so much since acquisition that its almost to the painful point. I also find it’s “user submitted” data (cops, construction, pot holes) has dropped a lot so I feel a lot of folks who were submitting quality data have either left or just stopped submitting as the UX has gotten so bad. Keyhole is another acquisition in the mapping space that I feel has degraded since being acquired by Google. I was a paying customer of Keyhole and loved it, since becoming free under Google, it’s basically stagnated and some of the features I used are now gone.
- jsight 7y ago
  > I agree Google Maps has improved, but I’m not convinced it was directly because of acquiring Waze. They often include Waze reported events in Google Maps now. That was the part that I was referring to. I'm not sure if Google Maps reported issues feed back into Waze as well, but I would expect them to.
  - jsjohnst 7y ago
    > They often include Waze reported events in Google Maps now. I hadn’t seen that, so then yeah I agree it is improved.
scarface74 7y ago
I hate to be a cold hard capitalist. But how has improving Google Maps helped its profitability? Would a competitor have taken market share away from Google Maps if they hadn’t acquired Waze? But more importantly, would it have decreased as revenue?
- lern_too_spel 7y ago
  By keeping its competitors utterly uncompetitive. There remains no good alternative to Google's maps for consumers. Waze would have jumpstarted a competitor's mapping efforts. For stupid acquisitions, look no further than everything Andy Rubin bought, from Motorola to robotics companies.
  - scarface74 7y ago
    Nokia Here maps and Apple Maps is larger than Google Maps on iOS.
    - lern_too_spel 7y ago
      Apple Maps is so bad that people go out of their way to install another map app even though the OS does not let them properly use the other app as a default. Nokia Maps pre-existed Waze and wouldn't have benefited from purchasing it.
      - scarface74 7y ago
        Fortunately, we have data. Not anecdotes. I’m citing Wikipedia for conciseness. You can look up the article’s references for citations. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_Maps https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_Maps
        lern_too_spel 7y ago
        > we have data. Where is the data that large numbers of people aren't installing Google Maps on iOS despite iOS crippling third party maps apps? Not in your link.
        scarface74 7y ago
        The data is that a majority of iOS users are in fact using Apple Maps. Btw, you can trigger Google Maps with Siri by creating a simple shortcut and when you search for a place on google. It launches Google Maps.

I tend to agree, but it has also improved Google Maps, so maybe it is still a plus for the business overall?

by jsight 7y ago

I tend to agree, but it has also improved Google Maps, so maybe it is still a plus for the business overall?

I agree Google Maps has improved, but I’m not convinced it was directly because of acquiring Waze. Waze UX has dropped so much since acquisition that its almost to the painful point. I also find it’s “user submitted” data (cops, construction, pot holes) has dropped a lot so I feel a lot of folks who were submitting quality data have either left or just stopped submitting as the UX has gotten so bad. Keyhole is another acquisition in the mapping space that I feel has degraded since being acquired by Google. I was a paying customer of Keyhole and loved it, since becoming free under Google, it’s basically stagnated and some of the features I used are now gone.

jsight 7y ago
> I agree Google Maps has improved, but I’m not convinced it was directly because of acquiring Waze. They often include Waze reported events in Google Maps now. That was the part that I was referring to. I'm not sure if Google Maps reported issues feed back into Waze as well, but I would expect them to.
- jsjohnst 7y ago
  > They often include Waze reported events in Google Maps now. I hadn’t seen that, so then yeah I agree it is improved.

scarface74 7y ago

I hate to be a cold hard capitalist. But how has improving Google Maps helped its profitability? Would a competitor have taken market share away from Google Maps if they hadn’t acquired Waze? But more importantly, would it have decreased as revenue?

lern_too_spel 7y ago
By keeping its competitors utterly uncompetitive. There remains no good alternative to Google's maps for consumers. Waze would have jumpstarted a competitor's mapping efforts. For stupid acquisitions, look no further than everything Andy Rubin bought, from Motorola to robotics companies.
- scarface74 7y ago
  Nokia Here maps and Apple Maps is larger than Google Maps on iOS.
  - lern_too_spel 7y ago
    Apple Maps is so bad that people go out of their way to install another map app even though the OS does not let them properly use the other app as a default. Nokia Maps pre-existed Waze and wouldn't have benefited from purchasing it.
    - scarface74 7y ago
      Fortunately, we have data. Not anecdotes. I’m citing Wikipedia for conciseness. You can look up the article’s references for citations. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_Maps https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_Maps
      - lern_too_spel 7y ago
        > we have data. Where is the data that large numbers of people aren't installing Google Maps on iOS despite iOS crippling third party maps apps? Not in your link.
        scarface74 7y ago
        The data is that a majority of iOS users are in fact using Apple Maps. Btw, you can trigger Google Maps with Siri by creating a simple shortcut and when you search for a place on google. It launches Google Maps.