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> Sure, but it isn't a CORE REQUIREMENT for the service to function. Again, you don't know Maps product roadmap. Google is taking its "Next Billion Users" init

by dsl 5y ago

> Sure, but it isn't a CORE REQUIREMENT for the service to function. Again, you don't know Maps product roadmap. Google is taking its "Next Billion Users" initiative very seriously internally. They might be looking at ways to offer navigation using only a Wifi/Bluetooth chip so they can make Android devices as cheaply as possible. There is also the possibility that GPS may not be functional in areas Google wants to serve. The US Government blacked out GPS over multiple states during a test. China has satellites that can rip other countries satellites out of the sky. Russia intentionally crashed an old weather satellite into an Iridium satellite just as a weird flex.

9935c101ab17a66 5y ago
The Google product roadmap has absolutely nothing to do with whether Google maps — which we concretely know can function without network assistance — should REQUIRE said network assistance for all users at present. Yah, the results may be better with network assurance, but it should still work with out it. This sentiment also applies to your second point — if Google wants to get some kind of navigation working without using gps in some niche market categories, that’s fine. But that shouldn’t require me, with the gps module I paid for in my expensive smartphone, to share data with Google that I don’t want them to have and they don’t technically need.
Xelbair 5y ago
And i as an user utterly do not care about their roadmap. I care about my experience. That still does not excuse them for requiring access to those data sources, as they can still degrade service when user does not give consent. Also there are multiple networks at the moment(USA's GPS, Russia's GLONASS, China's COMPASS/BEIDOU(forgot which was geostationary system, and which one was global),and EU's Galileo), which makes total blackout of a single area unlikely. And quite frankly, in case of total blackout we have a bigger problems than civilian GPS navigation.

by dsl 5y ago

9935c101ab17a66 5y ago

The Google product roadmap has absolutely nothing to do with whether Google maps — which we concretely know can function without network assistance — should REQUIRE said network assistance for all users at present. Yah, the results may be better with network assurance, but it should still work with out it. This sentiment also applies to your second point — if Google wants to get some kind of navigation working without using gps in some niche market categories, that’s fine. But that shouldn’t require me, with the gps module I paid for in my expensive smartphone, to share data with Google that I don’t want them to have and they don’t technically need.

Xelbair 5y ago

And i as an user utterly do not care about their roadmap. I care about my experience. That still does not excuse them for requiring access to those data sources, as they can still degrade service when user does not give consent. Also there are multiple networks at the moment(USA's GPS, Russia's GLONASS, China's COMPASS/BEIDOU(forgot which was geostationary system, and which one was global),and EU's Galileo), which makes total blackout of a single area unlikely. And quite frankly, in case of total blackout we have a bigger problems than civilian GPS navigation.