4 ms·

People still use integrated navigation systems?

yurishimo 4y ago
Google maps/Waze shows these business logos as well. In certain cases, the navigation assistant will also say the business' name when navigating. Example: Instead of "Turn left onto Broad Street", it will say, "Turn left after the Wendy's". It's pretty subtle right now, but I have no doubts that it will get more nefarious in the future.
- adgjlsfhk1 4y ago
  I don't think that's an ad. I think Google just knows that a giant restaurant sign is a lot easier to see than a tiny street sign
  - antsar 4y ago
    You really think no money changes hands to power this feature? The last ~decade of tech teaches one to assume otherwise…
  - gruez 4y ago
    True, but instructions based on intersection features are better than both. Apple maps does this with instructions like "go past this light then at the next one turn right"
  - fartcannon 4y ago
    Can't it be both? Google's entire career is combining something useful (gmail) with something shady (reading your emails to sell ads). This sounds exactly like that.
- dwighttk 4y ago
  To be fair, for some turns that is a better experience.
- eulers_secret 4y ago
  If there’s an option to disable this “feature”, then it’s probably not advertising. Good thing Apple Maps doesn’t subtly repeat biz names to me until I remember them. If this ever happens, I’ll move back to paper maps. I don’t care if I have to pull over, it beats this mental manipulation and my mind being an advertisers plaything.
slothtrop 4y ago
A large integrated touch-screen as opposed to your smartphone? Yeah. These have improved somewhat
andyjohnson0 4y ago
> People still use integrated navigation systems? Yes. I have a ~5yro Ford Fiesta with navigation built in and I massively prefer it to using a phone app. Its standalone (mapping is on an sd card) so I know it will still work if I'm in a remote area with poor network coverage. It also has physical, tactile buttons (no touchscreen) that my muscle memory can learn, and which don't suddenly reposition themselves at the whims of some app ux designer. It can automatically download traffic updates via bluetooth on my phone, but its otherwise "self hosted" on my car. Basically, it just works the way I expect and doesn't try to distract me. Which is all that I need.
- fartcannon 4y ago
  I would use my built on mapping for those reasons if I had any, but just as an aside, OSMAnd+ is an offline heavy duty free FOSS navigation and maps app. It's not quite as user friendly as google maps unfortunately, but the offline, downloadable navigation maps have saved my ass a few times.
- adastra22 4y ago
  FYI you can download maps to your phone too. That plus CarPlay is pretty much the same experience.
  - andyjohnson0 4y ago
    I know. But my car has mapping for the whole of the uk, wheras afaik google maps only lets me download routes or city-sized areas. And I'd have to remember to plan ahead and download over wifi.
    - oblio 4y ago
      It depends a bit, but I think you can download entire regions.
- NonNefarious 4y ago
  That's cool. Definitely a win for having all maps pre-loaded, augmented by traffic updates. Also surprising that the map data are on an SD card, given car companies' penchant for technologically-outmoded and proprietary systems that force you to go to the dealer for simple updates.

Google maps/Waze shows these business logos as well. In certain cases, the navigation assistant will also say the business' name when navigating. Example: Instead of "Turn left onto Broad Street", it will say, "Turn left after the Wendy's". It's pretty subtle right now, but I have no doubts that it will get more nefarious in the future.

adgjlsfhk1 4y ago
I don't think that's an ad. I think Google just knows that a giant restaurant sign is a lot easier to see than a tiny street sign
- antsar 4y ago
  You really think no money changes hands to power this feature? The last ~decade of tech teaches one to assume otherwise…
- gruez 4y ago
  True, but instructions based on intersection features are better than both. Apple maps does this with instructions like "go past this light then at the next one turn right"
- fartcannon 4y ago
  Can't it be both? Google's entire career is combining something useful (gmail) with something shady (reading your emails to sell ads). This sounds exactly like that.
dwighttk 4y ago
To be fair, for some turns that is a better experience.
eulers_secret 4y ago
If there’s an option to disable this “feature”, then it’s probably not advertising. Good thing Apple Maps doesn’t subtly repeat biz names to me until I remember them. If this ever happens, I’ll move back to paper maps. I don’t care if I have to pull over, it beats this mental manipulation and my mind being an advertisers plaything.

slothtrop 4y ago

A large integrated touch-screen as opposed to your smartphone? Yeah. These have improved somewhat

andyjohnson0 4y ago

> People still use integrated navigation systems? Yes. I have a ~5yro Ford Fiesta with navigation built in and I massively prefer it to using a phone app. Its standalone (mapping is on an sd card) so I know it will still work if I'm in a remote area with poor network coverage. It also has physical, tactile buttons (no touchscreen) that my muscle memory can learn, and which don't suddenly reposition themselves at the whims of some app ux designer. It can automatically download traffic updates via bluetooth on my phone, but its otherwise "self hosted" on my car. Basically, it just works the way I expect and doesn't try to distract me. Which is all that I need.

fartcannon 4y ago
I would use my built on mapping for those reasons if I had any, but just as an aside, OSMAnd+ is an offline heavy duty free FOSS navigation and maps app. It's not quite as user friendly as google maps unfortunately, but the offline, downloadable navigation maps have saved my ass a few times.
adastra22 4y ago
FYI you can download maps to your phone too. That plus CarPlay is pretty much the same experience.
- andyjohnson0 4y ago
  I know. But my car has mapping for the whole of the uk, wheras afaik google maps only lets me download routes or city-sized areas. And I'd have to remember to plan ahead and download over wifi.
  - oblio 4y ago
    It depends a bit, but I think you can download entire regions.
NonNefarious 4y ago
That's cool. Definitely a win for having all maps pre-loaded, augmented by traffic updates. Also surprising that the map data are on an SD card, given car companies' penchant for technologically-outmoded and proprietary systems that force you to go to the dealer for simple updates.