3 ms·

Well, it's not. And they're not paid for it.

• JohnFen 3y ago
  Whether or not it's intended as an ad, and whether or not they're getting paid for it, kinda doesn't really matter. I perceive it as a kind of advertising, probably because it came around when maps was adding all sorts of other advertising as well, and advertising was the final straw that drove me away from Google Maps. I also find it a much less useful way of indicating directions, but I recognize that's just because my brain works differently. That's not a criticism of doing it that way.
  • tracerbulletx 3y ago
    It's literally the only thing that matters to the question of whether or not it's an ad. Imagine telling your grandma 30 years ago you don't appreciate her advertising to you because she used a business as a navigational reference giving directions to her house. Absurd.
    • JohnFen 3y ago
      Eh, to each his own. My grandma is not Google. Google has earned a high degree of suspicion and mistrust. My grandma has not. Besides, she wouldn't have done that. She would have been more likely to give me directions in a way that is more useful to me than that, because she knows me.