Google Maps

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Google Maps Will Provide 'Eco-Friendly' Routes to Drivers

Charlotte Henry · · Add Comment

Google Maps is to provide an ‘eco-friendly’ route to drivers by default, Reuters reported. Further upgrades to make comparing transit options are also on the way.

Unless users opt out, the default route will be the “eco-friendly” one if comparable options take about the same time, Google said. When alternatives are significantly faster, Google will offer choices and let users compare estimated emissions. “What we are seeing is for around half of routes, we are able to find an option more eco-friendly with minimal or no time-cost tradeoff,” Russell Dicker, a director of product at Google, told reporters on Monday. Google said it derives emissions relative estimates by testing across different types of vehicles and road types, drawing on insights from the U.S. government’s National Renewable Energy Lab (NREL). Road grade data comes from its Street View cars as well as aerial and satellite imagery. The potential effect on emissions from the feature is unclear.

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Detailed Look at Apple Maps in iOS 13

Bryan Chaffin · · 1 Comment

Check out this detailed look at Apple Maps in iOS 13 at MacStories. New features, a new look, and an aggressive move to make Apple Maps rival or beat Google Maps, make this a significant upgrade, and MacStories lay it all out.

Timed with the spread of its first-party mapping data, Apple is giving the Maps app a big upgrade in iOS 13 that represents the company’s biggest push yet to overtake Google Maps as the world’s most trusted, go-to mapping service. Apple Maps in iOS 13 represents – if you’re in the US at least – Apple’s purest vision to date for a modern mapping service. Here’s everything that it brings.

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Ready? Google Planning Ads in Maps - Think $$

John Martellaro · · 4 Comments

Bloomberg’s Gerrit De Vynck writes:

Service was mostly ad-free for years. That’s changing now.

Company looks beyond ‘utility’ navigation for new ad revenue.

He concludes:

Suddenly charging for something free — or slipping ads into formerly uncluttered services — are rare and risky steps for Google. But parent Alphabet Inc. has shareholders to please and revenue growth targets to hit. Maps is the next, big service the company is leaning on to achieve those goals.

Thank goodness for Apple Maps.