One shows only a few shops, often the ones that pay the most, the other shows the true number of different places in the area.
Another intepretation: one uses data to distinguish between popular and crappy stores.
I don’t think you were making this argument, but I want to highlight that data is not morally neutral. Google Maps drives even less customers to stores that are smaller, and already have difficulty getting customers.
WHAT? HOW DARE YOU INSULT OPENSTREETMAP, THE MOST USED DIGITAL MAP!
(In all seriousness, I wouldn’t be surprised that OSM is actually used the most, especially because it creeps into many other maps. But of course, this usage is spread over many apps and not a single
advertisingmap product, where GMaps is undoubtly the biggest one)I don’t like that google selectively chooses to show certain businesses over others.
But at the same time the lower screenshot is just pure information overload, it has way too much going on for a casual map to use while walking around and that sort of thing.
i mean thats what search is for, right?
Sort of, OSM doesn’t really have much to search for. For example if I search “gluten free lunch” google will search the reviews and menus, and is pretty decent at showing me options. OSM would not be able to return anything most likely.
@MangoPenguin @Sidyctism2 Google ecosystem aside, this could be solved partially by just having more POIs with tags (cuisine=Thai;gluten_free) or such.
Google still isn’t absolutely amazing at it, I regularly try to find dog friendly stuff via Google and fail, even though it searches reviews and the Q&A.
But metadata helps, always!
Overture POI could help with this too, not sure if gluten free but stuff like Halala and Vegetarian are restaurant categories for Overture POIs
The problem with tags is they can go out of date so quickly and require someone to update them, whereas most restaurants publish a menu on their website or ordering site, and google can pull info from that.
True, but that’s because the Google ecosystem is much more than Geo data. I agree typing that into OSM search won’t have any effect, but with OSMand for example I can filter search results for glutenfree and it works (if the restaurants have that specific key). Less comfortable, but not impossible. Much more ‘problematic’ IMO is OSM missing the possibility to rate places and add photos of meals and menus.
Yeah it would be nice to see a full menu and review system on top of an easy to use google maps replacement (both for mobile and web like google maps).
Have a look at https://mapcomplete.org/glutenfree
Looks neat, but most of the time just sits on ‘loading data’ and when I can get it to load, doesn’t show anything for like 100 mile radius around me lol
@MangoPenguin @pietervdvn You’re exactly the kind of person who can make a difference by adding this data!
I’ve found it a lot easier to map for my own dietary needs/preferences.
Just try to open up mapcomplete next time when you’re in a restaurant and answer a few questions, it’s really worth it!For my area it wouldn’t really be possible, there’s maybe 1 place that regularly has gluten free stuff, but the rest need real-time data pulled from their facebook or something because it changes daily/weekly what they offer.
Then, please, add this single place :)
You might make the difference for someone else
@ame @MangoPenguin @pietervdvn
StreetComplete does have a couple of quests for this that default to disabled so you can turn them on if you’re interested.
I don’t like that google selectively chooses to show certain businesses over others.
100% paid placements. I started looking for an alternative to Google Maps once they started putting POIs disguised as ads.
I think google helps minimize potential distractions while driving, and usually if you zoom in farther it shows more of what’s in the area. Honestly though, which shops show up is already pretty far down the slippery slope into monetarily self-interested bias. I think it’d be nice if they favored the user’s preferences, but then there’s my data that I’d rather not be advertised to on. This enshittification sucks.
