This reminds me of the argument some (now dead) portal page/search engine company made to Larry Page when Larry and Sergey showed off their page rank algorithm.

It was basically something like the following: "This is no good - if the search results are too good then people won't stay on our page long enough to see the ads"

This is basically what triggered them to start their own company instead of licensing the tech (I'm remembering most of this from In The Plex which I read a while back).

Basically it's stupid not to make the core thing better - especially in the case where Walmart's real competition is Amazon.

Market pressures always lead to quality decay over time. Even with Google - it started with lightweight, quality, bullshit-free search. Look at it now.

Especially Google Maps, I'm waiting for a competitor to blow it out of the water. Satellite images are relatively cheap, you could have a map that shows a daily updated image of every street, and show timelapses. But their streetview would be very tough to displace.

Their mobile maps are bloated and their web maps have been better, but I'm not sure how Google or anybody else can get cheap daily streetview imagery. I've been waiting for somebody to partner with the postal service and slap cameras on every truck.

I think parent was refering to satellite imagery; not street view.

From iOS and Android apps you can search a for products in a specific store. It displays Aisle number and some broad stock information. Maps have been trialed as well. There are challenges with data quality to get maps to work well. Poor data quality is due to managers being able to move shelves around without updating central systems and stock living in multiple places within a store (same SKU). Locating consumers on a map has also been trialed with LED based indoor positioning. Walmart do try lots of stuff and work with lots of vendors. Rolling out to 4000+ stores is a multi-year challenge. See eReceipts, Savings Catcher, Scan'n'Go, Walmart Pay et al. Usually 3 years from pilot to chain.

Walmart's core customer personas are "busy moms" - they know that, in the long term, providing mom with convenience, efficiency, and low prices wins over trying to force her to waste time lost in the store.