There are tons of viable competitors to google maps, even on Android, last time I checked.

They all have different monetization strategies, and all provide good enough turn by turn directions. I regularly use Here WeGo for its offline support. Sygic is probably still fine.

I think Sygic moved to a freemium model, and I get the impression Here is subsidized by luxury car manufacturers.

Yelp crushes google maps on search.

I really don’t understand why google maps is so popular. Like search, maps is a capital intensive, commodity product with near-zero switching cost. I guess the same can be said of Coke and Pepsi, and they’re chugging along just fine. It’s a good thing I don’t work in brand management!

> Yelp crushes google maps on search.

Not even in the same ball park. Yelp's search for example does not understand that there's a RIVER between Brooklyn and Manhattan. So when I'm in Greenpoint it says there's something right there, in Manhattan when I want something local.

I think when a lot of people made their "maps provider" decision, there weren't a lot of these other options available. Many people use Google Maps because it was the best maps option at the time they were first figuring out their early smartphone apps.

And for newer people, bundling is hugely impactful. Doing nothing is almost always the most popular choice

I don't see the differences between google maps and the alternative you suggest regarding their price or their money making strategies.

> I really don’t understand why google maps is so popular.

Because it's bundled on billions of devices ? And it's a product that was/is working really well for the vast majority ?

What competitor would you recommend for public transit directions?