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A comment on Google’s top search result is Google. Parent comment

Re:Google’s top search result is Google by Mirioron on Tuesday July 28, 2020 @11:58AM (#23977103)
But if Google search didn't send me to Google maps when I was looking for maps then I would explicitly go to Google maps. In that case there would be no chance for any competitor to do better.
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Re:Google’s top search result is Google by unethical_ban on Tuesday July 28, 2020 @12:09PM (#23977217)
Your logic is faulty. You weren't going to go to a competitor from the search page anyway.
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Re:Google’s top search result is Google by Mirioron on Tuesday July 28, 2020 @02:25PM (#23979053)
That's what I'm trying to say. When I search for "maps" I'm trying to go to Google maps. The same happens when I search for "translate".
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Re:Google’s top search result is Google by addicted on Tuesday July 28, 2020 @02:37PM (#23979187)
Why would you want to go to goofle translate or google maps when you search for translate or google? Wouldn’t you want to go to the best service you could get?
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Re:Google’s top search result is Google by res0nat0r on Tuesday July 28, 2020 @03:46PM (#23979874)
His point is those are the best.
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Re:Google’s top search result is Google by CarbyAu on Tuesday July 28, 2020 @09:52PM (#23982736)
Maybe that isn't his point. A lot of people don't use UI optimally.

They "Go to google, type what they want, google gives it to them."

Sure, you could click on the 9 dots on the top right and select maps for google maps.

But is that always there on every device, on every web browser, whether signed in with google account or not?

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Re:Google’s top search result is Google by zepto on Tuesday July 28, 2020 @10:16PM (#23982882)
Yes, but the counter argument is that they are only the best because no competitor can get adequate attention to make the investment worthwhile.

Apple has the only viable alternatives to those two, and the only way they are able to distribute them is because they control the home screen of iOS.

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Re:Google’s top search result is Google by ksk on Tuesday July 28, 2020 @12:06PM (#23977181)
And how does one know that Google even has a maps service to go to? Google maps didn't start out great or even good (Its pretty good now). Google promotes their beta-level products over other mature products to the point the competition is starved of visitors, while Google iterates their own product. So now, after the fact, you can go "Well, there's no one else, I guess Google does the right thing in showing me Google maps as the first result".
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Re:Google’s top search result is Google by jefftk on Tuesday July 28, 2020 @12:49PM (#23977751)
> Google maps didn't start out great or even good

That is not my memory. Google maps used AJAX to let you pan around. It was fluid, and really nice. What I had been using up until then was MapQuest, where you needed to click an arrow to move around, with long delays.

Disclosure: I work for Google

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Re:Google’s top search result is Google by 6510 on Tuesday July 28, 2020 @05:51PM (#23981064)
Google Earth was originally developed at Intrinsic Graphics in the late 1990s. October 2004, Google acquired Keyhole. Google maps started February 8, 2005.

It would have been easy to offer kml links and "force" the users into Google Earth. Before it was tinkered into a steaming pile of shit Keyhole was a truly fantastic product, with a lovely community, arguably the greatest thing since web browsers (with picasa & hello as a close 3rd and 4th)

For a web based thing the ajax maps was quite nice but today I really hate using it. The data is great tho and you cant complaint about the price.

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Re:Google’s top search result is Google by jefftk on Tuesday July 28, 2020 @08:25PM (#23982178)
> It would have been easy to offer kml links and "force" the users into Google Earth.

How so?

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Re:Google’s top search result is Google by 6510 on Thursday July 30, 2020 @04:48AM (#23995970)
It was such superior experience. If the user has it on his box the map link can simply point at the google earth client.

Take route planning for example. It use to be that you could fly the route in google earth. A line on a paper like map with a bunch of dots is useful for finding a shorter or more preferable route but after you've made up your mind flying over the road from A to B allows you to drive or cycle without any map.

If the application is installed the search results can include tours. (people made countless illustrated tours that kept breaking with each api update until there were no tours left)

Google could probably embed google earth into web pages if the will was there.

We will see where https://earth.google.com/web/ ends up. For now it loads as if booting an OS but its quite smooth after that.

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Re:Google’s top search result is Google by elpool2 on Tuesday July 28, 2020 @12:17PM (#23977300)
It was a while ago, but I remember Google maps being far better than any other map service when it first launched.
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Re:Google’s top search result is Google by reaperducer on Tuesday July 28, 2020 @12:33PM (#23977540)
The reason Google Maps was successful in its early days wasn't because of its quality, it was because it was free.

The other options were just as good, but often you had to pay for them. With Google, you could repeatedly refine the bad results until you found something useful, because there was zero additional cost involved.

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Re:Google’s top search result is Google by atombender on Tuesday July 28, 2020 @03:14PM (#23979567)
Google Maps was revolutionary when it came out.

Maps had smooth, animated panning and zooming that updated the map in real time without reloading the page. MapQuest and the other major competitors at the time only allowed panning and zooming by clicking buttons on the side of the map, which scrolled a predefined number of steps and reloaded, at least initially, the entire page when you did so.

Google Maps was also less cluttered and used the browser's real estate much effectively. MapQuest was a small, cramped map by comparison.

Screenshots:

https://i2.wp.com/www.matthewhurst.com/wp-content/uploads/20...

https://www.versionmuseum.com/images/websites/google-maps-we...

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Re:Google’s top search result is Google by lern_too_spel on Tuesday July 28, 2020 @02:25PM (#23979052)
What nonfree maps were you using before? I used MapQuest and Yahoo! Maps before Google Maps. Both were free.
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Re:Google’s top search result is Google by sebastos on Tuesday July 28, 2020 @12:31PM (#23977499)
Revisionist history. What mapping service was comparable the day google maps launched? MapQuest? lmao.
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Re:Google’s top search result is Google by onion2k on Tuesday July 28, 2020 @12:41PM (#23977656)
Multimap was quite good. I remember integrating it in to a few sites in the very early 2000s. It wasn't quite as dynamic as Google Maps but it definitely worked pretty well. It was eventually bought by Microsoft and became Bing Maps.
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Re:Google’s top search result is Google by s3r3nity on Tuesday July 28, 2020 @05:01PM (#23980663)
Actually yes - if you look at articles at the time, Mapquest was leading the antitrust charge against Google because the latter had JUST launched and yet was surfacing above Mapquest in rankings.

And when GMaps first started, it wasn’t the beast that it was today; sure it had some nifty UX improvements, but it was nothing close to competitors in the space at the time.

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