News for hackers. Stuff that matters.
Re:Google Maps has become an eyesore by commonlisp94 on Monday August 07, 2023 @09:54AM (#37034498)
Unlike a physical map, we can't go back and access old google maps, so those changing preferences in style leave a memory hole.
Re:Google Maps has become an eyesore by trefoiled on Monday August 07, 2023 @11:07AM (#37035514)
If you haven't read 1984, this is really confusing, but a "memory hole" is a hole into which you place something you don't want to have any memory of, destroying it forever. The ironic name is an example of "doublethink."
Re:Google Maps has become an eyesore by DropInIn on Monday August 07, 2023 @12:59PM (#37037208)
I believe you mean "Doublespeak" rather than "Doublethink".
Re:Google Maps has become an eyesore by OfSanguineFire on Monday August 07, 2023 @02:07PM (#37038236)
No, “doublethink” is the term introduced in Orwell’s 1984.
Re:Google Maps has become an eyesore by DropInIn on Monday August 07, 2023 @04:23PM (#37040458)
And those who've actually read it also know that Newspeak is also a term he coined and that since we don't actually have newspeak, the natural extrapolation of the term Doublethink into a spoken application is the term Doublespeak.... Right?
Re:Google Maps has become an eyesore by WorldMaker on Monday August 07, 2023 @01:31PM (#37037694)
On the flipside digital maps can progressively show layers on user demand. You can pull up the OSM map with all the street names. If you've got a bit of patience to learn tools like QGIS (or ArcGIS) you have more power than ever to build personal maps that work best for how you personally navigate spaces beyond the lowest-common denominator that used to be print maps.

It's maybe a bit of a shame that the raw tools (like OSM, QGIS, ArcGIS, even what is left of Google Earth) aren't easy to learn and equally accessible to everyone and the incentives of the big maps (Google Maps, Apple Maps, etc) is its own drive to a different lowest common denominator, but digital maps have such tools in the first place. (It was far more expensive to get custom printed maps. AAA triptychs are interesting thing to compare here.)

Re:Google Maps has become an eyesore by commonlisp94 on Tuesday August 08, 2023 @10:32AM (#37049558)
I don't think the issue is digital maps, just that the data is not accessible or preserved.