Google maps is probably the only service I couldn't live without. I could get a new email address or visit some other video site but maps is just too good and important.
Maps is the only service that keeps me tied to Google. I am not good with directions so its a lot of help to me and I really havent found any reliable alternatives to it.
I've degoogled quite well, the only real google services I continue to voluntarily use are YouTube and Maps. Although I don't use YouTube itself, I mostly interact with it through third party apps (i.e SmartTube or Invidious) and with Maps... well... nothing comes close. I wish there was a decent competitor to Google Maps but there isn't. I tried using Apple Maps but it lacks all of the crowdsourced information that Google has access to.
At this point, Google Maps is the only Google service I use with some frequency. I always use OpenStreetMap first, but if I need satellite imagery or street view, I fall over to Google Maps. All their other services are replaceable (with reasonable replacements), as far as I am aware.
Edit: I suppose YouTube technically counts as a Google service, which I also use with high frequency.
Yes, me too. Google Maps seems to be getting worse and worse in my experience. I started using OpenStreetMap. Lots of features are missing, but what exists actually works. And it turns out I never used Google Maps-only features anyway.
Criticize Google Maps all you want, but it is easily one of the most useful apps to me, especially as someone who's been been living nomadically the last 5 years. It's kind of scary how dependent I am on this app. Anytime I need to find a restaurant, dentist, electronics store, etc. - I'm looking first on Google Maps and my life is basically dictated by the results.
I have lists like "Places to Work" which is a list of all the nice coffee shops and places I like to work out of (currently have 200). I star hotels + AirBnBs I'm staying in, and bookmark a ton of things. I rely on it for public transportation. If I could only pick 3 apps on my phone, Google Maps would definitely be one of them.
I do wish there were better alternatives and I hate being overly dependent on one company. Unfortunately the open source alternatives like OpenStreetMap don't really even compare.
Google maps on the web and on mobile has become such a miserably bad experience that I hope OSM wins big. Google's data is not bad, but the apps are awful.
The only thing I use Google Maps for at this point is checking peak times (for the gym) and, rarely, if I have to give someone else public transit route information
I try to not use Google services where I can help it, but not using Google Maps to me just feels like risking screwing up my day. The fact that it's what everyone uses makes it the safe bet. They have so many users being tracked in real-time to reroute me around detours and traffic jams as soon as they happen, I don't really want to try anything else.
If I use an alternative and get stuck in traffic, I'm not gonna be thinking about how proud I am of myself for sitting in traffic in the name of sticking it to Google. I'm gonna be thinking "should have used Google Maps"
Strange, Maps is the only Google service I like. I'm in the Netherlands right now and their traffic data is always spot on. Literally updated by the minute.
I think that densely populated areas and countries with public up to date cartography are easier to serve.
My quality of life would decrease significantly without Google Maps. Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, etc. are distracting fluff, but navigation is the killer app.
I live in Chicago. Google Maps knows when the bus is coming, and which buses to take to get somewhere quickly. I don't have to plan very far ahead or keep to a strict schedule to make certain trains, since I know I can just pull out my phone and figure out a reasonable way to get home when it's time.
As a student from another city, I have only enough understanding of the geography to read Google Maps critically - for the details, it's indispensable.
Just uninstalling Facebook might be a nice middle route though.
Maps decline has been a real annoyance for me. I’ve dropped all of Google products: mail, years ago for Fastmail; search, I pay for Kagi; youtube, I pay netflix and spotify; docs, I use it at work but still looking for alternatives; voice, Skype does well. I’m almost off the Google bandwagon. I think if there is a good map system out-there, I’d finally have no dependency on the whole Google stack.
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