this post was submitted on 05 Jan 2025
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For years, Google Maps has been a go-to tool for millions worldwide, seamlessly integrated into search results for instant access to directions, locations, and more. But if you’ve noticed something missing recently, you’re not imagining things. Due to European Union regulations, Google has been forced to remove its Maps functionality from its search results, marking a significant shift in how we interact with the tech giant’s ecosystem.

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[–] [email protected] 4 points 19 hours ago

It's been that way for months already. Maybe four or six I'd say.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 day ago

I wonder whether alternative solutions were discussed: like Google retaining integration but breaking off Maps division into it's own entity that has to use same API's as everyone else and use the same integration points. Would've been more user-friendly thing to do.

[–] [email protected] 49 points 1 day ago (1 children)

how is it over? you just type in maps.google.com like you used to type in mapquest.con

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 day ago (1 children)

But I still type in maps.google.com already because I don't use Google search. But I still use maps.

Google maps is the best True dat. Double true.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 day ago (2 children)

Used to be, Waze is consistently better at producing faster routes now at least in the UK. I keep meaning to try out others like organic though.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Waze is owned by Google now so it basically is maps now just with a different skin and some better features.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 day ago

Has been owned by Google for quite some time now, but traffic or accidents reported by users in Waze still take quite some time to show up on Google maps.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

I use Waze when that matters but I'm usually using Google maps to look up stuff like what foo places are near me.

I'll use organic sometimes too when I want directions but I don't care that much about time.

Edit: food but it's funny that way too

[–] [email protected] 390 points 2 days ago (11 children)

Talk about hyperbole...

Google Maps is over!

No, the integration in the search results when searching the web might be gone, but you can still go to https://maps.google.com/ and find what you need.

This is not a significant shift with how we are interacting with Google, it is a minor change.

Calm down.

[–] [email protected] 17 points 1 day ago (1 children)

This is not a significant shift with how we are interacting with Google, it is a minor change.

Eh... Most people (Not the tech literate ones) interact with the internet nearly wholly using the Google search bar. To the point where many have NO idea where to put a URL in their phone to actually go straight to a website and often just google the url and click the first link.

For those people, this will be a significant shift.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 17 hours ago

To underline this statement: Microsoft Bing is trying to spoof Google UI when people search Google.com.
Most tech literates do not understand the workflows of ppl who have no clue. Having done a shitton of 1st Level Tech Support for an ISP in my youth has given me the mostly useless ability to know how the clueless use their computer.

I wish i could forget most of that bullshit tho, it brought me far too young to the conclusion that humanity is a long way from becoming immune to snake oil vendors, scam artists and con men because most people don't have a fucking clue what they are doing.

[–] [email protected] 15 points 1 day ago (1 children)

"Google maps is over ...there! It used to be here, now it's there. Go click a link or something, like we did in the old days."

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 day ago

Click a link? Oh you young whippersnapper! We used to have a note with written domain names or even IP addresses that we would type in if we wanted to go somewhere online.

[–] [email protected] 35 points 2 days ago

Holy shit! Top comment right there! I read the headline and thought "Geez, that's going to leave a massive hole in the maps market. There is no clear runner to fill that role. That probably means we'll see a few years of innovations as competitors try their best to come up with that new killer feature that makes their maps the best."

No.

None of that. Google.com will just act slightly different on their search pages.

[–] [email protected] 27 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

A hyperbole would be to make a point, an intentional exaggeration for emphasis or generalization.

This is just a lie.

[–] [email protected] 18 points 2 days ago

Sell your Google stocks now. This is the nail in the coffin!

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[–] [email protected] 104 points 2 days ago (21 children)

I understand the why of this but this is not an improvement. I suppose search engines should ask you which maps provider you want and then show results based on that.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 day ago

I suppose search engines should ask you which maps provider you want and then show results based on that.

Google could have done that, but they chose to go this router to inconvenience users, so that they then could blame the EU for this.

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[–] [email protected] 33 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Is this news? The "Maps" tab has been missing from my search results for a while here in Germany.

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[–] [email protected] 28 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (4 children)

For users, this tight integration was incredibly convenient.

In Firefox, I have had any search starting with "gm" set up to do a Google Maps search. So "gm Omaha" will go to Omaha.

That is, I create a bookmark that's aimed at:

https://maps.google.com/maps?q=%25s

and then in the Bookmark Manager, set the keyword to "gm".

Kagi -- which uses bang prefixes to do searches on external sites -- appears to have done the same thing on the service side with "!gm". So "!gm Omaha". (They normally have their own, OpenStreetMap-based map thing, but if you want to do Google Maps, that'll do it.)

EDIT: For some reason, the Lemmy Web UI seems determined to convert "%s" to "%25s" in the URL above, and I can't seem to find an escape sequence that avoids that. It's intended to just be "%s".

[–] [email protected] 12 points 2 days ago

I use DuckDuckGo so I use !m.

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[–] [email protected] 23 points 2 days ago (1 children)
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[–] [email protected] 18 points 2 days ago (8 children)
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[–] [email protected] 10 points 2 days ago

Didn't even notice. Well done EU.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 2 days ago

Is this a big deal? I realize I have a skewed view because I dropped Google search ages ago, but... when I need maps results I go to a maps app, I never really relied on the search bar for that, even when I did use Google search.

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