Google Maps tests new pop-up ads that give you an unnecessary detour

How long before they weight routes based on the billboard ads you’ll see along the way.

https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Organic_Maps

Is it too much to ask for an app that just does one single thing. Everything doesn't need to be an advertising platform.

Damn Google be speed running how quickly they can make me replace all their services. Google Maps and Youtube are about the only 2 I still use.

I've been getting a lot of 'suggested' locations and sponsored pop ups in Google Maps the few weeks. I get that it's a 'free' product, but ugh. My GPS while I'm driving down the highway is one of those things that really, really needs to be clutter-free.

This ad company is becoming a huge nuisance.

Edit/update from 9to5google so this post does not spread what is apparently inaccurate information:

I know we are desperate for content here on Lemmy, and I can google hate circle jerk with the best of them, but maybe just delete the post if it is a complete clickbait lie… you could also reword the post as a fact check, ‘no, google isn’t injecting adds into maps.’

The moment this starts happening to me, I’m going to start giving every single sponsored stop I see a 1 star review.

I dont know if i can keep using google stuff if this is the way they are going.

Why does everything have to be a fucking advert.

Who even likes adverts?

Just fuck off.

Gmaps has been actual hot trash for way the hell too long now.

GraphHopper, OSRM, and Valhalla all blow Google's shitty routing algorithm out of the water.

OSMAnd really the only mobile app competitor worthy of putting gmaps out of its misery. The only problem is it still uses a renderer from the stone age and has lackluster address data despite the fact that said data is available for free online from several open source mapping projects (there's some nice github scripts that can import ir for you).

Garmin forgot to invest in mobile technology. Sygic went to crap. Waze is just Gmaps+. Maps.me died even harder than Sygic.

It's 2024 and yet some of the best navigation tech I've seen is from 15+ year old devices.

Edit: Also Android Auto can go to hell.

Screw off.

Ok google take me to Liverpool.

I'm sorry Dave, I'm afraid I can't do that. Today you are going to Vape Palace in Swindon, sponsored by CryptoPonzi++: you put the coins, we loot the coins!

"Google have borrowed this idea form Waze" doesn't Google own Waze ?

It would be considered illegal where I live to interact with that popup while driving.

Ragebait is working: Fuck that evil corporation! OsmAnd all day every day.

PSA: Apple Maps used to suck badly but now it's way better than Google Maps.

I smell reVanced Gmaps coming soon...

"Google, tell me how to get to this place"

"Here are your directions, including a McDonalds break! You deserve a break today, with a delicious tiny BIG MAC being sold for 400% of what it was 5 years ago, at 50% the size."

"........when did the movie idiocracy go from being a mockumentary to a documentary?"

I've been wanting to leave the Google ecosystem for years but Maps was always the thing that kept me there. Thanks Google for freeing me at last!

This won't always work, but I get it to stop changing the fucking route by putting it in airplane mode while I'm driving. It's locked in to the route I picked, GPS still works, no distractions.

I'm going to paste here the comment I wrote on another post about this same issue:

Organic Maps and OsmAnd are not adding ads during navigation. Nor "promoted pins". Nor ads when browsing the map. Nor tracking your every move.

Seriously, give them a try. And remember that, if the maps are lacking information, you are free (and encouraged) to improve them on OpenStreetMap.

Apple Maps sure had a rough start back in the day, but I will always use that over Google/Waze. It’s just so much better now and no worries about this type of junk.

Just a reminder about the open-source OpenStreetMap. You can improve it online by adding features like a Wikipedia for maps. You can even use the gamified app StreetComplete to add stuff and get points for walking around and mapping.

I remember a long time ago when I was considering using Waze, had heard really good things. Then I was driving with a friend who used it and it served an ad saying “click here to take a pit stop at McDonald!”

I never downloaded Waze so… good luck google.

I have an iPhone and while I don’t like Apple Maps, I will absolutely switch to it in a heartbeat if this is added.

One of their last few products that was actually quite good. I bet gmail is next.

Welp time to stop using google maps I guess

Stallman was right

I've had something like this happening to me a long time ago. While going from a city in Uruguay to a city in Argentina, Google Maps "suggested" a route that was 2 hours longer but took me through the ferry (a paid business). Even though I chose "keep my route" several times, from time to time, the suggestion popped up with a "time limit" to confirm. If I failed to notice it, the suggested route would be selected.

Not to defend Google, but it seems unclear right now if this is something that will happen while driving, or similar to something Waze already does.

I'm willing to pay for an ad-free version. Google maps are very useful. I don't need it to be free. But ads are poison.

Anyone who capitalizes every word should be shot. I will not take questions on this.

Thanks I hate it. Also not even new, this shit was what killed in dash sat navs....

Time to switch to open street maps

So will we soon have to go places we Don't want to go... Just so we can get directions to where we want to go?

If incorrect directions will be the norm...maybe it's Time to find a new map app

Yeah that's just unsafe. You're gonna make me have to reroute my GPS while I'm driving? No thanks.

Crazy watching Google kill themselves in real time.

I've been getting little bubbles for store/restaurant logos popping up on the map for about a month as I drive, and I assumed that's what it was. So every time I see one, I make a point to not eat/go there for awhile just out of spite.

Thats a test destined to fail

Remove the detour by drinking a verification can

Popups while driving? With buttons that have to be pressed for it to go away? What could possible go wrong diverting the attention of a driver this way?!

It’s too bad androidauthority doesn’t think the “reject all” cookies rule applies to them.

Can my steet gang put in some of these ads? Only to high end luxury automobiles?

Why not? Their global emissions are already skyrocketing due to AI hype. Fuck the planet, let's make more money this quarter!!!

And i thought it was bad when the gps says to make a right at the starbucks instead of using the street name.

Google also notices a spike in Google searches for "alternative to Google maps"...ignores it.

That was killed quickly.

Who The Fuck Types In Sentence Case All The Time Like This?

2024: year of the openstreetmaps

But why line go down?!

Magic Earth works really great for me :)

I had downloaded OsmAnd but forgot about it. After reading this post, I fired it up. It took a minute to download a map for my area. It returned a map of Kansas. I'm in Texas 🤔 I guess I gotta fix that somehow.

This is the last product I still make sacrifice to keep it working on my degoogled devices, because lets be honest, this is the best ("free") GPS there is out there. I've tried so many others but nothing comes close. I dunno what I'll do if (when) they launch this kind of crap here...

Siri, why are we back at the adult book store?

Bob, based on you browsing history, this is the place you are most likely to visit on a daily basis at 7 am before work....

I suspect they were already doing this just to populate data. There are times I got sent on god-forsaken routes and persistently had the route I had selected overwritten with new ones. At least this tells you what it is and lets you choose.

Fuck google, Microsoft, Mac and Israel

Well, this might be something that drives me to Waze (also owned by Google and which may also end up with these). But it's yet another thing that would potentially drive me back to Apple.

Edit: never mind on Waze, I forgot they already do something like this. Although for whatever reason it doesn't seem quite as invasive.

When I ask to navigate home, it tries sending me to Home Depot.

I got rerouted mid-drive yesterday losing me 20 minutes and taking me down some shitty roads.

I had this happen to me today and I’m done w google maps

This is possibly the worst thing to add to turn by turn navigation. Especially when I'm in a hurry.

Oh wait, I don't drive. But still, this can affect lots of people who do.

For some reason, this got me imagining an ad causing an unnecessary detour the wrong way on a one way road and cause a head-on collision. which is going to get them hit with a class action lawsuit that could send their line graph all the way down into the ground.