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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[–] AnUnusualRelic 1 points 31 minutes ago

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

[–] [email protected] 3 points 7 hours 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] 45 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] 4 points 9 hours 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.

[–] locahosr443 1 points 9 hours 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] 2 points 7 hours ago (1 children)

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

[–] TwanHE 1 points 5 hours 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 8 hours ago* (last edited 8 hours 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] 377 points 1 day 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] 12 points 20 hours ago

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] 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.

[–] RedditWanderer 27 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

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

This is just a lie.

[–] Lost_My_Mind 33 points 1 day 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] 18 points 1 day ago

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

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[–] Vinny_93 106 points 1 day ago (18 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 21 hours 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.

[–] [email protected] 40 points 1 day ago (1 children)

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

Why would they ever enable choice. That's not very capitalism

[–] BassTurd 25 points 1 day ago (7 children)

If they allowed users to select a default, almost everyone would select Google maps and get a better experience. By not giving the user a choice everyone loses, because Google maps is still going to be the top option. I'm surprised that this functionality either doesn't exist already or isn't allowed, because capitalism.

[–] calcopiritus 6 points 1 day ago

Some people would not select google though. And google can't afford people knowing that there's competitors to Google! So better fuck everyone over by just disabling the integration.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 day ago

True. Google is using a monopoly and forcing users to use Google Maps on their platform.

There's no competition, and everyone is worse of. It's a long term good change by the EU.

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[–] [email protected] 33 points 1 day 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] 27 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day 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".

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[–] [email protected] 23 points 1 day ago (1 children)
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