Mastodawn

Cory Doctorow Mar 4, 2024

Hard to overstate how enshittified and botshitted Google Maps has become. Went looking for my local locksmith on Gmaps. Maps shows 20+ fake locksmith referral scam outlets and doesn't even register the real locksmith, despite it being fully visible in Street View.

Instead, a red pin on the shop identifies it as a fake locksmith scammer. The real locksmith - which has been there SINCE 1942 (!!) and is a verified merchant - doesn't even show up.

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tx0 Mar 4, 2024

@pluralistic Anyone know of a good gmaps alternative? (Specifically on android?) I've been meaning to get rid of it for a while now anyway

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Von Xylofon

@spacebot3000 @pluralistic OpenStreetMaps if you want to go hardcore FLOSS (it's a community-maintained map). It is hit-or-miss woth coverage, but I have used it with quite a decent success in Europe. It also has none of the convenient functions like live traffic because that's hard to get if you're not an asshole corporation siphoning users' data.