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.
It’s been that way for months already. Maybe four or six I’d say.
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.
how is it over? you just type in maps.google.com like you used to type in mapquest.con
That explains why I
- Can’t search for <city> and get a direct link to the maps + position
- The toolbar of services missing maps entirely.
For all the things the EU does…What a stupid decision.
This may feel bad short term but this is actually good long term. It opens up the possibility for competitors for similar map services to exist. When google combined their search engine product with their maps product, everyone had to automatically use their map product. This is very monopolistic
But they had to take 20 years for that decision.
True but still annoying.
Wondered if I did something wrong and this happened well before I read about it here.
Do you ever wonder why the most Europeans has about 40 telecom companies offering you internet at your particular address? Regulation and anti-monopoly works.
Didn’t even notice. Well done EU.
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.
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.
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.
“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.”
It’s cumbersome to change habits if you just wanna search for X but can’t have the shortcut to the location in the results.
Now I need to double search.Or you could switch to another search engine such as Kagi or DuckDuckGo.
I agree, it is a slight annoyance, but that is all it is.
Sell your Google stocks now. This is the nail in the coffin!
“Over” my ass…
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.
I was worried that this would be like those cookies pop-ups, but the functionality is still present here in the land of the free…
Still showing up in Australia right now.
Probably stay like that until Australia joins the EU
Well they’re in the EBU*, so that’s only one letter off… maybe soon?
^(*an associate of the EBU, couldn’t let my technically incorrect joke stand)
LOL
Is this news? The “Maps” tab has been missing from my search results for a while here in Germany.
Same in Denmark
I’m ok with this, I can live and love in my peasant existence without their hovering, seemingly inescapable help. If I have to do without Waze someday, that’s a different story.
I give waze less than a year.
They’ve been putting the features into parity with maps They will eventually shut it down.
Who will shut it down? (It’s the least irritating map app.)
Google’s owned them for a number of years.
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.
That is, I create a bookmark that’s aimed at:
https://maps.google.com/maps?q=%25sand 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”.
Thanks that’s really useful
I use DuckDuckGo so I use
!m.%25 is the URL encoding for 0x25 (or 37 decimal), the ASCII code for the percent sign. Basically it seems to recognize that it is a URL and then URL-encode characters that are not allowed in URLs
Probably it should only do so if the link is actually being hyperlinked which doesn’t happen for blockquoted text, so I guess it’s probably a Lemmy bug.
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.
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.
Like… and hear me out… save the preference with some sort of Cookie technology? Do you think the EU would be up for that?
I can’t tell whether you’re being intentionally ironic. Yes the EU would be up for it. The EU didn’t ban cookies. Putting it simply, you do not need a cookie banner if you aren’t tracking people.
To make it even more clear let me rephrase it:
If you want to store sth like that, it would be classified as functional and you wouldn’t even need a cookie banner for it.
Only if you want to use it to track people you need to notify them
Im a web dev and I build almost all of my sites without cookie banner unless they’re really required (YouTube embeds, invasive tracking etc) and when I don’t include a banner, people usually think I forgot it.
It’s a shame that most people think the internet just has to be crap now and every site needs some dark pattern banner to track its users.
A dark pattern would be some sort of underhanded but legal tactic to trick or coerce a user into agreeing to something they wouldn’t otherwise.
But most websites aren’t using dark patterns for this, instead they just blatantly and plainly violate the law.
If you want to store your map preferences, save the preferences to your account and make sure you’re logged in.
I’m not saying anything like this is preferable or whatever but there’s also little sense in removing all semblance of user experience in favour of removing power from tech giants.
You can literally store all preferences in cookies without a problem with EU legislation.
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
