Yay Redux

21 April 2005

After having played around with Google Maps for a bit, I’ve decided that it’s not quite as good as it looks.
Now, don’t get me wrong, I really like the technology and presentation – the live dragging, direction bubbles (complete with drop shadow) and the integration with local searching are all very cool, but Google Maps UK currently has one major flaw.

It doesn’t know where stuff is.

For example, if you look for Angel Tube Station , it correctly puts the marker in the right place, put the actual tube logo is about 100 meters to the left. It also doesn’t seem to be very good at finding stuff without a post code (i.e. 111 Test St, Testville will often give you a street in completely the wrong place, with the marker nowhere near where the actual place is.).
Of course, it is still in beta (when is anything Google not? Beta is the new black, you see.) but how are you supposed to trust a map service to tell you where places are, when you know it gets some places wrong?

From: Articles

21 April 2005