{"id":1814151,"date":"2023-04-25T10:39:25","date_gmt":"2023-04-25T14:39:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/?p=1814151"},"modified":"2023-04-25T10:39:25","modified_gmt":"2023-04-25T14:39:25","slug":"google-maps-as-social-space-and-time-waster","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2023\/04\/google-maps-as-social-space-and-time-waster\/","title":{"rendered":"Google Maps as Social Space (and Time Waster)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Writing for The Atlantic<\/em>, Will Peischel suggests an alternative to wasting all your time on social media: wasting all your time poking around in Google Maps<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Google Maps\u2019 main purpose is to enable people to get directions and look up businesses. But along the way, it has become a social space too. Sort of. To fill out the world map it created, Google invited people to add snippets to all the digital places. You upload your photos; you leave your reviews; you look at the artifacts others have left behind. The pictures of a restaurant on Google Maps are often a mismatched succession of interior-design shots, flash photos of messy plates, and outdated menus. There\u2019s plenty of detritus too: irrelevant photos, businesses that don\u2019t exist, three-star reviews without an explanation.<\/p>\n

The result is random and messy in a way that is different from the rest of the social web. […] But especially as algorithmic content has taken over the web, many of the surprises don\u2019t feel fresh. They are our <\/em>kind of surprises. Google Maps offers something many other platforms no longer can: a hodgepodge of truly unfamiliar stuff that hasn\u2019t been packaged for your taste or mine. […] Because zooming out and scrolling around are so easy, you can bump into little treasures at every turn that would never land on an Instagram feed.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Writing for The Atlantic, Will Peischel suggests an alternative to wasting all your time on social media: wasting all your time poking around in Google Maps. Google Maps\u2019 main purpose is to enable people to… More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"link","meta":{"autoblue_enabled":true,"autoblue_custom_message":"","autoblue_shares":[],"autoblue_post_url":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[80],"tags":[82],"class_list":["post-1814151","post","type-post","status-publish","format-link","hentry","category-mobile","tag-google-maps","post_format-post-format-link"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1813701,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2023\/04\/how-google-deals-with-fake-content-on-google-maps\/","url_meta":{"origin":1814151,"position":0},"title":"How Google Deals with Fake Content on Google Maps","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"3 April 2023","format":"link","excerpt":"In a blog post last Friday, Google offers some detail on how it combats fraudulent user-submitted content on Google Maps. These include fake business profiles, fake reviews, contributed photos with fake phone numbers\u2014it\u2019s basically about business listings. (There was a time, of course, when fake user-submitted content was to the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Mobile"","block_context":{"text":"Mobile","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/mobile\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1787873,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2019\/10\/google-maps-data-and-the-google-maps-platform\/","url_meta":{"origin":1814151,"position":1},"title":"Google Maps Data and the Google Maps Platform","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"3 October 2019","format":"link","excerpt":"Google Maps product director Ethan Russell has a post about their map data: how (and how often) it\u2019s updated, how to submit updates, how it\u2019s managed and checked for accuracy, that sort of thing. It\u2019s one of a series of posts on the Google Maps Platform, which is (now) their\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Web Mapping"","block_context":{"text":"Web Mapping","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/web-mapping\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/google-maps-ios-icon-150x150.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1787450,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2019\/06\/millions-of-business-listings-on-google-maps-are-fake-wsj\/","url_meta":{"origin":1814151,"position":2},"title":"Millions of Business Listings on Google Maps Are Fake: WSJ","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"20 June 2019","format":"link","excerpt":"The Wall Street Journal goes in-depth on a problem Google Maps has had for years: fake and deceptive business listings posted by scam artists that crowd out legitimate local businesses\u2014as many as 11 million such listings at any given moment, according to experts. Online advertising specialists identified by Google as\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Map Errors"","block_context":{"text":"Map Errors","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/map-errors\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1789480,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2020\/10\/apple-and-google-maps-updates\/","url_meta":{"origin":1814151,"position":3},"title":"Apple and Google Maps Updates","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"6 October 2020","format":"link","excerpt":"Apple Maps AppleInsider looks at how cycling directions work in iOS 14. Macworld provides a primer on how to correct errors and add features in Apple Maps. Apple\u2019s new maps have now officially launched in Ireland and the United Kingdom (previously). Google Maps Google\u2019s official blog details updates to Live\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Mobile"","block_context":{"text":"Mobile","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/mobile\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1785566,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2018\/05\/google-maps-announcements-at-i-o\/","url_meta":{"origin":1814151,"position":4},"title":"Google Maps Announcements at I\/O","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"9 May 2018","format":"link","excerpt":"Google unveiled its future plans for Google Maps at its I\/O conference yesterday. They include an augmented reality mode that combines Google's Street View and map data with the view through your phone's camera and \"assistive and personal\" features that add some artificial intelligence to recommendations and reviews. The social\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Mobile"","block_context":{"text":"Mobile","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/mobile\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/google-maps-icon-150x150.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1790207,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2021\/02\/google-and-apple-updates\/","url_meta":{"origin":1814151,"position":5},"title":"Google and Apple Updates","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"23 February 2021","format":"link","excerpt":"Google explains how they identify and take action against fraudulent content\u2014fake reviews, fake listings, content vandalism\u2014on Google Maps. Meanwhile, the ability to pay for parking and transit fares is being integrated into the Google Maps app (Engadget, The Verge). On the Apple Maps front, cycling directions have come to Portland,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Mobile"","block_context":{"text":"Mobile","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/mobile\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1814151","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1814151"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1814151\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1814153,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1814151\/revisions\/1814153"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1814151"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1814151"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1814151"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}