Google Maps is Awesome.
Moderators: Rebuild/OT Moderators, Board Staff
- Tarnsman
- Faustian Iodide
- Age: 37
- Posts: 1190
- Joined: Apr 28, 2011
- Location: Newport Beach, CA
- Gender: Male
Google Maps is Awesome.
I was curious to see what would happen if you asked Google maps for directions that involved you crossing an ocean. So I asked it for directions from Tokyo to LA. Google's suggestion? Kayak.
[URL=http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/808/googleyousillybastard.jpg/][/URL]
[URL=http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/808/googleyousillybastard.jpg/][/URL]
"You, sir, are the very heart of the rot that has corrupted humanity from the very beginning!" - tehprognoob
"I know that "chan" is Japanese for something like Mr. or something like that" - TSDA
"If I wanted porn without emotional damage, I'd watch Rebuild." - Azathoth
"because Evangelion and Pokemon are the same show when you really get down to it" - esselfortium
"i obviously have low standards, i liked Eva." - Seele00TextOnly
"I know that "chan" is Japanese for something like Mr. or something like that" - TSDA
"If I wanted porn without emotional damage, I'd watch Rebuild." - Azathoth
"because Evangelion and Pokemon are the same show when you really get down to it" - esselfortium
"i obviously have low standards, i liked Eva." - Seele00TextOnly
Does Google contain options for ships as a means of transportation? All I know is by car, by train/plane, or by walk. It seems using kayak is an extension of route by walk.
I never thought I would come back to Evangelion after EoE,
But I discovered Re-Take (or it found me?) and
now here I am.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Asuka FAN FOREVER
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
But I discovered Re-Take (or it found me?) and
now here I am.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Asuka FAN FOREVER
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
- Tarnsman
- Faustian Iodide
- Age: 37
- Posts: 1190
- Joined: Apr 28, 2011
- Location: Newport Beach, CA
- Gender: Male
"You, sir, are the very heart of the rot that has corrupted humanity from the very beginning!" - tehprognoob
"I know that "chan" is Japanese for something like Mr. or something like that" - TSDA
"If I wanted porn without emotional damage, I'd watch Rebuild." - Azathoth
"because Evangelion and Pokemon are the same show when you really get down to it" - esselfortium
"i obviously have low standards, i liked Eva." - Seele00TextOnly
"I know that "chan" is Japanese for something like Mr. or something like that" - TSDA
"If I wanted porn without emotional damage, I'd watch Rebuild." - Azathoth
"because Evangelion and Pokemon are the same show when you really get down to it" - esselfortium
"i obviously have low standards, i liked Eva." - Seele00TextOnly
It would be great if Google allows the option of crossing ocean by ships -- but I guess this means of transport is used by so few people that the effort may not be worth it.
I never thought I would come back to Evangelion after EoE,
But I discovered Re-Take (or it found me?) and
now here I am.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Asuka FAN FOREVER
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
But I discovered Re-Take (or it found me?) and
now here I am.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Asuka FAN FOREVER
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
- Tarnsman
- Faustian Iodide
- Age: 37
- Posts: 1190
- Joined: Apr 28, 2011
- Location: Newport Beach, CA
- Gender: Male
That's great. Symbv is right though, it really should give you actual routes and estimated flight times/boat times.
"You, sir, are the very heart of the rot that has corrupted humanity from the very beginning!" - tehprognoob
"I know that "chan" is Japanese for something like Mr. or something like that" - TSDA
"If I wanted porn without emotional damage, I'd watch Rebuild." - Azathoth
"because Evangelion and Pokemon are the same show when you really get down to it" - esselfortium
"i obviously have low standards, i liked Eva." - Seele00TextOnly
"I know that "chan" is Japanese for something like Mr. or something like that" - TSDA
"If I wanted porn without emotional damage, I'd watch Rebuild." - Azathoth
"because Evangelion and Pokemon are the same show when you really get down to it" - esselfortium
"i obviously have low standards, i liked Eva." - Seele00TextOnly
- Ornette
- Administrator
- Age: 49
- Posts: 11887
- Joined: Dec 26, 2005
- Location: Pittsburgh/New York City
- Gender: Male
- Contact:
That would mean Google is providing a service for those airlines/cruise lines, who don't pay Google, nor provide a means to book tickets. The routes and flight times are different for different times of day and carrier and if Google were to provide you with a certain route, and provided you a means to go to that carrier and book tickets, it would be free advertising for that carrier. While Google can provide multiple carriers there's still an issue of which one are they going to provide as the default, since that one is usually "good enough" for most people and the one people will settle with. This is a game I'm glad Google isn't playing.
- Tarnsman
- Faustian Iodide
- Age: 37
- Posts: 1190
- Joined: Apr 28, 2011
- Location: Newport Beach, CA
- Gender: Male
Ornette wrote:That would mean Google is providing a service for those airlines/cruise lines, who don't pay Google, nor provide a means to book tickets. The routes and flight times are different for different times of day and carrier and if Google were to provide you with a certain route, and provided you a means to go to that carrier and book tickets, it would be free advertising for that carrier. While Google can provide multiple carriers there's still an issue of which one are they going to provide as the default, since that one is usually "good enough" for most people and the one people will settle with. This is a game I'm glad Google isn't playing.
Google could still give an estimated flight time based on mean data. They don't have to give a default. Something like, "here are the airlines that fly it, with links and this is the average time."
"You, sir, are the very heart of the rot that has corrupted humanity from the very beginning!" - tehprognoob
"I know that "chan" is Japanese for something like Mr. or something like that" - TSDA
"If I wanted porn without emotional damage, I'd watch Rebuild." - Azathoth
"because Evangelion and Pokemon are the same show when you really get down to it" - esselfortium
"i obviously have low standards, i liked Eva." - Seele00TextOnly
"I know that "chan" is Japanese for something like Mr. or something like that" - TSDA
"If I wanted porn without emotional damage, I'd watch Rebuild." - Azathoth
"because Evangelion and Pokemon are the same show when you really get down to it" - esselfortium
"i obviously have low standards, i liked Eva." - Seele00TextOnly
- TehDonutKing
- Camel Dilettante
- Age: 28
- Posts: 3934
- Joined: Apr 23, 2010
- Location: Outer Space Jupiter
- Contact:
You can still find the jetski option. Swimming was removed for some reason.
/hj
I said and did some dumb and hurtful things in my time here when i was younger. If i ever hurt you, i'm sorry. If you see any of this while reading old threads, i'm learning and trying to improve. Donut redemption arc in progress.
I said and did some dumb and hurtful things in my time here when i was younger. If i ever hurt you, i'm sorry. If you see any of this while reading old threads, i'm learning and trying to improve. Donut redemption arc in progress.
I don't know about Google in US, but Google Japan provides pretty competent service on taking train from one location in Japan to another (here is when I put Shinjuku and Shibuya into Google Maps JP) - although I use other services like Yahoo because they do it even better. I wonder if train companies pay Google to do that.
Ornette wrote:The routes and flight times are different for different times of day and carrier and if Google were to provide you with a certain route, and provided you a means to go to that carrier and book tickets, it would be free advertising for that carrier. While Google can provide multiple carriers there's still an issue of which one are they going to provide as the default, since that one is usually "good enough" for most people and the one people will settle with.
That much is valid enough.
I never thought I would come back to Evangelion after EoE,
But I discovered Re-Take (or it found me?) and
now here I am.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Asuka FAN FOREVER
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
But I discovered Re-Take (or it found me?) and
now here I am.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Asuka FAN FOREVER
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
- Ornette
- Administrator
- Age: 49
- Posts: 11887
- Joined: Dec 26, 2005
- Location: Pittsburgh/New York City
- Gender: Male
- Contact:
How useful would that really be though? Maybe the actual time in the air can be pulled from some data somewhere, but there's all the time you spend in the airport waiting in lines and going through security, or flight delays. Different airports, different amount of times (like a terrible O'hare airport that sometimes requires you to leave the baggage claim from one terminal, take a bus, then wait in line to go through security AGAIN). The estimated time isn't going to give you much indication of the actual time a trip will take.
Also, different carrier flights sometimes use different planes. Even a short commuter can be seen on a 737 or an Embraer 190. Different speeds for these planes means flights, even short commuter ones, can vary as much as an hour or more.
symbv wrote:I don't know about Google in US, but Google Japan provides pretty competent service on taking train from one location in Japan to another (here is when I put Shinjuku and Shibuya into Google Maps JP) - although I use other services like Yahoo because they do it even better. I wonder if train companies pay Google to do that.
They do that in the States, too, at least with metros, ferries, buses, etc. Because there's no competition here. It's all the same metro, and the ferry is the ferry (there's no other choice), and it's all the same bus. It's when it comes to airfare, of which the price is competitive, and more often than not multiple carriers can get you to where you want to go within a certain span of time, that I think it becomes a problem.
Google tells me which buses to take when I'm in Pittsburgh and use the "walking" option. Likewise, it tells me what subway trains to take when I'm in NYC. There's better options when it comes to the NYC metro, though. Personally, I use hopstop if I need to go somewhere that involves a line I've never been on.
EDIT: Note: I realize there's a JR line in Japan which is privately owned and run. But it's always been my understanding that there really isn't any competition between the regular metro and the JR lines.
The services provided in Japan could vary quite a bit even with the same metro and the same trains, because
1) the algorithm to find the fastest way could vary -- there may be more than one way to go from one place to another with the myriad rail links running in Tokyo. So some service may provide a better suggestion.
2) Japan is the only country where metro and trains run on a PREDETERMINED TIME TABLE with very small error, so sites provide the exact time when you will take a train and when you will arrive at another place and then when you will take the next train (with the time of walking included). Different sites may use this information to different extent.
3) Some sites even take into account the crowdedness during rush hour to adjust the time you will spend changing trains.
4) Some sites even give you the map guiding you to walk around the station and some give you different routes if it is raining (so that you can take a route with overhead cover)
5) Some sites remember the exits of the station and where it leads to outside the station so that it can tell you which train car (near the head or the tail) you should take.
6) Some sites take into account of accident announcements and adjust the route suggestion accordingly.
Which line I wonder?
I never thought I would come back to Evangelion after EoE,
But I discovered Re-Take (or it found me?) and
now here I am.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Asuka FAN FOREVER
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
But I discovered Re-Take (or it found me?) and
now here I am.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Asuka FAN FOREVER
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
- Ornette
- Administrator
- Age: 49
- Posts: 11887
- Joined: Dec 26, 2005
- Location: Pittsburgh/New York City
- Gender: Male
- Contact:
What I meant by "it's all the same" is that there isn't a competitive business between say an R Train and the 63C Bus. It's both run by the city and paid for by taxes and supplimented by fares. I'm not talking about the actual algorithm, I don't really know much about them in any significant detail.
As for the JR line, I'm not talking about any specific line. But that it's my understanding that they do not compete (for money) with the city run subway lines.
As for the JR line, I'm not talking about any specific line. But that it's my understanding that they do not compete (for money) with the city run subway lines.
I see. Still the services provided by the route search services in Japan are amazing. I really doubt it could be imitated in other countries (and whether consumers in other countries would care enough).
If by competition you mean running along similar routes, there are indeed areas where JR and metro run along similar routes. The path between Shibuya and Shinjuku are now served both by a JR line and a metro line for example.
I never thought I would come back to Evangelion after EoE,
But I discovered Re-Take (or it found me?) and
now here I am.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Asuka FAN FOREVER
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
But I discovered Re-Take (or it found me?) and
now here I am.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Asuka FAN FOREVER
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
- KnightmareX13
- Seepage Murid
- Age: 31
- Posts: 2963
- Joined: Jun 25, 2010
- Location: CONUS
- Gender: Male
- Contact:
Ornette wrote:That would mean Google is providing a service for those airlines/cruise lines, who don't pay Google, nor provide a means to book tickets. The routes and flight times are different for different times of day and carrier and if Google were to provide you with a certain route, and provided you a means to go to that carrier and book tickets, it would be free advertising for that carrier. While Google can provide multiple carriers there's still an issue of which one are they going to provide as the default, since that one is usually "good enough" for most people and the one people will settle with. This is a game I'm glad Google isn't playing.
Google is also taking a go green approach, like installing solar panels on their building's roof, so this could just be a humorous approach to get people to go green.
Last edited by KnightmareX13 on Wed Jun 22, 2011 8:18 pm, edited 1 time in total.
"This is for the record. History is written by the victor. History is filled with liars. If he lives, and we die, his truth becomes written - and ours is lost..." -- Cpt. Price ♠
"Damn the torpedoes" -- ADM Farragut
"I have not yet begun to fight!" -- Cpt. John Paul Jones
"Don't be alarmed, we're taking over the ship" -- Cpt. Jack Sparrow
Napalm Sticks to kids ♣ Λ
"Damn the torpedoes" -- ADM Farragut
"I have not yet begun to fight!" -- Cpt. John Paul Jones
"Don't be alarmed, we're taking over the ship" -- Cpt. Jack Sparrow
Napalm Sticks to kids ♣ Λ
- Obstermaxmaster
- Shamshel
- Age: 29
- Posts: 298
- Joined: Mar 14, 2011
- Location: moot
- Gender: Female
Return to “Completely and Utterly Off-Topic”
Who is online
Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 7 guests