[walkingthisquai]

I know everyone loves hating on Google here, but some of the changes that they were required to make are genuinely quite annoying. Maps results on the search page don't work like they used to. Clicking the mini-map doesn't open to Google Maps anymore, so you have to relearn some behaviours. I know it's minor stuff (for now), but as a long time happy user of Maps, this kind of thing does not benefit me, and I don't get a say in it.

[poizan42]

That is Google's choice. They weren't allowed to give Google Maps as the only option. Rather than implementing a way for the user to choose which site to use for maps they decided they would rather remove the feature altogether.

[drivingmenuts]

It makes sense, though. Google doesn't want to send business to a competitor - that's giving them a leg up on you.

While the EU may punish Google, it shouldn't expect them to like it.

[jjulius]

1.) Click the mini map when the result comes up.

2.) Click the button in the bottom right of the mini map that says, "Open in Maps".

Voila!

Literally just one extra click or tap - what's the issue? Is a single extra tap really "genuinely quite annoying"?

[Suppafly]

>2.) Click the button in the bottom right of the mini map that says, "Open in Maps".

A lot of times actions like this are a lot harder on mobile devices even when they seem easy on larger screen. I know whenever I hit back on a youtube video or a google maps navigation and it turns into a little stamp instead of actually going back, it pisses me off because then I have try and hit a little X on the stamp sized video just to do what I wanted in the first place, which was 'go back to the previous app I was using'.

[summerlight]

In many cases, a single extra action is known to cause pretty steep drop in discovery/engagement rates and it's the whole point of "default option" antitrust debates.

[jjulius]

If the user is determined, they'll press on and discover it, as I and others have. If they're not, then they won't. Perhaps a drop in discovery/engagement suggests that using that feature wasn't as vital as others thought it was?

[summerlight]

I'm not interested in subjective arguments but one clear thing is that there is a significant number of people who don't have a good sense of discovering tech features.

[jjulius]

I can respect that. I guess I'm just not sure how to have a discussion around discovery/engagement without also understanding why someone would or wouldn't be interested in discovering more, but hey... that's why I'm not in that part of the industry.

Edit: And perhaps this is more of my ignorance speaking, but failing to understand subjective interests feels emblematic of a broader issue around people being addicted to algorithmically-generated content, or being glued to their phones. There's less interest in understanding what someone actually wants to "discover" and "engage with" and more interest in just ensuring we keep them engaged regardless. That feels... ick? But again, this is ignorance on my part, so perhaps that sentiment is misplaced.

[walkingthisquai]

Where I am (France) there is no such button in the mini map.

The workaround I found, after at first assuming that the maps integration was broken, is to click the directions button underneath the map. This opens Maps and draws a route from my current location to the address you searched. Which you then have to dismiss and zoom to what you were looking for. So a few clicks + navigation.

It's the principle though. It's making my user experience worse and I think it's fair for Google to point that out.

[mattlondon]

If that is what was needed to be compliant with DMA, then it makes a mockery of the whole thing.

All the wailing and gnashing of teeth, and it just takes another click to be compliant and everyone is happy? What a waste of everyone's time if it were really that simple and what all the fuss was about.

[zeroCalories]

I agree. Google definitely has an unfair advantage, but ultimately the services that want to compete don't offer compelling features over the ones provided by Google. I recently had to book a flight, and I want to book through the airline's site, but when sorting by price on Google flights I get a million different comparison sites that offer slightly less on a ticket, messing up the whole sort. At this point just kill Google, or tell these comparison sites to eat shit. If Google starts to abuse a monopoly position to exploit users then we can talk about brining in competition, but the competition right now sucks and I don't care to support them.

[freehorse]

Using maps from google's search always requires 1 more click. Why not go to maps.google.com directly? Are you also googling "gmail" to go to gmail?