Google has decided to rename Lake Ontario in the US. Please uninstall Google Maps.
While I understand they’re pulling data from the US government, they have no actual legal obligation to comply. This is entirely a choice an executive at Google made.
Did you know: When you click a link on Google and then go there Google tracks your location and links it to all your ads. This feature is called Local Search Ads, and you can hit Google’s pocketbook directly in protest by not having Google Maps installed.
When you have Google Maps installed Google is always tracking you. That tracking data feeds into a lot of products: things like mapping cell and wifi networks to geolocations, ads, recaptcha, search, and more. Google stores a profile of who you are, where you live, where you work, who you visit, etc.
If uninstalling is too much for you go to your Google account and disable Location History in privacy settings. Alternatively, click your user profile icon and turn on incognito mode, which disabled tracking and other features.
This will reduce the data linked to your profile (though, in reality, there’s no assurance this does anything, like when that disabled Nest camera was used by the FBI last year).
Browsing without an account does not have the effect. If you simply log out you have no privacy limitations enabled.
I wonder how hard it would be to make traffic tracking in an OSM map app.
Obviously you need a backend, but the app Transit does a good job demonstrating that you only need a few people in an area reporting location to set time estimates.
Traffic correlates with people, so it’s easier to get critical mass than you’d think.
Construction is still the hard problem.
Magic Earth provides traffic services. It is a yearly subscription, but it is already available.