For years, Google Maps has been a go-to tool for millions worldwide, seamlessly integrated into search results for instant access to directions, locations, and more. But if you’ve noticed something missing recently, you’re not imagining things. Due to European Union regulations, Google has been forced to remove its Maps functionality from its search results, marking a significant shift in how we interact with the tech giant’s ecosystem.
It’s been that way for months already. Maybe four or six I’d say.
I wonder whether alternative solutions were discussed: like Google retaining integration but breaking off Maps division into it’s own entity that has to use same API’s as everyone else and use the same integration points. Would’ve been more user-friendly thing to do.
how is it over? you just type in maps.google.com like you used to type in mapquest.con
But I still type in maps.google.com already because I don’t use Google search. But I still use maps.
Google maps is the best True dat. Double true.
Used to be, Waze is consistently better at producing faster routes now at least in the UK. I keep meaning to try out others like organic though.
Waze is owned by Google now so it basically is maps now just with a different skin and some better features.
That explains why I
- Can’t search for <city> and get a direct link to the maps + position
- The toolbar of services missing maps entirely.
For all the things the EU does…What a stupid decision.
This may feel bad short term but this is actually good long term. It opens up the possibility for competitors for similar map services to exist. When google combined their search engine product with their maps product, everyone had to automatically use their map product. This is very monopolistic
But they had to take 20 years for that decision.
True but still annoying.
Wondered if I did something wrong and this happened well before I read about it here.
Do you ever wonder why the most Europeans has about 40 telecom companies offering you internet at your particular address? Regulation and anti-monopoly works.
Fuck EU
Google was using their monopoly to take away user choices. This is a long term win for everyone, but you can’t see it if you only think shortsighted.
Google COULD just enable a choice in map provider, but they just refused.
Hey, no talking. Dick in mouth at all times.
Didn’t even notice. Well done EU.
It is also a pain in the arse for a normal user. When I search for a local plumber, instead of typing my query into the address bar, I need to go to maps.google.com first, and search there. These days, half of my searches are for businesses (the other half for spelling or correct usage of a difficult word), and all those searches now need to be made directly on the map page.
You can reactivate the map integration in your Google account settings. Something called “Linked Google services”, check “maps”.
For a user who never uses maps or a user who always uses maps, this has no effect.
It’s for those who use both integrated, but thats pretty rare nowdays. Much easier to ask maps “restaurants near me, plumbers open near me” than having to watch gemini type something out and “rate your plumber” forums, or worse aggregated yelp links.
Nobody will be affected by this, except maybe our data to be harder to mismanage. The headline is stupid.
Much easier to ask maps “restaurants near me, plumbers open near me” than having to watch gemini type something out and “rate your plumber” forums, or worse aggregated yelp links.
Even easier to just slap the thing you’re looking for into the search bar and then read the reviews and get directions all from the one webpage, why did you bring Gemini into this?
Nobody will be affected by this
Nobody I know opens maps to search shit, every one of them would be impacted by this
“read the reviews and get directions at the same time”: yeah thats what map does.
When you use a google search, gemini fills at least a quarter of the page with shit.
Talk about hyperbole…
Google Maps is over!
No, the integration in the search results when searching the web might be gone, but you can still go to https://maps.google.com/ and find what you need.
This is not a significant shift with how we are interacting with Google, it is a minor change.
Calm down.
This is not a significant shift with how we are interacting with Google, it is a minor change.
Eh… Most people (Not the tech literate ones) interact with the internet nearly wholly using the Google search bar. To the point where many have NO idea where to put a URL in their phone to actually go straight to a website and often just google the url and click the first link.
For those people, this will be a significant shift.
To underline this statement: Microsoft Bing is trying to spoof Google UI when people search Google.com.
Most tech literates do not understand the workflows of ppl who have no clue. Having done a shitton of 1st Level Tech Support for an ISP in my youth has given me the mostly useless ability to know how the clueless use their computer.I wish i could forget most of that bullshit tho, it brought me far too young to the conclusion that humanity is a long way from becoming immune to snake oil vendors, scam artists and con men because most people don’t have a fucking clue what they are doing.
“Google maps is over …there! It used to be here, now it’s there. Go click a link or something, like we did in the old days.”
Click a link? Oh you young whippersnapper! We used to have a note with written domain names or even IP addresses that we would type in if we wanted to go somewhere online.
It’s cumbersome to change habits if you just wanna search for X but can’t have the shortcut to the location in the results.
Now I need to double search.Or you could switch to another search engine such as Kagi or DuckDuckGo.
It is but it’s also better for consumers.
Google dominates search by bundling lots of services in one place and destroying all competition. They want you tied in to all their services and to never leave. You ar ethe product and they want to sell every bit of data they can and sell you to advertisers.
The tech giants keep abusing market dominance to dominate new markets. Microsoft bundled Internet Explorer with windiws and destroyed the browser market. Then Google search sites and android aggressively pushes Chrome and now dominates the browser market. Microsoft bundles Teams in Office and destroys Slack; one of many egrarious actions by Microsoft over the years. Apple forces all browsers on iOS to use Safari - so you can’t bypass the Apple app and service marketplace - their 30% cut is too important.
Regulation is needed to break up the domination of these tech monopploes. By separating navigation from search, people get back in the habit of using other services for navigation results.
That might be Google maps, or that might be Bing maps or OpenStreetMaps. But Google can’t use bundling to make consumers too lazy to leave.
It’s a start. A minimal inconvenience for users benefits everyone longer term.
It could be handled better by forcing Google to offer choices for nap providers as they literally already for browsing.
I agree, it is a slight annoyance, but that is all it is.
Sell your Google stocks now. This is the nail in the coffin!
A hyperbole would be to make a point, an intentional exaggeration for emphasis or generalization.
This is just a lie.
Holy shit! Top comment right there! I read the headline and thought “Geez, that’s going to leave a massive hole in the maps market. There is no clear runner to fill that role. That probably means we’ll see a few years of innovations as competitors try their best to come up with that new killer feature that makes their maps the best.”
No.
None of that. Google.com will just act slightly different on their search pages.
I’ve had Google Maps added as a search option for years. Because I use Qwant for search, and the maps functionality in Qwant sucks.
“Over” my ass…
EU working as intended
Yes I read this only as good news. You’d have to be pretty thick for this to be a major issue for you.
Yes I have an issue with authoritarians controlling private business with the threat of violence
Then the US oligarchy under Trump with no environmental or antitrust regulations and bribes from the wealthy deciding policy should be paradise for you.
For my part, I’m happy to have some possibility for safe food and water and some hope of maintaining my privacy and not be forced into using products and services due to the fact that they have monopoly position in the market here in the EU.
Yes because the US doesn’t have safe food or water, good point
There’s quite a lot of pretty good evidence to back up your point already. When Trump is done there will be plenty more.
You mean the ingredients other countries ban that rfk wants to ban? That will make food less safe like the eu…?
For anything good he will do for food, he will do more damage to the medical profession. And there will have been 10 people in that position by the time Trump is done, so probably he won’t accomplish much anyway. In Trump’s last term he gutted tons of air and water safety regulations, so there’s every reason to expect him to do the same this time.
Yes, private business should be allowed to act fully unfettered, our health and wellness be damned
Didn’t say that
Is this a big deal? I realize I have a skewed view because I dropped Google search ages ago, but… when I need maps results I go to a maps app, I never really relied on the search bar for that, even when I did use Google search.
I was worried that this would be like those cookies pop-ups, but the functionality is still present here in the land of the free…
That feature is now gone for users in the EU. Additionally, the Maps tab, once prominently displayed alongside Images and News, has also vanished.
Actually wild of the EU to force an inferior product on people. Glad I’m not there for once.
No. Google did it this way so people would blame the EU. They also could just have added more choice to the interface but they rather wanted to remove it to show their users “how bad the EU is”.
Same thing with the cookie banners. EU said you should give your users the choice if they want to be tracked. And the companies build these ugly banners so everyone would blame the EU. But they could also just have stopped tracking their users.
They also could just have added more choice to the interface but they rather wanted to remove it to show their users “how bad the EU is”.
Or maybe they just didn’t want to actively support competing services?
I don’t care what Google wants. Maybe a search engine shouldn’t be competing using vertically integrated services? Or would you defend them when they remove links to non-Youtube-video platforms, and anything else that competes with their products?
We don’t have to sacrifice healthy competition and functioning services to the wants of corporations.
Yes, but that was still Google’s choice. They could have done something for the user but they did not want to
This is about evening the playing field, making other mapping services having a less difficult way to compete
It’s not about enforcing an inferior product - it’s about enforcing the freedom of choice. The way google was forcing its services down everybodies throat led to a market where people didn’t even know that something besides gMaps exists. Now competitors at least have some sort of chance.
Ii get what you mean, but for the most part this will just inconvenience most people while also not making it any more convenient to use a competiting product.
You’re absolutely right, Google chose to inconvenience their users rather than make it simpler for the user to choose their service. This is what Google chose to do rather than comply with regulation to make the field fairer. Google did this. The article is a PR piece to shift blame from Google for yet another anti-user decision Google made.
Google is not the good guy.
It would be freedom of choice if google was required to put an option to select the default map service in google search
They were, but chose to remove the feature instead of complying.
Well… kinda the same as when Microsoft was forced to give its users the “choice” for a different browser. Took ages to implement and still, Microsoft tried to get around it. Just look how easy it is to purge Edge from Win11 or to even replace it with something else for links embedded in the o/s itself.
Still showing up in Australia right now.
Probably stay like that until Australia joins the EU
Well they’re in the EBU*, so that’s only one letter off… maybe soon?
^(*an associate of the EBU, couldn’t let my technically incorrect joke stand)
LOL
Is this news? The “Maps” tab has been missing from my search results for a while here in Germany.
Same in Denmark
