search engines – The Map Room https://www.maproomblog.com Blogging about maps since 2003 Fri, 23 Oct 2020 14:01:43 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://www.maproomblog.com/xq/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/cropped-logo-2017-04-32x32.jpg search engines – The Map Room https://www.maproomblog.com 32 32 116787204 DuckDuckGo Adds Directions to Its Search Results https://www.maproomblog.com/2020/10/duckduckgo-adds-directions-to-its-search-results/ Fri, 23 Oct 2020 14:01:43 +0000 https://www.maproomblog.com/?p=1789572 More]]> Privacy-focused search engine DuckDuckGo, which added Apple Maps to its search results in early 2019, has taken the next step and added walking and driving directions to those maps. Like the maps, the directions use Apple’s MapKit JS framework. [Daring Fireball]

]]> 1789572 Millions of Business Listings on Google Maps Are Fake: WSJ https://www.maproomblog.com/2019/06/millions-of-business-listings-on-google-maps-are-fake-wsj/ Thu, 20 Jun 2019 23:51:41 +0000 https://www.maproomblog.com/?p=1787450 More]]> 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—as many as 11 million such listings at any given moment, according to experts.

Online advertising specialists identified by Google as deft fraud fighters estimated that Google Maps carries roughly 11 million falsely listed businesses on any given day, according to a Journal survey of these experts.

They say a majority of the listings for contractors, electricians, towing and car repair services, movers and lawyers, among other business categories, aren’t located at their pushpins on Google Maps. Shams among these service categories, called “duress verticals” inside Google, can snag people at their most vulnerable.

Those experts and Google disagree as to the extent of the problem. (Which is exacerbated by how easy it is to set up a business listing.) And the scam artists aren’t simply displacing local businesses: they’re resorting to outright extortion: pay up, or we’ll swamp you with bogus listings. [Engadget, The Verge]

]]> 1787450 DuckDuckGo Now Uses Apple Maps in Search Results https://www.maproomblog.com/2019/01/duckduckgo-now-uses-apple-maps-in-search-results/ Tue, 15 Jan 2019 23:09:02 +0000 https://www.maproomblog.com/?p=1787003 More]]> Google integrates its maps into its search results: synergy! What, then, is scrappy upstart search engine DuckDuckGo, which makes a point of not tracking its users,1 to do in response? Answer: use Apple Maps. “We’re excited to announce that map and address-related searches on DuckDuckGo for mobile and desktop are now powered by Apple’s MapKit JS framework, giving you a valuable combination of mapping and privacy.”

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