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Comment by a2128 | Hacker News Reader

I've been struggling to use Google Maps's search lately. I zoom into Orlando, search "Euro Deli", and it suddenly takes me to a place called Euro Deli in Quebec. If I go back to Orlando and then click "Search this area" it finally shows me euro deli stores in Orlando. Sometimes it doesn't even show me all of the results when I click "Search this area" and leaves some areas blank, making me think that city/town doesn't have e.g. a Burger King when it in fact does if I just pan around a bit and re-do the search

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It's even worse in Chinese language entry when you search for a dish that also happens to be the name of a place, e.g. Chongqing xiaomian (noodle) and then it shows you noodle places in Chongqing. But then Yangzhou fried rice does show you places locally that do it. You never know till after you search what's going to happen.

It seems so simple to fix too. Favor close results over distant ones, and if no results are found within a couple of unzoom levels, pop a suggestion. And in particular if a string of searches is happening for different dishes, there should be a "this user is looking for something to eat right now" flag that engages to prevent serving results on the other side of the planet.

Sounds like it finally caught up with Apple Maps!

This is infuriating.

Also I can zoom in to some strip mall and ask to see all the restaurants and I'll only be presented with a subset that Google decided were worth highlighting. No easy way to see the others.

That’s a feature. You’re the product.

I don't find these kind of responses useful. You could apply this response almost blindly in many context to dismiss constructive criticism.

I don't think it's so much about dismissing criticism as much as it is acknowledging that the incentives of Google and the user are not aligned.

subset that Google decided were worth highlighting.....or have paid to be part of google ads

Agreed -- slightly getting the name wrong does a national/international search! Searching for coffee shops often leaves out obvious results such as some Starbucks. Even more frustratingly it doesn't show particular businesses even when I zoom in, forcing me to manually search for the business name.

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