[LINK] Fwd: Sensis gives up competing with Google

[Richard Chirgwin]

I suppose so ... but IME that's like saying a horse with three legs is
better than one with two. Any route planning is apt to stupidity; to get
from Haberfield from Nowra, GM says "go through Newtown". Move the
departure one suburb, to Ashfield, and it says "go via Bowral".

For the same trip, Sensis says:
Haberfield - via the Southern Freeway (but with a very convoluted way to
get on)
Ashfield - same, with a slight improvement in access to the Southern Freeway

...in fact, with Sensis, the Hume Highway (Bowral and the Kangaroo
Valley) isn't an option, even if you start at Campbelltown.

And in almost every case, the instructions would probable do a
reasonable job of getting someone to panic / get lost while wending
their way around the city part of the journey.

What about short trips - say "Lilyfield to Abbortsford" in Sydney.

Google sends the driver out to Victoria Road and then back down Lyons
Road; a route that's only reasonable outside of peak hour, and not by
taxi (because it would add somewhat to the distance).
Sensis sends the driver via the City West Link.

Sensis (Whereis) is a hostile marketing-driven Website with a
fair-to-middling grasp of routes. Google Maps is a nice Website with a
middling-to-"you're kidding" grasp of routes, but much more editable.

Google doesn't notice if the user's edits of a route break "no right
turn" rules; Sensis doesn't let you drag-edit the routes. Google is apt
to think you're looking for an overseas destination, unless you
stipulate the state (for example, Lilyfield to Greenwich returned an
"unable to calculate the route" until I said "Greenwich NSW").

If I set aside "Telstra bad, Google good" assumptions I can't see much
difference between the two ...

RC

Kevin McKern wrote:
> About time. Resistance is clearly futile and google maps and route planning
> vastly superior.
>
> On Tue, Nov 4, 2008 at 12:15 PM, Danny Yee <danny at anatomy.usyd.edu.au>wrote:
>
>   
>> http://www.smh.com.au/news/technology/biztech/sensis-concedes-defeat-to-google/2008/11/03/1225560716428.html
>>        "Telstra's Sensis has given up on competing with Google in
>>        online search and mapping, announcing today it would provide
>>        its Yellow business listings to Google Maps and abandon its
>>        own search engine for one powered by Google."
>>
>> I've wondered for a while how the Yellow and White pages web sites
>> could be so bad.  Now it looks like Telstra has given up hope of
>> fixing them.
>>
>> Danny.
>>  ----------------------------------------------------
>>  http://dannyreviews.com/ - one thousand book reviews
>>  http://wanderingdanny.com/ - travelogues + photos
>>  http://danny.oz.au/ - information activism, blog
>>  ----------------------------------------------------
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> Link mailing list
>> Link at mailman.anu.edu.au
>> http://mailman.anu.edu.au/mailman/listinfo/link
>>
>>     
> _______________________________________________
> Link mailing list
> Link at mailman.anu.edu.au
> http://mailman.anu.edu.au/mailman/listinfo/link
>
>