back to article Attention, mallrats: Google maps floor plans for Android users

Google is helping users of its Android handset navigate their way around buildings such as airports, shopping malls and retail stores in the US and Japan. The ad broker announced that its Google Maps 6.0 product will come loaded with floor plans to guide customers around indoor spaces. "Detailed floor plans automatically …

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  1. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    See a big opportunity here to link this in with shopping lists so that you can be guided to where the items you need are now located when your local supermarket goes through one of their seemingly regular "lets move everything around a bit so you have to search for what you want and as a result might spot something else and buy that as well instead of just going to pick up the things you came in for" phases!

    1. Wize

      The supermarket will do their best to stop you having that data so you'll browse.

      Then they shift bits round, I usually end up with less than I went in for, not more, as I can't find whats on my list.

    2. Gene Cash Silver badge
      Go

      Is this British thing?

      My supermarket hasn't changed the aisles in about 20 years, except to expand the ice cream section. According to the manager, last time they did, the li'l 'ol ladies screamed bloody murder that they couldn't find anything, and it got put back.

      (Around here in Florida, the OAPs are more activist than Anonymous. Anything they don't like, they rise up and start writing letters (real paper ones) and calling senators' offices. It's why Social Security is Not To Be Touched.)

  2. Thomas 18
    Thumb Down

    I have hard enough time getting location outside

    Not sure how its going to tell in an office basement.

    1. HMB

      With the latest phones having GLOSNASS support in addition to GPS, positioning fixes indoors are only going to get easier.I get 6 satellites indoors at the moment on my Nexus One.

      Just wait for Galileo!

  3. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    How?

    Any ideas as to how they did this? After all, GPS doesn't work indoors.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Wifi + Cell tower triangulation

      Many places have smaller indoors cell stations to provide mobile coverage.

    2. AndrueC Silver badge
      WTF?

      It does - sometimes in the oddest of places. I work in a converted farm building. Stone walls nearly a metre thick and dozens of computers and monitors. Rather curiously I can get a GPS signal near my desk even though I barely get one bar for voice. There is a small window near my desk but it's actually more like an 'arrow slit'(*) so gawd knows how the GPS signal gets in. But yeah, give it five minutes and my HTC Desire will go from triangulation to accurate positioning, removing the blue circle completely.

      (*)Perhaps historically rural Oxfordshire was more exciting than it is now :)

  4. jake Silver badge

    I have taken to ...

    ... not getting out of the way of idiots buried in their telephones.

    Walking around The Plaza here in Sonoma today, I knocked three twits on their arses by simply keeping my personal momentum going ... It ain't my job to look out for your sorry ass when in a public place. When walking, PAY FUCKING ATTENTION TO WHERE YOU ARE GOING, idiots!

    I haven't translated this to vehicular traffic, and probably won't ... but I must admit that the temptation is there ;-)

    1. countd
      Thumb Down

      Sorry, but...

      ... you sound like a bit of a dick.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Try that with me, sucka....

      and you'll find your face buried in the nearest planter.

    3. auburnman
      Flame

      It's a harsh lesson, but one that needs to be taught. If someone is sufficiently unaware of their surroundings to collide with a full grown adult, they could just as easily walk into a hazard or trample a child.

    4. multipharious

      Jake, are you serious?

      The worst bit is that I think you are. I have seen you around here for years, so you are not just a troll. Are you doing OK? Hearing about you knocking folks down to prove a point is not a good thing to read.

      One person's moronic carelessness is one thing, but perpetuation and physical escalation puts you squarely to blame.

    5. Anonymous Coward
      Coat

      Hmmm

      I wonder if you could mount telephones in a box thing and position them at conveniant places around town, so people could step into the "TeleBox" and make calls withot getting in the way of others; the boxes could also double as an emergency urinal if needed.

      Maybe I should patent the idea?

  5. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Oh man

    So when the malls themselves anonymously track buyers, everyone and their dog jumps to complain and they're forced to nix the plans:

    http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/11/29/cellphone_tracking_nixed/

    When it's Google - on Android phones, where they have easy access to your details - then it's all fine and actually a good service.

    I wonder what retailers who supply the maps to Google get out of this..

  6. NickW1
    Paris Hilton

    Airports too

    Works for Sea-Tac in Seattle, with shops, gates and check-ins.

    Paris, because she needs all the navigational help she can get

  7. sandman

    Who's right?

    Ok, Jake's taking it a bit far, but what right does anyone have to charge along the street without looking where they are going because they are a selfish prat wrapped up in their little virtual world. Hint, they do not have right of way because they are texting, etc.* I have watched in awe as someone crosses the road on a blind corner while texting, totally ignoring the tosser trolley (large 4x4 that doesn't go off-road) with the driver yacking into their mobile. Evolution in action.

    *Please note the use of the non-accusatory "they", rather than the word "you" ;-)

    1. jake Silver badge

      @countd; @AC14:05; @auburnman; @multipharious; @Ex-IT; @sandman

      countd: Perhaps I am a bit of a dick. But what about all the fucking morons who refuse to pay attention to where they are walking, and all the other folks around them? I'm sick and fucking tired of it.

      AC 14:05: I seriously doubt it, not from your seat on the pavement. And as a side note, to date EVERY ONE of the idiots have apologized to ME for their rudeness. Think about it.

      auburnman: That's what started me on this crusade ... I watched a couple twenty-somethings, power-walking side-by-side, texting each other, turn over a three-seater stroller & send one year old triplets to hospital.

      multipharious: I'm to blame for you stepping in front of my bus? How do you figure? And no, I'm not trolling (this time); I'm fucking fed up with idiots lost in their own tiny little worlds, totally oblivious to the rest of civilization.

      Ex-IT: Aint gonna happen. My question is why folks don't step out of the way of the rest of the foot traffic and stand still when immersed in a mobile device? Do they honestly not see how rude they are being? (Similar question: Why do people clog up grocery store isles & doorways when conversing with friends? Likewise, why do folks hold up an entire line of traffic, just to allow one vehicle out of a driveway and into the street? (This last is a ticket-able moving offense, BTW ... "impeding the flow of traffic".)

      sandman: Too far? Really? I'm just fighting fire with fire ... at least I'm aware of my surroundings. I did this in front of a cop the other day (friend of mine) ... after picking up Mr. Oblivious, dusting him off, and accepting his red-faced apology & sending him on the way with a cheery "have a nice day!", the cop observed "I wish I had your balls, jake". My wife just giggled :-)

      As a side-note, I don't do this with children or the infirm. Call it roughly mid teens through early fifties. Children & the elderly/infirm I haul aside & ask them quietly to pay more attention before they hurt someone.

      Most of the time, I manage to keep the idiots from hitting the deck all that hard ... Remember, I'm fully aware of what is going on, they are not.

      1. multipharious

        @Jake, I suggest you refer to the law on this one.

        You have admitted to physically assaulting three people (mobile mesmerized morons admittedly) and given a location. From the sound of it, this is not an isolated occurence even if it was a "good day." Tone it down a little bit, or someone might send the local constable around.

        We all get pretty pissed off at thoughtless folks, but you don't have to actually hit them to make the point. Try a verbal alert, smile when they look up, and 9 times out of 10 I get an apology...and if that doesn't work, follow the unapologetic and retrieve the air horn from your pocket for a solid sonic drubbing.

        1. jake Silver badge

          @multipharious

          Read for content. I don't actually hit anyone. I simply allow them to bounce off me. THEY are at fault, not me. Here in California, if a red-light runner ploughs into you, you are not guilty of assult.

  8. cs94njw
    Alien

    OMG, if they haven't done it yet, they need to add floorplans for the Star Trek Enterprise A, B, C, D, E!

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