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Google Maps Reviews in Germany are utterly pointless (europe.pub)
submitted 1 month ago by to c/germany@feddit.org
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cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/50778217

🗺️ While visiting Pride Berlin, I learned how utterly pointless Google Maps Reviews in Germany are.

⭐ Any place can simply report negative reviews for defamation or claim the person was never there and have it removed.

Users can then appeal & risk a lawsuit.

When a review is removed the removed count on Google Maps goes up (🖼️ 1)

However that count is reset after 365 days and also only goes to 250! (🖼️ 2)

Therefore companies can simply mass report negative reviews to improve their rating.

https://support.google.com/contributionpolicy/answer/16997273

So many vulnerable people are relying on Google Maps reviews & ratings to tell them where it is save to go.

Some places have only 1000-2000 reviews but >250 reviews removed in the past 365 days!

Like how bad must the situation there be?!

Absolute shame.

Screenshot of a business on Google Maps with "Over 250 reviews removed due to defamation complaints." in the past past 365 days.
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[–] 1 point 1 month ago (1 child)

@cabbage hi, thanks for the ping!

The general idea behind FediLoc was to provide a first implementation of federated location based information on POIs, in the hope that OSM apps will integrate this functionality as well. We wanted to help solving the henn egg problem with data for such an integration. We do not want to add yet another standard (https://xkcd.com/927/), so happy to connect!

Post by @NE555

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  • [–] 1 point 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

    This sounds really great! I think it's clear that ActivityPub needs to expand into location based information at some point. I also don't see why reviews and discussions of places shouldn't be part of the social web.

    As far as I understand what @mangrovereviews@mas.to offers is a very flexible protocol for reviews. I'm not sure if it would be best to integrate it with ActivityPub somehow, or if it makes more sense to add it as an additional protocol to platforms for which it's relevant. The easiest solution I could see would be Fediloc only performing two-way federation through ActivityPub, but broadcasting reviews outwards through the Mangrove standard to maximise their reach. That way reviews will become integrated into services supporting Mangrove, while keeping the benefits of ActivityPub within Fediloc.

    Comaps will support Mangrove reviews on Android very soon, and it is already supported in their (more experimental) desktop app. It might also be added to OsmAnd if the team merges the pull request. So it seems the hurdle of making it into map apps has largely been overcome by Mangrove, while the social media aspect of it still needs work. In either case supporting Mangrove at this point is probably necessary to avoid XKCD 927.

    I feel a bit awkward coming in from the sidelines as I don't have anything to contribute, but with Mangrove gaining traction I at least know there's a growing demand for a user friendly platform for generating place reviews with it. I don't know how much time and resources you have to dedicate to Fediloc, but it looks really interesting at least. I know I'd use it. :) @privatecoffee@cuddly.space

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