Google Maps Hacks (2020)

https://simonweckert.com/googlemapshacks.html

by emptybits • 3 years ago

81 50 3 years ago

Jeremy1026• 3 years ago

It’d be interesting to see what the minimum number of devices would be to affect the map.

judge2020• 3 years ago

I imagine it’s just the capacity of the street - for a 0.1 mile stretch of a 1-lane road, assuming 15 feet per car (including follow distance), 35 Google maps clients is effectively a full street. If they all have destinations programmed, and are not moving, chances are something is blocking the road.

pancrufty• 3 years ago

I don’t think you actually need many, it depends on the actual traffic. If it’s empty, I assume 4 phones would be enough. If there are other cars moving much faster than you, then the average would be moved higher.

askvictor2• 3 years ago

Probably as much a question of 'how long for?' A car driving at normal speed would pretty quickly remove the 'traffic jam'

swah• 3 years ago

I don't think so... that would probably be a motorcycle.

askvictor2• 3 years ago

And conversely, sometimes there's a road closure, and Google decides "w00t there's no traffic there at all, I'll send everyone down there!". Seemingly completely oblivious to the fact that, if there's zero cars traveling down a major arterial at peak hour, then that road would obviously be closed.

CamperBob2• 3 years ago

Same people who like to tell drivers to make left turns in downtown SF during rush hour.

My personal theory is that the Google Maps team is staffed by skilled trolls, working at the very top of their game.

alganet• 3 years ago

I actually want to avoid driving by a person who has 99 phones in a handcart.

geepytee• 3 years ago

Exactly! Feature, not a bug

Shank• 3 years ago

I know someone did a detailed analysis on this, but you can trivially see that something is wrong by looking closely at the 2nd to last photo [0]. The photo clearly shows multiple phones with the exact same image on the screen, i.e., they are pixel perfect copies. While I don't think the article is implausible, the 2nd to last image is certainly photoshopped.

[0] https://simonweckert.com/img/googlemapshacks/2.JPG

infradig• 3 years ago

They're all open in Maps, of course they have the same location and thus screen image.

Rebelgecko2• 3 years ago

The EXACT same location and compass orientation? I can't even get 2 phone magnetometers to agree most of the time, let alone a wheelbarrowfull

dx034• 3 years ago

And if they're on top of each other, wouldn't they create issues with the touch screen? They would certainly move the screen a bit.

selcuka2• 3 years ago

If they are all running Google Maps at the same location why would the image be different on them?

shreddit• 3 years ago

Because gps is not that precise. Put two phones on top of each other and each will show a slightly difference in location data

simultsop• 3 years ago

Good catch, despite that, there is also almost no glare from sun, which is increases the chance to be photoshoped. Given that most phones adapt to env lightning. The ones with maps on it look like paper glass almost.

jtsiskin• 3 years ago

Not conclusive, but it was edited in photoshop [1], whereas the other images were not [2]

[1] https://fotoforensics.com/analysis.php?id=b98e447834ffbc36d3...

https://fotoforensics.com/analysis.php?id=6f4b50d6f01c001874...

Hounddog11• 3 years ago

Damn, all this website does is show an image file's metadata. I thought it was going to be some cool AI thing that detects whether an image is photoshopped via some kind of fancy ML model. Does such a thing exist? Is it possible?

thrdbndndn• 3 years ago

It was also edited in GIMP on Mac before PS on Windows.

While also not conclusive, but apparently the editings seem to be re-save only. But again, you can choose not to save (or only save some) edit histories in XMP.

suddenclarity• 3 years ago

Yeah, it's been a few years but I recall people settling on it most likely being fake. Unfortunately the original publication used the word "fake" so now all Google results just leads to different rewrites of the same original article. I guess there's a lesson there if you're planning on making up a story.

dharmab• 3 years ago

I've seen the reverse of this happen on my motorcycle, which can legally lane filter and use HOV lanes in my area. I could paint red lines green on the map in real time.

hbarka• 3 years ago

Geolocation data on practically everyone, with unique identifiers.

If Google had a crime analysis unit, they could easily "data science" the identity of these organized criminals breaking into cars daily in the Bay Area. The cumulative damage to society that these few individuals cause is great.

Predatory patterns: https://youtu.be/iWeu2dxHRDg?t=10m59s

saagarjha• 3 years ago

I very much would prefer to not have Google turn into omnipresent law enforcement.

largepeepee• 3 years ago

Agreed, they already have too much power and poor oversight.

There are already cases of parents who upload pictures of their naked children to doctors getting permanently banned from their products by the invasive AI enforcement team.

What has Google done to fix this? Keeping parents permanently banned to avoid litigation.

agilob• 3 years ago

Listen, what if they could turn their AI into crime predictive AI and arrest people before they commit a crime?

is_true2• 3 years ago

Probably they are selling the data to Palantir or some israeli "defense" company

antman• 3 years ago

It would improve the overall crime picture in the bay area.

Also those who post negative photos of broken cars with comments about law enforcement quality could be found and contacted for additional details. An arguably more cost effective approach towards improving law enforcement image.

The opportunities are limitless actually.

alwayslikethis• 3 years ago

I wonder if there could be a feasible business opportunity here. Basically, launch a service to access "express routes", which are really just normal roads clogged up by people spoofing GPS on Google Maps, enabling faster travel for those subscribed to the service since they get the actual clean data. Obviously this won't work in the long term, but in the mean time you might be able to divert some users off Google Maps to an alternative you're trying to market.

hanselot• 3 years ago

Evil minds think alike. I was thinking exactly this...

euroderf• 3 years ago

No, it's a spy film and an embassy schlub is wheeling the cart around, innocently.

pxeger1• 3 years ago

I thought this was going to be the story about changing the phone number of the US secret service on Google Maps to an attacker-controlled one, and thereby intercepting loads of phone calls

ClapperHeid3• 3 years ago

For anyone expecting the clickbait headline to lead to an article containing some useful undocumented Google Maps tricks, let me save you the time.

This is just that boring old story about a bloke wheeling a handcart full of mobile phones around to fool Google Maps into thinking there was a traffic jam. It's not even a single "hack" never mind plural "hacks"

emptybits• 3 years ago

OP here. I submitted this with what I felt was a good headline and it lived with this for a while (less than an hour, I reckon):

  "99 phones in handcart make Google Maps traffic jam, turn green street red (2020)"

Then someone changed it to the IMO vague and less informative:

  "Google Maps Hacks (2020)"

bambax3• 3 years ago

Title moderation is the one thing that really irks me on HN. I really wish it would go away. The main problem is that there's no reference to the original title, which is usually much more informative.

I've been complaining about it for about ten years now (!), to no avail. So yes the shruggie's in order... ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

miroljub• 3 years ago

Title moderation on HN is very misleading, implemented as is. I don't have an issue with changing title, but the problem is that the name of the original submitter still stays next to the modified title, without any sign that title has been changed by someone else. Feels a bit like impersonation :)

If the title is changed, there should be a visible remark saying "title redacted by dang" or something similar. Or include the original title below the new one.

bardan• 3 years ago

dang!

ClapperHeid3• 3 years ago

  >OP here. I submitted this with what I felt was a good headline...

  >I didn't even know there was title moderators...

I didn't know there was title moderation either. My instinct is to be against it and just go with the original article title. BUT... this case is a weird one. If OP is to be believed, he actually changed the original title to make it LESS click-baity, but the mods changed it back to the original, which WAS click-baity.

Hmmm... That's a tough one!

rldjbpin• 3 years ago

i was not aware that this happens. too bad for the hate you might have gotten in this thread, but this taught me something today.

mcqueenjordan• 3 years ago

It's just the rules: "Otherwise please use the original title, unless it is misleading or linkbait; don't editorialize."

The original title (on the page linked) is "Google Maps Hacks".

bambax3• 3 years ago

This is just that boring old story

Yes it's an old story but it's not boring. It's a great illustration of people messing with automated "smart" systems.

ClapperHeid3• 3 years ago

It's not borning per se. But it's boring because it's old and well-known. The linked to version is from 2020 and I'm not even sure that was the original. I first read it quite a while ago and have seen it crop up several times since. This site is called Hacker NEWS. With the word NEWS implying er... "new" things.

It's also boring because the clickbait title [used on the linked to version] is misleading and suggests the article is about something else. ie. "hacks" [plural!] for Google Maps. When it is about nothing of the sort. It's an oft-repeated story about a bloke who once tricked Google Maps into thinking there was heavy traffic somewhere by wheeling a handcart full of phones, with Google Maps installed, down that street. It's about as much of a hack as me throwing my phone off a cliff to try and fool Strava into thinking I can fly.

Google Maps Hacks (2020)

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