PRESS RELEASE: MyRoute-app reduces Google Maps services
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Hello everyone, thank you very much for all your support in this. As said, we don't take these decisions lightheartedly.
That said, I've read your feedback (especially in regards to the G-sattelite map layer) and will take this up with management.
@Timo-Martosatiman-MRA
Update from what I said earlier: I was already under the conviction that the sattelite and map layers should've remained. As outlined in the original message this removal is focussed primarily on the Google Maps route-calculation.
Sattelite and regular Google maps view remain available for Gold users! They've been temporarily de-activated due to the development team's exit strategy and are now available again.
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Timo,
Not sure what app your screen shot is from but I don't see any of those options either via the web app, or the phone app.
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I'm Gold and not seeing it either.
Steve.
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Scratch that.
It's the Layers Icon Top Right of the Map.
I'll get my Coat!!Steve.
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Just spotted the Google 'Layer' Steve, and for me it's happy days
The map info and colour is just as before so I reckon many of the users won't miss the Google algorithm wizardry in the background as long as they can see the normal information that Google Maps shows.
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scratch that as well for me.. I see it now..
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Dear Community,
On behalf of the MyRoute-app team, I would like to inform you that after ceasing negotiations with Google, we have decided to reduce the Google Maps service. I will explain the time frame and total impact of this, as well as our availability for questions.
Let's start at the beginning. Just like any other company, MyRoute-app has contracts with various partners who provide all kinds of services. Take a look in the application and you can probably already list some of them. Generally, we do not draw your, our community's, attention to this as contract negotiations, licence fees and life-cycle management is generally of little interest to you, the users. What is relevant in this case is that MyRoute-app concludes multi-year contracts that are renegotiated with suppliers at the end of the period, often in pleasant collaboration and ongoing partnerships.
These negotiations go beyond market negotiations. It's about more than the stress field between a low price for us and a high price for the supplier. This is a mutually fruitful collaboration that stimulates sustainable innovation. Our suppliers benefit if MyRoute-app grows: then our demand for their services also grows. We benefit from our suppliers flourishing: they offer better and more attractive services, so we do not have to develop this ourselves as a custom-made service. With MyRoute-app, quality comes first, which can sometimes cost a little more when the quality justifies it.
In February 2020, negotiations started for a follow-up contract with Google. To our surprise, the prices offered here were ten times higher than the previous prices. It should be noted that those prices had already been unilaterally increased by Google as early as 2018. The 2018 price hike was not only difficult for MyRoute-app as many smaller companies also run their business on Google's infrastructure. The internet is full of stories about small entrepreneurs who, thanks to this price hike, saw their costs rise from, for example, €10,000 to €200,000 per period. Fortunately, MyRoute-app was able to deal with this in an agile manner and at the time expanded Google Maps as a standard map service with an emergency measure and switched to the free open source alternative OpenStreetMap. In the end, many companies died in a growing economy due to nothing else but the fact that Google shot up its prices back then.
So, we refused to accept the new Google prices. We tried to achieve new prices with Google that were workable but to no avail at the bottom of the line. Google's attitude towards our proposals was rigid; counter proposals and questions for clarity were met with radio silence. We have done our best to think from the perspective of our supplier, as we often do. We understand that large companies like to work with scales and standard processes. We understand that justified price rises are possible. We understand that a company wants to grow. However, this does not detract from the fact that Google simply was not open to negotiating with MyRoute-app. That can easily happen, after all, we were already customers. We had already become customers since 2014 under a reasonable graduated scale, with a supplier who worked together with us and increased the price indexed as befits a growing economy. However, recent price hikes are unworkable and unjustified.
Google's services will not be 20 times better in 2018. It has not improved tenfold in 2020 and as far as we can tell, life has not become 30 times more expensive and wages have not increased thirty-fold. In the short term, MyRoute-app will therefore bid farewell to various Google services. This will disable the maps functionality for GOLD users. Furthermore, routes once created via Google Maps will all be converted to the Here map. The Google Maps map remains available as an additional map layer. We believe that this reduction of Google functionality will not have a major impact on the overall offering. For proper exportation to the known GPS devices, we advise that you use Here (Garmin) and TomTom maps, in any case the map material is the same. The map with all Google information will remain available, we are only forced to distance ourselves from the Google route calculation.
Finally, I would like to end with the message that things can be done differently. As I mentioned earlier, MyRoute-app has contracts with several partners. As such, we have recently renewed the life cycle of these contracts with all critical partners in a sustainable and collaborative way. We are proud of the partners with whom we have been able to develop MyRoute-app to the maturity level we now stand at and once again express our confidence in building a bright future for all travellers.
Thanks for reading.
On behalf of the MyRoute-app team,
Your Community Manager,
Timo Martosatiman
@Timo-Martosatiman-MRA said in PRESS RELEASE: MyRoute-app reduces Google Maps services:
The Google Maps map remains available as an additional map laye
Maybe not the right place to ask but...
So I went to check out the new functionality (or lack thereof). Initially I got the Here map visually, no option for Google maps. Was initially disappointed. But then I came back to re-read what was still avail (layers). I set my layer back to Google maps and all looked fine again.
Now I will say that I'm prepping my routes for a Garmin GPS anyway, so that's Here maps on the device and in my experience has the best chance of the GPS actually using the route correctly. I was doing routeing compares and adding waypoints to force the default routing to do the same as what Here would have done. I also see that streetview is still functional, I assume that means that is continuing to be available??
Now with the changes as of today (5/21/20) , with Here selected in the first place as the default, and manually turning on Google as the layer, I still get to see Google maps graphics, but I get Here routing overlaid on that. Is that right?
As I understand it, assuming above is correct, the only downside in my case is I have to manually pick the Google layer. It would be nice to be able to set that. I do prefer the Google maps visually vs Here's. Glad I can still see them manually setting at least.
I do find in rural areas map differences where a road does or does not end in the same place, more often with Google being right so that sucks, but not the end of the world, as sometimes it's the other way around.
Note that the Google layer still reflects the default for Gold users (me), I assume that's just a graphic miss on your part since it did not default to that layer.
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@Timo-Martosatiman-MRA said in PRESS RELEASE: MyRoute-app reduces Google Maps services:
The Google Maps map remains available as an additional map laye
Maybe not the right place to ask but...
So I went to check out the new functionality (or lack thereof). Initially I got the Here map visually, no option for Google maps. Was initially disappointed. But then I came back to re-read what was still avail (layers). I set my layer back to Google maps and all looked fine again.
Now I will say that I'm prepping my routes for a Garmin GPS anyway, so that's Here maps on the device and in my experience has the best chance of the GPS actually using the route correctly. I was doing routeing compares and adding waypoints to force the default routing to do the same as what Here would have done. I also see that streetview is still functional, I assume that means that is continuing to be available??
Now with the changes as of today (5/21/20) , with Here selected in the first place as the default, and manually turning on Google as the layer, I still get to see Google maps graphics, but I get Here routing overlaid on that. Is that right?
As I understand it, assuming above is correct, the only downside in my case is I have to manually pick the Google layer. It would be nice to be able to set that. I do prefer the Google maps visually vs Here's. Glad I can still see them manually setting at least.
I do find in rural areas map differences where a road does or does not end in the same place, more often with Google being right so that sucks, but not the end of the world, as sometimes it's the other way around.
Note that the Google layer still reflects the default for Gold users (me), I assume that's just a graphic miss on your part since it did not default to that layer.
@Scott-Horton Hi scott, all your assumptions are correct. What you currently see is what you get, including the map layers. Since it wasn't on our roadmap to remove Google as a routing service, we'll have to look at for example activating a map layer automatically/per default.
Regardless, you are completely right to assume that you can create a completely Garmin compatible route (using the HERE routing map) whilst visually being presented with the Google sattelite map.
Kind regards,
Timo
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Dear Community,
On behalf of the MyRoute-app team, I would like to inform you that after ceasing negotiations with Google, we have decided to reduce the Google Maps service. I will explain the time frame and total impact of this, as well as our availability for questions.
Let's start at the beginning. Just like any other company, MyRoute-app has contracts with various partners who provide all kinds of services. Take a look in the application and you can probably already list some of them. Generally, we do not draw your, our community's, attention to this as contract negotiations, licence fees and life-cycle management is generally of little interest to you, the users. What is relevant in this case is that MyRoute-app concludes multi-year contracts that are renegotiated with suppliers at the end of the period, often in pleasant collaboration and ongoing partnerships.
These negotiations go beyond market negotiations. It's about more than the stress field between a low price for us and a high price for the supplier. This is a mutually fruitful collaboration that stimulates sustainable innovation. Our suppliers benefit if MyRoute-app grows: then our demand for their services also grows. We benefit from our suppliers flourishing: they offer better and more attractive services, so we do not have to develop this ourselves as a custom-made service. With MyRoute-app, quality comes first, which can sometimes cost a little more when the quality justifies it.
In February 2020, negotiations started for a follow-up contract with Google. To our surprise, the prices offered here were ten times higher than the previous prices. It should be noted that those prices had already been unilaterally increased by Google as early as 2018. The 2018 price hike was not only difficult for MyRoute-app as many smaller companies also run their business on Google's infrastructure. The internet is full of stories about small entrepreneurs who, thanks to this price hike, saw their costs rise from, for example, €10,000 to €200,000 per period. Fortunately, MyRoute-app was able to deal with this in an agile manner and at the time expanded Google Maps as a standard map service with an emergency measure and switched to the free open source alternative OpenStreetMap. In the end, many companies died in a growing economy due to nothing else but the fact that Google shot up its prices back then.
So, we refused to accept the new Google prices. We tried to achieve new prices with Google that were workable but to no avail at the bottom of the line. Google's attitude towards our proposals was rigid; counter proposals and questions for clarity were met with radio silence. We have done our best to think from the perspective of our supplier, as we often do. We understand that large companies like to work with scales and standard processes. We understand that justified price rises are possible. We understand that a company wants to grow. However, this does not detract from the fact that Google simply was not open to negotiating with MyRoute-app. That can easily happen, after all, we were already customers. We had already become customers since 2014 under a reasonable graduated scale, with a supplier who worked together with us and increased the price indexed as befits a growing economy. However, recent price hikes are unworkable and unjustified.
Google's services will not be 20 times better in 2018. It has not improved tenfold in 2020 and as far as we can tell, life has not become 30 times more expensive and wages have not increased thirty-fold. In the short term, MyRoute-app will therefore bid farewell to various Google services. This will disable the maps functionality for GOLD users. Furthermore, routes once created via Google Maps will all be converted to the Here map. The Google Maps map remains available as an additional map layer. We believe that this reduction of Google functionality will not have a major impact on the overall offering. For proper exportation to the known GPS devices, we advise that you use Here (Garmin) and TomTom maps, in any case the map material is the same. The map with all Google information will remain available, we are only forced to distance ourselves from the Google route calculation.
Finally, I would like to end with the message that things can be done differently. As I mentioned earlier, MyRoute-app has contracts with several partners. As such, we have recently renewed the life cycle of these contracts with all critical partners in a sustainable and collaborative way. We are proud of the partners with whom we have been able to develop MyRoute-app to the maturity level we now stand at and once again express our confidence in building a bright future for all travellers.
Thanks for reading.
On behalf of the MyRoute-app team,
Your Community Manager,
Timo Martosatiman
@Timo-Martosatiman-MRA Ik vind alle andere kaarten echt duidelijk minder om routes mee te maken, maar de macht van Google is wel echt bad news. Temeer omdat ze al je data gebruiken. Toch vind ik het niet correct om zomaar een blijkbaar essentieel functie zonder duidelijke aankondiging te verwijderen voor betaalde Gold-lifetime members. Ik mis bijvoorbeeld ook de functionaliteit van optimaliseren, of zie ik dat nu over het hoofd ? Jammer dat Apple kaarten deze functie niet ondersteunt.
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Will the subscription prices for your service reduce, now that one of the main features that made it so favourable has been taken away. I understand that Google are being ridiculous with their pricing but now you are not having to pay for Google service will this effect the subscription price. It seems a shame as Basecamp is so antiquated and yet MRA provided the facility to view on street map etc. I think the service you offer will deteriorate if you don't provide pricing accordingly
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@Ed-Berrevoets Bedankt voor je begrip en terugkoppeling, hoe komt het dat je de andere kaarten minder prettig vind? Als het gaat om het detailniveau en de visuele kant: dan zijn de kaartlagen wellicht een optie! We hebben deze beslissing uiteindelijk sneller dan verwacht moeten nemen vanwege het gebrek aan onderhandelingsruimte en de verassende insteek (zie mijn opmerkingen over de prijsverhogingen). Ik ben benieuwd wat dit voor jou inhoudelijk betekent. Zou je me dat in een chat kunnen toesturen? Het is eigenlijk niet de bedoeling dat we hier in het Engels communiceren namelijk (mag wel in het Nederlandstalige gedeelte). Mocht je nog vragen hebben over je lidmaatschap dan moet je even contact opnemen met Customer Support via een ticket.
@Chris-GMT Hi Chris, good question. The pricing won't change, as we now have the ability to maintain current prices (in several previous newsletters and campaigns we announced potential price increases). Additionally more budget has been assigned to the Development team which will increase their capacity and increase the rate of feature updates. This is the first time a particular feature was removed (which we didn't aspire to do) in a long list of increased functionality since inception in 2013 whilst prices have remained fairly stable. The only price that saw a significant increase was the post-beta Gold Lifetime membership due to the expansion of features. We've always made sure that the price is fair. Additionally, as a small company, almost all revenue goes directly into either Design, Support, Development, maintenance or our Community (such as the procurement of this forum).
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@Ed-Berrevoets Bedankt voor je begrip en terugkoppeling, hoe komt het dat je de andere kaarten minder prettig vind? Als het gaat om het detailniveau en de visuele kant: dan zijn de kaartlagen wellicht een optie! We hebben deze beslissing uiteindelijk sneller dan verwacht moeten nemen vanwege het gebrek aan onderhandelingsruimte en de verassende insteek (zie mijn opmerkingen over de prijsverhogingen). Ik ben benieuwd wat dit voor jou inhoudelijk betekent. Zou je me dat in een chat kunnen toesturen? Het is eigenlijk niet de bedoeling dat we hier in het Engels communiceren namelijk (mag wel in het Nederlandstalige gedeelte). Mocht je nog vragen hebben over je lidmaatschap dan moet je even contact opnemen met Customer Support via een ticket.
@Chris-GMT Hi Chris, good question. The pricing won't change, as we now have the ability to maintain current prices (in several previous newsletters and campaigns we announced potential price increases). Additionally more budget has been assigned to the Development team which will increase their capacity and increase the rate of feature updates. This is the first time a particular feature was removed (which we didn't aspire to do) in a long list of increased functionality since inception in 2013 whilst prices have remained fairly stable. The only price that saw a significant increase was the post-beta Gold Lifetime membership due to the expansion of features. We've always made sure that the price is fair. Additionally, as a small company, almost all revenue goes directly into either Design, Support, Development, maintenance or our Community (such as the procurement of this forum).
@Timo-Martosatiman-MRA So higher prices (what are the new features?) and less functionality.
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@Timo-Martosatiman-MRA So higher prices (what are the new features?) and less functionality.
@Jan-Pirard Wrong, stop trolling and spreading fake news. Many new features have been added since 2013 and people here on the forum like that very much. If you can't contribute positively or have some sort of problem with MyRoute-app or your subscription, go to the right channel and make a support ticket.
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@Timo-Martosatiman-MRA So higher prices (what are the new features?) and less functionality.
The last new feature (very recent) is the height profile which is available to everyone.
and it has been announced on this forum that prices will stay the same for now for existing usersNo, I don't work for MRA, and I don't have too much money, and I prefer not to see a price hike as I have a life Gold subscription "for all current and future features"... (promises are promises)
However, even the price of tap water has gone up since 2013 (or didn't you notice).
But most importantly, if you can find another tool with more features and functionality, better customer orientation, and a better outlook for what is going to come, please tell me about it. But as you are here, I think that this tool, objectively, does not exist.
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@Jan-Pirard Wrong, stop trolling and spreading fake news. Many new features have been added since 2013 and people here on the forum like that very much. If you can't contribute positively or have some sort of problem with MyRoute-app or your subscription, go to the right channel and make a support ticket.
@Timo-Martosatiman-MRA Hi Timo. Are you an employee of MRA? If so, than you are expressing disturbing contempt for your paying customers. This is in no way customer focused. Accusing me of trolling is a shortsighted way of dismissing a genuine remark of a customer. Instead of expressing concern on where the remark comes from you qualify it as “fake news”. Certain groups in the US use the same tactics.
In December 2019 all paying customers were “urged” to renew their subscription, quickly, to avoid the price increase. The prices increased because of important changes and new features that warrant the extra cost. Many people asked in the forum what they were supposed to be paying for. The answer was always “wait”. Now it seems there is less functionality due to the expiration of the Google contract (understandable, but it remains a fact). And the new possibility of seeing the height profile of the route. Nice feature. But, to be fair Timo, RouteYou had that already more than 5 years ago.
So, first you ask your customers to pay more in December and run a campaign that announces big changes and features and then you barely deliver.
I am a satisfied customer of the technology, but the way you threat your customers could also deserve an upgrade.
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