Google Maps again surprises us with a small but very handy feature. You can now use the app to save a location of your parking spot. Google has long offered a parking reminder card in Google Now, but the Maps feature is much more convenient.
As reported by Ars Technica the feature is available for now in the latest Android app version (9.49) and it’s a bit hidden. To access it you need to click on your location’s blue dot (I didn’t even know that you can click on it) and a menu with extra features will pop up.
One of the options is called “Save your parking”. After pinning your location, it also allows you to take a photo, write a note and set a timer if you’ve paid for a parking ticket. Your spot will be marked on the map with a “P” icon.
Two months ago Google started to roll out its new parking availability service. I can imagine that this feature could be used as a data source about a parking occupancy. Another small step for Google’s domination of the navigation apps market.
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Something wrong is going on at Uber. Key executives joined the #deleteuber movement and are leaving the company. Among them Brian McClendon, VP of maps and business platform, who has been named by Geoawesomeness one of the top most influential living people who shaped the geo industry of the 21 century.
Uber become a key news story for all the wrong reasons for the last couple of months. In January more than 200k people joined #DeleteUber movement. Also recently the company has launched an internal investigation after an ex-employee, Susan Fowler, wrote a blog post describing experiences of sexual harassment while working at Uber.
These controversies are making some top executives leaving the company. Business Insider points out that besides Brian McClendon six other key people have left Uber in the past few weeks including:
- Jeff Jones, Uber’s president
- Gary Marcus, head of Uber AI Labs
- Raffi Krikorian, senior director of engineering at Uber’s Advanced Technologies Centre
- Charlie Miller, a key member of Uber’s self-driving-car team
- Amit Singhal, SVP of engineering
- Ed Baker, Uber’s VP of product and growth
Brian McClendon was certainly a great asset for the Uber’s mapping division. He started his career for big tech companies back in 2004 when his company Keyhole, Inc. (a prototype of Google Earth), has been acquired by Google. He was leading Google’s mapping efforts between 2004 and 2015. Last year he decided to quit Google and join Uber. Without people of that kind, the sustainability of Uber’s mapping project is in danger in the long term.
Although Uber has hired the best people in the industry, it seems that it’s growth started to get in the way of running the business correctly. It is not too late to put things on the right track but to do it sometimes, you need to make a step back.
