Comment by mpeg
1 day ago
If you had read the article you would see:
1/ they need to collect ground truth data for their algorithm to work, it doesn't magically work everywhere.
2/ the ground truth data was collected mostly by their clients, it is not their data to give away for free
I honestly don't see a problem with this technology, and I am a huge privacy advocate. First off, it uses the wifi signal strength + a model based on ground truth data to accurately position you in a map. This means that it's entirely opt-in, they can't accurately track you if you aren't using their app / connected to their wifi (yes I know some data does go out to wifi access points even if not connected, but I doubt it would be enough for this kind of tracking, and it can be disabled by the user)
Yes, they mention promotions, but again the promotions would be opt-in – if I use their app to find a product I'm looking for, they might suggest other products along the way that I might also find useful, or they might take me in a route that passes right by them. This is no different to the way retailers stock up their shelves already, placing products next to others you might want, and moving necessity items around when they want to direct you to another part of the store.
I don't know, I think it's a bit harsh to criticise this when the technology has so many applications outside of retail. I would love this in a museum or library, and even in retail I absolutely hate those interactive map displays that modern shopping malls have, where only one person can use them at a time and you have to navigate through 200 store names for the one you actually want to visit
The criticism was directed at retailers. If they want to provide indoor maps... why not just do that? For my Target example, there's even a convenient place to put them in store: the posters that say to download an app to see a map. There's also a standard place where they can add their indoor maps for free without needing anyone's permission (openstreetmap). Or put them online with a public domain disclaimer and someone else will eventually probably do it.
Edit: In Target's case, they do apparently also put it on their website if you go hunting for it, but the ubiquitous pushing of apps is still annoying vs just putting it right there in the store as well, and perhaps offering a QR code + text link to the online version. They're clearly using it as bait to install their tracking/ads trojan. Also their online map for my store is east-west inverted for some reason (the east end of the building is on the left, the north on top), which would be immediately obvious if they mapped it to their building in OSM.
> If you had read the article you would see:
(1) It's clear from the use of quotes that the person you're replying to did read the article.
(2) from the official HN Guidelines[0]: Please don't comment on whether someone read an article. "Did you even read the article? It mentions that" can be shortened to "The article mentions that".
[0]: https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html