
Google will now tell you whether a bar or shop is busy in real-time - jsingleton
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/nov/22/google-bar-shop-busy-real-time-live-data-black-friday
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qntty
Is it possible to order and pay for food as you're heading to a restaurant so
it will be ready soon after you arrive (through seamless or something else)? I
imagine this will be the norm someday soon.

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grepthisab
Sounds like what the Chipotle or Starbucks apps do right now.

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jsingleton
First traffic, now this. Next up, how busy is your train?

It's not clear how they get the data for this. Assuming it's the same tech as
for minor road traffic then it probably uses Google's location services on
Android devices.

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vuyani
hmmmm, not sure about this. It could play out badly for business owners. how
does google determine if a place should now be deemed full? how do they
calculate capacity without understanding each business model and operational
workflows?

some stores might look full but actually service their customers in average
times? they might have provisioning tills for when N customers are in store?
What if some people do not use google services?

If I was a business owner I would be angry at the possibility of google
turning away potential customers because of what it thinks my business can
handle without any accurate data.

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fma
It is very scary. Google maps has the feature that tells you something is
closed or about to close. If it's late, I get the info from the store website
and know exactly when it closes.

Then I get in my car and pull up Google Maps. There has been times Google
would tell me it's closed already!

I appreciate the assistance but think it should not be so confident in telling
me it's closed. The average person may just forgo the trip. Maybe give the
website to verify or give the phone number to call and verify.

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resonantjacket5
Uhh what? I think that makes perfect sense for google maps to tell you if its
closed. I mean would you really want to drive there and get to a closed shop?

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fma
Uuh what? The store is not closed. Google maps says it is. Google maps has
been wrong on closing times.

Anyone who listens to google maps without verifying at the source will be
basing their decision on wrong information, which leads to loss of business to
store owners, which is why it's scary for business owners.

Which is why if I go to a local business and feel it might be near closing
time, I will verify at the source and not rely on Google maps.

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salmonlogs
Shout out to [http://www.avoidhumans.com/](http://www.avoidhumans.com/) which
tells you which shops/restaurants are NOT busy. If you're ever on the road and
need somewhere quiet for a phone call, this is a lifesaver.

Hopefully they can integrate the Google data too to improve accuracy

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ikeboy
I feel like I've seen a startup doing something along these lines, which will
probably die now that Google did it.

