Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Apple delivers a new redesigned Maps for users in the United States

apple.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

181–190 of 476 posts

Re: Apple delivers a new redesigned Maps for users in the United States

#181

Post by krrrh »

theboat wrote: post #92
aresant wrote: post #44

In the midst of the world (rightly) turning on big tech's abuses, efforts like these make me optimistic about our industry on a whole and help me recover some of the enthusiasm that led me into tech in the first place. I love how this effort relies on & amplifies what were before relatively obscure specialties The mapping wars elevate cartographers, mapping specialists, GIS data nerds, mobile computing / compression…

As much as I agree with your general sentiment, Apple Maps, like many of Apple's mobile apps, gets a boost from Apple's anti-competitive practices. It's utterly ridiculous that we can remove default apps from iOS, including Maps and Safari, but we can't set new default apps to replace them. If we ever get serious about increasing competition in the tech sector, an easy place to start is letting users set default brow…

What's worse for consumers in the end though?

One profession missing in the parent comment are the researchers innovating on differential privacy. Apple has taken great pains to figure out ways to improve their maps without storing massive amounts of private user data, to the extent that they split routes in half, fuzz addresses, and analyze the start and end of trips independently.

There's an argument that Google had such a huge head start on maps, that without Apple having the capacity to set defaults (on a platform that is not even a plurality of users), Apple Maps wouldn't have gotten enough users to justify improvements to where it is now. Apple also didn't get serious about having its own maps until Google attempted to exercise their at-the-time near-monopoly power to jack up licensing costs. Now the mere existence of Apple maps puts pressure on Google to improve the privacy features of its own map products as we've seen recently.

Apple funds map development through device sales, and Google does it through targeted advertising, map services for third parties, and profiling users. Do we value competition only of mapping products, or should we also value a diversity of business models for mapping products? It's no small decision to bring in the Kommissar.

Re: Apple delivers a new redesigned Maps for users in the United States

#182

Post by criley2 »

Really have to give kudos to Google for basically inventing this design language, because this Maps update really looks like a "catch-up" to much of the design language Google Maps has been using for a long time now. Honestly, looking at these images, Apple Maps looks like a desaturated/less colorful Google Maps (and that's not necessarily a good thing either).

Re: Apple delivers a new redesigned Maps for users in the United States

#183

Post by tssva »

dkonofalski wrote: post #97
theboat wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As much as I agree with your general sentiment, Apple Maps, like many of Apple's mobile apps, gets a boost from Apple's anti-competitive practices. It's utterly ridiculous that we can remove default apps from iOS, including Maps and Safari, but we can't set new default apps to replace them. If we ever get serious about increasing competition in the tech sector, an easy place to start is letting users set default brow…

Isn't that kind of self-defeating, though? Like the ACA without the individual mandate? The only way this works is if people use the apps on the iPhone. There's nothing stopping you from using Google Maps on an iPhone but, in order for the tech to improve while remaining strong with privacy, is for Apple to utilize their existing technology. Also, I disagree that it's anti-competitive. Users are always allowed and ab…

"Users are always allowed and able to switch to another device/ecosystem."

Google would like you to have a discussion with the EU on their behalf.

Re: Apple delivers a new redesigned Maps for users in the United States

#184

Post by taywrobel »

skizm wrote: post #177
theboat wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As much as I agree with your general sentiment, Apple Maps, like many of Apple's mobile apps, gets a boost from Apple's anti-competitive practices. It's utterly ridiculous that we can remove default apps from iOS, including Maps and Safari, but we can't set new default apps to replace them. If we ever get serious about increasing competition in the tech sector, an easy place to start is letting users set default brow…

One specific thing that bothers me is that Microsoft got in trouble for bundling IE with Windows, but apple doesn't get in trouble when they block all browser apps that don't use Safari under the hood. How is this different? I want Google and Mozilla (and anyone else) to be able to make iOS browser apps from scratch if they want. It wouldn't be an issue if you could sideload apps easily, but the app store is really t…

Apple doesn’t have sufficient market share to be considered a monopoly. That’s generally how they’ve skirted around the issue, and by positioning themselves as a premium brand, they can raise prices on their hardware to the point that market share remains sufficiently small to not be subject to monopoly laws.

At the time of the MS/IE lawsuit (2001), Microsoft Windows had well over 95% of desktop operating system market share.

Re: Apple delivers a new redesigned Maps for users in the United States

#185

Post by milesskorpen »

skizm wrote: post #177
theboat wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As much as I agree with your general sentiment, Apple Maps, like many of Apple's mobile apps, gets a boost from Apple's anti-competitive practices. It's utterly ridiculous that we can remove default apps from iOS, including Maps and Safari, but we can't set new default apps to replace them. If we ever get serious about increasing competition in the tech sector, an easy place to start is letting users set default brow…

One specific thing that bothers me is that Microsoft got in trouble for bundling IE with Windows, but apple doesn't get in trouble when they block all browser apps that don't use Safari under the hood. How is this different? I want Google and Mozilla (and anyone else) to be able to make iOS browser apps from scratch if they want. It wouldn't be an issue if you could sideload apps easily, but the app store is really t…

Apple doesn't have the market share MSFT did back then.

Re: Apple delivers a new redesigned Maps for users in the United States

#186

Post by jschwartzi »

taylorlapeyre wrote: post #68
penagwin wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You know that got me thinking, biking rules vary far more than for cars. Depending on your location, pedestrian traffic, streets, street traffic, etc. It might be best for you to be on the sidewalk. Or maybe you should instead be on the road since the road is only 25mph and there's pedestrians on the sidewalk. Maybe there's a bike lane, maybe there isn't. Maybe a town has a law saying you HAVE to bike on the road. Ar…

I think you could release a simplified version of biking directions that isn't perfect, but better than nothing: - For a limited number of cities, determine which streets the city lists as having separated bike lanes, painted bike lanes, or city-designated "bike friendly" streets. Mark them on the map appropriately in a different map overlay (or on the transit overlay) - Bicycle directions prioritize those streets. I…

Painted bike lanes are really unreliable, but otherwise that sounds like a great idea.

Most of the painted bike lanes I see in suburban Washington are painted in some of the least safe bike routes. There's a ton of bike lanes that are just painted along major thoroughfares with actual top speeds of 40 or 45 miles per hour.

They should really do it by speed limit and presence of features that obstruct car traffic. Streets that are a pain in the ass to drive on are the best streets to bike on.

Even some of the Bike Routes in Seattle are on roads that I wouldn't feel safe biking on because traffic typically clocks at 10 or 15 MPH higher than the speed limit around the curves on the route.

Re: Apple delivers a new redesigned Maps for users in the United States

#187

Post by penagwin »

criddell wrote: post #130
penagwin wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You know that got me thinking, biking rules vary far more than for cars. Depending on your location, pedestrian traffic, streets, street traffic, etc. It might be best for you to be on the sidewalk. Or maybe you should instead be on the road since the road is only 25mph and there's pedestrians on the sidewalk. Maybe there's a bike lane, maybe there isn't. Maybe a town has a law saying you HAVE to bike on the road. Ar…

> Maybe a town has a law saying you HAVE to bike on the road. I think that's usually the case. This page [1] says: > The law in most areas of the country require bicycles to follow the same rules of the road as other motor vehicles. In essence, riding your bike down the sidewalk is the same as if you hopped the curb and started rolling it in your car. [1] https://www.campfirecycling.com/blog/2008/07/09/top-5-rules-..…

Not always though, for example here in Michigan [0]. At least around here some of the streets are NOT the kind you want to ride your bike on, and there's only a few pedestrians on the sidewalk (so it's not a big deal even if you stopped and walked your bike around them).

> Bicycles may be ridden upon a sidewalk, but cyclists must yield the right-of-way to pedestrians and are required to give an audible signal before overtaking and passing a pedestrian.

And to make it even more complicated:

> Further, official traffic control devices or local ordinances may restrict bicycles on sidewalks in some areas.

[0] https://michiganbikelaw.com/michigan-rules-of-the-road/

Re: Apple delivers a new redesigned Maps for users in the United States

#189

Post by skizm »

taywrobel wrote: post #184
skizm wrote: post #177

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One specific thing that bothers me is that Microsoft got in trouble for bundling IE with Windows, but apple doesn't get in trouble when they block all browser apps that don't use Safari under the hood. How is this different? I want Google and Mozilla (and anyone else) to be able to make iOS browser apps from scratch if they want. It wouldn't be an issue if you could sideload apps easily, but the app store is really t…

Apple doesn’t have sufficient market share to be considered a monopoly. That’s generally how they’ve skirted around the issue, and by positioning themselves as a premium brand, they can raise prices on their hardware to the point that market share remains sufficiently small to not be subject to monopoly laws. At the time of the MS/IE lawsuit (2001), Microsoft Windows had well over 95% of desktop operating system mark…

Fair point.

Re: Apple delivers a new redesigned Maps for users in the United States

#190

Post by lostgame »

sixstringtheory wrote: post #105
lostgame wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've honestly never heard of Waze. EDIT: Holy downvotes, I didn't mean it as anything negative, I actually had to Google it. You can't hear about everything :3

This is a good piece of feedback for anyone at Waze, especially if you were willing to share more about your market details like where you live or any social networks you use, they could evaluate their advertising strategies. It was an honest response to a valid question. I was quite surprised to see it, but after reflecting, things change in the software world so quickly (and new people are born all the time) that i…

The only time I'll ever ask about downvotes is a genuine curiosity as to why people disagree with a point, so I can learn more. :)
Post reply on HN