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

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

#331
post #324
post #293

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You'd probably end with significantly different results based on country. Somehow the underlying logic of mapping AI seems to be more-or-less of a fit for national road systems — for instance in Europe, with lots of discrepancies between borders, it's really hit or miss: in France and Germany I end up on stupid country roads to save 2 minutes on a 2h drive, but that seldom happens in the Netherlands (granted they hav…

I remember using some car’s built-in GPS once and it wanted me to take every freeway exit and get right back on after. Because it decided that saves time/distance. Maps really need a “not worth it” features for tiny optimizations. I’d often prefer a slightly slower route that’s less work to drive.

Oh please YES, the "not worth it", followed by an option to "please take me back to previous path before (because) latest fork = mistake". The very idea of judging the overall travel is a good start (at the end, when they prompt you) but individual datapoints should be reportable as well. I'm pretty sure this would massively help build a dataset with "annotated" cases (good / bad) for RNNs.

> I’d often prefer a slightly slower route that’s less work to drive.

Me too, and I suspect most people — like, when is it ever a good option to avoid a free highway to save 1 minute when the driving is twice or more fatiguing? Are we bodyless machines or animals with a concept for "tired" and "attention"? This is where I feel recent evolutions in DL have been, perhaps, more for the benefit of developers and researchers (efficiency), and maybe not for real human benefits on the user side.

I don't claim the problem is easy, but I know second-hand that what users want and what AI projects solve for may be two very different X.

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

#332
post #204

I really hope this new Maps updates with new addresses better. The place I am living in now is about 18 months old. Google added the address in about 8 months ago, Apple still has not. People who use Apple maps and put in my address end up with an address clear on the other side of town. Pretty much everyone just trusts map apps, so this has been pretty annoying. I now have to give out my address and warn people to n…

In this case I would send the actual GPS coordinates of my home.

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

#333
post #194
post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Any idea why they haven't / are there plans to add cycle routes in the future? It seems like a glaring hole in functionality (more than "street view")

I suspect it may be california-centrism. Bikes are a vital mode in Europe and many other parts of the road. In california car is king, bikes are either recreational or for hardcore commutes. You can see similar assumptions in how Siri is designed. (“Users only speak one language at a time”) or the effectiveness of multilanguage support in autocorrect. Most people outside north america use their own language + english…

Counterpoint: google has bike directions and exists in California.

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

#334

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Google Maps has speed limits, police and other warnings. Been there for at least a few months now. Not sure how accurate they are as I doubt they have as much engagement/reporting as Waze.

Doesn't this info come from Waze?

I'm not sure about the initial data, but I get popups while driving using Google Maps when I pass things asking questions like "is it still there"?

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

#335

I enjoy how they keep saying private as a f you to Google Maps. I’ll give Maps a try again, the privacy is a good enticement for me.

I had google assistant turned off but every now and then when using maps my phone would say out loud something like "Sorry I don't know how to help with ".

I couldn't find an easy way to turn it off in the app. All directions online lead to options that were already off. So like other users I had to restrict microphone access to google services entirely.

I have no idea if it's still listening.

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

#336

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Google maps near me is riddled with advertisements now. Promoted pins or whatever they call it. Of course, it’s for stores that I won’t ever have a need to visit.

My favorite feature of Google maps is asking how i rate the directions before I get there. You know, right at the last mile while you're still trying to get where you're going.

My favourite is sending me through a $6 toll to save 2 minutes.

Sorry we're not all on valley pay rates here Google ;)

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

#337

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> you're imposing your personal values on consumers who demonstrate their willingness to exchange personal data for free services every day. Are they demonstrating their willingness, or do they simply not understand that there is a choice to be made? Considering the trivial difference in mapping performance in most places, I doubt most people would be willing to give up their privacy in exchange for saving a few seco…

There have been so many opportunities for a grassroots pro-privacy movement to develop, and yet there isn't one. Devastating hacks (Target, Yahoo), election interference (CambridgeAnalytica), and yet nothing. Acting as if people are unaware of data collection is disingenuous. If you told the average facebook user how much facebook and its third-party partners knew about them, I doubt many of them would stop using the…

You seem pretty disconnected from what normal people see and experience. Ask some random/ non-tech people about those hacks, data-breaches, and what their privacy expectations are when doing basic things like web searches. I guarantee you most people don't know who Cambridge Analytica is and couldn't tell you which major banks/ retailers have been breached.

It's not just ignorance, but a sense of helplessness. People don't feel in control and don't have any clue how they might reduce what data leaks out in their daily lives. The thing is, they are absolutely right.

I know and understand a lot of this stuff and I don't feel like I'm in control of my data. Even if you take precautions, Google and Facebook track your progress across the web. If you don't use Google Maps, Google still tracks your location using your IP address for network calls (often when you aren't deliberately connecting to Google services) and both Google and Facebook have been slurping up people's purchase history through credit card companies.

How is someone who doesn't have a clue about this stuff supposed to exert any control or choice when the people attacking their privacy out-gun them so thoroughly?

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

#338
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…

....what are you talking about? This is just an update on yet another closed platform. If apple cared about elevating the discipline and righting the abuses of big tech with their mapping app they'd partner with OpenStreetMap and make the data public rather than continuing to silo all the data about you and everyone around you. Instead we're continuing the closed source data gathering land rush and trying to beat goo…

My understanding is that Bing, Apple, and Here have all already been working with Open Street Map for years now.

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

#339

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, which means that the person you are responding may have had new data already from the old rollout. Not sure what are you trying to say from this comment.

I interpreted "Doesn't necessarily mean EVERYONE is getting new data TODAY" to mean that they don't have new data at all. My original comment was a reference to the "the last two years" of the GP, suggesting that their experience will be different now than 2 years ago. Perhaps in the last year it was already different and still not good enough, or perhaps it wasn't different yet and now it will be so the two year old…

I meant this to imply that my experience likely did not include the new data or experience or whatever they updated. I’m always cheering for a really good G Maps alternative and will give Apple Maps another shot

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

#340

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's the nice thing with OpenStreetMap & mapping services using data from it. You can just register to OSM and fix the data and that's it. The OSM interface will update almost instantly while services based on OSM data will get the fix once they do their next data update.

What’s to protect against false/bad/malicious data?

OSM edits have been an "optimistic lock" -- changes are deemed good until they are proven not good.. all changes in OSM have an author ID associated, so that they can search and "rollback" bad changes.. it has been that way since the beginning..

post-New York renamed and a few other embarrassments, there are new steps added for verification, by some workflows, but it is in transition AFAIK

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