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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

#411

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Driving over the posted limit is not dangerous on most roads.

Driving over the posted speed limit can appear safe when it definitely is not. My morning commute involves a blind left turn out of a residential street. Cars parked on the curb obstruct my view of oncoming traffic in the right lane. This isn't a problem when that traffic observes the 35 mph speed limit. I've had far too many close calls with self-centered jerks driving 55 mph in that lane. Sporty sedans are impossib…

If you can't see well enough to turn safely, you can't turn. Making a left into a lane of traffic, you do not have right of way. We have a similar visibility problem with parked cars near our driveway and our municipality allows for a certain amount of yellow paint on curbs adjacent to driveways, specifically for visibility. People generally respect it, or at least park further than before the paint. I'd encourage investigating if this is an option where you live.

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

#412
post #263
post #237

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I love the idea of switching from Waze, which is increasingly frustrating and wrong. The problem is that having the speed traps and radar sites on there is just too crucial to give up. I've never found a replacement that does that.

Maybe it's a good opportunity for you to start following speed limits and stop risking everyone's life :)

This would be a great idea if speed limits were set by any plausibly reasonable process, but in truth they are set arbitrarily and capriciously.

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

#413
post #237

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I love the idea of switching from Waze, which is increasingly frustrating and wrong. The problem is that having the speed traps and radar sites on there is just too crucial to give up. I've never found a replacement that does that.

The speed traps and radar are now showing up in Google Maps in Australia for me it’s great and very accurate. I have no idea who puts the markers there.

Pretty sure it comes from the Waze users; Google owns both.

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

#414

Earlier quoted context omitted.

After using Waze for over a couple of years, I really started getting the impression that I was just a data pawn in a bunch of A/B tests -- like send this one down that route, send that one down the other way & see what happens.

Absolutely sure Google Maps A/B tests routes too. Even when sitting next to each other in the same car, Google Maps suggests radically different routes to the same destination on my wife’s phone than it does on mine, often with a 15+ min difference in arrival time. It must be testing different routing algorithms as otherwise they should be the same.

I think routing is one of those computationally expensive problems (possibly np-complete) to solve. As a result, there's a bunch of clever non-deterministic approaches that get you "pretty good" answers, but depending on the implementation can produce variable results.

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

#415

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Why should Apple give away their improvements? I’m genuinely curious why you think they should do this.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_Database_License Because they would be legally obligated to when using OSM as a base for anything. Also, because it would benefit society.

Why don’t you work for free? That would also benefit society. Be the change you want to see in the world.

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

#416

I'd been using Waze for a couple of years, and initially it was far superior to Apple Maps. But a few months back, I got really frustrated with it because it led me down some closed roads & ended up doubling my commute time home from work that day. I'd also been noting how off it was on its estimates on when I'd get to my destination. And I was also perturbed by it not knowing the back street entrance to my work site…

Same here. The other night I needed to drive from East Bay to SFO in the rain, and Apple Maps said it was going to take me 43 minutes with an ETA of 7:27PM. I ended up pulling into the parking garage at 7:28PM. Despite the rain and the red bridge traffic, the estimate was almost perfect. In my experience, it's almost always within a few minutes of correct.

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

#417
post #412
post #263

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe it's a good opportunity for you to start following speed limits and stop risking everyone's life :)

This would be a great idea if speed limits were set by any plausibly reasonable process, but in truth they are set arbitrarily and capriciously.

This would be a great idea if speed limits were set by any plausibly reasonable process, but in truth they are set arbitrarily and capriciously.

Demonstrably untrue. There is an entire very technical industry for this sort of thing. People who take an interest in their communities and go to planning and city council meetings know this. Those who are not involved their communities just complain and blame it on The Man out to get them.

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

#418
post #348

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Interesting, I do a lot of backcountry with no cell and have mostly relied on old style maps turned to PDFs and downloaded or various OSM apps, this looks up my alley. One question though I often have for membership programs: how does it apply to families? I very much value all 4 of us in my household having the ability to share key apps and data, particularly for something that has safety applications. I see you hav…

You can share a Membership as long as you don't mind sharing the username/password combo. You'll all end up recording your data to the same account, if you record tracks, photos, etc. Your family might not need a Membership at all though - that's only if you need to download maps for offline use, or if you want to use different map sources... Gaia Topo and all the features besides mass-downloading are free.

>that's only if you need to download maps for offline use

Well yeah that's pretty critical (particularly as a differentiator vs Apple Maps). I'm in northern New England, huge portions of north NY and VT/NH/ME have no cell coverage at all. Let alone Canada. Online maps are nearly useless not just for hiking and general backcountry work but even regular driving to job sites. My own town has no cell at all downtown, not just "no LTE", no cell coverage period. If you've ever looked at coverage maps the phone companies put out showing huge areas all nicely lit, know that they are flagrant lies that are finally even getting government attention. If you're interested, first search result article that came up is one from last year on VT going ahead and actually spending 6 weeks driving around the whole state testing themselves:

https://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/story/news/local/vermont...

A touch different then what the cell companies claimed :).

Thank you very much for the reply though! It's good to know that, with the caveat of no individual profiles, an account could be shared around a bit without getting auto banned; I know some services do track that. FWIW, might be worth considering as a some-day feature to have a cut-down version of your Teams offering or a bundle as an official Family Plan, for a bit more money than standard with "up to 6" (or 5 or whatever) profiles. At any rate though, good to have more options to consider in mapping.

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

#419
The only thing I detest about Apple Maps is that during navigation they got rid of the North up view. I feel that anything but north up is complete gibberish. I literally can’t recognize my own neighborhood if the map is originated beyond 10 or so degrees off north.

I don’t believe anyone ever holds up an actual paper map and ever rotates it to any orientation other than north up. So why are digital maps so obsessed with non-north up.

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

#420

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As recently as a month ago apple maps sent my coworker miles from his destination to a very bad part of town. It is still pretty bad.

So… your friend entered the wrong address?

Not necessarily. Apple Maps sometimes has problems with street addresses that start with compass directions.

You enter 1234 East Main Street and it sends you to 1234 West Main Street.

I've had this happen to me multiple times in both Minneapolis and Albuquerque. Strangely, it only seems to happen while in foot, not while driving.

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