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

The Amazing iOS 6 Maps

theamazingios6maps.tumblr.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

371–380 of 384 posts

Re: The Amazing iOS 6 Maps

#371

Post by cageface »

ryannielsen wrote: post #302
spitx wrote: post #287

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think it was the MobileMe team he humiliated and necked out of the door. Part of Apple lore. Now everybody knows that Apple's history with cloud-based initiatives have been less than stellar, and no time was that more clear than during Apple's klunky MobileMe rollout a few years ago. Server down time and extremely slow loading times had many wondering how Apple let a product that seemed beta at best roll out to the…

I know many people who were and are on that team, and am well familiar with the described meeting. That meeting doesn't change the fact that Apple shipped MobileMe while SJ was CEO. It was a bad product that had a horrendous launch; SJ could have delayed the launch or killed the product, but didn't. Jobs was a marvelous CEO, but Apple made many missteps – some larger than the current uproar over iOS 6 maps app – whil…

The one big difference here though is that it's very hard to tell if a cloud service is ready before you subject it to real traffic.

A lot of the problems people are having with maps seem glaringly obvious and a lot of developers were raising red flags on this during the iOS 6 beta.

Re: The Amazing iOS 6 Maps

#372

Post by nkassis »

alexqgb wrote: post #324
beedogs wrote: post #318

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Except for the hairline cracking at the corners that happened to most of them.

I'm sorry, but the Cube is the single most important and consequential machine Apple ever made. Its design cues pervade everything from their flagship store to the individual keys on the keyboard on which I'm typing this. Nearly everything they've sold in decade-plus since bears the stamp of that glorious and utterly unprecedented machine. It's the entire Jobs/Ive aesthetic and philosophy in one box, a prototype for…

Sorry but I'm not buying that. I can see that squares with rounded corners are everywhere in apple's design. I don't think that comes from the Cube. It was just a result of this love for the rounded corner square.

Re: The Amazing iOS 6 Maps

#373

Post by lwhi »

alexqgb wrote: post #328
andersbreivik wrote: post #325

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is strange. I've never been a Mac person. I've built and modded PCs since I was a teenager. I didn't really remember the Cube and have googled it just now. (back in the day Macs were for oldies who didn't know what the hell they were doing on a computer so Apple products didn't really register with me at the time) My first impressions are that it looks like a plastic rubbish bin. I always loved the G5 tower thou…

Take a slice of that rubbish bin's midsection, and you have the Mac Mini. Tilt that Mac Mini on its side, perforate either end, then add some handles, and you've got the G5. You can play this game with just about everything Apple has sold since this machine was introduced. Virtually all of it has some design cue that can be traced back to the Cube, and no further. It really was the Genesis Box.

Sweet lord, put the jug of juice down son.

Re: The Amazing iOS 6 Maps

#374

Post by lwhi »

Tichy wrote: post #336
SoftwareMaven wrote: post #288

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why should it have been different with a Google maps app shipping with iOS? Because the world of business development is very different from the world of consumer APIs. In a bizdev world, you want SLAs and contractually understood definitions of how both sides will behave. A company like Apple (or Google, Oracle, Microsoft, etc) isn't going to build a core feature of its product on somebody else's technology without…

Is there any indication, anywhere, that Apple had to pay Google for the maps app? Quotations, citations? I really really doubt it, if anything I would expect Apple received money from Google for the privilege of being the preinstalled maps app.

I take it you have a source for this assertion?

Re: The Amazing iOS 6 Maps

#375

Post by greggman »

LnxPrgr3 wrote: post #323
Maascamp wrote: post #114

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think Apple gets a pass here. If they are forcing users onto their product it had better be competitive, no matter how hard it is. Microsoft got so such pass with WP7 and that was an entirely new OS/platform!

Anyone here actually used this version of Maps to find someplace yet? Not just to break it and point and laugh, but to actually use it? I can only see 3D maps as a gimmick, so I can't bring myself to care too much that it's broken. I'm slightly surprised that feature shipped in that state, but meh. What I care about: can it get me where I'm going? It's 2012 and I've still found nothing that can do that without occasi…

It tried to use it today. I'm in Kapaa, HI. I searched for "Bar Acuda" a highly rated and popular restaurant here on Kauai. iOS 6 maps gave me some place in Spain. Tried "Bar Acuda, Kauai" and was told "No Results". Tried iOS 5 with just "Bar Acuda" and it found it first try.

It's not just the quality of the maps that's an issue. It's also the quality of search. Google maps isn't perfect either but on top of having better map data is has better search so for example searching for "gauteir exhibit, sf" actually finds the De Young Museum in San Francisco even though I didn't name the museum nor did I spell the name correctly. IOS6 maps just said "no results"

Re: The Amazing iOS 6 Maps

#376

Post by v0cab »

finkin1 wrote: post #358
ralfd wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't understand your giddyness. It would be better if there would be competition instead of Google having a map monopoly.

I'm of the opinion that many things Apple does stifle competition. This is enhanced by the "Apple can do no wrong" bandwagon.

How do you feel about Samsung's behavior?

Re: The Amazing iOS 6 Maps

#377

Post by jvm »

ryannielsen wrote: post #302
spitx wrote: post #287

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think it was the MobileMe team he humiliated and necked out of the door. Part of Apple lore. Now everybody knows that Apple's history with cloud-based initiatives have been less than stellar, and no time was that more clear than during Apple's klunky MobileMe rollout a few years ago. Server down time and extremely slow loading times had many wondering how Apple let a product that seemed beta at best roll out to the…

I know many people who were and are on that team, and am well familiar with the described meeting. That meeting doesn't change the fact that Apple shipped MobileMe while SJ was CEO. It was a bad product that had a horrendous launch; SJ could have delayed the launch or killed the product, but didn't. Jobs was a marvelous CEO, but Apple made many missteps – some larger than the current uproar over iOS 6 maps app – whil…

At least MobileMe didn't replace some other awesome cloud functionality.

Re: The Amazing iOS 6 Maps

#378

Post by bunnyhero »

rauljara wrote: post #19

The "roller coaster" effects in the 3-d view are my favorite. They've got some smoothing algorithm going, or it wouldn't curve the way it does, but the elevation data must not have a high enough resolution. Google has made this sort of thing look so easy for so long, but it's clearly very hard to get this stuff right. So, I guess it's not that surprising that apple messed up something incredibly hard in their first a…

The 3D view mess-ups are fun to look at but are the most understandable and least unique to Apple. It's not hard to find messed up 3D in Google as well.

Re: The Amazing iOS 6 Maps

#379

Post by bobwaycott »

jronald wrote: post #353
astral303 wrote: post #209

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Where X is a number considerably higher than for Android. Look at the number of years the 3GS has survived and compare that with your average Android phone not getting latest OS updates or any security updates. But I agree that anyone buying a new phone is stuck with iOS 6.

My Motorola droid is able to run Android 4.1 - not a super snappy experience, but it does run. It released in october of 2009. Every feature in 4.1 works on it. I don't have the "fun" apple is pulling with a guessing game on what features work on what phones: http://www.apple.com/ios/feature-availability/ Also, while the 3GS (June 09) is getting ios6, the original ipad (April 2010) is not. Apple will abandon their eq…

> Also, while the 3GS (June 09) is getting ios6, the original ipad (April 2010) is not. Apple will abandon their equipment just as fast if it suits them.

Indeed. I am quite frustrated that my first-gen iPad is, for whatever reason(s), not deemed worthy enough of iOS 6.

Re: The Amazing iOS 6 Maps

#380

Post by saurik »

LnxPrgr3 wrote: post #323
Maascamp wrote: post #114

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think Apple gets a pass here. If they are forcing users onto their product it had better be competitive, no matter how hard it is. Microsoft got so such pass with WP7 and that was an entirely new OS/platform!

Anyone here actually used this version of Maps to find someplace yet? Not just to break it and point and laugh, but to actually use it? I can only see 3D maps as a gimmick, so I can't bring myself to care too much that it's broken. I'm slightly surprised that feature shipped in that state, but meh. What I care about: can it get me where I'm going? It's 2012 and I've still found nothing that can do that without occasi…

For me a killer problem is that it doesn't have access to the massive Google Local place database, so I find myself unable to find the addresses of things I want directions to (making the question of whether I'd get good directions to the destination pointless).

Here are screenshots of an example situation I ran into yesterday, while trying to pick up my iPhone 5 from the UPS Customer Center:

http://cache.saurik.com/tinyimg/ios6upsmap.png

Post reply on HN