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Nokia 'Here Map' arrives at the App Store

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Re: Nokia 'Here Map' arrives at the App Store

#14
post #2

Let's hope Google Maps for iOS will be released soon now. I had trouble not chuckling at Google not releasing it after the Maps debacle, but fundamentally I think it's doing a disservice to the Google brand and it's customers in general.

Supposedly it wasn't ready.

The Apple / Google maps deal had a year or so still to run so apparently Google were taken by surprise that Apple pulled the existing app when they did.

Re: Nokia 'Here Map' arrives at the App Store

#16
post #10

Much better than Apple Maps, but still: * The Hayward Gallery is in the wrong place: http://here.net/united-kingdom/london/museum/hayward-gallery... * Searching for "Dover Castle" goes to the Castle in Dover rather than the pub And the non-Retina resolution tiles are annoying. Do Nokia's high-resolution phones get the same tiles?

Still has my closest grocery store listed as "Albertson's." At least it found the store, which took some coaxing from Apple Maps. It also finds 1 California Street in SF, which Apple Maps failed at a few weeks ago. I note that the pinch gesture behaves in an atypical way. It's more of a "pure zoom" and has no scroll at all, which is kind of a pain.

Re: Nokia 'Here Map' arrives at the App Store

#17
post #3

Interface is a bit rough and appears rushed - hard to tap on some targets, keeps resetting to current location when moving in and out of the app. The live traffic information doesn't seem as up to date as Apple Maps. Nice to have actual locations available compared to the sparse Apple Maps.

Agreed. The entire map view (including location dot, paths and markers) seems to be rendered in half resolution on Retina devices. Public transport in London seems to work very well, and the Underground overlay is a nice feature. I will be using this for the time being.

How did this get past QA? It looks terrible on any retina device (every Apple flagship).

Re: Nokia 'Here Map' arrives at the App Store

#19
post #2

Let's hope Google Maps for iOS will be released soon now. I had trouble not chuckling at Google not releasing it after the Maps debacle, but fundamentally I think it's doing a disservice to the Google brand and it's customers in general.

Supposedly it wasn't ready. The Apple / Google maps deal had a year or so still to run so apparently Google were taken by surprise that Apple pulled the existing app when they did.

Do you happen to have a source for this? I've always heard (via offhand comments, admittedly) that the deal was done and Google wasn't surprised.

Re: Nokia 'Here Map' arrives at the App Store

#20
post #10

Much better than Apple Maps, but still: * The Hayward Gallery is in the wrong place: http://here.net/united-kingdom/london/museum/hayward-gallery... * Searching for "Dover Castle" goes to the Castle in Dover rather than the pub And the non-Retina resolution tiles are annoying. Do Nokia's high-resolution phones get the same tiles?

How is it much better than Apple's maps app? It's just a thin wrapper over Nokia's web site (here.net), and for my location the data is worse and there's no satellite imagery at all. Directions are far more limited (public transport routing isn't even available in the UK) and the UI completely unintuitive (how do I start a route?)

I would welcome a superior maps app to Apple, however just putting a thin wrapper over your existing website isn't going to cut the mustard compared with a slick and native app like Apple's. I'm not sure even Google can match Apple's maps experience, although their superiority with data will make the bigger difference.

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