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Why doesn’t “Look Around” cover more areas?

justinobeirne.com

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Re: Why doesn’t “Look Around” cover more areas?

#11

Post by ardy42 »

pierrebai wrote: post #6
paunchy wrote: post #2

Did anyone actually finish this article? It felt like it was building towards something really interesting but could have used just a bit more editorial discipline.

Sometimes, article have low information/length ratio. This one has a ton information of information, but still fail to satisfy because it has a low point/information ratio. It just rambles on with data points and examples. AFAICT, the points made are: * Apple switched from vans to subarus for data gathering. (IOW, they changed their data acquisition equipment.) * Their new equipment must be better, because Apple seem…

> This one has a ton information of information, but still fail to satisfy because it has a low point/information ratio. It just rambles on with data points and examples.

On his front page, this article appear in this section:

> Research + Updates

> Material for future essays + updates to earlier essays

It honestly reads more like notes than an article.

Re: Why doesn’t “Look Around” cover more areas?

#12

Post by tobr »

ardy42 wrote: post #7
johnfn wrote: post #4

I love this type of article, and the effort put into it - but the main thing I can't help but do is wonder what kind of person is driven to exhaustively research Apple Maps over a 5+ year period.

> I love this type of article, and the effort put into it - but the main thing I can't help but do is wonder what kind of person is driven to exhaustively research Apple Maps over a 5+ year period. I'm under the vague impression that Justin O'Beirne works in this space, so this isn't just a hobby. Can anyone confirm? Edit: this article ( https://www.businessinsider.com/google-maps-vs-apple-maps-ke... ) describes him…

He is also listed on several mapping-related patents for Apple over the past several years.[1] It seems surprisingly un-Apple-y to allow someone in that position to publish articles detailing the flaws in Apple maps, speculate about where they get their data and how the quality problems might affect unannounced future products.

1: https://patents.justia.com/inventor/justin-o-beirne

Re: Why doesn’t “Look Around” cover more areas?

#13

Post by ardy42 »

tobr wrote: post #12
ardy42 wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I love this type of article, and the effort put into it - but the main thing I can't help but do is wonder what kind of person is driven to exhaustively research Apple Maps over a 5+ year period. I'm under the vague impression that Justin O'Beirne works in this space, so this isn't just a hobby. Can anyone confirm? Edit: this article ( https://www.businessinsider.com/google-maps-vs-apple-maps-ke... ) describes him…

He is also listed on several mapping-related patents for Apple over the past several years.[1] It seems surprisingly un-Apple-y to allow someone in that position to publish articles detailing the flaws in Apple maps, speculate about where they get their data and how the quality problems might affect unannounced future products. 1: https://patents.justia.com/inventor/justin-o-beirne

> It seems surprisingly un-Apple-y to allow someone in that position to publish articles detailing the flaws in Apple maps, speculate about where they get their data and how the quality problems might affect unannounced future products.

That tells me he no longer works at Apple. If he did, why would he need to speculate about Apple's internal processes based on what they publicly release? This article (https://www.justinobeirne.com/a-summer-of-google-maps-and-ap...) from 2017 even has him noting hits from Apple's website and tracking how long it took them to correct gaps he outlined.

Those two articles I linked were dated 2016 and 2017. Looking at his website, before that time it seems like he was mostly writing about Google Maps. So maybe he wrote about Google when he was at Apple, then started writing about Apple when he left.

Re: Why doesn’t “Look Around” cover more areas?

#14

Post by tobr »

ardy42 wrote: post #13
tobr wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

He is also listed on several mapping-related patents for Apple over the past several years.[1] It seems surprisingly un-Apple-y to allow someone in that position to publish articles detailing the flaws in Apple maps, speculate about where they get their data and how the quality problems might affect unannounced future products. 1: https://patents.justia.com/inventor/justin-o-beirne

> It seems surprisingly un-Apple-y to allow someone in that position to publish articles detailing the flaws in Apple maps, speculate about where they get their data and how the quality problems might affect unannounced future products. That tells me he no longer works at Apple. If he did, why would he need to speculate about Apple's internal processes based on what they publicly release? This article ( https://www.j…

There’s certainly overlap between the date stamps on his articles and his Apple patents. Not sure if someone might be listed as inventor on a patent filed after they left.

There are probably a lot of teams working on different aspects of the maps, so he wouldn’t automatically be privy to everything because he’s worked on one aspect of the product.

Re: Why doesn’t “Look Around” cover more areas?

#15

Post by [deleted] »

pierrebai wrote: post #6
paunchy wrote: post #2

Did anyone actually finish this article? It felt like it was building towards something really interesting but could have used just a bit more editorial discipline.

Sometimes, article have low information/length ratio. This one has a ton information of information, but still fail to satisfy because it has a low point/information ratio. It just rambles on with data points and examples. AFAICT, the points made are: * Apple switched from vans to subarus for data gathering. (IOW, they changed their data acquisition equipment.) * Their new equipment must be better, because Apple seem…

[deleted]

Re: Why doesn’t “Look Around” cover more areas?

#16

Post by [deleted] »

ardy42 wrote: post #11
pierrebai wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sometimes, article have low information/length ratio. This one has a ton information of information, but still fail to satisfy because it has a low point/information ratio. It just rambles on with data points and examples. AFAICT, the points made are: * Apple switched from vans to subarus for data gathering. (IOW, they changed their data acquisition equipment.) * Their new equipment must be better, because Apple seem…

> This one has a ton information of information, but still fail to satisfy because it has a low point/information ratio. It just rambles on with data points and examples. On his front page, this article appear in this section: > Research + Updates > Material for future essays + updates to earlier essays It honestly reads more like notes than an article.

[deleted]

Re: Why doesn’t “Look Around” cover more areas?

#17

Post by maparticle »

Another great article from this blog!

2017's article from the same author [1] about Goggle Maps' use of photogrammetry and other building scanning techiques was, in my opinion, one of the most interesting HN submissions ever (its comment section[2] is also worth a read).

[1] https://www.justinobeirne.com/google-maps-moat [2] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15965653

Re: Why doesn’t “Look Around” cover more areas?

#18

Post by brundolf »

johnfn wrote: post #4

I love this type of article, and the effort put into it - but the main thing I can't help but do is wonder what kind of person is driven to exhaustively research Apple Maps over a 5+ year period.

I will also say it took way too long to get to the point. Several points that could've been made with 1-2 examples had 5-6. It got a little exhausting.
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