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IOS Maps and China

anthonydrendel.com

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Re: IOS Maps and China

#11

Post by jeremymims »

Meanwhile, searching for a Broadway address a few blocks away from the Manhattan Apple Store in SoHo led to directions to Broadway in Brooklyn, NY.

I've used Apple products since 1993 (Centris 610) and even owned a Powerbook G3 trapped on ADB and a G4 Cube. I've put up with all sorts of weirdness from Apple over the years.

The point of technology is to help you do your job better. I saw my future of late meetings, getting lost on my way to meet clients in towns I've never seen, and missing flights during my travels.

I turned around and walked out without a new iPhone 5.

Re: IOS Maps and China

#12

Post by matthewrudy »

amartya916 wrote: post #10
matthewrudy wrote: post #6

For most of the prefecture level cities I've searched for I find nothing. Kunming, Maoming, Sanya, Zhanjiang, Nanning, Nanchang, ... It's only the big international cities like Beijing, Shanghai, Wuhan, Guangzou, Shenzhen, that appear.

I think if you view that data from outside China, it's not visible. That is, the details show up only while searching from within China.

That'd be an interesting feature. Beijing, Shanghai, and such do show up from the UK. I will have to check the others when I get back to the big CN.

Re: IOS Maps and China

#13

Post by Bud »

chaz wrote: post #3

I zoomed in on the area around the author's location and I'm seeing a fair amount of detail surfacing, as well as most of the same locations that are visible on the iOS 6 map. Is it possible that Apple is showing more detail farther away whereas Google requires a tighter zoom? http://goo.gl/maps/ZQSzI

Even if that's the only advantage Apple's maps are offering in this instance (and it does not appear to be, to me...the locations on the Apple version seem more correctly and specifically identified), that is still a real and substantive advantage, since it means that Apple is presenting the data more efficiently. It (potentially) means there is more space in their layout to show more items in a given area at a given zoom level.

Re: IOS Maps and China

#14

Post by spitx »

>"I'm talking about those of us who live in China (you know, the place with 1.3+ billion people and the second-largest economy in the world)."

This claim is preposterous. There are 1.241 billion in India and Hindi is not even supported in the ios6.

http://i.cubeupload.com/kTSpGM.jpg

As others have pointed out, the granularity on Google Maps is not one bit poorer.

http://i.cubeupload.com/3Dj8kk.jpg

Google seems to be using AutoNavi as well, for this region.

http://i.cubeupload.com/EqvYMX.jpg

I don't know what your're talking about.

Make an effort to be elaborate.

As the late Richard Holbrooke used to say: "Know something about something. Don’t just present your wonderful self to the world. Constantly amass knowledge and offer it around."

Re: IOS Maps and China

#15

Post by AllenKids »

I'm in China right now, and yes Google Maps is shit, at least in China. The AutoNav Maps iOS 6 utilizes is quite a bit better.

That been said, in China the one map you have to beat is Baidu, and I see Apple still have a long way to go.

Re: IOS Maps and China

#17

Post by pooriaazimi »

skeletonjelly wrote: post #16

Sorry can you fix the title to "iOS" not "IOS" please? They paid a lot of money to Cisco, might as well distinguish and get some branding value!

He can't, because of HN's stupid auto-capitalization.

But fortunately, there's a hack: change it to " iOS ..." (an space at the beginning)

Re: IOS Maps and China

#18

Post by olalonde »

dageshi wrote: post #7

Of more interest to me would be whether the apple maps are being deliberately offset like the google ones are. You can't accurately use GPS with google maps in China because the map tiles are shifted by some arbitrary amount. https://productforums.google.com/forum/?fromgroups=#!topic/m... You can see it very clearly if you visit the Hong Kong/Shenzhen border on google maps and toggle between map & satellite, the bord…

It is apparently required by the Chinese government, see comment thread here: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4548840

Re: IOS Maps and China

#19

Post by jeromeflipo »

Is there any difference between those two maps? It seems that all Apple's POIs are on Google Maps, except with bigger font and symbols. Also, the Apple Maps screenshot shows a maps that is more zoomed in.

It also looks like Apple shows the local translations of the roads and POIs names - contrary to Google Maps, but this difference could be from the language preference of the app or OS?

Seriously, who would make a judgment based on those mere screenshots?

I wish http://41latitude.com was back online. It had the best maps comparisons every published, but Justin O'Beirne closed it when he joined Apple's Maps team few years ago.

Re: IOS Maps and China

#20

Post by jeromeflipo »

Is there any difference between those two maps? It seems that all Apple's POIs are on Google Maps, except with bigger font and symbols. Also, the Apple Maps screenshot shows a maps that is more zoomed in.

It also looks like Apple shows the local translations of the roads and POIs names - contrary to Google Maps, but this difference could be from the language preference of the app or OS?

Seriously, who would make a judgment based on those mere screenshots?

I wish http://41latitude.com was back online. It had the best maps comparisons every published, but Justin O'Beirne closed it when he joined Apple's Maps team few years ago.

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