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Google Maps' advantage over Apple Maps

blog.telemapics.com

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Re: Google Maps' advantage over Apple Maps

#121

Post by 6ren »

> [if you follow] Google’s attempts at developing a quality mapping service, you will notice that they initially tried to automate the entire process and failed miserably, as Apple has.

And they can improve, as Google did. But customers are very forgiving of mistakes and iteration when your product is the first and best (so far); plus, Apple's key branding is quality.

> Apple lacks the ability to mine vast amounts of local search data, as Google was able to do when it started its mapping project

This is an interesting competitive advantage Google has that is really really hard to beat. Similar to what Facebook has. But... perhaps Apple also has data? e.g. from Siri queries? They can certainly gather it now, now that their mapping app is being used.

Re: Google Maps' advantage over Apple Maps

#122

Post by saurik »

RobotCaleb wrote: post #107
saurik wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

1) Many other companies have succeeded at getting social to work: Ping did not; do you use Ping? I explicitly go into the story with regards to Ping. I know of no one who considers Ping a success. http://www.powayiliad.com/2011/01/itunes-ping-an-apple-failu... http://www.buzzfeed.com/scott/ping-fail-5-reasons-to-avoid-j... Even Apple considers Ping a failure, so I'm really not certain where you are trying to go with…

I don't realize who he's talking to. Why do you assume everyone knows who you are?

If nothing else, I consider it a "common courtesy" to do minimal research into people (comment history, Google search) with whom I am communicating: it lets me get a feel for their level of language fluency, a sense of context for interpreting their values, and a better respect that the other person is actually a "person".

I personally believe that not doing this (either caused by not finding it important, or by an endemic challenge to the action by the communication medium), and not anonymity (as many people in the "use real names" debate claim) is what causes commenting community chaotic collapse (of the form of YouTube, 4chan, and random blogs).

Re: Google Maps' advantage over Apple Maps

#123

Post by robomartin »

The real question is: How many Apple users or would-be Apple users consider mapping to be critically important?

This could be a very interesting case study on sales of an otherwise great product being hurt by a move that cripples a critically important element of said product.

I've already met several people with iPhone 4's (or older) who said they are not upgrading to either iOS6 or iPhone 5 because of the mapping issue. I am part of that group as well. I'll have to buy an iPhone 5 for development purposes but I don't think I'll have it as my primary phone until the whole maps business is sorted out.

Mapping seems to be one of those things that you can't design your way around. In other words, nobody cares about beautiful inaccurate maps. This could be one of the first challenges on Apples's desk that can't be solved with cute commercials and pretty design. It has to be good and at least equal to, if not better than, Google's offering.

Regrettably sometimes the only way to get good at something is to start doing it. At first you'll probably suck at it but, with time and effort, you'll get better and better. This is Apple getting on that path to excelling at mapping. It'll take time. There's no doubt that they have the financial resources to make it happen. Now it is about execution.

Re: Google Maps' advantage over Apple Maps

#124

Post by stcredzero »

kristianc wrote: post #78
bambax wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Jobs didn't exactly lack "cajones" but there were other approaches than just "no maps at all" - try to make the deal with Google happen; Apple has so much money it's hard to understand why they couldn't buy their way into Google Maps for another year or two - make a deal with someone else (Microsoft / Bing Maps, other map provider) while still working on their own, in-house solution It's great that Apple decided to b…

You obviously don't remember the first iPhone.

I bought it. It was an MVP. The M stands for Minimal. The V stands for Viable. I still have it and note that Maps in iOS 3 over EDGE is more responsive and slicker looking than Maps in iOS 5.

Re: Google Maps' advantage over Apple Maps

#125

Post by akldfgj »

zenocon wrote: post #29

> My overall view of the companies that it (Apple) has assembled to create its application is that they are, as a whole, rated “C-grade” suppliers. This just amazes me. For the longest time there were really only two suppliers of data: Tele Atlas and NAVTEQ. Everything else wasn't worth touching b/c the quality sucked. Then Google collected their own in their little cars and stopped paying suppliers. I'm not sure why…

How does Google get satellite view data without suppliers?

Re: Google Maps' advantage over Apple Maps

#126

Post by Splines »

yock wrote: post #100

What is most amusing to me about this whole thing is that two weeks ago The Atlantic published[0] an article offering incredible insight into just how much effort goes into making Google's maps so good. Was it already too late at that point for Apple to see this and think that maybe they hadn't thought this thing through? The only alternatives I can think of are blindingly foolish. Either they thought they engineered…

We don't know about what the negotiations were like between Apple and Google.

Given that the Youtube app was also pulled, there's probably some political maneuverings going on. Google pretty much pulled the rug out from under Apple's feet (whether this was Google taking their ball and going home, or Apple's hubris we don't know). If Apple doesn't provide a coherent story in the next few weeks/months, this may actually have a bottom-line impact on the iPhone 5 and iOS6.

Re: Google Maps' advantage over Apple Maps

#127

Post by zem »

blrgeek wrote: post #38
spinchange wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For the most valuable company on earth, with more cash reserves in the bank than the entire value of most companies? Google has street view cars roaming the planet. I think Apple could do more human QA if it was a priority.

> I think Apple could do more human QA if it was a priority. Only if they realized it. It took Google 3 years to realize that they couldn't solve it algorithmically.

if you and i know that google tried for three years and then realised humans were needed, why would you think the people over at apple do not?

Re: Google Maps' advantage over Apple Maps

#128

Post by laumars »

prawks wrote: post #84
raldi wrote: post #82

I'm sorry, but can someone paste the part of this article where Google announces anything about 400 years? I can't find it.

I'm thinking it's a ploy to get people to read yet another criticism of Apple's new maps. We get it, they're bad. EDIT: Frankly, I think it's pretty hilarious this article is so long and formal.

God I hate clickbait.

Thanks for the warning though

Re: Google Maps' advantage over Apple Maps

#129

Post by 0x006A »

agumonkey wrote: post #73
0x006A wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

the decision to switch to there own maps was made while jobs was around. its also not the first time apple replaces a product with an inferior option and insists its better, final cut pro x comes to mind.

Didn't they address user concerns with a .1 upgrade or was it a placebo pill ?

nothing really changed with .1, they added some placebo fixes, like xml import/export (except that its a new xml format that only represents trivial edits and thus is useless).

Re: Google Maps' advantage over Apple Maps

#130

Post by glenra »

cookiecaper wrote: post #50
skeletonjelly wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I thought Apple did have a relationship with Tomtom for this?

Yes, you're apparently right: http://www.engadget.com/2012/06/11/apple-tomtom-ios-6-maps/ I'm not sure what all that deal entails, so it's hard to say whether it could have been better executed upon, other than to say it's clearly not ready yet. I find it hard to believe, however, that all of the incorrect placement of destinations and, in some cases, even the inclusion of destinations that have not existed for decad…

TomTom is pretty good at directing you to a street address but is just terrible in terms of finding local destinations. I did a ~2000 mile road trip a few months ago and several times that I was looking for something specific I couldn't find it or found the wrong thing using TomTom. It turned out the best workflow was to look something up in Google Maps, get the address from Google, type that address into TomTom, and let TomTom direct me to that address.
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