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The Amazing iOS 6 Maps

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Re: The Amazing iOS 6 Maps

#181

Post by DigitalJack »

chmars wrote: post #156
shawnc wrote: post #133

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Does Apple have a Maps program on the Android devices? Are there other Maps programs available on the iOS devices? Saying Apple is 'forcing' users onto their product is a bit much.

As of today, I don't know of any Apple Maps alternatives in the iOS App Store. And switching a mobile platform is neither trivial nor a short-term perspective … I hope Google is busy worki on its own Maps app for iOS — for the time being, Google Maps in Mobile Safari has to do it for me.

There are 100s of navigation apps and almost all have maps, directions, gps integration.

Re: The Amazing iOS 6 Maps

#182

Post by treeface »

Geee wrote: post #136
rictic wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

http://www.google.com/earth/explore/products/

Yes, indeed http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N6Douyfa7l8 This is new development though and only on the Google Earth product for mobile, not in the maps app. Maps app for Android has those blocky untextured 3d buildings in select areas.

Google has had 3D buildings for years. That video is only the latest in a long series of improvements on this feature. The level of detail in that video far exceeds what others are doing, but it's still rolling out throughout this year.

Re: The Amazing iOS 6 Maps

#183

Post by tdfx »

[deleted] wrote: post #108
tdfx wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think that's why he posted the tagline of the article for you.

[deleted]

When you get home from work, please read through this exchange again and see if it makes any sense to you. Grandparent poster was just trying to help you out.

Re: The Amazing iOS 6 Maps

#184

Post by sylvinus »

shawnc wrote: post #133
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!

Does Apple have a Maps program on the Android devices? Are there other Maps programs available on the iOS devices? Saying Apple is 'forcing' users onto their product is a bit much.

iTunes is certainly going to ask people to upgrade without giving them a warning about the Maps downgrade!

Re: The Amazing iOS 6 Maps

#185

Post by hadem »

danparsonson wrote: post #157
shawnc wrote: post #133

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Does Apple have a Maps program on the Android devices? Are there other Maps programs available on the iOS devices? Saying Apple is 'forcing' users onto their product is a bit much.

Yes there are other maps programs available for iOS - the Google Maps app that comes with iOS 4 and 5 is very capable.

That app has been replaced with the Apple Maps. Google maps is only available via the browser in iOS6 (at this time).

Re: The Amazing iOS 6 Maps

#186

Post by hadem »

taligent wrote: post #169
adildoatemybaby wrote: post #154

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're being obtuse, people have money invested in the Apple ecosystem, it's not easy to switch, and no other mapping app will have the iOS integration Maps does. Until a comparable app is available on the OS, yes Apple is forcing users onto their product.

You're not forced to upgrade to iOS6 nor is Apple blocking Google Maps on the browser.

What about the people upgrading phones?

Re: The Amazing iOS 6 Maps

#187

Post by MatthewPhillips »

ChuckMcM wrote: post #150
MatthewPhillips wrote: post #122

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Apple doesn't have a history of dominating any free-to-use services so I'm doubtful that they'll invest beyond the "good enough" threshold. This feels like ReadingList to me.

We'll see [1]. Some people miss the critical bit about maps on phones. Ask yourself, "How can Google make sooo much money on search advertising?" I mean seriously, rounded to the nearest billion they don't have any other businesses. The insight that explains it is that search advertising exploits the fact that the consumer is "looking" and they have what they are looking for "the query". When that signals a possible…

I don't disagree with your assestment of the value in maps advertising. This is why Google acquired Where 2 Technologies years ago, why they had an outstanding Maps app on Android from day 1, and why they have continued to iterate on it more than any of their other applications.

It's also why Apple has waited until now to address it. It's because they are not Google, this is not their core competency. It's a platform hole that has to filled, simple as that. Same as iCloud Mail.

Re: The Amazing iOS 6 Maps

#188

Post by r4vik »

zmmmmm wrote: post #175
chriswarren wrote: post #143

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not known if Maps was removed because of Apple or Google or both. So while there's no choice on having Google's Maps removed in iOS 6, the reason it happend isn't clear. When it came time to renew the contract one or both parties could have made unacceptable demands, leading to the current situation.

Yes, it's interesting how everyone has been assuming Apple booted Google off of iOS as an act of vindictive retribution. Everybody assumed that Apple's maps would have magical qualities that would leave Google looking second rate. Now that it seems to be the other way around you have to wonder if it was actually Google that pressed the big red button on the maps contract.

I think it's not really a case of who booted who off. I assume that Google wouldn't let Apple have any of the good features like vector maps or turn-by-turn navigation. Google Maps on iOS was already the shittiest mapping app across all platforms. So Apple have replaced it with an even worse alternative but at least it has some headroom to improve vs 2004 Google maps experience which was never going to get any new features.

I think Apple made the right move. Even if Google is 10 years ahead in mapping, the experience you got on the iPhone was Google maps from 2004. So Apple is only 2 years behind 'iOS 5 Google Maps' and given the resources they have to throw at the problem it'll probably improve quicker than that.

Re: The Amazing iOS 6 Maps

#189

Post by tesseractive »

rburhum wrote: post #127
smikhanov wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Apple will have something much better in one year It certainly will be better but I'm not holding my breath about Apple maps surpassing Google Maps any time soon. Google bought a Rasmussen brothers' company (what eventually became Google Maps) in 2004. That's eight years of product development, data collection, storage and refining -- all at Google's pace. Will Apple find some shortcut to compress this time in one-tw…

I meant "much better" than what Apple already has. I don't think it will be easy for them to catch up (it would be absurd to say that they can have something better than Google Maps in such a short time). What bothers me a lot, is that most people blame the data errors to the algorithms or ability of the team to create good software. You can have the best coders in the world, and if they have data that is not good, t…

Personally, I certainly never supposed that the current version of Apple's maps somehow proved that Apple had incompetent people on the problem.

At the same time, Apple has a carefully cultivated history of not shipping half-baked products. They famously worked on tablets for years before they built one that they were happy enough with to ship.

Now, for reasons that the end user surely does not care about, they have taken a product that was missing a key feature or two (navigation, street view) and replaced it with something that is much less reliable even for its fundamental task.

Yes, making a really good mapping application is hard, and requires many people on the ground, around the world. So either you need to make the commitment to do what it takes to deliver that app, or you should outsource the whole thing, and use Nokia Maps or Bing Maps or whatever. The third alternative -- doing it yourself and shipping it to end users before it's ready and without having done all the due diligence -- is likely to be embarrassing.

Re: The Amazing iOS 6 Maps

#190

Post by jasonlotito »

DigitalJack wrote: post #181
chmars wrote: post #156

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As of today, I don't know of any Apple Maps alternatives in the iOS App Store. And switching a mobile platform is neither trivial nor a short-term perspective … I hope Google is busy worki on its own Maps app for iOS — for the time being, Google Maps in Mobile Safari has to do it for me.

There are 100s of navigation apps and almost all have maps, directions, gps integration.

And can be set as the default app so when I click on a location, it takes me to that location without forcing me to jump through hoops in copying the text, and then clicking over and eventually pasting it? You know, like it was in iOS5?

Awesome!

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