Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

The Amazing iOS 6 Maps

theamazingios6maps.tumblr.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

231–240 of 384 posts

Re: The Amazing iOS 6 Maps

#231

Post by laacz »

What actually bothers me the most, is poor quality of iOS6.

It has several bugs (excluding maps and unfortunate wifi bug), which already have affected me and users around me. Some most notable include following.

* Sometimes iTunes update screen does not refresh,

* You can't disable vibration for notifications per application (i love my email in notification center, still - i do not need it to vibrate; in 5.1 it worked).

* Also, phone from time to time vibrates, though nothing has happened (no new notifications or alerts).

* Most annoying one is that they changed keyboard input, so you can't enter special characters (common in Latvian) by holding and swiping left/right. You have to swipe up and then left/right. Makes big deal, when typing.

I know it all will be fixed in 6.0.1, but still - there is visible decline in quality of provided software, which actually makes me very sad as a user.

Re: The Amazing iOS 6 Maps

#232

Post by toyg »

cooldeal wrote: post #208
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!

>Microsoft got so such pass with WP7 and that was an entirely new OS/platform! Well, around tech circles, Apple and Google frequently get more free passes compared to Microsoft. And that's kind of funny because Nokia just put out a comparison with Apple and Google maps to cash in on this hoopla. http://conversations.nokia.com/2012/09/20/benchmarking-mobil...

Nokia acquired Navteq, which was already a top player in the mapping space. For about a year, their horrible S60-based models were selling well because they all had free high-quality mapping apps with turn-by-turn navigation and TomTom directors were shitting their pants.

Then Apple and Google "divorced" while the iPhone was exploding, Google basically stopped improving Maps on iOS (all features went to Android), and here we are today, with the best-selling smartphone falling 5 years behind. Not Apple's finest moment.

Re: The Amazing iOS 6 Maps

#233

Post by protomyth »

misnome wrote: post #89
lbotos wrote: post #28

So I've been seeing all this hatin' on HN this morning so I figured I should check it out on my device. I mapped my commute (1 hour) and the only oddity I saw was the waviness coming off of a bridge. Beyond that Philly's buildings were all rendered correctly and my route was exactly the same as Google maps. YMMV P.S. I must say It was really cool to see Cira Centre (The Amtrak Building) rendered in 3d. http://en.wiki…

Try living somewhere that isn't a big US city. Of course the major population centers are going to be highly worked on. It's elsewhere, that google maps has gotten so good on, that people are complaining about. The satellite imagery is as bad as googles was, but more than six years ago.

For rural ND, it looks like Apple's maps are about 6 - 9 months closer to current.

Re: The Amazing iOS 6 Maps

#234

Post by [deleted] »

r4vik wrote: post #188
zmmmmm wrote: post #175

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 fe…

[deleted]

Re: The Amazing iOS 6 Maps

#235

Post by cooldeal »

eddieplan9 wrote: post #229
ChuckMcM wrote: post #115

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You are probably correct. However if you look at Google's moves in the maps API with respect to charging money the simplest explanation is that Apple and Google could not come to terms on the price for access and so Apple went with 'plan B'. Given the pain Apple is causing Google in its patent assault I don't doubt for a minute that the senior management at Google would have any regrets about 'losing' the Apple map b…

It also reminded me of Apple cutting off Internet Explorer for Mac[1] and went with building Safari. See how that worked out for them (and all devices relying on WebKit). [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_Explorer_for_Mac

True, but Safari was based on KHTML which was being worked on for a long time and was pretty comparable(and even in some cases better) than Firefox and IE at the time. Can you say the same about iOS 6 maps and Google Maps?

Re: The Amazing iOS 6 Maps

#236

Post by mynameishere »

adildoatemybaby wrote: post #154
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.

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.

Don't know if it's any good.

http://www.esri.com/news/releases/10_3qtr/arcgis-ios.html

Re: The Amazing iOS 6 Maps

#237

Post by angryasian »

toyg wrote: post #232
cooldeal wrote: post #208

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Microsoft got so such pass with WP7 and that was an entirely new OS/platform! Well, around tech circles, Apple and Google frequently get more free passes compared to Microsoft. And that's kind of funny because Nokia just put out a comparison with Apple and Google maps to cash in on this hoopla. http://conversations.nokia.com/2012/09/20/benchmarking-mobil...

Nokia acquired Navteq, which was already a top player in the mapping space. For about a year, their horrible S60-based models were selling well because they all had free high-quality mapping apps with turn-by-turn navigation and TomTom directors were shitting their pants. Then Apple and Google "divorced" while the iPhone was exploding, Google basically stopped improving Maps on iOS (all features went to Android), and…

>Google basically stopped improving Maps on iOS

incorrect: maps was an apple app that use google maps service. So it was apple that stopped improving maps on Ios

Re: The Amazing iOS 6 Maps

#238

Post by snogglethorpe »

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…

It's not just "data errors" though. Not only are Apple's maps missing huge amounts of detail in many areas, but are missing entire categories of information.

For instance, in the map of the Shibuya station area in [1], besides the general paucity of detail, note that only roads are considered worth mentioning, although the vast majority of people don't arrive by road. That may fly in Cupertino, but it certainly doesn't fly in Japan. This is not the middle of nowhere—it's one of the most popular places in the largest city in the world, and indeed, is iconic even in the U.S.

The impression one gets is that Apple is way out of its depth here, and given the importance of mapping for smartphone users, that seems a pretty major screwup.

[1] http://www.japanmobiletech.com/2012/09/ios-6-maps-fail-in-ja...

Re: The Amazing iOS 6 Maps

#239

Post by bitcartel »

smikhanov wrote: post #33
rburhum wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Openstreetmap's doesnt address any of the OP's issues. Having built maps for the past 12 years, I know exactly what of each of those issues are about. The blurry images are underlying base layers that drew first and then probably the upper layer timed out when rendering the tile. The curves are caused by elevation measurements that are incorrect (measuring elevation from a satellite involves bouncing from the ground…

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…

Maybe this is as good as it gets.

"Sources tell The Verge that Apple began work on the iOS 6 maps system nearly five years ago"

http://www.theverge.com/2012/9/20/3363914/wrong-turn-apple-i...

Re: The Amazing iOS 6 Maps

#240

Post by Ziomislaw »

rburhum wrote: post #222
grey-area wrote: post #192

Earlier quoted context omitted.

OSM doesn't do 3D For most people the 3D is an amusing toy, not really useful. I'd be happy without it frankly. OSM doesn't do elevation See 3D above OSM doesn't do geocoding They have data for searching on street addresses and towns, and the data is available separately for postcodes etc (TomTom for example will have sold a solution for this to Apple, so they could have gone down that route). Google has this down, a…

>For most people the 3D is an amusing toy, not really useful. I'd be happy without it frankly. The complaints about the "zigzagging" are about the 3D viewer, hence, my comment about 3D. >They have data for searching on street addresses and towns, and the data is available separately for postcodes etc (TomTom for example will have sold a solution for this to Apple, so they could have gone down that route). Google has…

I am offended. How could you mix up GPL with OSM? Is this some kind of a troll? If so it is very bad taste.

OSM data is licensed under ODbL. It has nothing common with those "license terrorists".

Post reply on HN