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Apple, Google: Battle of the Cloud Maps

Posted by timothy on from the what-about-open-street-maps? dept.

Nerval's Lobster writes "Google has sent invitations for a June 6 event in which it will apparently unveil 'The Next Dimension of Google Maps.' Meanwhile, rumor suggests Apple is preparing its own mapping service for iOS devices. The escalating battle over maps demonstrates the importance of cloud apps to tech companies' larger strategies." I only wish my phone would hold by default the X-million data points that my outmoded (but cheap and functional) dedicated GPS device does, without quite so much cloud-centric bottlenecking, and leave all expensive data use for optional overlays and current conditions.

17 of 179 comments (clear)

  1. Google Maps Gripes by EvanED · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I just wish that Google would learn some lessons about 2D cartography. Like how to mark toll roads and stuff.

    It's kind of frustrating because Google maps is really good at local stuff (zoom in to see individual business names and stuff, and of course street view) but other services are a lot better once you're looking at a range beyond a few blocks.

    1. Re:Google Maps Gripes by afidel · · Score: 3, Informative

      Err, what? The turn by turn directions will tell you what section are tolls and even allows you to avoid toll roads. This even works with google maps mobile. The two features I wish GMM had are cache along route (caching the tileset around a specific point is a start but it needs to be able to do it along an entire route). and route override (ie drag and drop route placement, sometimes I know a certain part of a route won't work and the only way to do this with GMM is to pre-plan the route on the PC and save it).

      --
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    2. Re:Google Maps Gripes by EvanED · · Score: 4, Interesting

      I'm not talking about the turn-by-turn directions, I'm talking about the maps. Quick, where are the toll roads? How 'bout now? Or now?

      I guess if you just enter in a start and end into Google maps and blindly follow whatever comes out it works fine, but if you want to scan around for alternate routes (hint: Google doesn't pick the best route for going through Chicago from east-to-west or vice versa) or just want to look around at maps, that's not good enough.

    3. Re:Google Maps Gripes by Excelsior · · Score: 3, Informative

      Caching the route does work. At least it does on every Android phone I've owned. When you drive through parts of the southwest United States, you often travel for hundreds of miles with no cell coverage at all. Google Maps keeps chugging along, as long as I don't end navigation on my current route.

    4. Re:Google Maps Gripes by Austerity+Empowers · · Score: 4, Interesting

      In some cities the toll for tunnels is >$10, people do all sorts of weird things to avoid it.

    5. Re:Google Maps Gripes by shellbeach · · Score: 3, Insightful

      You can already precache a 10km square area around any point (saved permanently) plus cache 150 Mb of rolling data. That's been good enough for me to travel everywhere I've wanted so far (including a five month backpacking trip last year).

      Yes, it would be great to have continent maps available for download, but the current options are a lot better than nothing.

    6. Re:Google Maps Gripes by TheRaven64 · · Score: 4, Interesting

      I've been using OSMAnd since I got my current phone, and it's so much more useful than Google Maps that comparing them is a joke. The map data (from OSM) has been better in every city I've visited. For example, visiting a friend in Paris, OSM had his building numbered and marked the bank and bakery nearby so it was trivial to find even without GPS. Google Maps just about had the roads labelled. In Brussels, the roads have three names: the one in French, the one in Dutch, and the one on Google Maps. The OSM data had all three. Oh, and the hotel I was staying in was labelled on OSM, while Google Maps thought it was about 100m away from where it really was. Looking for a tango class in Swansea, the building was labelled in OSM, but Google Maps didn't even show the road that it was on. In Cambridge, all of the college and university buildings and cycle paths are labelled on OSM, Google Maps just about manages to label the big university sites and the roads.

      OSMand lets you download vector data, so it works fine with no network connection. I've got about 1GB of map data on my phone currently, covering England, Wales, Belgium and the north of France. It can do route finding either online or on the phone. The latter uses quite a lot of memory for longer routes (it's still marked as an experimental feature), but aside from that works very well. Getting to know my way around Cambridge was made very easy by having a navigation aid that understood all of the cycle routes.

      --
      I am TheRaven on Soylent News
  2. I have a feeling by rat7307 · · Score: 3, Interesting

    ...it will be a battle in name only.

    apple are highly unlikely to put out an API for other to use as they wish like Google did.

    While GMaps might take a back-seat on iOS, it will still be by far the most dominant system out there unless Apple allow use outside of the iOSphere.

    At the end of the day if it's only available on iOS and Mac then it's essentially on a minority of devices on what is now a minority platform.

    Still, it no doubt will have Google scrambling to bring us more cool stuff, so it's win-win all round.

    --
    Burma?
  3. Nokia by Fnord666 · · Score: 4, Informative

    I only wish my phone would hold by default the X-million data points that my outmoded (but cheap and functional) dedicated GPS device does, without quite so much cloud-centric bottlenecking, and leave all expensive data use for optional overlays and current conditions.

    You mean like any number of Nokia phones that support the free OVI Maps application?

    --
    'The tyrant will always find pretext for his tyranny.' - Aesop's Fables
    1. Re:Nokia by JaredOfEuropa · · Score: 4, Informative

      Or any of the non-free but still relatively cheap navigation apps for Android or iPhone, like TomTom or Navigon, to name a few?

      --
      If construction was anything like programming, an incorrectly fitted lock would bring down the entire building...
  4. Not all functionality has to be built-in by perpenso · · Score: 3, Informative

    I only wish my phone would hold by default the X-million data points that my outmoded (but cheap and functional) dedicated GPS device does, without quite so much cloud-centric bottlenecking, and leave all expensive data use for optional overlays and current conditions.

    There is an app for that, seriously there are multiple apps for that. Decent maps built-in. More detailed ones, including topo, available via free download.

    Not all functionality has to come from Apple, or whoever is doing the OS and built-in apps, some things can be left to third parties.

  5. Re:faggot nigger dick in your mom's loose cunt by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    What the holy hell? Did 4chan just spring a leak?

  6. Caching by LoudMusic · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I only wish my phone would hold by default the X-million data points that my outmoded (but cheap and functional) dedicated GPS device does, without quite so much cloud-centric bottlenecking, and leave all expensive data use for optional overlays and current conditions.

    No shit dude. I have a fucking 32GB phone of which I'm using about 3GB. The thing I use more than anything is Google Maps. If it's downloaded something, why does it ever delete it? I can cache apparently unlimited 10 mile squares (100 square miles?), but I can't say "Just fucking download the entire state of Iowa" (because, really, who would want to?).

    But I suppose they're getting there. Slowly.

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  7. Don't you get it? by flatulus · · Score: 3, Insightful

    The reason they don't make it easy to download an entire map has nothing to do with storage or bandwidth. It has to do with *tracking*.

    Location Based Services -- Since we know where you are, we can suggest you turn right and have a pizza at the restaurant that pays us to steer customers their way. etc... etc... etc...

    Google has a talent for fooling people into thinking that they are offering all these great FREE services out of the goodness of their corporate heart. On the contrary, those services are very profitable, and the way they accomplish all that money making is by knowing a WHOLE HELL OF A LOT about YOU.

    Anyway, it's up to you folks. But don't bitch about not getting the whole free map thing - now that you understand why it is not in Google's or Apple's or Microsoft's (or fill-in-the-blank-megacorp-giving-away-services) to provide them.

    That's my $37.00 worth (I'm old and that's about what 2 cents used to be worth when I was a wee one)

  8. fix the accuracy first by slashmydots · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Google is usually psycho-perfectionist about how their products perform. They still don't quite know where my business is and it's been there for 62 years. The "correction" we submitted now resulted in us being listed 3 times, once at the correct spot, all under slightly different names. I've had it claim it found something and my GPS disagrees and brings me to the correct spot several times as well. That's pretty major as far as problems go and they just can't seem to fix it. I'd focus on that more than anything if I were them.

  9. Offline POI by peterburkimsher · · Score: 5, Interesting

    As a contract job for Galileo (the main offline map for iOS, http://galileo-app.com/ I wrote a parser for the OpenStreetMap data. Those "X-million data points" fill 800 MB in txt.bz2 format, or 8 GB in plain text. That's why they're not provided by default. Anybody interested in parsing the 25 GB OSM planet database can contact me; I'd be happy to help. There are a few awk scripts I wrote that made it quite straightforward, and fast. You can then use BashServer (Cydia) and lighttpd on the phone, with bookmarks added to your home screen, to make an "app". The icon loads a local webpage (127.0.0.1/Scripts/poi.html), which runs Javascript to give a dialog "Enter search terms". Clicking OK triggers BashServer to run the associated shell script to generate a KML with the search results. The script then opens tells iFile to open the KML, which gives a popup asking which application to open it with. Choosing Galileo launches the "Import KML" feature, and your search results are in your offline map! Simple as that ;-).

  10. Re:I do't see Google and Apple being the only play by Kergan · · Score: 3, Funny

    [http://www.digitimes.com] [paywall, sorry]

    Wait... People actually pay to read the BS Apple rumors that digitimes is constantly reporting?