Slashdot Mirror
Revamped Google Maps Finally Available On iOS
hcs_$reboot writes "After the disastrous Apple Maps replacement over Google Maps in September, Google has a Maps app on iOS approved and released by Apple today. The app includes turn-by-turn directions, vector-based graphics and live traffic data. It's available from the Apple Store for iPhone and iPod touch (and iPad — iPhone format)."
Adds reader snowtigger: "It's a sharper looking, vector-based map that loads quickly and provides smooth tilting and rotating of 2D and 3D views. Google also released the Google Maps SDK for iOS, and a simple URL scheme to help developers use Google Maps when building their beautiful and innovative apps. The new Google Maps app is available for the iPhone and iPod Touch (4th gen) iOS 5.1 and higher, in more than 40 countries and 29 languages."
SlashCloud points out that Apple's own maps will be forced to improve as a consequence: "Directions will become more accurate, major towns and landmarks will appear in their proper places. But now that a free, standalone Google Maps app is available for download from Apple’s App Store, will iOS users even give those improving Apple Maps a chance?"
The Apple Maps app honestly never let me down. I know I've read reports of it causing people to go odd places... but cannot say it happened to me.
until this is the most-downloaded app in the store? One day? A few hours?
Yeah. Apparently Apple has finally figured out that killing your customers isn't good business. /snark This is the first time Apple has had to swallow its pride and admit that something they made failed so disasterously that even the Reality Distortion Field created by thousands of spin doctors and lawyers collapsed. They'll probably fix that problem though when they switch to 16nm fabrication though for their chip plants. Battery life and minaturization of lawyers has always been a major shortcoming of their product line.
#fuckbeta #iamslashdot #dicemustdie
Seriously, what were they thinking? Everyone had a solid, universal reason to not buy an iPhone 5 and Google, maker of Android, ruined it. Is a couple thousand dollars in app money really worth failing to crush Apple even worse? Well, regardless, Apple has less than a year left on their lease their maps database and interface. I don't know if a 3rd party app like this counts or not but regardless, this is beyond stupid. I bet their contract didn't say they had to design an entirely new app for them. I certainly would have left them hanging. That or made a total troll map app where the third direction is always "Lol @ Apple, we're only getting you this far. Try Apple maps for the rest of the directions. Try not to drive off a cliff into the ocean."
I was hoping for Nokia to somehow be acquired by Apple.
That would probably solve the map issue and put Nokia out of its misery.
Maybe Apple just likes the taste of crow?
...a patch today that scraps Apple Maps and replaces it with Google.
This whole exercise demonstrated maps are a critical service and relying on a direct competitor for a critical service is a problem. As a result of Apple's actions, they have their own map service they are improving and Google's map service with features previously withheld. Win win for Apple, there is no going back.
That's part of the EULA and the "anonymous statistics" I believe. When you use Google Maps it uploads your position periodically, from which it can deduce your average velocity. It correlates that with other reports from other users in geographically similar areas and creates congestion maps.
I don't think stand-alone GPS (like Garmin) upload any data, so they probably purchase it from Google. That's most likely why it's a subscription or ad-based service on those devices.
Most likely a combination of internal politics and an ambitious project manager.
When I see mapping applications on a mobile phone I always wonder how much it costs when you use it on a regular basis.
My 2003 Palm TX has most of Europe stored on a 1GB SD card so it'll work without a data connection, but I see Google Maps will download the required data every time.
If you were Apple, you wouldn't have survived the 90's.
While the Apple maps data is not the best in some places, I can say that they're doing a much better job improving than everyone else. It took Google a few years to have any roads listed in most European countries. Apple started with complete maps. I've compared the coverage of Apple, Google, Nokia, Bing and OSM on quite a few occasions and OSM is the only one better than the rest. Google, Apple, Nokia and Bing are not showing one third of the motorways in Romania. I'm not talking about a forgotten secondary road somewhere up in the mountains, I'm talking about (albeit a few) hundreds of kilometers of motorways.
The application isn't bad at all. It's still superior to Google's, at least for now. The data might be flawed in some places, but you should give them a few months to get it right. I'm quite sure that when Google Maps first appeared, their data wasn't optimal either. Their maps are now much better due to community effort in apps like mapmaker.
In case you're an idiot and couldn't figure this out by yourself, I'm going to spell it out: it makes perfect business sense to build your own maps application if your biggest competitors (Google, Microsoft, Nokia) all have their own solutions. What do you think the licensing costs would be if Apple attempted to license a maps solution from Nokia's Navteq or from Microsoft's Bing?
UNIX was not designed to stop you from doing stupid things, because that would also stop you from doing clever ones.
per iPhone than per Android phone. Why WOULDN'T they want more iPhones to be sold?
Apparently some investors are thinking the same thing about Apple acquiring TomTom. I heard Robeco/Rabobank is very seriously considering this option.
Pretty good is actually pretty bad.
They've more than made their point, there is nothing to be gained from losing all brand visibility on one of the most important mobile product ranges.
Brand visibility matters.
really?
iOS has Waze and 20 other free and paid maps apps. had them for years. iOS even has true offline maps apps and not the hacked up offline that google maps has.
if i'm going to drive somewhere with weak or no signal i'll just install my Navigon again, download the states i need and go.
Can you cite this? I didn't realize that Google was (apparently) literally tracking my movements every time I used Navigation.
It's better to vote for what you want and not get it than to vote for what you don't want and get it.
- E. Debs
In the interests of public safety, Apple really had to approve this app.
GPS Navigation tools frequently have outdated maps which can lead us astray. And, there is always a horror story of someone getting lost in the desert beause they followed their GPS. Google, if I recall correctly, was sued by a woman when their maps told her to take a pedestrian route that didn't have sidewalks and she was hit by a car.
At the very least, Apple can now deflect such litigeous action to Google. And, by approving it, it shows they "care".
If I were Apple, I would push out a patch today that scraps Apple Maps and replaces it with Google. Apple is a company that makes its money selling hardware with a proprietary OS, not homegrowing competitive and complex applications. They stretched themselves outside their realm of competency, and this is a good time to fix it.
Honestly, I don't get why they didn't support or help Google from the start. I would have thought that if they wanted to develop, they could have more easily come up with a frontend to several MS Office replacements and avoid all the BS with Office 365.
Because allegedly Google wanted Apple to wallpaper the new iOS mapping app with the Google logo and integrate one of Google's social networking systems as a preconditions for allowing Apple to pay for the privilege of integrating new Google Maps features with iOS. How much of that is true I don't know but if even only half of it is true I would have said no too. Mind you, I would definitely have tried to find a better replacement maps provider than TomTom, like, say... Garmin or even Microsoft/Nokia. The Nokia maps are basic but accurate and so are Garmin's and you can fix things like satellite view. Features like transit directions take longer. I tried using a TomTom device for a few weeks in the UK this summer and TomTom quite frankly just sucks...
Only to idiots, are orders laws.
-- Henning von Tresckow
apple maps, google and waze keep track of your speed and location. along with others using the apps. 10mph on a 60mph highway means traffic
"I almost died in Australia, thank god this is out." - 5 stars from Reed Morse
No, this was part of the deal the whole time. Apple would use Google's map data to put together a maps app (the old Google Maps app itself was written by Apple), and Google wouldn't produce a competing Maps app for the platform. Then the deal expired, and we now have an Apple Maps app with crappy map data and a Google-written Google Maps app that looks a lot like the (fantastic) app they have for Android.
Why is Google the villain? What if we put it this way?
"The whole reason they dropped Google Maps was that their contract with Google was up, and Apple wouldn't renew it on terms acceptable by Google. It wasn't about "supporting" or "helping" Google, it was entirely about what Apple was asking in return for allowing Google Maps in their OS"
I don't have a sig.
I would more say this was a win-win for Google. They made demands of Apple, Apple said 'no, we can do this without you', Apple took a huge PR hit for pushing out a sub-par application that did not have Google's data anymore... and now Google has swept in to save the day with their own branded application instead...
Google ends up looking good, Apple takes pretty much all the PR damage.. and Google gets to remind Apple who is more powerful.
nokia already has a free mapping/nav app on iOS. there is also navigon which uses navteq maps and has full offline capability
I wonder if this means an update to the Google map application which came with the original iPad.
Since the iOS 6 doesn't support that, those devices never lost the original Google app.
Of course, that doesn't help the fact that you won't be getting any real OS updates anymore.
Lost at C:>. Found at C.
Apple is a company that makes its money selling hardware with a proprietary OS, not homegrowing competitive and complex applications.
There's noting on any rival mobile platform which is remotely competitive with Garageband or iMovie on iOS.
Maps was a huge mistake, but to say they're incapable of making competitive apps is selling them short.
BARON
iOS, iOS... I place you in charge
of Maps. It's yours to squeeze, as I
promised. I want you to squeeze and
squeeze and squeeze.
(massaging in rhythm)
Give me spice! Drive them into utter
submission. You must not show the
slightest pity or mercy... as only you
can... Never stop!
(releasing him)
Go.... Show no mercy!
iOS
Yes, my lord Baron.
iOS leaves just as Google steps out of the shower.
The Baron turns to him lovingly.
--
BARON
(to Google)
And when we've crushed these people enough
I'll send in you Google... they'll cheer you
as a rescuer... lovely Google... really a
lovely boy.
(suddenly he smiles and screams)
Where's my doctor?
...is still there as a white blob at various scales between Australia & New Caledonia...
Ydco co
In the Google Privacy Policy on my phone, in the Service section it says:
"Location information
When you use a location-enabled Google service,we may collect and process information about your actual location,like GPS signals sent by a mobile device. We may also use various technologies to determine location,such as sensor data from your device that may,for example,provide information on nearby Wi-Fi access points and cell towers."
That's one of the things I'm assuming they're using it for.
The iPhone "Maps" app has always been an Apple developed product which is part of the iOS core, Google only provided the map data via a licensing agreement. The big sticking point on renewing the licensing agreement was not (as many people think) either cost or exclusive features (like turn-by-turn); it was branding. Google wanted it's name and logo clearly shown on the app ("Google Maps", not "Maps"). but Apple refused (and would not approve a separate iOS Google Maps app since that would "duplicate" core OS functionality). Now, not only does Google get to be the hero by rescuing iOS users from failed Apple Maps, it gets to control the branding on its iOS maps app.
Support Right To Repair Legislation.
http://googlemobile.blogspot.com/2009/08/bright-side-of-sitting-in-traffic.html
I don't have a sig.
Good point. TFA says gmaps are sending people the wrong way into oncoming traffic in Australia. Probably more dangerous than being led into a desert.
Finally? Really? The title is pretty biased.
What happened to the conspiracy theories that Apple was holding the app hostage and wouldn't approve it even when Google said it hadn't been submitted? Where are those people admitting they were wrong? They've moved on to the next anti-Apple trolling meme like people 'dying' in Australia because the maps were so bad.
Google maps getting a similar warning in another part of Australia? *crickets*
The posting mentions this, but the app is designed for iPhone displays, not iPad. So you have to do the terrible zoom to get it to not be tiny on your iPad.
Searched for "Google Maps" in the app store and it came up 5th in the search results. Now they just need to implement Google Search in the store and we'll be set.
I went to eat some animal crackers and the box said, "Do not eat if seal is broken." I opened the box and sure enough..
Hmm, the Apple 3, the Lisa (debatable), the Newton, initial iCloud release, near irrelevance before Jobs came back... I'm sure there are others. I expect them to be more frequent now that Steve Jobs is not around to flip out and shred poor designs and implementations. It is definitely not the first major Apple flameout.
I have an iphone and I like my iphone but I expect my next phone to be an android both because rooted linux should improve and because Apple will go downhill without Jobs (great designer, great QA, lousy manager; too bad mediocre managers are using his autobio to control freak for mediocrity).
You got me into this! You were the ideologue! I'm only a poor assassin! - Twenty evocations, Bruce Sterling
I've been told two things, neither of which may be true, but 1) seems the most likely:
1. TomTom Traffic and others have a 3G connection. They talk to the local mobile masts and Tom Tom can use the location data to estimate traffic volume.
2. TomTom buys mobile phone location data from mobile phone companies to estimate congestion based on the number of phones moving between base stations.
Apple should give up and just pay google. their effort sucked, their product is utter shit, and their credibility is shot because of this idiocy.
of course, you cannot delete the apple maps abomination, the best you can do it stuff it into a folder where you don't have to look at anymore.
never thought I would need a folder named "Shit Apps" on such a nice device, but there it is.
nice work google, and thanks.
That's not a reasonable position for Apple to take; not at all. They could have simply left the old gmaps app since their license had not *yet* expired, and at least avoided this debacle. Furthermore, you present "plastering" google's logo all over the app as if its certain this was something truly terrible - when that's not sure at all; it's not unreasonable to claim credit for an app you made so a logo might be reasonable.
All in all - if both parties had wanted this to work out they would have made it work. It's certain apple wasn't being reasonable, and quite believable Google wasn't either (but we really only have Apple's word for that). In any case - it's Apple's device; they're Apple customers, and that makes it Apple's responsibility to come up with a solution that doesn't suck - whether that solution involves using an old-fashioned app for another year, or a different provider, or kowtowing to Google isn't really important.
Regardless of who else is involved, Apple chose to harm their customers, probably intentionally, because that fit their strategic aims better. Given apple's dealings with samsung (and others), Apple doesn't come across as a very open-minded company: does it really surprise anyone they played hardball even if doing so cost them something?
Put it this way: if you blame some third party for a seller's failure to provide quality goods, that's not exactly a great incentive for said seller to be fair with you the next time - why bother? Defending Apple for their abuse of their customers reminds me a little too much of the stockholm syndrome for comfort.
I don't think these power-fights are good for customers.
I was just about to ditch my iPhone for an Android due primarily to the terrible Apple Maps app. I only like the iPhone for the accuracy of its on screen keyboard. Otherwise, I prefer Android.
According to Apple Maps, my neighborhood doesn't exist at all. It's also got some ugly, low resolution greyscale (!) imagery for the area that is hopelessly out of date.
Google Maps on the other hand actually knows about my area, and has high resolution color imagery.
The gap in data quality between the two is enormous.
-- "So they told me that using the download page to download something was not something they anticipated." - Bill Gates
I tried using a TomTom device for a few weeks in the UK this summer and TomTom quite frankly just sucks...
This is clearly made up nonsense. We didn't have a summer in the UK this year.
While I'm extremely glad to have Google Transit directions back, I'm honestly shocked at the lack of integration with iOS contacts. Typing in your friend's name for directions to their place is a pretty basic use case.
Gypsies at a bargain?
That IS tempting!
This space available.
Why is Google the villain?
No one said Google was the villain. No one has to be a villain. 2 companies simply failed to reach a mutually acceptable agreement. That doesn't make either of them wrong.
Except that Apple didn't say that.
/* No Comment */
Already found two point of interest location errors and reported them!
Pretty sure it's there the first time you use location, and use maps.
Been a while since I activated a phone, but it was quite shoved in my face from memory.
If you turn on keep a travel log or whatnot, then I assume it's one maps or no. Otherwise I have assumed only when maps.
Also, lots of cities have traffic cams now, so I assume that info can be subscribed to (trafax for example used to sell to radio stations). Believe it or not, traffic data was available before smartphones, I bet Google could scrape sites and use it quite competently, I mean they get weather data, right?
Wow, sent an e-mail as suggested when clicking on "use classic" banner, and got a fast response that addressed my msg
and now Google has swept in to save the day with their own branded application instead...
But it doesn't ship with the device, so their customers aren't confronted with Google branding, unless and until they choose to download it.
Furthermore, if and when Apple Maps data is improved to be as good or better than Google Maps, people getting new devices won't choose to download Google Maps, as Apple Maps will already be there.
and Google gets to remind Apple who is more powerful.
Fundamentally it's all about profit, and how to achieve it. And Apple makes about 20 times the profit of Google. Your perception of power is weird, irrelevant and probably mistaken.
Can you cite this? I didn't realize that Google was (apparently) literally tracking my movements every time I used Navigation.
Mark Zuckerberg just called. He said he'd really, really like it if you personally would sign up for a Facebook account.
WinWin for us.
We used to have a sub-par Mapping application on iPhone. Now we have 2. Even better, with Apple pushing his own map app, Google will not be able to keep as under-featured as before.
At the end of the day, that's the take-home message for people looking at buying an iPhone. All the rest is just noise by people looking at the whole affair with their favorite-brand colored glasses.
Absolutely a win for consumers. We now have two vector-based maps apps with turn by turn directions and really clean interfaces, where before we had none. Google's data seems a little better, Apple's maps a little prettier. I suspect that both will improve over time: competition is good.
-- Two men say they're Jesus. One of them must be wrong. - Dire Straits
Yes and no. The general public will largely see this the way you describe, but you are missing one key component. The demands Apple did not want to "give in to" were customer data and privacy demands specified in the Apple TOS. To get Google Maps in the App store, Google had to comply with those standards. So Google did not get everything they wanted. Apple has the features Android had in Google Maps without having to concede on the privacy standards they have set. So, in actuality, Apple did "win," just not in public opinion.
Apple wanted Google to add turn by turn navigation to the Maps app. Google wanted to the terms of the contract between them renegotiated since the original didn't include turn by turn navigation, even though Google had added it to their own Maps app in Android. Apple wanted new functionality added under the terms of the old contract, and Google wasn't willing.
Please don't read my sig.
Wtf, Google? Why isn't this available in every iTunes store?
That's part of the EULA and the "anonymous statistics" I believe. When you use Google Maps it uploads your position periodically, from which it can deduce your average velocity. It correlates that with other reports from other users in geographically similar areas and creates congestion maps.
I don't think stand-alone GPS (like Garmin) upload any data, so they probably purchase it from Google. That's most likely why it's a subscription or ad-based service on those devices.
I know a bit about Tom Tom side of this. In the UK, at least as of five years ago, Tom Tom were buying from the mobile phone carriers data on what handsets are connected to which cell towers in real time. They were then mapping the time it took for handsets to pass from one tower to another along the line of a road, and from that inferring speed of traffic/congestion on that road.
As I say, I know that they were doing this in the UK five years ago, and that it was then a new service under very active development. I do not know whether they are still doing this, or whether they ever were doing this in other territories, but I would expect so.
I'm old enough to remember when discussions on Slashdot were well informed.
Honestly, I don't get why they didn't support or help Google from the start.
They did. Apple was more then happy to work with Google the search, maps and video company. To the extent that they even had a Google exec on the Apple board of directors. (Eric Schmidt). Google was represented on the original iPhone by search, youTube and maps app. A positoin no other company had. And one could have expected that relationshop to grow through later revisions of iOS.
What stopped it was Google developing copy-cat phone OS of their own. It's a bad idea to de dependant on a competitor in the very same market. And so bit by bit, Google is being phased out of the OS and default application set.
For much the same reason, Apple is clearly moving towards eliminating Samsung components in their hardware.
Apple maps is missing transit directions, streetview, most information, and has inaccurate destinations, but turn-by-turn actually does work pretty well. I was particularly happy with how it works when it has no internet connection.
I took a trip to the US not long ago, and my data plan stops working when I cross the border. However, it turns out that Apple Maps will continue providing turn-by-turn directions without issue so long as it had an Internet connection when you started; it will cache the entire route, and enough site-routes to accommodate a bit of rerouting.
When using Apple Maps turn-by-turn in a foreign country, you can get your phone on the hotel wifi, enter your destination, give it a few seconds to download all the data it requires, and then leave the hotel (and wifi coverage) without issue.
I don't yet know if Google Maps has similar behaviour. I hope it does, because Apple Maps seems useless for anything but driving directions, and I don't have a car. Whatever possessed them to remove public transit directions is beyond me. They took out all the features I used, and put in features I either don't use or use extremely infrequently.
This whole exercise demonstrated maps are a critical service and relying on a direct competitor for a critical service is a problem. As a result of Apple's actions, they have their own map service they are improving and Google's map service with features previously withheld. Win win for Apple, there is no going back.
And now those of us who don't have the latest iPhone have turn-by-turn directions, which is a definite win. We get free Google Maps, and Apple doesn't have to pay Google for the privilege anymore.
I didn't have any map issues with Apple's directions or maps; but it seemed to me some add-on features like traffic didn't work as well as it did with the older Google-based version.
#DeleteChrome
And I, as a consumer, have one less thing pushing me out of the apple ecosystem. I'm still on course to buy an iphone 7.
The data might be flawed in some places, but you should give them a few months to get it right. I'm quite sure that when Google Maps first appeared, their data wasn't optimal either. Their maps are now much better due to community effort in apps like mapmaker.
Actually I'd forgotten about this, but - for Google Maps' first couple years, when someone would look up my home address it would show them a location about ten miles from here - we used to have a good laugh about that.
#DeleteChrome
I'm driving somewhere unfamiliar soon, and I wasn't really planning to go to Australia.
Slow down, cowboy! It has been 4 hours since you last posted. You must wait another few hours.
One pretty big shortfall I'm seeing is a lack of integration with the system Address Book. This is a feature I use *very* frequently and makes for a bunch of extra work to copy & paste otherwise. I'm unsure what exactly led to this oversight, but I think it's important to make sure it's on Google's radar.
To report your desired for contacts integration to Google:
1) Open Google Maps
2) Shake your phone in order to give feedback
3) Tell them that you miss integration with the Address Book
They get a lot of feedback, but with enough reporters statistical analysis should put contacts integration on their radar. The more people giving feedback on it, the more likely it will be on top of their todo list.
It's mainly a win for iDevice owners. Probably because of competition from Apple, the new Google Maps has the fast vector-based maps that Google never added to the old (Google) Maps app. The lack of a standard Apple app providing transit routing has led to a bunch of new apps offering this feature, so whereas before we had this only from Google, we now have it from a variety of apps. And we also have turn-by-turn from Apple, which Google not only never added to Maps, but even prohibited developers from implementing using Google's data. Indirectly, it is also a win for Apple, since it adds value to Apple's devices.
Since Google Maps are leading people the wrong way down a narrow road, if public safety were a factor they would have sent it back for further work.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Just because moderators thinks someone's spin on the issue is insightful and yours is not is no reason to be bitter. In my view, both companies will go on and make bucket loads of money and in general be pretty darn successful. If one company does start to go downhill, the maps issues will, at best, be considered at that point to have been an early indicator predicting the fall. No more.
./ discussions are like both sides in a CX debate--if you don't agree with "our" position on an issue, the result will always be Global Nuclear War.
I can mend the break of day, heal a broken heart, and provide temporary relief to nymphomaniacs.
Open the new Google Maps app. Search for Denver. Now search for "Airport".
See all those dots? Not one of them is Denver International Airport, the largest airport in Denver and the one you will be using flying domestic or international flights.
With Apple Maps, a similar search at a similar zoom level not only shows DIA, but selects it as a featured choice.
So how has Apple been hurt by improving search over Google? It's kind of funny that after so long at being tops in mapping, Google has been bested in some search results by Apple... the Apple built maps app is certainly nicer to use as well. None of those things are true for any of the other mapping competitors like Nokia, I've tried that app also and frankly the searching there leaves a lot to be desired.
The good thing about this though is that now there is REAL competition in mapping, and I think Google maps will improve also. It seems like for years they have been kind of letting map errors slide but they can do so no longer - Ill bet that Denver Airport slip is fixed pretty soon.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
when I downloaded and fired up Google Maps 20 minutes ago, the second thing I saw was "Help us improve Google, including traffic and other services. Anonymous location data will be collected by Google's location service and sent to Google, and may be stored on your device. Learn more." (The first was just the logo splash.)
Apple messed up big time. All they needed is one phone call to google:
Apple: We stop being dicks, no more lawsuits about round corners and sliding buttons.
Google: Sounds good, we give you maps with turn by turn navigation.
This would've saved them many millions on last minute crappy programmer hires to churn out a failed maps app. Their stock price probably wouldn't have tanked. Users would be happy. Ending the stupid patent lawsuits would've been a huge win for consumers.
Unfortunately they only kept the worst of Steve Jobs' (destroy android lawsuits) without a clear vision for future products (changing the aspect ratio of iphone and a 7" tablet that costs almost twice as much with half the specs etc).
nokia already has a free mapping/nav app on iOS. there is also navigon which uses navteq maps and has full offline capability
And whose interface is really, really awful. Reinforcing the point that Apple's design plus NavTeq's data could be a world-leading solution. At this point Nokia's actual handset business is probably worth less than the NavTeq acquisition... Apple could divest it to Microsoft or kill it without much problem. They've probably lost more market cap over maps than Nokia is worth in its entirety.
E pluribus unum
IMHO, the Apple maps app is far better than the media and the naysayers would have you believe.
Every time I've used turn-by-turn, including in suburban areas with idiotic short streets and those are-they-roads-or-parking-lots near shopping centers, it's been spot-on.
"What about transit info?" Transit info in the old Google maps app blew, at least as far as subway info in NYC went. Missing/mismarked entrances, etc. "iTransNYC" worked far, far better and there are similar apps for major city rail systems. Outside of that, how many people REALLY own iPhones and ride the bus? In most metro areas outside of those served by urban rail, the bus service blows. Everybody drives.
I had plenty of mismarked locations with Google maps, not just 4 years ago, but in the last year. It was far from perfect, as have most standalone GPS devices I've used in rental cars.
To me, this seems like resistance to change or just anti-Apple ranting. I downloaded the Google app to check it out, but IMHO I still like the Apple app better, especially visually.
Yes and no. The general public will largely see this the way you describe, but you are missing one key component. The demands Apple did not want to "give in to" were customer data and privacy demands specified in the Apple TOS. To get Google Maps in the App store, Google had to comply with those standards. So Google did not get everything they wanted. Apple has the features Android had in Google Maps without having to concede on the privacy standards they have set. So, in actuality, Apple did "win," just not in public opinion.
Apple doesn't require much privacy from app store apps. I suspect using Google's branded iOS Maps app will subject you to just as many privacy violations as any typical Google service (they'll monitor everything you do and everywhere you go and sell it to advertisers). But now there are real alternatives. NavTeq/Nokia, Apple, Google, and many city-specific apps are all thriving in a competitive marketplace.
E pluribus unum
If I were Apple, I would push out a patch today that scraps Apple Maps and replaces it with Google.
Why would Apple want to degrade search results or lead people the wrong way down dangerous roads?
At this point iOS *AND* Android users are worse served by Apple going back to Google maps. If you think about it the whole world is better off with Google finally having real competition in mapping, that can best Google at times and cause Google to have to start correcting map errors in a timely fashion. For years Google was unable to find a simple Arby's in Elko, NV - just months after Apple Maps was released, Google fixed that error and it now returns the correct results.
If you run Android, you should thank Apple because they are driving Google to improve maps also. As people find humorous and dangerous errors in either mapping app, they will report it and both maps will improve rapidly.
As for an Office 365 replacement - well actually Pages and Numbers work quite well even on an iPhone. Although it would not be my first choice I've edited spreadsheets on a train before using my iPhone thanks to Numbers...
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
That would probably solve the map issue and put Nokia out of its misery.
Have you used the Nokia app on iOS? Search results are worse, at least in the U.S. Satellite data is also older, sometimes a LOT older (Hoover Dam on Nokia shows the bridge only partially constructed and with the same warping errors that Apple and Google have).
Apple started out with better search results than Nokia, and in some cases already beats Google. In another year they may well surpass Google overall if they keep fixing reported errors.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Apple did support & help Google from the very start - how exactly do you think Google maps got so good?
Google's Street View cars. You'd be amazed at how much accuracy improves when you have people actually driving down various roads world-wide.
GLaDOS for President 2016! "Well here we are again. It's always such a pleasure." -- GLaDOS, 2011
I would more say this was a win-win for Google. They made demands of Apple, Apple said 'no, we can do this without you', Apple took a huge PR hit for pushing out a sub-par application that did not have Google's data anymore... and now Google has swept in to save the day with their own branded application instead...
Also, Google managed to inflict the maximum damage on the iphone5 launch and during that time launched their own sell-out phone. Seems to have all worked out very well for Google, and very poorly for Apple.
What I'd really like to know is which company held-up the release of the new Google Maps -- was it Google seeking to maximise damages, or Apple in an attempt to crash-or-crash-through? I'm sure Google could have had the app released much sooner if both parties were willing ...
They could have simply left the old gmaps app since their license had not *yet* expired, and at least avoided this debacle
That would have just pushed out the problem. Googles terms would only have got more onerous (what reason would Google have had to make terms easier on Apple as a hard deadline approached??). Apple needed to push out maps as soon as possible because they had reached the point where they had a good set of maps, but they could not really improve that much more without a ton of real-world user feedback.
In truth Apple should have replaced Google maps about a year earlier, that would have been before a lot of the growth they say and improved maps even more. But maps were probably not nearly as ready then so they balanced the need to build a new mapping system with the need for users to have a stable map that mostly worked.
As it is now all Apple needs to do is keep integrating user feedback on maps, and within a year it will be hard to tell the difference in accuracy searching on Google or Apple maps - and in the meantime iOS users have far better map features than they would have otherwise.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Unfortunately, it appears you have to sign in to your google account to save anything, and there's no access to your contacts on your phone. If I'm wrong, please someone point out how to do these things. If I'm right, bogus.
The more interesting aspect of this story to me, is that Google also is offering an SDK for iOS developers. If Google really wants to keep collecting a lot of data, it seems like they would want to make it really attractive to use Google maps in an application over the built in Apple mapping framework.
Looking over the licensing terms though, it would seem the Google Maps SDK is kind of developer hostile. Not only do they have limited access to API keys at the moment, but look at the restrictions Google imposes on you as an app developer. Only 2500 requests per day for geocoding or directions - an absurdly low figure for any mapping application to be distributed to millions of people. Even the "business" plan (which I believe you have to pay Google for) as what I consider to be an overly low API request limit of 100k requests a day.
As an iOS developer there is NO way I would replace the use of the iOS mapping framework (where geocoding requests are unlimited) with Google's SDK.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Look at the Google Maps SDK licensing terms.
Until Apple switched over to Apple Maps, those were the terms that iOS developers had to live with using the mapping SDK. Apple offers unlimited geocoding queries, Google has a limit of 2500 per day across all instances of your application!
Google also has higher limits if you pay them, but even those limits are way too low for a popular application.
Also under the Google Map regime, developers COULD NOT provide turn my turn directions on top of Google Maps. Now that Apple is providing maps there is no restriction at all to what overlays a developer chooses to put on a map.
In the end are not the users of a system served better by an endless variety of applications free to use maps in any way they like? It's not about any ONE application, it's about thousands of them.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Google's map app is pushing pretty hard to have you log in. It looks like it can't even remember a search history unless you're logged into your Google account.
I agree with posters further up - this is a win for users. We get Google maps encouraging Apple to improve, and we've got Apple maps if we get tired of being tracked everywhere by Google.
Not in St Louis: "public transit information not available in this region"
You must have tried to use the sidebar. That only shows things like subway and train routes, not bus or other info... At first I also thought it meant there was no metro routing in my area too.
The thing is it DOES offer metro access for anywhere the desktop maps app does. You just have to search for a location and ask for directions there; then when you select "metro" for routing it will give you bus directions.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
This, exactly. When people say that they miss the old Maps app, I always wonder if they were using the same app as I was, because the old one was nigh unusable for me. No turn-by-turn, have to have the app open for it to be of any use, poor Siri integration, slow-rendering raster tiles... It just sucked.
So Apple dumps it for a variety of reasons and releases a new app based on their own data. The interface is far superior to the old app, it has vector tiles, turn-by-turn, and Siri integration. The problem? For lots of people, the map data itself isn't as good. Being kicked out forces Google to release their own, competitive app with the previously missing features. Since it will presumably have better map data, or at least POI data, this will force Apple to improve their own product.
This is how the free market is supposed to work. It's unfortunate Apple apparently rushed its inclusion of Maps in iOS 6, but every iOS user today is better off than they were with iOS 5.
There is one thing about this story that is odd, though, and that is that it took Google so long to make an app. The writing was on the wall for quite some time before iOS 6 was announced (let alone released), and yet they still seemed caught flat-footed. Also, I enjoy that everyone who claimed Apple would never allow this app into the store were all proven wrong.
If you can't convince them, convict them.
Apple was in a lose-lose situation. On the one hand, they needed turn-by-turn and other features out-of-the-box to stay competitive with Android. They had a map app that wasn't yet ready for prime-time. They could have licensed the technology from Google, but they didn't want to give their chief OS competitor access to even more data on their users.
So they had 4 main choices:
1. Keep using the old Maps app and continue to be lacking in core functionality that Android has. Wait until iOS 7.
2. Delay the release of iOS 6. (A slight variation on #1.)
3. Agree to Google's terms and use their maps while still working on their own replacement.
4. Dump Google and release their app which still needed more work.
From a user standpoint, and from what I know of the issue, I tend to think that they should have opted for #3, but then again, I'm not privy to the actual licensing terms. I can understand why they went with #4, though.
(They could also have spun the old app off as something you must download from the App Store, but I can only imagine the outcry if they'd done that. People freaked out over Youtube, even though the old app was atrocious and there was a far superior replacement available in the App Store.)
If you can't convince them, convict them.
The demands Apple did not want to "give in to" were customer data and privacy demands specified in the Apple TOS. To get Google Maps in the App store, Google had to comply with those standards. So Google did not get everything they wanted. Apple has the features Android had in Google Maps without having to concede on the privacy standards they have set.
Can you be more specific than that? Google has asked for Latitude to be incorporated into Maps. Latitude is a service that tracks your location and stores it on Google servers (so that you can share it with your friends), but it's an opt-in service - it does not track you and send data anywhere unless you explicitly enable it. If Apple privacy policy restricts that kind of thing, then I have to say that it is a very strange policy, indeed (and one wonders how the various apps that record your hiking tracks and publish them online are then consistent with it).
Sounds like Google's standard maps SDK terms. It's always been that way.
Yes, I know. These terms have prevented me from building several mapping applications that I now have under construction for iOS.
As it stands it is impossible to port these applications to Android under those restrictions. Just because Google is loathe to give up collecting as much data by having you use maps in the context of an application, Android users will be denied all kinds of interesting map based applications that might have been - and Google is preventing themselves from becoming a dominant force of mapping in applications on iOS, which they very well could be without those restrictions.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
As a result of Apple's actions, they have their own map service they are improving ...
"A man using iOS Maps walks into a bar. Or maybe it's a church, or maybe a school, I'm not sure."
Google will not be able to keep as under-featured as before.
It wasn't Google keeping you under-featured, it was Apple. Google wanted to add navigation etc. but Apple was insisting that they provide it for free. Now Google has provided it and added the extra branding it wanted.
const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
And that's one of the reasons Apple didn't accept Googles terms in the negotiation to renew the build-in Google Maps app. Why the hell would Apple want such a dialog on a built in app.
Latitude is a service that tracks your location and stores it on Google servers (so that you can share it with your friends), but it's an opt-in service - it does not track you and send data anywhere unless you explicitly enable it. If Apple privacy policy restricts that kind of thing, then I have to say that it is a very strange policy, indeed (and one wonders how the various apps that record your hiking tracks and publish them online are then consistent with it).
It doesn't. Apple has a competing iOS-only version, so they won't allow Google to compete with them on their own device. Despite the fact that Apple's app is entirely useless for anyone who has friends that haven't drunken the Apple-flavored kool-aid.
You are in a maze of twisty little relative jumps, all alike.
The demands Apple did not want to "give in to" were customer data and privacy demands specified in the Apple TOS.
Wrong. The demands Apple refused were calling the app "Google Maps" and making the Google logo actually visible on the maps view. Technically it was there in iOS 5, it was just transparent to the point of being as impossible to see as they could get away with.
Apple already tracks their iOS users everywhere they go ("to serve appropriate local ads," you see); it's not like they care about privacy in the slightest.
You are in a maze of twisty little relative jumps, all alike.
Proof? Show me a link to Google/Nokia/Bing maps with satellite imagery of one of these motorways and no accompanying road marked on the schematic map.
const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
For much the same reason, Apple is clearly moving towards eliminating Samsung components in their hardware.
Ask Macbook users how they feel about those laptops that came with a non-Samsung screen (LG, if I am recalling correctly). The difference in quality is staggering, and everyone who got a Macbook with something else than a Samsung screen is pissed.
If Apple phases out Samsung screens from the iPhone, that will make Apple's product even more of a 2nd class gadget, compared to the Samsung Galaxys.
"The agriculture ministry is not in charge of Gundam" - Japanese ministry official.
This, exactly. When people say that they miss the old Maps app, I always wonder if they were using the same app as I was, because the old one was nigh unusable for me. No turn-by-turn, have to have the app open for it to be of any use, poor Siri integration, slow-rendering raster tiles... It just sucked.
So Apple dumps it for a variety of reasons and releases a new app based on their own data. The interface is far superior to the old app, it has vector tiles, turn-by-turn, and Siri integration. The problem? For lots of people, the map data itself isn't as good. Being kicked out forces Google to release their own, competitive app with the previously missing features. Since it will presumably have better map data, or at least POI data, this will force Apple to improve their own product.
This is how the free market is supposed to work. It's unfortunate Apple apparently rushed its inclusion of Maps in iOS 6, but every iOS user today is better off than they were with iOS 5.
There is one thing about this story that is odd, though, and that is that it took Google so long to make an app. The writing was on the wall for quite some time before iOS 6 was announced (let alone released), and yet they still seemed caught flat-footed. Also, I enjoy that everyone who claimed Apple would never allow this app into the store were all proven wrong.
Apple could have had those features for quite some time but refused to license it. Apple makes it seem like Google is the bad guy yet they wanted you to believe their mapping application was using their own data. So all along they were leveraging Google. They switch to their own data because god forbid they place Google logos in a Droid phone. The problem is Apple can't keep up with Google. They leverage their search engine to record and maintain their maps data. Apple would need to license search engine data as well and populate it accurately. That's never going to happen.
Google, Apple, Nokia and Bing are not showing one third of the motorways in Romania. I'm not talking about a forgotten secondary road somewhere up in the mountains, I'm talking about (albeit a few) hundreds of kilometers of motorways.
Oh, well, for me Google Maps worked better in Romania (including forgotten little roads in the mountains) than it worked in Regina, Calgary, Edmonton or Toronto.
Laudele lor desigur m-ar mahni peste masura.
Why should Google want to be the dominant force in mapping applications? Google is an advertising company
You answered you own question. Knowing where is user is often is a huge boon in targeting advertising.
Google being an advertising company is ESPECIALLY why they want to know where you are.
It's why in the iOS app they are nagging you often to log in, so they can tie the map results back to the other details they know about you more easily. You do not even get search history without logging in.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
I would more say this was a win-win for Google. They made demands of Apple, Apple said 'no, we can do this without you', Apple took a huge PR hit for pushing out a sub-par application that did not have Google's data anymore... and now Google has swept in to save the day with their own branded application instead...
Possibly, and I've downloaded it myself, but most users know there are many more Map apps out there, including those with turn by turn and are free if they don't like what the baked in Apple maps gives them (for most it's just fine unless you are a tech blogger). I don't think this is Google sweeping in to "save the day" as much as Google fans would like to believe.
That's what I said. But then I was told that Apple was the one who wrote the Google Maps app for iPhone. They merely licensed the rights to use Google's data in their app. Apparently Apple was not willing to pay the extra to license turn by turn navigation. So it was in fact Apple which chose to keep the original app under-featured, not Google.
From when Google Maps launched? I don't care to look.
But the service wasn't instantly good worldwide, and even here in the UK I preferred to use Multimap.co.uk and Streetmap.co.uk for a while, as did many people.
The nearest case now is somewhere like Bosnia; as you can see they only have major roads. Five years ago the country was probably blank, like North Korea is now (although for lack of data, rather than politics).
(Although in the case of Bosnia, if there's a local mapping provider I can't find it with a cursory search.)
Why should they do that? My experienced has been that Apple Maps app works better than the Google one. I'm lucky that all my street data is accurate for my region, and the complaints (which seem over sensationalized) concerns data accuracy and not the application itself.
These comments are my own and do not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of my employer or colleagues...
I think the new interface for both sucks. When I pinch 'n zoom, my fingers drift slightly, so the map always turns, which wastes precious CPU cycles and sometimes confuses me. I wish there was a way to lock the "north is up" setting.
would Google have improved their map app if Apple had not removed it in the first place?
There was an unknown error in the submission.
this is because the roads are surveyed but the actual condition of the road may vary from track (in this case) to highway. I know a couple of places where the same issue exists in google maps. Google is/was using some crappy arial views while the Apple map tried a little harder, (look up the town of Boorowa, Australia)
There was an unknown error in the submission.
The problem was that the Google renewal came between the iOS 6 and iOS 7 release dates so they had to push up their own maps app to the iOS 6 release.
There are 4 boxes to use in the defense of liberty: soap, ballot, jury, ammo. Use in that order. Starting now.
if by "dominant force" you mean providing you with mapping data cheaply or for free and not being able to gather as much information?
What you state is impossible. By giving you the data they inherently gain the knowledge of the data yo have requested. Any data given by anyone is never "free".
Why would Google let you have free access to their mapping data when they can't gather any more information than they could with the Apple maps app?
You might want to ask Google that since it is exactly what they are doing with the release of the iOS google Maps SDK. They gain more information than before because the data requests come from a specific application, if nothing else.
But I've already provided the deeper answer... any dissemination of information is to google's benefit, the only question is the ease with which they can tie it back to you. One pull request from Gmail on your same device and it's irrelevant that you didn't explicitly give Google a Google ID.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
As Patrick Gibson said,
Google is getting better at design faster than Apple is getting better at web services.
So, in a nutshell, Google has chosen to offers their own app that does something that Apple would have had to pay Google to get on theirs.
I'm certain that there's a smidgen of logic in this whole thing somewhere, but damned if I know how to find it.
File under 'M' for 'Manic ranting'
and now Google has swept in to save the day with their own branded application instead...
But it doesn't ship with the device, so their customers aren't confronted with Google branding, unless and until they choose to download it.
"Confronted" by a little Google logo?
You're quite insecure aren't you.
I dislike Apple as much as the next person with half a brain but I'm certainly not afraid of their logo.
Furthermore, if and when Apple Maps data is improved to be as good or better than Google Maps, people getting new devices won't choose to download Google Maps, as Apple Maps will already be there.
The likilhood of this happening is very, very small. It took Google the better part of a decade to get from where Apple Maps is to where Google maps is today and Google had the talent to do it which Apple doesnt.
Secondly your notion relies on the assumption that Google will not improve their product at the time. This is wrong on so many levels.
It's not just quality data that keeps bringing people back to Google, they also have a lot of very useful applications for that data.
Finally, Apple's mapping data makes so many simple mistakes it's not funny. They haven't even got rectification right.
and Google gets to remind Apple who is more powerful.
Fundamentally it's all about profit, and how to achieve it. And Apple makes about 20 times the profit of Google. Your perception of power is weird, irrelevant and probably mistaken.
Fundamentally it's about getting people to use your product (no customers == no profit). All your statement pointed out is that people buying Apple products are being ripped off for them. Like most apple fanboys you need to somehow justify that you're being ripped off for a good reason. Your perception of power is weird, irrelevant and definitely mistaken.
Calling someone a "hater" only means you can not rationally rebut their argument.
And what you are seeing is a community of end users, who can all edit Google Maps directly, discussing how to best correct some POI data. How can I do this on Apple Maps?
It's easy to do so. Apple has a "report problem with map" link, both in just looking at the map (it's under the curl) and in looking at any specific location. It has many different categories of what the problem is to help refine data you enter - for example if you say place you found is in the wrong location, they let you place the pin on a map in the correct location. Or if details are wrong you can make changes and submit them.
Or you can say a search you just did resulted in the wrong results, it gives you the last few search terms to select from. Or you can simply add a location that should exist, but does not. Or there's a general bucket of "problem at this location" where you can free-form text entry. Apple is doing crowdsourced corrections even slightly better than Google at this point.
Obviously all that data has to be verified before Apple puts corrections on the map but the point is Apple has made it pretty much as easy as it can be for the average user to submit corrections to map data. That is how Apple can easily catch Google within a year, by simply processing the vast array of corrections users are submitting every day. Google has reached something of a plateau of map correctness; Apple has only to reach this same plateau. They are not that far away now for lots of regions and even ahead in some areas (like China). Once there the large number of users submitting corrections will keep Apple abreast with Google even as businesses close.
Google has a feedback mechanism built into the iOS Google Maps, but the entry is somewhat more limited in terms of pre-defined issues, and generally people do not use it as much as they have not been trained to do so. The large number of articles on Apple Maps issues have helped Apple in that lots of people know about, and use, the map correction features.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Uh... yeah, right.
No transit directions.
No terrestrial virtual presence.
Poor direction service when outside of major metropolitan areas.
Google has public transit directions built in, street view, and almost ubiquitous coverage of most developed countries, handling intercity travel just as easily as urban directions.
The so-called advantages that Apple maps has over the old Google maps app, which are voice turn-by-turn navigation and 3d overhead maps are not even available on devices as recent as the iPhone 4, which still supports iOS6 Also, the 3d overhead maps only works in certain selected major cities, where Google's streetview is almost ubiquitous in developed countries, having not only major cities, but also much of the countryside adjacent to highways, as well as every small town I've ever visited.
I'm not an Apple hater, really... but I'm calling this one as I see it. Google really does a better job than Apple at this. Maybe that's only because Google's been doing it longer, and I see no reason that Apple won't improve in the future... maybe someday they'll be on a more even keel, but as things sit, today... and for now... when it comes to maps, Google stomps all over Apple.
File under 'M' for 'Manic ranting'
Yay! A free upgrade for iPhone 4 users like me, who were left out of turn by turn navigation. Just in time for my first trip to a new client's office tomorrow.
"Confronted" by a little Google logo?
You're quite insecure aren't you.
I know Apple's design standards. For example, unlike the piece of shit PC you bought, a Mac doesn't come with "Intel Inside" stickers, or the rest of the stickers, nor is it loaded up with crapware.
Apple has standards. You don't.
I dislike Apple as much as the next person
And your hatred is why your posts are so irrational.
cost is not always financial. a google mapping app probably generates revenue in some convoluted way that doesn't end up costing the end user any money. doesn't mean it's free.