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Apple is Rebuilding Maps From the Ground Up (techcrunch.com)
Apple hasn't given up on Maps. After a rough first impression, an apology from the CEO, several years of patching holes with data partnerships and some glimmers of light with long-awaited transit directions and improvements in business, parking and place data, Apple Maps is still not where it needs to be to be considered a world class service. Apple is aware of this, apparently, it told TechCrunch. From a report: Apple, it turns out, is aware of this, so It's re-building the maps part of Maps. It's doing this by using first-party data gathered by iPhones with a privacy-first methodology and its own fleet of cars packed with sensors and cameras. The new product will launch in San Francisco and the Bay Area with the next iOS 12 Beta and will cover Northern California by fall.
Every version of iOS will get the updated maps eventually and they will be more responsive to changes in roadways and construction, more visually rich depending on the specific context they're viewed in and feature more detailed ground cover, foliage, pools, pedestrian pathways and more. This is nothing less than a full re-set of Maps and it's been 4 years in the making, which is when Apple began to develop its new data gathering systems. Eventually, Apple will no longer rely on third-party data to provide the basis for its maps, which has been one of its major pitfalls from the beginning.
Every version of iOS will get the updated maps eventually and they will be more responsive to changes in roadways and construction, more visually rich depending on the specific context they're viewed in and feature more detailed ground cover, foliage, pools, pedestrian pathways and more. This is nothing less than a full re-set of Maps and it's been 4 years in the making, which is when Apple began to develop its new data gathering systems. Eventually, Apple will no longer rely on third-party data to provide the basis for its maps, which has been one of its major pitfalls from the beginning.
someone will be able to fact check this:
Back in the late 80's early 90' there was an amazing word processor called Wordstar. They choose to do a re-write of the code from top to bottom. At the same time Microsoft just came out with version 2 or 3 there's word processor. It was a race, and Microsoft choose to do a side by side development, where old code was upgraded with anything new they came up with, and the new ground-up version was being done with features from the old copied and tested and new stuff.
Microsoft won because they rolled out the upgrades ( we did not ( as i recall ) have on-line MS upgrades, but disk mailed upgrades, and pirate-BBS type shareware upgrades ) , people had the latest features without much issue and no real learning curve, and they walked everyone into the new word processor.
Wordstar flopped on the code re-write with too many bugs and people became dis-satisfied.
I hope Apple and other reading this take this lesson and apply it
if you see me, smile and say hello.
All our effort ought to go towards OpenStreetMap. It's time to end proprietary map data and the anti-data commercial mapping businesses create to circumvent copyright law.
Good luck with that. The street I live on has been drawn as going through someone's house since Apple Maps released. Apparently the monkey who drew the map based on satellite imagery mistook someone's driveway for the street, so the entrance is drawn as going straight through a house. Has been for years. No amount of reporting it to Apple has gotten the issue fixed.
But the bigger issue I have is with Apple's geocoding. Sometimes, despite giving it the full address, it will randomly substitute a different city. But it's completely inconsistent about this. It appears to be based on your current location, but I'm not sure.
So, for example, you punch in "742 Evergreen Terrace, Springfield, USA" and Apple Maps will pop up a pin that says "742 Evergreen Terrace" but if you look closely, you'll see that it's really "742 Evergreen Terrace, Shelbyville, USA."
The best is that you can get this behavior if you copy the address straight out of a POI marker. So, for example, you set a calendar event, and give it a POI as the location. This copies the address into the calendar entry. When you get in your car, CarPlay will helpfully suggest you navigate to that location. Except thanks to this bug, you might find yourself getting directions to a completely different town. Or not, because this isn't consistent behavior.
It's incredibly annoying and makes using Apple Maps for navigation a dangerous proposition.
Of course, I've also had Apple Maps know the POI marker, have the correct location, and provide directions to a completely different location. The best example was when I was driving to a mall that had an Apple Store, and it directed me to a hotel across town instead. I still don't know why. (I suspect it's another data issue - POIs like malls have to have an "entrance" point set that isn't their actual location. I think for whatever reason someone had set the mall's "entrance" coordinates to be the hotel.)
So, uh, yeah. Their data is bad, their geocoding is bad, and their route finding is occasionally just bizarre.