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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.
That's good to hear. Maybe the new maps will have all of I-140 around Wilmington, NC. It opened last year before Thanksgiving and still isn't showing up on the map. You can see the damn road in the satellite view. I even sent them an email asking them to add it about 2 months ago.
As an aside, I've noticed that few kids these days, with their iPhones and maps (probably from Google), know where they are. But they all know where they're going.
Google is a a software company that makes some hardware.
Apple is a hardware company that makes some software.
Google hardware isn't bad, and neither is Apples Software.
However the approaches to problems are different.
The Google Pixel uses more software to correct the image and focusing from its little camera. Apple is more likely to put more hardware behind a better camera, and less on the software.
It is like giving a problem to both a Carpenter and a Welder. They will solve the problems with what they feel best at doing. So we can have one solution made out of wood, and the other made out of metal, with the advantages and disadvantages of both methods.
I doubt Apple will ever get Maps to the quality as Google Maps is. It isn't money or resources, but how the company culture approaches the problem.
If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
This seems a bit wasteful for society. We are now mapping things twice.
Not really wasteful. Since there are roughly a billion iPhones out there in the world, if Apple just gets the data from them, it basically has the mapping already, with real time updating.
http://www.geoffreylandis.com
In the case of Maps you are not really talking about a re-write of software so much as a larger and more accurate set of data being gathered.
Everyone knows the big software re-writes are problematic but this is not that. It's more of a gradual improvement over what is there, walking users into new maps features as it were... there will be no learning curve here either, just improved maps over time with more features.
You also left out a huge part of your story, which is the bundling that Microsoft did with Word making Word the default choice for Windows and leading Wordstar to starve. What about WordPerfect? It was excellent word processing software (better than Word), did not have the same re-write issue, yet it died as well. Can you honestly say there is ANYTHING Wordstar could have done to overcome the advantages Word had?
Every iOS device (and Mac) ships with Apple Maps, that is also its own huge advantage... as is Apples very large pile of cash to be able to afford quality efforts of upgrade, Wordstar did not have a massive cash slush fund it could afford to keep improving forever.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
I say this as an ardent Apple product user and shareholder:
Apple, just stop with the maps. We have Google Maps. Thatâ(TM)s enough. You finally let us use it with CarPlay, for which we are very grateful. That is all you needed to do. Spend your Maps resources on something else. Thank you.
Apple Maps isn't very good. However, I trust Google less and less with each passing day, and I would just as soon have them out of my digital life entirely if it were possible. I switched from Google search to DuckDuckGo and haven't been any worse for wear. I've stopped using Google Drive for iCloud Drive + Dropbox, and I've largely abandoned Google Docs. Maps and Gmail though are really hard to get rid of today.
I hope that they and the HERE people persevere and make a viable alternative to Google Maps/Waze (one and the same company now really). Having only one viable choice in the market is bad for everyone. I wish Apple would offer mail as well with import from Gmail -- I'd get Google out of my life forever.
- Vincit qui patitur.