Apple begs ex-Google bods to fix crap maps app
As reported on Friday, Apple is hastily hiring software engineers to fix its disastrous new Maps App. Not surprisingly, it appears the iPhone maker hopes to lure them from Google. Bosses are, we're told, sweet-talking engineers with experience in the sprawling Google maps team to woo them to Team Apple. The new Maps App - …
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Open Street Map
"but it has baked that data with information from Open Street Map, Waze, and several other sources to identify places."
Open Street Map? Really? They are not credited in the provided link, and their CC-by-SA licence is incompatible with mixing the information with propriatry mapping data from Tom Tom.
Is Apple stealing again?
Re: Open Street Map
It's not stealing unless a physical item is involved - isn't that what the "free" guys say.
Plagiarism of the first order is what it sounds like.
And worse, badly done.
It's not stealing unless a physical item is involved
Tell it to the MAFIAA and chums, then.
Re: Open Street Map
"They are not credited in the provided link"
They are, but possibly not visible in your browser unless you resize the page - or look at the source. There's an attribution to OSM.
C.
Re: Open Street Map, diodesign
wow, they actually disabled scrolling on that page, you either use a touch screen or your keyboard to scroll and see the full list!
Re: Open Street Map
They should license from Nokia - they have by miles the best Maps and navigation on a mobile...
Re: Open Street Map
Not really.
Other people have managed to achieve high quality navigation on mobile using Tom Tom licensed maps.
Sygic - it is the best cross platform Sat Nav and probably best offline sat nav for Adroid. I have not tried the iOS version, but I would expect it to be as good.
Apple should have bought it instead of this farce.
£52kpa?
"One guy looked around for other GIS work and ended up at Apple when a recruiter contacted him...Still, despite the insider's account of lukewarm salary offers of $85,000 (£52k) plus moving expenses"
Fuck me. At those rates hee must've been an intern.
Re: Open Street Map
Go Richto! The sat nav on my Nokia has never let me down, but it is a bit hilarious driving around the Gravelly Hill Interchange :)
'At the next junction take the first exit. Route recalculation. In 100 yards bear right and then bear right. Route recalculation. At the next junction turn right. Route recalculation. In 200 yards stay right and then take the first exit. Route recalculation. etc. etc'
Re: Open Street Map
Nah, let apple think its only Google they have to worry about...
Re: Open Street Map
"Open Street Map? Really?"
Yes. http://forums.theregister.co.uk/forum/containing/1556334
"They are not credited in the provided link"
They (we, since I also contribute) are now. http://blog.osmfoundation.org/2012/03/08/welcome-apple/
"their CC-by-SA licence is incompatible with mixing the information with propriatry mapping data from Tom Tom."
Not from the CC-by-SA side, as far as I am aware. You, Apple, and anyone else are perfectly welcome to use OSM data in any way you see fit, by itself or along with other providers, as long as credit is given.
(Not an OSM Foundation member or spokesman, just another one of the many contributors of OSM data, but it still "my" data and yes, go ahead and use it, that's the whole point.)
Re: Open Street Map (@AC 20:04 GMT)
The link you provided (http://blog.osmfoundation.org/2012/03/08/welcome-apple/) refers to iPhoto, not to Apple Maps.
Re: £52kpa?
All of those companies Apple bought for their engineers, not their products. It's called acquicruiting.
Re: Open Street Map (@AC 20:04 GMT)
Good catch!
However, as diodesign mentions elsewhere, I understand that Apple Maps also carries an attribution notice.
Apple to fix new maps app
Why don't Apple just buy back into Google Maps, after all that works very well, I know as I use an Android phone.
Re: Apple to fix new maps app
Because this way they can retro-actively sue Google for copying Saint Job's invention of the map as evidenced to a retarded patent-officer wannabe jury foreman by showing him that the iPhone has maps and so does Google, therefore Google stole them.
Re: Apple to fix new maps app
And Lo, on the eight day, after his day of rest, lord Jobs invents cartography.
Re: Apple to fix new maps app
That's only if the jury foreman can find the courthouse, which might be a problem if he is using crApple Maps.
Re: Apple to fix new maps app
"Why don't Apple just buy back into Google Maps, after all that works very well, I know as I use an Android phone."
I can imagine the meeting
Google: Hahahahahahahahah, let me just add another zero to the end of that contract, hahahahahahahahahahahahahah, and a few more, oh man, hahahahahahahahahahahahahahah!
Re: Apple to fix new maps app
You can laugh all you want,
But you should be glad that there is at least one company fighting against the Google monopoly and has a serious change to make the world of online/mobile maps competitive. Personally i always found the maps of google rather slow, and there satellite are very very old, mind you i life in a country where was internet is considered 3mbit.
I hope that Apple will do well soon and that they become a true competitive rather sooner then later.
Re: [rvt] Apple to fix new maps app
Google has no monopoly on maps. See Nokia, OSM, Bing, any of the car SatNav providers...
Trying to justify hobbling Apple users with their poor excuse for a mapping app by pretending Apple are producing the only alternative to Google Maps is disingenuous.
Re: Apple to fix new maps app
And Lo, on the eight day, after his day of rest, lord Jobs invents cartography.
Ah, but did he invent the Dymaxion projection?
The problem is ALWAYS the PEOPLE.
If $85k is what they are offering as 'aggressive recruitment' it's surprising the people they had before were capable of creating any good software ... oh, wait ...
Re: The problem is ALWAYS the PEOPLE.
I have the feeling that Apple's map problems have nothing to do with software, and everything to do with data curation. If Google have 7000 people working on maps, you can bet that 95% of them are doing nothing but staring at GIS data applications and hand tweaking the map data. Sadly this isn't work fit for human beings, and will also pay about as well. Th best quality software on the planet won't replace low resolution satellite images with high resolution photographs taken from airplanes, or magically fix out of date business information. The only way to sort this out takes lots of effort, money, and time.
Re: The problem is ALWAYS the PEOPLE.
'aggressive recruitment'
Sounds like the Navy of old. Apple have roving press gangs hanging around Coffee bars and gaming shows?
Re: The problem is ALWAYS the PEOPLE.
Sadly this isn't work fit for human beings
Can't crApple get it done in China, the same as their manufacturing?
Re: The problem is ALWAYS the PEOPLE.
Indeed. While it's currently cool to bash Apple's maps, I think the underlying system is fairly competent, it's the data that's crap. Throwing more programmers at it isn't going to help, like you say it requires lots of cheap eyeballs to sort out the flaws in the data.
Re: The problem is ALWAYS the PEOPLE. (@ m0rt )
"Sounds like the Navy of old. Apple have roving press gangs hanging around Coffee bars and gaming shows?"
"The engineer was overpowered,
Though he fought most manfully,
They dragged him through the dark, wet streets,
Towards the Cupertino slave pits" *
Meter? WTF is that? :-)
*: Apologies to Steeleye Span
Re: The problem is ALWAYS the PEOPLE.
Sort out the flaws in the apple mapping data by opening google maps on your second monitor, and then copy and paste the coordinates?
Ah! But...
it has the head phone jack on the Bottom! Poof! And the connector's completely digital.
What does that even mean?
Re: Ah! But...
@VinceH
This link requires me to up-vote your post. Amusing, thank you :)
Re: Ah! But...
The description said she wasn't a plant, didn't say anything about her not being a vegetable though.
Re: Ah! But...
If she's got one I definitely don't want one!
Thanks for the great link.
Re: Ah! But...
" This link requires me to up-vote your post. Amusing, thank you :)"
You're welcome.
And Apple fandom is very welcome to her. :)
Re: Ah! But...
After seeing that video I am now looking for a 24 month contract on two plastic cups and a piece of string.
Its an easy fix.......
Apple just need to use their gazillions in cash, buy Google, spin off the maps division into their own business, shut down the Android part and sale the search and ads parts to Facebook.
Anything left over could be sold on the open market less the motorola patents which they can take for themselves so that they have some real ones at last.
There fixed it for them.......
Can anyone explain how the data bought from TOMTOM is so bad. TOMTOM sat nav data has never been this bad. Was Apple shafted?
Software Only?
Can anyone explain how the data bought from TOMTOM is so bad
****
Maybe they only brought the software rather than the content? i.e. the server code that sews tiles together to form the scrollable map from GIS db queries.
Apple shafted itself
The POIs didn't come from Tom Tom, a Routers report says it combines POI data from 20 different providers. There is also the 3D view which magics up contour data from out of nowhere (looks at the surface texture and altitude data and guesses).
Apple shafted itself, by trying to do a GPS program in record time.
Icon is what you'll be doing when following the turn-by-turn data.
Re: Apple shafted itself
The POIs didn't come from Tom Tom, a Routers report says it combines POI data from 20 different providers
They would've been better off using the Royal National Institute for the Blind as one of their 'providers'
The whole mapping app is riddled with the most basic simple mistakes. For example Consett in County Durham is randomly renamed Gonsett. Got all the hallmarks of a cheap offshore rush job this I'm surprised Accenture haven't been named as the brains behind it
Re: Software Only?
Mapserver can do that already for free. But really, making tiles is the easy part of mapping. Getting accurate maps is a different story.
Quality control was a issue here, and properly some import errors somewhere down the line.
Re: Consett in County Durham is randomly renamed Gonsett - not necessarily a bad thing eh ;-)
As anyone one who has had to visit Consett will tell you.
Re: Apple shafted itself
I've an OSM-based app on my iphone - it knows where Consett is.
So PICNIC - problem in Cupertino, not in computer
Apple users still win...
Google will release a Google Map app for iOS 6, just like they have done for Youtube, and then Apple users will have the best of both worlds :)
Re: Apple users still win...
Best of both worlds? That would be the world where your maps work and are accurate and the world where they are iOS6 maps (is iOS6 Maps an oxymoron?). I think I will stick to my single world where my maps just work and are accurate - don't see a lot of use for inaccurate maps.
Re: Apple users still win...
Maybe Google don't want to help Apple out of the brown stuff!
As soon as Google Maps is out for iOS 6 the bad news stories will stop.
Re: Apple users still win...
Google will release a Google Map app for iOS 6, just like they have done for Youtube, and then Apple users will have the best of both worlds :)
It will hardly the best of both worlds when clicking on links in Safari open them in Crapple maps rather than Google maps which you know actually has places where they are really located
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