Apple's brilliant plan to fix iOS Maps: Get YOU to do it
Apple has finally spoken out about its new maps application that has raised howls of protest from users, who claim it is less detailed and full of mistakes. Users have been chronicling the differences between the new maps app in iOS6 and the Google maps app on iOS5 it replaces saying the user experience has worsened and the …
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Re: For those whining that Google's Maps app was "better"...
... try living in the Italian countryside sometime
@ Sean
Stop press: Google doesn't take the photos but buys them in from agencies, which is Europe are generally government agencies who control zoom level, degree of detail and explain what cannot be shown. And in most countries those photographs are very up to date as they are basis for all kinds of agreements, bills and even fines (tree-felling). In Italy the images generally come from Cnes/Spot Image, to whom you can now address your complaint.
It would be good if Google were allowed to release an updated version of Google maps so that customers could choose which app they prefer but don't the I-tunes store statutes prohibit just such competition with Apple software?
Re: For those whining that Google's Maps app was "better"...
"Oh sure, you'll get excellent details of major cities like London and Rome, but the further out you get from either, the lower the detail and accuracy."
I was just looking at satellite images of a small private animal sanctuary 90 miles out of Durban, South Africa in the middle of nowhere.
I could zoom down to see the main house, sheds, the works, and even got driving directions down bush tracks to get there.
By the sounds, that's better than Apple has managed in major sections of the UK, and this is a place visited by a handful of people every year who are highly unlikely to afford an android device.
Apple maps are rubbish - I was shocked that they would let such an unpolished app on their device. Jobs would never have allowed that.
Re: For those whining that Google's Maps app was "better"...
> I'm surprised they released it in this state.
Depends how they update it. If all the iphones are reporting their locations as they move, Apple can pick up the actual locations of roads very quickly.
"the more people use it, the better it will get"
Read: We track the GPS data of every users movements and over time we'll merge the results to be able to show the correct placement of the roads.
Jobs
I wonder how Steve Jobs would be feeling about Apple Maps, were he alive? Maybe he wouldn't be falling over himself to hand out bonusses and awards.
Re: Jobs
More likely we'd never know, as it wouldn't have got out the door.
Re: Jobs
I think if he were alive, someone else would be dead.
My understanding of the Apple "brand" is that the user experience makes up for the expense and the lock-in. If they start shipping the same crud as the rest of the tech business, they'll have to start charging the same prices and offer the same hack-a-bility.
Re: Jobs
If Jobs were still alive, this map app would not have made it into iOS6. His philosophy was either "this is great" or "this is shit" with no grey area in between. I think he would have said the latter.
Re: Jobs
Completely disagree. Steve Jobs would simply be telling us that the towns and landmarks in the real world were wrong and that Apple Maps was right.
And if it looks blurry then you are holding it wrong.
Re: Jobs
"My understanding of the Apple "brand" is that the user....." means NOTHING BUT BUCKS!
Apple will catch up with the competition....who have surpassed them spectactularly....eventually.
Re: Jobs
In fact, just seen this:
http://www.thedailymash.co.uk/news/science-technology/everywhere-in-britain-is-dudley-says-apple-2012092142045/
Re: Jobs
If Jobs were alive today, he'd be kicking at the lid.
Re: Jobs
https://twitter.com/liamdaly/status/248852305309483011/photo/1
So....
This also means that trip data from phone owners (knowing or not) will be used to improve the mapping?
IOS Spy in your pocket - no thanks.
http://maps.nokia.com or of course, any Nokia phone with this already baked in.
Fanbois do yourself a favour, get yourself a ladder & get out of the walled garden, the Blight problem is serious this time. If you stay you'll be lost forever.
Re: So....
Walled Gardens are in place on most OS's, although it is easier to install apps outside the walled garden on other OS's the majority of users will only ever use the walled garden.
Before you acuse me of being pro apple I am an Android user who detests Apples
Re: So....
"Walled Gardens are in place on most OS's"
Exactly, and on most OS's you can side-load an alternate application to do the same job. There's a fence and there's a wall. The OS's you speak of have fences, iOS has a wall and not some little garden wall you can step over either.
Re: So....
My primary concern is raw content control, not apps per se.
apple have owners by the balls in itunes, that's the real elephant in the room of ever there was one.
Show me the money!
Sorry but no, never by fuckery will that software ever install on a digital device of mine.
OpenStreetMap
Is this because they've ditched Google Map data and now using OpenStreetMap?
Or is it because their mapping program is just rubbish?
I didn't think OpenStreetMap data was that bad, seems to be fine in my area at least.
Re: OpenStreetMap
@batfastad I use OSM on my Garmin GPS and it's really good for a free map. The screenshots I've seen from ios6 are really really dire. What I can't understand is who signed off the UAT
Re: OpenStreetMap
For some reason Apple took the weird decision to only use years out of date OpenStreetMap data and then only use it partially.
Re: OpenStreetMap
The road I live on doesn't exist on OSM (fair enough, it's only been there for 13 years) nor does the road it comes off (again, it's only existed for 20+ years). So no problems there.
To all the Apple apologists out there, it doesn't matter that Google's satellite views were a bit shit at first. Apple are competing with Google Maps as it exists *now*. You can't replace one app with another that's significantly inferior without expecting to get kicked for it.
Re: OpenStreetMap
The point about OSM is that if something is missing you can just add it yourself...
Re: OpenStreetMap
They are using TomTom apparently, not OpenStreetMap. Where I live, OpenStreetMap is considerably more reliable than Google. Apple's offering is considerably less reliable than Google. The Apple Store is in the right place, but that's about it.
Re: OpenStreetMap
So, I just need to nip out and buy a theodolite then and taking surveying course online then? ;)
Anyhow, just checked again and we now exist! Must be a very recent addition - within the past 6 weeks.
Re: OpenStreetMap
Yeah, Apple's licensing TomTom data... which used to be TeleAtlas, until the map data buying frenzy that had TomTom buying TeleAtlas, and Nokia scrambling to get the other one, Navigon. They may have some OSM data n there for places not well served by TomTom.
Ironically, it was this dash by device manufacturers that messed with Google Maps' long-term licensing and got Google into the mapping business. This is actually different than the Google Earth data. Google Earth was originally a program from Keyhole, Inc. which Google acquired in 2005 or so. Keyhole was funded by the American Central Intelligence Agency, via their In-Q-Tel. In-Q-Tel works to fund new technology that's useful to spies but also regular folks -- prior to Google Earth, the ability to zoom in on anyone's home or car, anywhere on Earth, might have seemed to be kind of a James Bond thing. Afterwards, no biggie.
"cloud-based"..
What the hell? All services online are "cloud-based".
I hate these buzzwords. What they mean is "we want you to fix our broken shit for us".
What they should have done is made it Maps Beta, and the apple faithful could go through and fix everything, while others still used Google Maps.
"the more people use it, the better it will get"
Yeah but if I can't get to the right place in the first place, how do I fix...ermmm....brain...hurt...need....lie....down.....
The Apple Faithful...
...have been slapped hard in the face with this one.
Added to that... they've been denied the chance to have a phone with one of those increasingly popular large screens - for at least another year, all at a point where the competition is really hotting up.
Apple - the biggest company in the world - still offers just a single phone, operating an ageing interface which is looking increasingly long-in-the-tooth.
But religion is hard to shake. Lots of people have worshipped at the fruity altar for years, and it's going to hurt to walk away from the clan.
It...just....works.....
Repeat.
It ...just... works....
Oh Steve..!
Re: The Apple Faithful...
Apple's got more to lose than win by following the crowd directly. They make a huge pile of cash, they have people waiting in line to buy their one new phone this year (albeit, an event they carefully orchestrate with leaks, press teases, The Big Announcement a week before online availability, a week before in-store, planned limits on units to get both "sold out" and "record breaking" in the news, etc.
In short, they're selling crazy numbers... all being the most conservative smartphone company on the planet. Why change? They can cherrypick the best of the innovations from elsewhere in the industry, see which of these seem to fit without problem into Apple's idea of an iPhone, etc.
As usual, expect the guys really hungry for market share to try new ideas. Those that win, that's an innovation.. those that don't, end-of-the-year humor columns. And every company has a better shot at these than Apple, simply because the traditional phone companies are releasing 6-12+ new models per year. A few of these can be gambles. And that's necessary to innovate.
DOH!!! Why did I update the IoS
well, updating the IOS took away an hour of my life i'll never get back again, the maps suck, really I'm not defending Apple over this, its atrocious as for any chance that Apple will do this because of public opinion? my a**e they will!!!
The first person to say that this would never have happened if Steve deceased Jobs was alive, must be removed from the UK and forced to live with the rest of the donuts in the californian donut, and never be allowed to join the rest of the sane!
Some mo is bound to.
I'm not sure. Look what Steve Jobs said about Apple and "its attitude of arrogance" (his words) back in 2007 (shortly after returning to Apple) and its very hard not to agree with him:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GnO7D5UaDig&#t=600s
He's talking about the old Apple and the Mac of course, but every word fits perfectly at today's Apple and the iPhone. "Reinventing the wheel might end up 10% better but usually it ends up 50% worse" -- just classic.
Er, I wonder...
...how Apple will make the Road Map for this update.
No go
Maps is a deal-breaker for me. I'll be sticking with iOS5 on my 3GS.
Re: No go
Why not load your browser - go to Google Maps and save the shortcut to your home page - DONE.
What is all this fuss about when you can 'fix' it in 10 seconds.
Re: No go
"What is all this fuss about when you can 'fix' it in 10 seconds"
Maps weren't broken in iOS5, there's no justifiable reason users should have to 'fix' them in iOS6. That's why there is a fuss.
Turn-by-turn navigation
was clearly a feature Google wouldn't give Apple for /any/ money, since it's not Google's own data to start with.
So Apple had to go on their own. Might as well go the whole way and replace the whole thing. I don't think Google would allow Apple to use their data and offer third-party turn-by-turn on top.
Incidentally the new maps work well for me and the richly detailed 3D city models are amazing.
Re: Turn-by-turn navigation
"Incidentally the new maps work well for me and the richly detailed 3D city models are amazing."
Simple cuboids overlaid with low resolution bitmap images are amazing?
Are you also entertained by bright lights and pretty colours?
Re: Turn-by-turn navigation
Hey AC... you did know this is about the iPhone 5, right? One might ask a rhetorical question about Apple users being transfixed by bright lights and pretty colors.. but they are. And rounded corners, too. For real. Express no shock at this, please.
Drones
To make significant improvements to maps I think it would be good if Apple, Microsoft or Google built a fleet of drones and launched them en-masse. Hi-res imagery from 800 feet would be pretty cool.
Re: Drones
That is a scary thought... .
None of those three would I trust to take images over my house... If I heard they were doing that, I would whip up an anti-UAV UAV to take it down...
Here's what Transport For London think of it: https://twitter.com/binny_uk/status/248824180395614208/photo/1
Just tell the iOS map devs
Just tell the iOS map devs in their private jets to take a trip to Dublin...
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-19676125
Apple may have botched it, but
the old maps app used data licensed and sourced from Google. Apple had only very little leeway to do anything with that data apart from displaying maps. Which was good and fine in 2007 but not today.
Now Apple has its own data and can offer map APIs to third-party app developers to do whatever they want with it in their own apps.
In a perfect world the data would be as good or better as Google, but it obviously isn't. I have no idea if Apple was just lazy and cheap and couldn't be bothered to buy better data or if this just a really tough job. But I have no doubt that staying with Google here was not an option for Apple. They're between a rock and a hard place. Even renewing the contract with Google and still not being able to offer navigation would have led to much ridicule too.
And really, Apple was *never* good at much besides hardware. Building a global mapping/navigation database is nothing you do in a few months or even two years anyway.
Re: Apple may have botched it, but
Out of curiosity, do you have a reference for any of this? It seems to me that Apple could negotiate for full access to the maps API if they didn't have it already so other than being in control of the data what restrictions would there be for them?
Re: Apple may have botched it, but
Apparently Apple has been working on Maps for years already.
And someone at Cupertino figured out there was a problem because they've been advertising jobs for 'mapping experts' in the last couple of weeks.
Which is made of fail anyway, because the app itself is fine, if you ignore the tolerable rough edges. What sucks is the lack of data, and the obvious screaming an-idiot-did-this mistakes.
My random worthless guess is that Apple outsourced data entry to China or India for a few bowls of rice and a corporate contribution or two. No one bothered to do basic checks on spelling or data integrity - or if they did, they were low-level underlings who were ignored and probably fired.
Manudjment were too arrogant to pay attention to the shit storm of criticism from the beta testers.
And there goes the brand.
What happens next defines whether or not anyone still cares what Apple is doing a year from now.
Re: Apple may have botched it, but
Apple wasn't licensing Google's data... they were providing an iOS version of Google Maps. This did what every other version of Google maps does, from the same current data. I mean, really, if the data were from 2007 .. well, Google couldn't have licensed their data. They didn't "go native" with their own data until 2009.
There were two problems with Google Maps. First of all, Google didn't offer Google Navigation on iOS or platforms other than Android. And with Nokia also offering turn-by-turn in Windows Phone (not sure about MS themselves), this is rapidly becoming a standard function of all smartphones. So Apple had to do something with it.
Next was Apple's typical greed -- Google's not just a sometime competitor, they get access to Apple customers with Google tools, without having to pay Apple 30% of their profits. They might well have been the only one left in the Apple ecosystem getting away with this. So it had to end, regardless of the effect on end-users.
"Siri integration"
Anyone got one?
Do me a favour, fire up Siri, say; "Siri? Why are your maps so shit?" and report back what it says.
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