Apple's 3D Maps and Imagery See Incremental Improvements

appleguy123 said:

If only Apple had an entire year left in which they could use Google map tiles while developing their own solution...

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Actually, in the long run I think it'll turn out to be a good thing that Apple made the mistake of rolling out Maps prematurely... a company that thrives on high standards ("we now measure irregularities in microns" yadda yadda) does not want their reputation publicly tarnished like that. The last time they got a reality check ("Antennagate"), they bent over backwards to ensure that similar problems wouldn't surface the next time. If Maps had conformed to Apple's normally high standards it would've remained an 8.5/10. But now, they won't quit until it's a 10/10 and they have the best and most accurate maps around.

I live in a newer townhouse development in Vancouver. Google maps doesn't think my address exists, but Apple maps knows it. Just thought I'd provide this one small example of Apple maps being better than Google. It will only be a matter of time until they're on par. Google was never perfect to begin with, even after years of improvements.

That's great but...

I would like better live traffic. Google maps has so many more roads and close to realtime data. Maps is so wrong, almost as if they were guessing what traffic would be like for a given time frame. I have been stuck in traffic where that it says is clear, and truckin in places that says is congested.

tiwizard said:

Flyover is really cool to show off and it's also useless, but I still think it's a great way to show off the power of the iPhones...

I'm looking forward to seeing how they deal with some of the incorrect map data and how quickly they get it resolved... They're always improving Maps, people

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How is an axionometric view ala flyover useless but a top-down graphical view is non-useless?

They all are useful.

The Statue of Liberty is flat for me, and I've never looked at it before.

I've seen new POI's added for my small town within the last week. Mostly they are restaurants that weren't there initially. However I submitted several corrections to the names of fuel stations and a missing hospital that have yet to show up.
But it's good to see progress is being made.

Apple fixed POI's in my area

We reported two POI's in my area of Chicagoland that were incorrect and in under 7 days they were fixed. Pretty impressive.

Mine still shows Statue of liberty as a flat piece of land.

Hope they are wokring on other places "LIKE AFRICA"

cyks said:

Fixing the 3D maps and adding additional POI is all fine and dandy, but I'd rather they tackle the wrong streets and addresses.

It's an inconvenience if I were to search for a store and it didn't show up, but I could still open Safari, do a web search, and find out it's physical address.

It's a serious problem when that address takes me to the wrong spot.

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This * 100

I can totally understand why Apple is doing this though. Fixing the fly-overs of a few significant landmarks, even though fly-overs are utterly useless for anything but show off, will generate instant positive buzz and make Apple look less like incompetent fools - which really is the message that has been sent the last few days.

Having map.app being ridiculed all over the press and the Internet along with that "The Amazing iOS 6 Maps"-site must have shook Apple to the core (no pun intended).

Anyone found how to clear the Apple Maps cache yet?

Another believer that flyovers are useless eye candy and a waste of computing power and data download. Why not add a subterranean view, for Pete's sake?

Apple should release a social game that lets people stake virtual claim to locations and crowd source the geo-coding. People could challenge holds over locations by getting a more accurate location or adding greater detail, with users "voting" (by votes or actual use) for the "owner".

People love that kind of ****.

With a bonus game called "flag the gap" like a kind of reality augmented minesweeper, to encourage people to flag areas missing data or are non-fictional.

TwinCities Dan said:

That's great BUT...

I am extremely annoyed that I noticed on day one of iOS 6 that my business' info is outdated on the Maps app. I reported on day one (and every single day since), and nothing has been done. I have posted links to my company's web site (with the correct info) and my contact info many times to Apple but no response.

About a week after iOS6 came out I did a little experiment where I also informed Google of the info change as well.

Google updated their maps THE NEXT DAY.

What the hell Apple?

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I'm confused.... so Google maps has been using outdated info on your business for X period of time.... and you were frusterated that Apple also used that same old info (but hadn't been mad about google maps?)... I guess I'm asking why did you wait until a week after iOS 6 launch to update google maps?

Don't get me wrong, I understand your point that Google responded to your feedback quickly. But you also have to realize that A) Apple has been absolutely BOMBARDED with feedback because so much of it is bad and B) It's easier for google to update because they only have one source.. google. However Apple uses crowdsourced data from yelp, tomtom, and others. So It's pobably a bit more complicated because there are checks and balances to prevent duplicate entries, choose most accurate entry, etc.

Radio said:

that's like saying the sky is blue

of course there will be improvements but that doesn't mean they should of released a subpar product.

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There's a lot of assertions that claim Apple's Maps are 'subpar' (or worse) compared to Google Maps. So far, the only statistical comparison I've seen between the two doesn't support that claim.

Radio said:

we still will be missing street view. that is extremely integral

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Different strokes for different folks. I only found out that street view existed in the old Maps app about 3 months before the initial Apple Maps announcement. The few times I used it it wasn't of much help due to badly placed POIs (ironically enough) that dropped me *blocks* from the place I wanted to check out. I don't have an iOS 5 or Android device handy to to see if they've been fixed since then, but the POIs are correct in the iOS 6 Maps app.

Can we get some love in Brooklyn, please? You know...second most populous place in the country? Maybe you've heard of it.

DblHelix said:

Clik on route after entering anything in the destination and show the screenshot. It will take you to a list with apps installed that you can click on route or you can download other apps. It works like crap.

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Personally, I like the 3rd party thing. It's more accurate than Google's implementation, it's updated quicker by developers that actually live in the city AND it has real-time vehicle information.

Something that I find odd, though, is that in downtown Toronto it shows the LRT/streecar stops in Apple maps. All of them. But no bus stops. I wonder why.

tuna9720 said:

2 things Apple need to accomplish
1; when I click a direction link , iphone needs to take you to the maps app NOT to the google's map in safari. Come on iphone dont you recognize your native maps app

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If you're talking a link on a web page, Apple shouldn't (and won't) take you to their app instead of the website the link points you to. That said, I believe there's a protocol prefix (other than http) that could be used to create a link on a web page that would cause most modern smart phones to send you to the default mapping/GPS app on the device. I'm not sure what the protocol prefix would be off hand, though. (Maybe maps, or gps?)

DMSWE said:

This * 100

I can totally understand why Apple is doing this though. Fixing the fly-overs of a few significant landmarks, even though fly-overs are utterly useless for anything but show off, will generate instant positive buzz and make Apple look less like incompetent fools - which really is the message that has been sent the last few days.

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It's not that at all, it's because fixing aerial views is easy by comparison, and does not have any material impact on the performance of the mapping team.

e-coli said:

Can we get some love in Brooklyn, please? You know...second most populous place in the country? Maybe you've heard of it.

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Big chunks of Brooklyn, Queens and Bronx are in Flyover. Only Staten Island isn't (it stops at the end of the bridge).


NJ near NY is also.

adildacoolset said:

TBH the duration of time google has an edge over apple maps is only temporary. Very soon, the only advantage will be street view. And I personally prefer flyover

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Temporary by a couple of years maybe, and do you think Google is going to be sitting on it's laurels in the meantime?

I can understand having THA FAITH in Apple. Eventually their Maps will be pretty decent. But lets not sell the competition short here. At least on Android, Google Maps already had vector maps since 2010, already has 3D flyovers very similar to Apple's, has turn by turn voice guided navigation, has Streetview since...years, and has, as of writing, considerably more complete and accurate maps. They're even starting an initiative to map out building interiors.

Apple has an uphill battle ahead of them just to catch up with what Google already offers.

Dorje Sylas said:

Apple should release a social game that lets people stake virtual claim to locations and crowd source the geo-coding. People could challenge holds over locations by getting a more accurate location or adding greater detail, with users "voting" (by votes or actual use) for the "owner".

People love that kind of ****.

With a bonus game called "flag the gap" like a kind of reality augmented minesweeper, to encourage people to flag areas missing data or are non-fictional.

Click to expand...

How do you stop griefing?

Apple definitely has more data than what is available in the Maps app. maps.nokia.com uses C3 (the company Apple bought) for the Maps 3D feature, and they had Liberty Island before the iPhone 5 was released.

Very nice to see improvements. Here in Finland Google doesn't offer direction service for their maps so Apple's solution is salvation

lucasgladding said:

Apple definitely has more data than what is available in the Maps app. maps.nokia.com uses C3 (the company Apple bought) for the Maps 3D feature, and they had Liberty Island before the iPhone 5 was released.

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The NY images are less than 2 months old, though. So maybe they wanted to get up to date info.

They probably don't want to place park over a new street, or something like that.