Lack of Maps Updates in iOS 8 Said to Be Caused by 'Internal Politics', Developers Leaving

[hayesk]

But honestly, when you compare Apple Maps to alternatives such as Bing, Nokia Here, TomTom, Garmin or MapQuest maps, you'll see that Apple Maps is not worse than all of those. So buying another company doesn't really solve anything, unless you buy Google.

Apple pays TomTom for a lot of their data. They use other companies too. They don't get the data all by themselves.

Saw a google maps car in my city again last week or week before. They've already mapped it but are still out doing it again and again. Don't see any apple cars or any other company. Google have it down. They own mapping. Apple if it wants to be number 1 needs to do what google is doing ie throw some money at the problem. Complaining about developers leaving when you have so much money makes you look incompetent and lost.

I could be wrong, but I'm pretty certain the cars don't do mapping. They only take pictures for street view using existing mapping. You may not have seen other cars, but I saw a TomTom car last month. And Apple gets some of their data from TomTom.

Vector based is when it is client side and Google Maps is client side vector based. They don't send a tender rile, they send the vectors.

What app are you looking at?

When Apple used Google for maps, the tiles were bitmap renders. Part of the reason for Apple leaving was that Google would not give them vector data unless Apple promised to give user location data back to Google. Since then, Google provides vector data in their own app, and they do collect user data.

 

[Plutonius]

Can apple just let us default to google maps and be done with it?


That would solve everything

We don't use apple maps because it's not good.

Not at all. Then nobody would use Apple maps . Besides, how many companies do you know that default to a competitor's product ? It isn't done.

 

[SvK]

Since ios 6 maps has given me 1 mistake as to where a gas station was located.
I love using maps in conjunction with SIRI as a hands-off solution for my GPS needs...

Works great.

 

[apolloa]

Different Apple under Cook I guess? They really need to be careful though and not follow what they did in previous history that very nearly destroyed the company. Jobs spent a lot of hard work getting the company to where it was before he died, Cook must do better to ensure it doesn't unravel and stupid management ideas and politics should be ditched, stupid decisions .

As for maps, meh personally I have found Waze to be THE best sat nav ever! For free. So there are lots of alternatives to Apple maps, it's the poor politics that's the worrying thing here.

 

[sammaffei]

I second that…

Strategically, I can't help feeling that Apple should get closer to Microsoft - yes Microsoft - and pool its resources with both Maps and Search. This might be the only way to defeat the increasingly evil behemoth that is Google.

Oh god, you actually said something in a forum that made sense.

 

[fumi2014]

It's not about how much money you have, it's about how much money you want to allocate on a project.

Yeah, that's true. I understand that.

I just don't see the point of wasting money and people on something that can't be the best.

 

[organerito]

Wait... people still use Apple Maps?

Yes, all 10 of them!

I tried Apple Maps 3 times and that was all.

 

[CrzyP]

This may explain why Apple has ignored my "report a problem" submissions for the last two years! I was only trying to help, but my help is not appreciated. I'll stick to Waze.

 

[Chupa Chupa]

Works great for me.

Either you are being dishonest or you have very shallow mapping needs. Maps is OK for basic point A to point B driving directions in most (U.S.?) metropolises and near-metropolises. If that is all you need it's fine, sure.

But..

if you need walking directions -- making sure you don't use a street with no pedestrian access, forget about it.

if you want to find out what your public transportation options are to take you cross town -- no can do.

Just a couple examples of why Maps isn't going to displace Google Maps for some time to come.

 

[rwilliams]

I prefer Apple's UI, Siri voice, and Night Mode, but it is still quite disappointing to see the level of accuracy and detail lagging so far behind Google Maps.

 

[GeneralChang]

Can they even do that? Distribute multi-platform free software and create a huge reliance on it, and then platform lock it.

Considering Google makes most of their billions on data collection and advertising, I don’t think they’d want to.

 

[RCGMac]

I will say what I said on another thread and why Maps is in the "Apple Crap" folder on my iPhone along with some of the other stock apps that can't be deleted...

The lack of POI's on Apple Maps is frustrating. Google does a great job with accurately depicting what is on the ground, down to building footprints. Apple misses major POI's like a huge high school that was built in my town in 2010! If you look at the location on Apple Maps it just looks like a empty piece of land, while Google has a POI for the school and even the campus is shaded a different color.

Also Apple Maps is SLOW to update. A perfect example is here in the Houston area a new leg of a toll road was finished in January. Google has the new route while Apple still shows the highway dead-ending. For those with both Google Maps and Apple Maps on their device do a simple navigation search from Katy, TX to Houston Premium Outlets. Google routes you on the new tollway and gets you there in 28 minutes while Apple still routes you on local roads and takes nearly 1/3 longer at 40 minutes. This is a major highway that is nearly 20 miles long and has been finished for nearly six months! Completely unacceptable and sad that we are going on nearly two years since Maps has been unveiled.

 

[cocky jeremy]

Wait... people still use Apple Maps?

Never had a single issue with it. Use it for turn by turn and it gets me exactly where I need to go and it's a lot smoother than Google for me. Prettier UI, too.

 

[Oletros]

The google cars are collecting Streetview photography (and illegally scanning wifi). Now, considering that Apple don't have Streetview, you can sorta see why there are no Apple cars.

Mmm, no, do you know how mapping companies make their maps? All of them, Navteq/Nokia, Google, TomTom use cars to map the streets and roads.

And, by the way, scanning wifi's was not the illegal thing Google did

 

[SpinThis!]

Why so much hate for Apple maps? Google Maps has been doing this for over 10 years now. In under 2, you think Apple can create a parity experience? This is not a solution where you just wave programmers at the problem.

In fact, Google wasn't perfect either—just do a search for "Google maps errors" to see their snafus over the years.

At the very least, Apple needed a mapping solution because Google wasn't playing ball. In a way, they forced Google's hand a bit and we got a better iOS app because of it.

One thing I'm surprised is that Apple didn't just buy Tom Tom outright. Usually when Apple commits to technologies they acquire said companies. Maybe they tried and the cash Tom Tom were asking convinced Apple that Maps wouldn't be a long time player? If so that lends credence to the story.

But it's not just about what Apple announces at WWDC. It's what they didn't announce. There could be something big happening with Maps Apple simply can't talk about until it's ready. What are people expecting here, a blog for every time Tom Tom updates a section of highway?

 

[Oletros]

I could be wrong, but I'm pretty certain the cars don't do mapping.

Cars do the mapping

 

[zephonic]

I thought it was Forstall who was responsible for the Maps debacle in the first place. It's hard to know what the absence of Forstall really has meant to Apple.

He took the fall for Maps because he was ultimately responsible for it supposedly not being ready and then wouldn't acknowledge its shortcomings. From that perspective Apple hasn't skipped a beat since Forstall left.

I don't have any kind of inside knowledge, but it appeared to me as if Forstall was unpopular with other SVP's in the company and they were looking for a reason to sack him. I also thought he was not directly responsible for Maps, which would explain why he refused to sign the mea culpa statement. But as SVP of iOS development the blame could technically be attributed to him.

From what I have read, it sounded like Steve Jobs favored him, and without his support Forstall's position in the company became untenable.

 

[SusanK]

on a related note, the fact that they passed on buying waze for 1 billion but spent 3 billion on beats absolutely bewilders me, to the point that i seriously question cook's competence - waze has essentially complete mapping and poi information for plenty of non-1st world countries that is extremely difficult to get otherwise, due to the crowdsourced nature of this app.

+1

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Of course they can.

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Forstall wasn't fired over Maps, it was also his lack of being able to cooperate with the other VPs. Jony and Craig apparently could not stand to be around him.

Have Fredergi and Ive fixed Maps not that they are not disturbed by Forstall's presence?

 

[drewyboy]

Ping, Maps, Beats

No one needs these things from APPLE!!!!

Leave it to the experts, and focus on what APPLE is good at!
Bring us a new hardware more often!

Sigh... I knew people like you would come out and say something like this. Lets try this again.

G+, Maps, Nest/Motorola

No one needs these things from GOOGLE!!!!

Leave it to the experts (Myspace & Mapquest), and focus on what GOOGLE is good at!
Bring us a new search algorithms more often!

 

[kds1]

The person responsible for new iOS icons should be fired as well.

Image
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I happen to like them actually.

 

[mtneer]

I don't think it's that poor. It's just that Google Maps is so good The level of detail and accuracy Google has around the world is almost impossible to catch up to. But honestly, when you compare Apple Maps to alternatives such as Bing, Nokia Here, TomTom, Garmin or MapQuest maps, you'll see that Apple Maps is not worse than all of those. So buying another company doesn't really solve anything, unless you buy Google.

Apples cap is ~$550 billion. Google is ~$350 billion. Why hasn't some analyst or Wall Street guy thought of this? Apple can completely take over the mobile space and kill Samsung in one move...

 

[TC03]

Apple pays TomTom for a lot of their data. They use other companies too. They don't get the data all by themselves.

That's my point.

 

[mrxak]

I honestly have no problem with maps. I'm not sure what improvements people are expecting Apple to do, but I'm one very satisfied customer.

 

[drewyboy]

Why so much hate for Apple maps? Google Maps has been doing this for over 10 years now. In under 2, you think Apple can create a parity experience? This is not a solution where you just wave programmers at the problem.

How DARE you bring reason to these forums. You are banned!

Seriously, most of the people here are becoming more and more illogical. "We have an anonymous contact that knows an insider (front desk person at apple corp), that told us _____". It's quite ridiculous how people act. It's as if they know nothing about how corporations work.

 

[Chabba]

Searching within Apple Maps is still terrible. That's my biggest complaint.

Unless you spell the place exactly, it often won't produce results, whereas Google Maps, if you misspell it somewhat or sometimes phonetically, it will produce the correct result.