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Tech198

Cancelled
Mar 21, 2011
15,915
2,151
yep... just like Waze...

Only different this this is a app, vs Waze doing the same thing within its own application.


Maybe a migration of Apple method too into Maps ?

Apple's turning their own app into a 'crowd-sorced' app.. Probably to make up to the disaster they attempted to deliver right, they mucked up.

This is kinda interesting...... a company decides to go into their own Maps, (something they stared way back before Google, so no experience),, Not a surprise they mucked it up, and now are looking how Waze (now Google) does it and following their example, since crows sourced is the way...

Alas, having said this, is can also mean everyone can submit wrong info.... Having not used waze, I dunno, but there must be verification to make sure the place exist, road/transit etc... otherwise many users would suddenly find their late for work.
 
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charlituna

macrumors G3
Jun 11, 2008
9,636
816
Los Angeles, CA
It depends where you are. In my country, what doesnt work in maps is putting in a location/POI and having it show up. I can have the name of a major hotel chain on screen, type it in exactly as it is on apple maps, and it comes up with cannot find location. It has about a 5% hit rate here.

I hate google maps strongly, but its the only way I can navigate, unfortunately.

To me it seems like the real issue is having all POI in one database. If that database isn't kept up then things get screwy. What would make more sense to me is some kind of system of plug ins where parts of the system can be added by smaller groups. City governments etc add their buildings, transit companies their stops and routes. Major companies their locations. Places like hipmunk might branch out with services for smaller locations to submit info. Malls could add their stores, or colleges their buildings. And so on. These plug ins could also perhaps have uses like overlaying bus routes, sending alerts etc.
 

iChrist

macrumors 65816
Sep 7, 2011
1,479
432
3 countries for tax benefit
...when the mobile device has reached the destination, displaying a prompt for input rating the route; and receiving user input comprising rating information for the route...


Uh yeah.. This assumes the user actually reaches their destination, which is FAR from a given if they are using Apple Maps.


:rolleyes:
 

mj1108

macrumors 6502a
Apr 7, 2007
642
481
California
Someone has the stop the patent office giving these things out. This is getting stupid now, where is the innovation in this idea? They are just applying basic crowd sourcing voting on information. This time, that information is traffic info! Wow!! Big achievement!!

Apple figures they have to do something since they didn't buy Waze.
 

Michael CM1

macrumors 603
Feb 4, 2008
5,681
276
Except when it doesn't.

Seriously, Google Maps has plenty of flaws. On numerous occasions it has been off by a block or two. Sometimes more. And I can recall at least two times where it told me to take a path that did not exist.

I saw an article somewhere -- CNet or Macworld, likely Macworld -- that had an actual example of Google Maps getting something wrong. If you look up Hoover Dam, it has OMG THE ROAD GOING OVER IT GOES INTO THE WATER BELOW, NOOOO. And you probably know about the lesser-heard-about problem in Australia the same week that every news outlet put big, bold headlines on the similar Apple problem leading people to the wrong city.

The only reason I haven't used Apple Maps at times is because it lacks night mode. So I'm blinded or have to use the high contrast, which is just so ugly. Funny how Google doesn't get blamed for Waze's inaccuracies. I tried using Waze to get to a wildlife park. It said it was on some corner downtown in a city about three miles away. Then on the way back to my house, it didn't know that a state highway existed.
 

MozMan68

macrumors demi-god
Jun 29, 2010
6,049
5,119
South Cackalacky
Seriously? You do know that it is simply a patent sketch / diagram and not a true interface representation don't you......?

Please...people on here are whiny idiots most of the time and have no idea how patents work or why what Apple is doing here is SO much different than Waze or even Google for that matter.
 

ictiosapiens

macrumors regular
May 9, 2006
208
3
To be honest, I'd prefer it if Apple just stayed the hell away from services, and simply allowed more integration of third party apps(maybe with an enhanced approval required?)

They should be spending their time on hardware and iOS and leave all the rest to other developers like they mostly do on OSX...
 

Snowshiro

macrumors 6502
Jan 12, 2008
387
6
In all fairness, crowd sourcing this isn't a bad idea.

I agree, but it's also exactly the kind of thing that shouldn't be patentable.

This is no more than collection and distribution of information. Which is pretty much how hundreds of thousands of things on the 'net work. If they're granted a patent for this as a "novel" idea, the entire US patent system should be closed down because after teetering on the edge of insanity for a long time, it's finally gone full retard.
 

The Deepness

macrumors regular
Jan 27, 2008
111
12
Great idea!

To me it seems like the real issue is having all POI in one database. If that database isn't kept up then things get screwy. What would make more sense to me is some kind of system of plug ins where parts of the system can be added by smaller groups. City governments etc add their buildings, transit companies their stops and routes. Major companies their locations. Places like hipmunk might branch out with services for smaller locations to submit info. Malls could add their stores, or colleges their buildings. And so on. These plug ins could also perhaps have uses like overlaying bus routes, sending alerts etc.

Like you can subscribe to custom calendars in the Calendar app. This would allow for extremely user-specified customization of Maps so that users could (theoretically) have just the mapping information pertaining to their area that they needed, and none of what they don't.
 

ElTorro

macrumors 6502
Jan 23, 2013
273
2
Apple went from leader to a "me too" follower. This a blatant copy of Waze and does nothing else that Waze isn't doing already.
 

notjustjay

macrumors 603
Sep 19, 2003
6,056
167
Canada, eh?
Alas, having said this, is can also mean everyone can submit wrong info.... Having not used waze, I dunno, but there must be verification to make sure the place exist, road/transit etc... otherwise many users would suddenly find their late for work.

Well, it seems to be working for Wikipedia...

Something like this or Waze can require multiple people to submit the same roads before the system is confident enough to add the changes to its map.

As for adding business information, Google sends you physical postcards to confirm address, Apple could do the same.
 

cgc

macrumors 6502a
May 30, 2003
718
23
Utah
...

Whine some more. You don't have to use the features if you don't want... and why would you be setting up all this while you drive anyway? That would be stupid. And generally when input is given via crowd-sourcing, you are generally driving very slowly. You're not flying down the highway at 90 mph going "hey everybody! there's like an accident 20 minutes behind me!"

Not a whine and I don't do it, but a lot of other people on the road might and I don't want their lack of attention to cause me or someone I love to get into an accident.

Of course people will be updating this while they drive, isn't that the point? Why would anyone wait until they get home and update their trip and if they did how could anyone expect it to be accurate?
 

pirg

macrumors 6502a
Apr 18, 2013
618
0
Not a whine and I don't do it, but a lot of other people on the road might and I don't want their lack of attention to cause me or someone I love to get into an accident.

Of course people will be updating this while they drive, isn't that the point? Why would anyone wait until they get home and update their trip and if they did how could anyone expect it to be accurate?

I think his point was people will be updating it when they're stuck in traffic and not when they're going 90moh on the highway while driving.
 

spinedoc77

macrumors G4
Jun 11, 2009
11,369
5,192
Hmm I'm not seeing police/speed traps/red light camera alerts. Besides the real time traffic info that's one of the huge things Waze offers which ensures I will never use another navi program again. I wonder if Apple is playing it safe when it comes to law enforcement.
 

SeanMcg

macrumors 6502
Jun 1, 2004
333
1
This application was filed in 2011. I never heard of Waze before this year, but that isn't saying much. I notice on their webpage that they have a copyright date back to 2006, 1 year before the iPhone. Now I know GPS systems have been around longer than the iPhone but realistically, getting timely, crowd-sourced information back from users doesn't seem to have really been viable until smartphones became the norm.

My point is that for everyone saying Apple is copying Waze (some simply out of Apple-hating spite), I would hold off until knowing the relative timelines. This application was filed in 2011, which means they had been thinking about it for some time. It is very possible that they both had the same idea at the same time. That Waze brought an app to market first would not be surprising given that was their focus, while Apple worked on other things.
 

Thunderhawks

Suspended
Feb 17, 2009
4,057
2,118
It is amazing how many people who have never created a thing are whining about something they are getting for FREE and that is obviously a work in progress.

The world is a big place and while it is convenient to get mapping info on the go what ever happened to figuring things out beforehand?

Apple maps has been trying to send me around a block several times with the same instructions with a one way maze
once, but I could see that without actually getting correct info (or maybe having old info) that can happen.

Relax folks this will be fine over time.

As long as using maps and I am not landing in the Australian park with the dangerous animals at 2 a.m., I'll be fine:)
 
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Mactendo

macrumors 68000
Oct 3, 2012
1,967
2,045
Or you could just use Google Maps...which actually works.

In all fairness, crowd sourcing this isn't a bad idea. I do it for DarkSky. But to think people will do it while driving seems unsafe.

It actually works fairly well. People leave feedback not while driving but while waiting in traffic jams, reporting various problems on the road.
 

SeanMcg

macrumors 6502
Jun 1, 2004
333
1
...
The world is a big place and while it is convenient to get mapping info on the go what ever happened to figuring things out beforehand?
...

My parents answered the question "are we there yet?" with "you tell me" and taught me how to read a map at a young age.

I realize that sometimes you have to go somewhere at a moment's notice. Take another moment to look at any of the available mapping options out there (including paper :eek:) ahead of time to look at the area, not just the route. That is preferable to depending on electronic directions while you are driving.
 
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e-coli

macrumors 68000
Jul 27, 2002
1,935
1,149
"Protesters." Definitely (and sadly) not for the US market.

----------

What exactly doesn't work in Maps? It has been improving all the time. For mobile use, it uses tons less data than Google maps. And then there's obviously the question who you would trust, Apple or Google.

Maps is a train wreck in NYC, in every possible way. It lists a Chipotle in the middle of the Hudson River, for starters (or it used to). When driving out of the City, it regularly sends you the worst way possible with the most traffic.

There isn't a great alternative. The lag in Google Maps makes it unusable in a lot of places here, too. But to say Maps "works" is a stretch
 

w00master

macrumors 65816
Jul 18, 2002
1,126
345
I've tried using Maps. Many times. I still test it periodically at least once a week versus Google Maps. I also travel quite a lot: LA, SF, NYC, Chicago, Atlanta, Seattle, Phoenix, Charlotte, Miami. In every *single* major city (and I've had 2 GPS apps side to side) that I've tested, Maps is getting better but still nowhere near as good as Google.

I understand many on here still claim that Maps is far superior in their region than Google, but I have yet to see it. Google may screw up on the routing, but Google Maps (99% of the time, versus 72% on Maps) has gotten me to the actual location.

Maps is getting better, but so is Google Maps. I still have a hard time seeing folks on here (at least in the US) who claim that Maps is better than Google maps. I still do not see it, at least in LA, SF, NYC, Chicago, Atlanta, Seattle, Phoenix, Charlotte, Miami. I still cannot trust Apple Maps, at least in the regions that I go to.

w00master
 

FirstNTenderbit

macrumors 6502
Jan 15, 2013
355
0
Atlanta
I think his point was people will be updating it when they're stuck in traffic and not when they're going 90moh on the highway while driving.

Maybe I am just not progressive enough in my thinking, but updating anything from a moving vehicle is a bad idea. Whether the vehicle is traveling 5 mph or 105 mph, the drivers attention should be on the road. If a passenger is in the vehicle and handling the crowd sourcing duties that's great. If not, I just can't see where the potential benefits outweigh the potential dangers of a distracted driver; no matter how well intended that driver may be.

We all know (I think we do) we shouldn't do it. No need for me to bring out the "cool story bro" of friend/family member/guy at school who was in/caused/witnessed accident by a distracted driver. And no, Siri is not the answer.
 
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