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Apple-Leased Vans Gathering Maps Info for Shift to In-House Mapping Database

bawbac said:
Wow. Apple stealing more ideas from Google. Who would have thought...
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So putting a camera on the roof of the car and adding GPS is "stealing an idea" according to you? Ask 1,000 random people how they would collect photos of a street that show you your surroundings, and 80% would come up with that idea within five minutes.

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GangstaGehard said:
Meanwhile everyone is forced to improve their products because of competition :rolleyes:
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In the case of maps, you need to run hard just to stand still :) Last years maps, no matter how good they were, are quite inaccurate today.
 
vvswarup said:
As a consumer, I know that Apple is willing and able to partner up with companies when it makes sense to do so. It is not out of some egotistical power struggle that Apple is trying to get away from Google.

Before Apple Maps came out, the maps app lacked features that Android users had bee enjoying for a while such as vector-based mapping and turn-by-turn voice directions. Google refused to allow Apple to implement these features unless Apple would give it more access to user data and visible branding within the app.

Yet, as soon as Apple Maps came out and Google got kicked out, it released an App Store version that had all those features from day one. To me, that smacks of Google treating iOS users as second rate. As a consumer, I don't think Apple should entrust a key feature to a company that plays favorites with platforms. That's not going to work in the long run.
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the maps lacked features that google was not contracted to add/present/supply. you want something more then you give something more. google branding wouldnt have hurt anyone. if anything it would be a stamp of quality. option of latitude hurts who?

google maps came out december 13th so certainly not as soon as google got kicked out.

if you take a stance then your first priority should be that your paying customers dont suffer and make sure its a quality app. its an egotistical power struggle because apple was playing chicken with our (users) experience and they lost. the app wasnt any good 3 years ago and for many it still isnt.
 
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numlock said:
the maps lacked features that google was not contracted to add/present/supply. you want something more then you give something more. google branding wouldnt have hurt anyone. if anything it would be a stamp of quality. option of latitude hurts who?

google maps came out december 13th so certainly not as soon as google got kicked out.

if you take a stance then your first priority should be that your paying customers dont suffer and make sure its a quality app. apple maps wasnt any good 3 years ago and for many its still the same. its egotistical power struggle because apple was playing chicken with our (users) experience and they lost. the app wasnt any good 3 years ago and for many it still isnt.
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If staying with google means that even a few of your paying customers are harmed by Google's use of their information then you absolutely must stop using Google maps. It's priority one. No exceptions. Google maps must go!
 
doelcm82 said:
If staying with google means that even a few of your paying customers are harmed by Google's use of their information then you absolutely must stop using Google maps. It's priority one. No exceptions. Google maps must go!
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how were they to be harmed? what was google going to do with that information? what kind of information were to be collected?

apples stance on privacy is an interesting one. do they spend a billion on advertising with little to no big data input? is analysing tweets via topsy ok because the user agrees to terms with twitter?
 
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doelcm82 said:
Nope. There only has to be potential harm from outsourced data collection companies harvesting your search and travel data for Apple to be required to protect its paying customers' privacy.
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you use big words like "harmed" yet you cant in any way quantify what that could possibly mean.
 
ChrisCW11 said:
I know Apple has lots of it, but this is just a pure waste of money.



What is the point of wasting billions to create a competitor to Google Maps and all its services? Even in the best case scenario that Apple improves upon Google Maps, Apple Maps will only be used by iPhone users because Apple will not offer it on competitive devices, period. And a better mapping app will not drive more users over to Apple because there will always be more people interested in a $200 phone then a $1200 phone, and Apple will NEVER sell a marginalized iPhone just to gain market share. They tried with the 5c, failed, and will never do that mistake again. So in reality Apple is not creating a competitor or detractor, just their OWN service.



This is one of the most blatant wastes of money by a company just because they have some old hate-on grudge against Google.



This is also part of Apple's core xenophobic behavior that has them striving to become a petulant monolithic company that excludes partnerships with other companies out of sheer arrogance and stupidity. I thought this would go away with Steve Jobs but obviously there is still a core set of execs that are carrying the torch and wasting billions rather then striking a partnership with a competitor to improve the user experience instead of hindering it.



Apple could give away a few billion or whatever this will ultimately cost, and it would do more for their brand then a competitive Street-View emulator.
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You are overlooking partnership with IBM, as well as others.
 
nStyle said:
If it ain't broke?

Seriously, waste of money.
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Lol, are you creating a revisionist history in which Google Maps on iOS didn't suck ass??
Wow. Just wow.
I remember. Google was getting payed out the nose by Apple, as they(Google) had created an amazing mobile map experience. They were literally paid by the search. Seriously. EVERY time someone searched for anything. *cha-ching!* Apple cut a check.
Then Google laughed to the bank with the money & used it to build a similar app for the newly minted Android OS. They started adding kick-ass features like turn-by-turn NAV. Apple was like: "hey, umm... we're actually you know, paying you. Can we get these features too??" Well... I think history paints a clear vision of what their answer was. Google Maps was in EVERY way superior on Android. It was a dick move, for sure. But... they held ALL the cards. They could do whatever they wanted. After all, what was Apple going to do: build their own from scratch?? Yeah, right? And so it went... until they did.
Then, almost overnight- Google magically were able to easily create an app for iOS that DID have voice NAV. Weird. Lol...
Now that they pulled their heads out & realized over 75% of their mobile revenue comes from iOS, you hear about them tripping over themselves to offer iOS users infinite photo storage, etc. in a desperate attempt to NOT lose a huge portion of their ONLY revenue stream (ads).
You somehow think nothing was broken with the map experience on iOS though & Apple should've let Google bully them even though Apple is basically paying MOST of their bills.
Again. Wow.
 
Tycho24 said:
Lol, are you creating a revisionist history in which Google Maps on iOS didn't suck ass??
Wow. Just wow.
I remember. Google was getting payed out the nose by Apple, as they(Google) had created an amazing mobile map experience. They were literally paid by the search. Seriously. EVERY time someone searched for anything. *cha-ching!* Apple cut a check.
Then Google laughed to the bank with the money & used it to build a similar app for the newly minted Android OS. They started adding kick-ass features like turn-by-turn NAV. Apple was like: "hey, umm... we're actually you know, paying you. Can we get these features too??" Well... I think history paints a clear vision of what their answer was. Google Maps was in EVERY way superior on Android. It was a dick move, for sure. But... they held ALL the cards. They could do whatever they wanted. After all, what was Apple going to do: build their own from scratch?? Yeah, right? And so it went... until they did.
Then, almost overnight- Google magically were able to easily create an app for iOS that DID have voice NAV. Weird. Lol...
Now that they pulled their heads out & realized over 75% of their mobile revenue comes from iOS, you hear about them tripping over themselves to offer iOS users infinite photo storage, etc. in a desperate attempt to NOT lose a huge portion of their ONLY revenue stream (ads).
You somehow think nothing was broken with the map experience on iOS though & Apple should've let Google bully them even though Apple is basically paying MOST of their bills.
Again. Wow.
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It is funny that you talk about revisionism and then write this fable full of imagination included the now stablished fact that 75% of mobile revenue comes from iOS
 
Mike MA said:
Reliable over here.
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We have an n of 1 for an unknown number of test points in Germany, people! Clearly Apple Maps is 100% reliable!

kodos said:
....
But given Apple's incompetence in all things software and data - I predict their data will be years out of date by the time it actually makes a dent in Apple Maps. They should just have us use Google Maps again.
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Hyperbole much?

zubikov said:
Anyone else find it ironic that Google maps is used in the article to display the Apple maps vans' locations?
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Awesome! You win the LOL post of the week award. Well done.
 
Peace said:
Give Apple a break.

Google's main function for many years has been searching and maps.
Of course they're better at it. That's all they do "well".
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Yes, and I'm afraid Apple has started a competition that they can't win. Google Maps is not so much about the end-user mapping application. It's a super-large-scale geodatabase that works at the core of millions of applications. Even if they get routing and map viewing right, Apple will always lack all the data behind, while this is exactly Google's core business. And it's the integrated data that makes map applications useful.
Furthermore Google is so much ahead when it comes to indexing, searching and big data retrieval. Not to speak about Apple's general inability to provide services.
 
Woyzeck said:
Yes, and I'm afraid Apple has started a competition that they can't win. Google Maps is not so much about the end-user mapping application. It's a super-large-scale geodatabase that works at the core of millions of applications. Even if they get routing and map viewing right, Apple will always lack all the data behind, while this is exactly Google's core business. And it's the integrated data that makes map applications useful.
Furthermore Google is so much ahead when it comes to indexing, searching and big data retrieval. Not to speak about Apple's general inability to provide services.
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Apple may not win the war, but they will certainly win the battle to protect their users' privacy.

Maps

Other companies try to build a profile about you using a complete history of everywhere you’ve been, usually because they’re targeting you for advertisers. Since our business doesn’t depend on advertising, we have no interest in doing this — and we couldn’t even if we wanted to. You don’t have to sign in to use Maps, and it only knows you by a random identifier that resets itself frequently as you use the app. Maps is also engineered to separate the data about your trips into segments, to keep Apple or anyone else from putting together a complete picture of your travels. Helping you get from Point A to Point B matters a great deal to us, but knowing the history of all your Point A’s and Point B’s doesn’t.
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So many people are willing to sell themselves for a nickel nowadays that the market of those who still value their privacy is relatively small these days, but nonetheless it is one which Apple has chosen to pursue.

I'm not surprised that their are so many in this thread who scoff at such principles, but I personally applaud Apple for their dedication to providing secure maps to their customers.
 
Oletros said:
It is funny that you talk about revisionism and then write this fable full of imagination included the now established fact that 75% of mobile revenue comes from iOS
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This was JUST reported the other day. I didn't make that up.
Am I missing something here??

Edit:
I found the link, btw.
http://appleinsider.com/articles/15/05/27/apples-ios-drives-75-of-googles-mobile-advertising-revenue
It's Goldman Sachs, not some no name that reported this.
If you are big enough to apologize for your snide post that ended up making you look quite the fool, I'm big enough to accept & move on.
Or are you trying to say that since that data is recent, I shouldn't have mentioned it? Even more preposterous, if so... as clearly Google's Android product has become MORE prominent, not less. Thus, we can surmise that if, even in the current climate of Android's dominance in market share, iOS users are the cash cow for Google... this simply had to have been even MORE true, some years back... during the Maps transition. Or are you saying that you believe the skew of Apple creating most of Google's revenue to be only recent and sudden... that people on Android USED TO click links, but now don't... thus Apple now creates more revenue for them?
Lol, it may be early or you may be unclear - either way, I'm having difficulty surmising your point.
 
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Oletros said:
And where it was reported? In Fantasyland?
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Wow.
Wtf is your problem????!!

I posted the link.

Does it not seem likely to you???
After all the metrics we've heard over the years: "more money spent online shopping on iPads than all other tablets", "higher rate of Internet use on iOS than Android", etc, etc.
Yet somehow this metric is SO unbelievable to you that you are publicly rude?
 
Tycho24 said:
Wow.
Wtf is your problem????!!

I posted the link.

Does it not seem likely to you???
After all the metrics we've heard over the years: "more money spent online shopping on iPads than all other tablets", "higher rate of Internet use on iOS than Android", etc, etc.
Yet somehow this metric is SO unbelievable to you that you are publicly rude?
Click to expand...

Appleinsider citing a not linked Goldman Sachs report of an analyst ESTIMATING those numbers without any proof.

Yes, Fantasyland and nothing more. It is funny, the same analysts that are called anal-yst when the things are not liked
 
Oletros said:
Appleinsider citing a not linked Goldman Sachs report of an analyst ESTIMATING those numbers without any proof.

Yes, Fantasyland and nothing more. It is funny, the same analysts that are called anal-yst when the things are not liked
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Lol.
Ok, pal.
Let's agree to disagree.
You believe whatever you want...
Not to completely veer off topic though, you do agree that Google makes SOME money off of users on iOS, correct?? Just SOME money at all.... do you at least believe that?? If it makes you feel yummy in your tummy... let's say it's only 30% of their revenue. You could feel comfortable admitting that??
Ok. So.... moving forward- that is still a LOT of money. THAT is the point. The point is that: Apple, through independence from Google key services (search/maps), could certainly deal a financial blow to Google. Yes? Can you concede this?
How much of a blow is contingent on the disputed numbers, but I think we can agree that such a shift would certainly have SOME impact. Wouldn't you agree?
 
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