Apple Maps Vehicles Begin Collecting Street-Level Data in Japan

[Morgenland]

Apple has a huge number of people working on mapping, over 4000 in it's India mapping center alone. However, they have other massive mapping projects underway to take them past Google maps, e.g., GM street view is very clunky to use, Apple is designing "fly down" and smooth visual route driving. Another example, AM is doing customized transit around the world. They opted to not do what Google did and simply import all the third party data to flip the switch and have transit info everywhere at once. Instead, they are going a much more time consuming and expensive route of customizing each region so it's more accurate and much more useful. Google has been criticized for their transit information. Then there's the airport and malls mapping, and so on.

Remember also that Apple is rolling out traffic, etc., to more and more countries.

All of this is underpinned by the creation of its own "base map" that Apple has been spending billions on and working on for several years and hopes to have completed this year.

I understand and fully support your comments.

• So can you or anyone explain to me why e.g. Germany has not yet been measured?
ApplePay is known to be prevented due to dinosaurs on German bank boards.
Why is it with Maps? Does anyone know?
• My Apple language setting is English. Why are foreign city names mispronounced by Siri? As an English speaker you can never learn their correct pronunciation and you can never communicate with the people in the respective country. The pronunciation often deviates considerably from just "reading".

 

[one more]

So can you or anyone explain to me why e.g. Germany has not yet been measured? ApplePay is known to be prevented due to dinosaurs on German bank boards. Why is it with Maps? Does anyone know?

My guess is that it has to do with iOS market share in a given country, so Apple will naturally prioritise the countries with higher iOS share. For example, in Germany iOS counts for 31% and Android for 67%, so it is not one of Apple’s primary markets. In comparison, in the UK iOS counts for 53% and Android for 45%, so it’s well worth for Apple to drive their cars up and down over there. For Japan, it’s 68% for iOS and 31% for Android.

The numbers might not be spot on, but you get the pattern.

The source is here:

https://deviceatlas.com/blog/android-v-ios-market-share#germany

 

[makingdots]

Unlikely to happen in a current competitive environment. Apple either need to push forward with their own Maps or keep hostage to third party demands for iOS user data, which was the initial problem with Google Maps. Apple must have realised by now that mapping is a vital part of their services and outsourcing it would not be a good idea.

"by now" ??? They realized since iOS 6. Steve Jobs was still involved back then to not rely on Google anymore.

 

[SactoGuy18]

for japan: i dont know where yahoo japan got its original map data from, but still today yahoo japan's map data is much much better than apple's map data.
japan is the only country in the world where yahoo is a significant player in web related data info services.
maps, weather, news, yahoo japan's apps are really good.
and for map data, traffic info, relating it to public transit departures, etc, much better than apple's.
yahoo japan's multi-story building data info showing shops are on what floor is also complete and accurate.

I believe Yahoo! Japan, which is part of the Softbank Group, gets its map data from ZENRIN, a Japanese mapping company.

 

[truthertech]

My guess is that it has to do with iOS market share in a given country, so Apple will naturally prioritise the countries with higher iOS share. For example, in Germany iOS counts for 31% and Android for 67%, so it is not one of Apple’s primary markets. In comparison, in the UK iOS counts for 53% and Android for 45%, so it’s well worth for Apple to drive their cars up and down over there. For Japan, it’s 68% for iOS and 31% for Android.

The numbers might not be spot on, but you get the pattern.

The source is here:

https://deviceatlas.com/blog/android-v-ios-market-share#germany

Good point, and it all leads back to need to prioritize based on resources. Keep in mind that Apple hasn't yet finished US. For next month they have huge street mapping projects in UK and US. When you look at the areas being mapped and think of resources needed not only for collecting data, but also for processing that massive amount of data, it is impressive. Here's where they will be mapping for the next couple of months.

https://maps.apple.com/vehicles/fr/

 

[entropys]

• My Apple language setting is English. Why are foreign city names mispronounced by Siri? As an English speaker you can never learn their correct pronunciation and you can never communicate with the people in the respective country. The pronunciation often deviates considerably from just "reading".

strike a light mate, Siri mispronounces English names cack handed all the time! Poor shiela gets all tongue tied with digs like Eromanga, Adaminaby, Gunnedah, Gundagai , Biloela and Gayndah*
[doublepost=1529799731][/doublepost]Some reasons Apple needs to have its own maps program:

• Control of its own destiny
• Not leaving a key feature in the hands of a competitor
• Potential revenue stream
• Not paying the competitor
• Avoiding diluting a key iphone selling feature (privacy)
• Better intregration with services than a third party product.

You can argue Apple hasn’t executed well on some of those reasons , but that does not negate them.
[doublepost=1529800154][/doublepost]

It's a matter of resources primarily. There's a huge impact from prepping and sending teams to collect data, but even more resource intensive is the processing of that data. It's not simply doing the recording. Then when you roll out something, eg., transit data for a region, you must maintain that data as it is dynamic, not static.

oh, I agree you need to have a properly resourced and functional backend to properly do this. That said, it seems Apple hasn’t walked and chewed gum at the same time. By the time the data is collected, the backend will need an upgrade. I assume that Apple isn’t just relying on its own resources. But even so...

I think the initial roll out of Apple maps relied too much on others’ unreliable data. This has made Apple a bit gunshy and thus the slow roll out.

*edit: to be fair, maybe they aren’t English now I think about it. Appropriatioon!!

 

[jpn]

I believe Yahoo! Japan, which is part of the Softbank Group, gets its map data from ZENRIN, a Japanese mapping company.

thanks.
i do recall Zenrin having been mentioned as a logo somewhere mentioning this.
Zenrin's data uses in part official housing maps (which in turn is what property assessments also relates to), and, official Japanese government aerial photos.
Toyota has a minority share in it.

 

[a0me]

Unlikely to happen in a current competitive environment. Apple either need to push forward with their own Maps or keep hostage to third party demands for iOS user data, which was the initial problem with Google Maps. Apple must have realised by now that mapping is a vital part of their services and outsourcing it would not be a good idea.

In many countries Google Maps relies on map data sourced from local mapping companies. In Japan, that data is provided by a company named Zenrin and their maps are far more accurate than whatever Apple Maps is using.
Why Apple didn't make a deal with them years ago when they ditched Google is beyond me.

 

[truthertech]

In many countries Google Maps relies on map data sourced from local mapping companies. In Japan, that data is provided by a company named Zenrin and their maps are far more accurate than whatever Apple Maps is using.
Why Apple didn't make a deal with them years ago when they ditched Google is beyond me.

You're confusing basic map data with "street view" type data which requires companies like Google and Apple to actually drive the streets. Moreover, the type of data Apple is collecting is unique and will be part of their new roll out as they finish their first and massive new base map this year or next. Even if this type of data were available, Apple learned from Google's mistake with transit information that simply importing a bunch of data from disparate sources leads to lots of problems. That's why Apple is customizing each region in the world's transit information. It's much more expensive and time consuming than what Google did, but leads to much better user experience. After their disastrous start, Apple is taking extreme care to make sure it builds the best mapping experience available.

 

[TimmeyCook]

Why is this expanding so slowly? It's not like Apple can't afford more mapping vehicles and drivers.

Because Apple Maps was rushed and they gained a reputation and no matter how good or bad the product is now, it's always "lel, Apple Maps is bad, you'll end up driving onto a river".

 

[MechaSpanky]

The things that shocks me about Japan os that outside of the big cities (and even in some areas of them) many streets have no names (or at least no signs indicating it). Some areas seem to be adding more signage so maybe they do have names but many of the locals don't know the names either. I'm always amazed at how things get delivered quickly and correctly in Japan because it is really confusing.

 

[thewhitehart]

I can mostly rely on Maps’ transit data here in Tokyo, although I would like to see them add a “last train” button. The ability to dismiss the “low Suica balance” popup would also be nice. Of course, improving the POI database would be nice too.

Maps has come a long way here in Japan since it first rolled out. My station used to be labeled as “Kentucky Fried Chicken” for over a year.

 

[Scottsoapbox]

Because Apple Maps was rushed and they gained a reputation and no matter how good or bad the product is now, it's always "lel, Apple Maps is bad, you'll end up driving onto a river".

This is in no way related to my post. If want to talk about something else, don't hit reply.