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Apple Moving to In-House Mapping Service with 3D Views in iOS 6?
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Yeah! Vendetta makes for a much better software design paradigm, screw user experience!
The problems with Maps had nothing to do with Google's mapping data and everything to do with Apple's lack of front-end polish. Replacing the back-end makes little sense, except as you pointed out, as a mere retaliation tactic.
Well if this continues a trend set by Siri for "US only" usability (no-one knows yet so best not be hasty) it could be the start of Apple users migrating to Android. I know if more and more and more features become US only I'll definitely consider my next purchase more carefully.
I'm sure everything will be worldwide EVENTUALLY, but then I don't want to drop a load of cash on something I'll have replaced by the time I get to appreciate all it's functionality. Apple need to be aware of their worldwide market here and this could be a more important update than people think - as Apple move away from Google for more independence they need to remember the more features they replace with limited use outside the US the more the competition will look more appealing.
Quite likely jumping the gun here to be honest but I'm sure quite a few will share this view and be watching the next update closely.
I'm sure everything will be worldwide EVENTUALLY, but then I don't want to drop a load of cash on something I'll have replaced by the time I get to appreciate all it's functionality. Apple need to be aware of their worldwide market here and this could be a more important update than people think - as Apple move away from Google for more independence they need to remember the more features they replace with limited use outside the US the more the competition will look more appealing.
Quite likely jumping the gun here to be honest but I'm sure quite a few will share this view and be watching the next update closely.
That won't do any good :-(
As we've seen with the browser, Apple gives it's own apps a massive OS level advantage as iOS does not allow you to default to a third party app. So even if Google Maps was in the store, then the experience of using it will be far below that currently offered.
If you think how tightly tied into so many tasks the mapping app is, having the default map be so bad makes for a worse experience all round.
This has all the makings of a disaster.
Phazer
None of the cars offered in this list are American made, including the American brands.
So the us-made cars are so bad that they don't even sell around here? Not even from us-companies?
Nope. American cars don't sell there because their parent companies own brands in Europe, like how GM owns Vauxhall, Opel, and (up until recently) Saab.
Clearly we're going in circles and you have no clue at all, American made products are becoming few and far between, but many of the things are made here (like 90% of guitars your favorite rock bands play) are top quality products.
Oh yeah, it's WAY easier to see how to get to the address with all those skyscrapers in the way on the 3D mockup there than the overhead view.
Yeah! Vendetta makes for a much better software design paradigm, screw user experience!
The problems with Maps had nothing to do with Google's mapping data and everything to do with Apple's lack of front-end polish. Replacing the back-end makes little sense, except as you pointed out, as a mere retaliation tactic.
Nowhere in my post did I advocate Apple going half-cocked and putting out their own version of Maps that isn't at least as good as what's already in place.
I'm merely advocating business sense. It's not retaliation. It's just the fact that Google directly competes with Apple with Android. Why should Apple rely on Google for such a key feature?
What's already in place is the problem. It's become pure garbage. It lacks features and has been stagnant for years. If they replace the whole back-end only to end up with something that's "as good as what's already in place", they haven't fixed anything, only removed Google from the equation.
And that my friend is vendetta based software engineering. It's bad.
Because it's there and it works. It doesn't require re-engineering and it comes with a ton of features. Take that effort and put it to good use on fixing what is actually broken rather than reinventing the wheel.
NIH syndrome is bad for progress.
Now, if they end up with something at least that has feature parity with other map applications on other platforms, then at least they've succeeded. It will remain to see how good their mapping data is compared to Google's (and seeing how Bing map is so behind, I have my doubts here).
We want options for 3D and 2D!
I sometimes like the 2D map better than 3D when Im just looking for places and just getting directions.
However, 3D is wonderful to use as car nav system.
I sometimes like the 2D map better than 3D when Im just looking for places and just getting directions.
However, 3D is wonderful to use as car nav system.