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Apple Plans to Use Data-Collecting Drones in Order to 'Catch Up' With Google Maps
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Yes, signs are really worthless, missing info happens all the time.
Pictograms showing internationally what is doing aren't any good either.
It is really so hard to get around in the world without drone pictures.
Jus wondering what people did to find stuff before drones were taking
snapshots inside buildings?
God forbid, asking somebody for directions and talk to a human?
Nah!
I was excited about Apple Maps when it was first announced. Every few months to a year I give it another shot, but it is still such a disappointment. I live in development that was built two years ago and Google had it on their maps almost immediately. Apple still doesn't know my neighborhood exists.
This is great news! Either make your technology competitive or allow us to assign Google maps as the default application, because Apple Maps is subpar.
This is great news! Either make your technology competitive or allow us to assign Google maps as the default application, because Apple Maps is subpar.
You probably never tried to find a particular restaurant at an airport or in a crowded mall. Yes, there are signs and floor plans. Highways also have signs, and mile markers, and there is such a thing as paper maps. Yet, you don't seem to dispute the case that phone-based outdoor navigation is useful.
I positively love the iOS 10 version of the Apple Maps interface. They really nailed it. But it's astonishing how outdated the actual maps are. There are buildings in my (major) city that were torn down years ago that remain in the map and new buildings that look in the map like parking lots. Google stays up to date. Why can't Apple?
Popping up has nothing to do with hiding. Popping up is about not being able to set a different mapping app as the default.
Everything in the world can be confusing and humans have survived all this time with different languages, NO signs and NO smart phones.
Every time we depend on technologies to take care of non problems we learn a little less about how to function or what to do when the world is not perfect.
Having traveled quite a bit in countries were I didn't speak the language or could not even read their letters, I used a dictionary and pointed to whatever word I needed to know. Travel guides with maps, pre-planned trips all made traveling easy.
As old fashioned as that all sounds , it works when batteries are empty, there is no wifi or cellular connection.
My guess is that over 90% of smartphone users have so far found their way around the world, where they live, shop and drive.
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Obviously you never met my wife. She has no inner compass, and I bet there are many other people like that.
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Apple doesn't need drones. What they need is to pay for up-to-date satellite imagery like Google does. This would be a pretty bad situation if Apple were a tiny start-up with limited capital. But it's sad and embarrassing that the world's largest company by market cap is too stingy to pay for current satellite images.
In downtown Miami, for example, Apple Maps still shows numerous city blocks as parking lots where we now have high rise condos, hotels, and retail developments (one of which will soon host Apple's largest store in Florida.) Some of these satellite images are over five years old.
Example:
Here are Google's and Apple's map views of the Met3 building completed two years ago:
Seriously, South Florida and Apple Maps = FAIL, Google was smart enough to invest $500 Million to buy Satellite Imagery Company few years back. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/arti...ellite-company-skybox-imaging-for-500-million Apple still sources theird data from TomTom, which unfortunately is outdated if you live in the area of the world that continuously changes.
It was very meh when I visited LA, California vs google maps. But that was 2 years ago.
Outside the US I have used google maps 99.9% of the time. And USA outside conus is very meh as well.
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I agree w you if you are a non English speaker traveling will be much more cumbersome, but iN This day and age you NEED to know basic English to do many things especially international travel. English is the new French which was the new Latin.
Careful not to be dismissive of use cases you haven't encountered personally. One example where I use this is to look up the indoor map of a terminal to find out which end of a long terminal hall to walk to grab a particular coffee shop or restaurant. These are not listed on airport wayfinding signage.
Same thing people did before they had GPS navigation to get around, or could change channels on a TV without a remote, or unlock or start a car without a keyfob, or walk through a door that would open on its own...all such useless things since it all could be done without them, clearly there's no point of having them and we should feign some sort of outrage about it.
Absolutely the right move in my book.
Google had the temerity to try and hold Apple hostage for more mapping data.
For that, Google must pay the ultimate price.
A small inconvenience is worth it in exchange for not being reliant on Google for such a critical part of the mobile user experience, IMO.
Crazy stuff. I'm sure there are actually a lot of people who are actually on Apples payroll that dont think like this.
I used maps on my 4s running iOS 5 and it was bad. Apple Maps, for all its criticism and failings, was still miles ahead of the crap that came before it. To me, any inconvenience due to the transition was well worth it, and people still got a properly-updated google maps app out of it.
But Apple Maps is good enough for my needs and I am content to use it as my primary mapping service any day.
Fair enough.
It was just the ..
..that sounded a bit crazy. I'd rather have a useable mapping experience, it doesn't bother me how much money Apple makes out of something, I just wouldn't base my patronage of anything on that. Even Tim Cook suggested people carry on using Google Maps after the Apple Maps fiasco, i dont really think Google have paid the ultimate price.
I hope not. Google maps shows the perfect amount of info with easy to see color schemes. Apple maps is cold and sterile without enough info. And the blue navigation line is really hard to see when driving. I hate the angles they use too. They make it way too hard to see where the next turn is supposed to be in a crowded area.
But where is the adventure in life?You might have stumbled onto something wonderful looking around the airport instead of just going to your destination.
All of what you list are not on par with the MUST haves you are insinuating maps from the insides of buildings.
Most conveniences one could do without and are not MUST haves. I grew up having to get up to switch TV channels manually. Not enough channels then, and it is nice to have remote controls for zapping.
I still have enough strength and the time to stick a key into an ignition lock or open a door by pulling or pushing it. Time lost = seconds.
I guess everybody has a different viewpoint of which convenience is important for them.
Having maps of the inside of buildings is not one of mine.
In my experience, Apple Maps cannot hold a candle to Google Maps outside the US--Rome and Berlin, specifically. Using Apple Maps in Berlin wasn't totally terrible, but it was useless in Rome.
Even if I wanted to use Google Maps -- right now, Apple Maps has been fine for me -- I can't because it doesn't show up in CarPlay. Why would I want to fiddle with my phone while driving when the whole point of CarPlay is to let me use apps on the phone safely? I'll stick with the app that displays properly and can integrate with my calendar appointments.
Withholding features seems to be something Google loves doing, but as long as there's competition that works where Google falls on its face, I'll use what works.
And gee, I wonder at this point who owns Waze. Enough already!
Withholding features seems to be something Google loves doing, but as long as there's competition that works where Google falls on its face, I'll use what works.
And gee, I wonder at this point who owns Waze. Enough already!
When did this become about "MUST haves"? And sure, people have different things that they find useful for themselves, but whether or not they find something useful doesn't on its own really invalidate the usefulness of something to someone else.
