Apple Still Seeking to 'Radically Improve' Maps for iOS

[vvswarup]

Completely wrong...

Missed their chance when Apple didn't approve the improved Google maps app the first time it was available. Now it has improved even more while Maps.app has done nothing, and I'm sure Google has withdrawn the app now that they are doing their own phone OS.

Come on Apple - give us a nice surprise.

What you seem to be referring to is Google Voice. Google never developed turn-by-turn directions for iOS, and I don't think they plan to develop it. Google Maps gives Android a big competitive advantage, so I don't think Google is every going to port it over to iOS.

Apple bought out Placebase and a couple of other mapping companies. It's time Apple put them to use and get away from as many of Google's services/apps as possible.

 

[Popeye206]

Any update MUST have the ability to store maps on the device and not stream them from the internet. Data rates are so massively high in other countries that I usually keep data off, or if I have the international plan, will not waste my precious MB's on maps unless I have to.

I could see the reason for keeping it off originally, when capacities were 4 GB and 8 GB. However, with the iPhone 5 having most likely 64 GB of space, the time is here to have the option to store maps locally.

That's a great idea! I'd love to see that for when I'm traveling and don't want to turn on international data roaming for the internet, but can still use cell towers for triangulation of my position.

 

[shartypants]

Google Maps is the gold standard, but Apple has been known to overthrow standards

 

[alent1234]

I think google has a lock on the map thing. I can't see apple employees driving around remapping the world to get their own data base

google maps itself is pretty crappy compared to Bing maps and some of the higher cost mapping solutions out there. google maps is hardly ever updated

 

[*LTD*]

If Apple thinks they can do it better, all the more power to them.

That's been their entire motivation all along. If they decide it's something they want to do, there's no reason not to support it.

 

[bozzykid]

Well, actual road map data and satellite data is all provided by the governments.

You should tell that to Tele Atlas and Navteq

Satellite data may come from government satellites but most companies do not have the resources to deal with the governments directly for this data. And road data comes from lots of sources but these two major companies have spent years curating it. You can't just buy road data from the government unless you want people driving off cliffs.

 

[mcmlxix]

Apple should just roll their own.

They have the power, the talent, the size, and certainly the scale, to go their own way with an excellent chance of success.

The more things they do in-house, the better. It'll only enhance the Apple ecosystem and grow it.

Is this always the best approach? Unless Apple intends to invent something beyond the wheel, why just invent the wheel all over again? The duplication of effort doesn’t sound very cost effective. And for good or ill, we do operate in a Neo-Liberal economy where it’s most cost effective to source services and products from others. All the same I can understand the Google thing, but I don’t think the article’s “distance itself from Google” language is the best choice of words. Reduce dependency on Google would be more accurate. Anyway, I would have to think that Apple’s plan is to move beyond the wheel. I wonder what that will look like?

 

[toddybody]

I wonder how difficult it would be find an individual with the talents needed both on the Software Engineering side & the GIS (Geographic Information Systems) side. Most GIS education these days doesn't really focus on programming. Infact, most GIS "programs" are just crash courses on how to operate ESRI products.

-_-

Ha ha! I work with ESRI on ARC integration...Alot of schools are actually providing geospatial related degrees (be it analysis or as a concentration under CS). That said, Id rather the HW improve to have better position referencing.

 

[toddybody]

That's a great idea! I'd love to see that for when I'm traveling and don't want to turn on international data roaming for the internet, but can still use cell towers for triangulation of my position.

+1

That would ROCK

 

[*LTD*]

Google Maps is the gold standard, but Apple has been known to overthrow standards

That's the right kind of thinking, and should be the default thinking going in to any conversation about Apple's ideas.

 

[bozzykid]

That's been their entire motivation all along. If they decide it's something they want to do, there's no reason not to support it.

I would be highly suspicious that they want to create their own maps to do it better than Google Maps. The riff between the two companies is more likely the reason. If they do their own version, it better be amazing or it will just make Apple look bad.

 

[samwise]

I think google has a lock on the map thing. I can't see apple employees driving around remapping the world to get their own data base

Google don't map the world either - they do the street map images, but if you look at Google Maps you'll see that the actual roads data comes from either Tele Atlas or Navteq. Those two companies sell their map sets to all the sat-nav companies too.

 

[JAT]

Why not? The USA for example has only 4 million miles of roads. A car with driver + passenger + some decent equipment should be able to map say 10 miles per hour, at a cost of $50 per hour. 200 cars for a year, that's 20 million dollars. And then you have a database that you can sell, and that you can use everywhere. Then write an iPhone app that lets users make corrections, lets businesses add their locations etc. and you are ready.

You could just buy a TomTom for $150 and have all that, already.

Apple should just roll their own.

They have the power, the talent, the size, and certainly the scale, to go their own way with an excellent chance of success.

The job posting begs to differ.

 

[rmwebs]

Since it looks like Apple are trying to remove any Google marks on iOS, I'd predict that eventually the youTube app will be replaced with a generic online video app that allows you to search for videos from multiple video sites. That or they will make it a downloadable app.

 

[Full of Win]

Well, actual road map data and satellite data is all provided by the governments. Street view I'm guessing is Googles only. But it would be nice to see a major improvement on maps and roads. Something seems to be missing and if anyone can take it to the next level, it's Apple. Glad to see something in the works.

Notifications... sure, it would be nice to see better, but that's probably coming in iOS 5.0 anyways. Hopefully the first version of iMaps too.

Actually, no its not all provided by 'the governments' . There are non-goverment owned sats that do it as well. There are several, but IKONOS, comes to mind at the moment. This is nothing new, its been this way for over a decade

BTW, Apple could easily buy their own or purchase large blocks of time from one the imaging co's.

 

[stationstops]

I think google has a lock on the map thing. I can't see apple employees driving around remapping the world to get their own data base

I dont think they are looking to collect source data - there are plenty of license sources for that today.

Its how the maps app works - I dont like Android as much as iOS for a lot of reasons, but maps and navigation is definitely not one of them.

I hope they upgrade their GPS systems also - in NYC, iPhone 4 GPS on foot is extremely poor compared to my Sprint EVO.

 

[Eye4Desyn]

iMaps in iOS 5??

I just hope there is some mention of this at next month's rumored iOS 5 developer media event. I've wondered off and on how would distinguish and bring their own mapping application to iOS devices (and possibly Macs) apart from Google Maps. Graphically and for overall user experience, I much prefer Google Maps over Bing Maps, MapQuest, and the like. Just hope will bring something stronger and more robust than Mountain View.

 

[Yuniverse]

This may only happen if they get rid of the consumer-quality GPS receiver in it. Would raise the price of the handset, though.

It's more than likely going to be the use of their own software (iMaps?) rather than use Google which has their own Mobile OS now.

the GPS and the antenna in iPhone 4 certainly works well enough. Infact, it's better than my standalone TomTom. But I see your point... TomTom is one of the consumer-quality GPS.

 

[KindredMAC]

I would really love to see a doppler map overlay while using the Maps App to show my current location instead of going between multiple apps just to guesstimate where I am in relation to a storm on a trip. That would be REALLY helpful when driving through Lake Effect Snow.

 

[Yuniverse]

I'm using Garmin Mobile XT on my Windows mobile phone--it's really really nice.

Using maps on my iPad.... uhhhh.... not so nice

So, which app do you use on the iPad for GPS? I use TomTom app myself, and it's really really nice as well.

 

[bizill]

You could just buy a TomTom for $150 and have all that, already.

Or you could just buy the TomTom iOS app for $39.99...

 

[JGowan]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 3_1_2 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/528.18 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/4.0 Mobile/7D11 Safari/528.16)

I think google has a lock on the map thing. I can't see apple employees driving around remapping the world to get their own data base

You need to educate yourself. Google "Facebase". Apple bought them mid-2009

 

[JAT]

Or you could just buy the TomTom iOS app for $39.99...

Wow, I thought it was twice that. Does it include free lifetime map updates in some way?

 

[*LTD*]

Or you could just buy the TomTom iOS app for $39.99...

Let's not forget the Garmin app. It actually works very well.

 

[pito189]

Also, what is so bad about the iOS notification system? I just hit "Close" if I don't care about a notification at that time.

My biggest problem is, ok I don't want to look at it right then. BUT I would like to be able to look at it as some point.

I've also run into where I will be typing in a field or playing a game and a notification will pop up and I'll hit close before I realize it. Then it's just GONE, that's what annoys me the most.