Apple's 3D Maps and Imagery See Incremental Improvements

[TwinCities Dan]

I just added a missing fuel station to both Google and Apples' maps. It was nice to have the option in Google to be notified when it's updated and/or if they have questions. Apple should do the same.

So I will see how long it takes for this to be updated in my little town.

I agree completely, we need this.

 

[DMSWE]

It's not that at all, it's because fixing aerial views is easy by comparison, and does not have any material impact on the performance of the mapping team.

That was my point.

 

[Dorv]

get public transportation down first and worry about the 3d flyover later. that **** doesn't matter. public trans is crucial.

Considering Apple has specifically stated that they are going to let the 3rd party app market handle transit, it seems that waiting for them to fix something they're not planning on fixing is a dicey plan.

 

[adbe]

Assuming, of course, that Google does absolutely nothing, or take their current lead for granted and don't hurry themselves along to improve upon what they already have.

Not quite. Even if Apple and Google were to be collecting data at exactly the same rate, Apple would eventually draw level with Google, as historic data has no value (to Apple that is, Google can mine it for value in other ways).

And lets face it, beyond storefronts, Apple never has been very strong at offering up internet services. In fact, they kinda suck at it.

Wait, next you'll be telling me that Apple can't run a reliable mail service.

When you really think about it, you'll see that Apple Maps will eventually become good as a navigation and GPS app, but will never match Google Maps at offering pure information down to the lowest level possible. Like 'ole Steve said, it's not in their DNA.

I think they'll be better than any current *GPS* solution. They'll never match Google's ability to tie that into other things though. [edit] To clarify this point, both Apple and Google will be able to find you a local coffee shop, but only Google will be able to tell you whether it sells your favourite type of pastry.



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That was my point.

It was?

 

[DeeGee48]

"While improvements have been ongoing..."

Well, they sure as hell haven't done anything to Philadelphia yet, because there is still just a dark slab of metal on top of City Hall Tower where William Penn's statue should be! Oh the horror....

 

[Dorv]

It may be a while before they fix this one: Apple Maps has TWO of the same country - side by side. It's probably not a priority since Kiribati is a small island nation, but I hope your pilot picks the right one if you're flying in on a relief mission. It probably doesn't matter though. Kiribati is expected to be the first nation to disappear due to rising sea levels - probably long before Maps is fully functional.

I hope a pilot isn't relying on a cell phone for navigation.

 

[notabadname]

They are making a clear and immediate improvement effort on what I already find to be a very good product. As long as they continue to clearly own their errors and stand behind the product, I am satisfied.

 

[JAT]

Once your maps are perfectly accurate, there isn't much you can do to make your maps better than the competitions.

Absolutely. Of course, none of them are perfectly accurate, yet. And never have been.

 

[madmaxmedia]

Anyone got the new areas to show on an iPhone 5? My wife's 4S shows a 3D Statue of Liberty, Brooklyn and Brooklyn Bridge while my iPhone 5 doesn't.

Otherwise, how do you delete the cache?

I get the Brooklyn Bridge in 3D, but not the Statue of Liberty. It was the first time I had viewed either on my 4S. The caching they are talking about seems not just on the device.

 

[greytmom]

That's great BUT...

I am extremely annoyed that I noticed on day one of iOS 6 that my business' info is outdated on the Maps app. I reported on day one (and every single day since), and nothing has been done. I have posted links to my company's web site (with the correct info) and my contact info many times to Apple but no response.

About a week after iOS6 came out I did a little experiment where I also informed Google of the info change as well.

Google updated their maps THE NEXT DAY.

What the hell Apple?

So, it was wrong in both Google Maps and Apple Maps?

I'm guessing Apple is pretty swamped right now.

 

[moo083]

Now if only there were AT&T LTE in the San Fernando Valley.....

 

[ogee]

So the Statue of Liberty is rendered slightly better and the rest of the world still looks like this:

Image

This is not an improvement, this is fiddling while Rome burns.

Thats what comes from living in Nottingham

 

[lwapps]

As I have been saying since before Maps was even announced... (If they do announce the app), it will take some time for it to become better than Google Maps. Thanks for the continuous improvements.

Personally, I feel it is not currently a replacement for Google maps. It has the ability to be far superior to Google maps though once the data becomes more extensive. The only thing I will miss is street view!

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Thats what comes from living in Nottingham

I think they should leave Nottingham like that.

 

[Josheh]

What makes you think they are? The planes are out there recording stuff regardless[1] whether or not.

[1] Although I wonder if Apple haven't prioritized large visible urban areas.

I don't think they are. I don't work at apple and I don't know how their operation works. I was speculating on how it might seem that way. That speculation was based on this article which commented more about superficial aspects of the maps application being fixed, like the 3d buildings. There apparently hasn't been as much talk from the news sources about the less superficial aspects. Not that I've seen anyway. The biggest I've seen is an article talking about them having Mac store employees work on corrections. I haven't seen so much news about them tackling user submitted corrections, or if much is being worked on in that area.

 

[ogee]

Flyover in Munich, Germany!
for a week, munich consisted only of big colored pixels ^^
extremely detailed... even the small balconies on houses are in 3D

Munich Altstadt was fine fro me in 3D since day 1. Where I live near the BMW works was and still is flat, but certainly not blocky pixels.

 

[coolbreeze]

I don't understand this... My Apple Maps has public transportation already.

Hit start and it does nothing but redirect you to the app store for a transit app.

Nice try, however.

 

[Glassed Silver]

That's great BUT...

I am extremely annoyed that I noticed on day one of iOS 6 that my business' info is outdated on the Maps app. I reported on day one (and every single day since), and nothing has been done. I have posted links to my company's web site (with the correct info) and my contact info many times to Apple but no response.

About a week after iOS6 came out I did a little experiment where I also informed Google of the info change as well.

Google updated their maps THE NEXT DAY.

What the hell Apple?

Well, here's why (probably):

Google doesn't currently get a big enormous wave of complaints about business info being wrong and or out of date.

Secondly, I think if you really bumped them every day, the guy responsible for your case is probably currently playing the waiting game on you out of frustration, because I believe that redundant requests are a nightmare when you got a lot to begin with, so he or she probably doesn't necessarily "encourage" this by making that tactic "work".

Glassed Silver:mac

 

[shortcrust]

Wow, I can see the Statue of Liberty in 3D. Almost makes up for major UK population centres being covered by cloud in satellite view.

 

[Lepton]

It's important to factor in that Apple needed to release its own mapping system in order to give us turn by turn navigation. Another year without it would have been unacceptable.

I'm happy with the maps. My only complaint is I want more points of interest. Even there, most seem to be found when I search, even though I don't see them as icons when browsing the map.

I find flyover to be very useful, not just fluff. You can get pretty far in there, not as close as street view, but enough to get a clear idea of what the block and buildings look like. It's great to see the detail in street view, but this works well for me.

 

[DarwinOSX]

So the Statue of Liberty is rendered slightly better and the rest of the world still looks like this:

Image

This is not an improvement, this is fiddling while Rome burns.

Oh the horror. People are unaware how many deficiencies and weird things are in Google Maps and Street view.

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Well, here's why (probably):

Google doesn't currently get a big enormous wave of complaints about business info being wrong and or out of date.


Glassed Silver:mac

Oh yes they do. Do a little research before saying what you would like to believe. Google has an army of people constantly doing updates. They want and expect this.

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Personally, I feel it is not currently a replacement for Google maps. It has the ability to be far superior to Google maps though once the data becomes more extensive. The only thing I will miss is street view!

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I think they should leave Nottingham like that.

There are many ways to get street view right now.

 

[cyks]

Than wait for yearsss without advance features.

(btw, google took 8 years)
Where 2 Technologies Acquisition: Oct 2004
Public release: Feb 2007

So?

Sorry, but I don't buy any of the excuses on why it may take so long or even why Apple had to move away from Google.

All I care about is that I spent my money on an Apple product, it used to work nearly flawlessly, and is suddenly plagued with issues because of changes Apple made.

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It's important to factor in that Apple needed to release its own mapping system in order to give us turn by turn navigation. Another year without it would have been unacceptable.

Or, Apple could have worked on it's own maps, with an OPTIONAL public beta, continued using Google's Maps for the time being, and, for those who complain for turn-by-turn, point to the same navigation apps they had to anyway... many of which are free.

Instead, Apple forced onto their maps, we lost many features, they endured a public backlash, and still had to it's competitors.

 

[Fishticks]

Good.
I had no idea of what Statue of Liberty looked like, nor where it was located.

Unfortunately, there's just the Rest of the World to update.

 

[doelcm82]

But I expect the best from Apple. Not subpar products that are 8 years behind other competitors. You can't release crappy products and expect people to just wait for them to work.

But just two weeks ago they were 10 years behind the competition. At this rate, most of our issues with Maps will be a bad memory by Christmas.

 

[linuxcooldude]

Yep, this map thing overblown. Knew it would not take long before input from the users would already start being fixed. Looked at a few other forum posters on other sites and some said some of the problems were fixed as fast as two days. Obviously not all of them, it will take time to fix the rest.

I'm glad Apple decided to finally get rid of Google and we are finally getting some better features. We will probably see vast improvement going into next year.

Just because Google has had an 8 year start does not mean Apple should not come out with their own version. Plenty other companies released their own products years after and are way behind as well. Like Microsofts WinRT & Surface tablet. Then of course Apple's own iPhone / iPad tablet, when other products been out a long time ago. We seen what happened in that senario.

Of course Google gets a free pass, since they had just as many problems when they started out.

 

[TOYSTER17]

Now if only there were AT&T LTE in the San Fernando Valley.....

Not till Spring 2013 right?