I second that.
When driving in an unfamiliar area, I don't want to worry about spotty coverage not updating my location and hence, missing a turn or the map getting confused.
On board maps and a dedicated chip is the way to go
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Apple's iOS Engineering Jobs Emphasize Navigation Software Experience
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I second that.
When driving in an unfamiliar area, I don't want to worry about spotty coverage not updating my location and hence, missing a turn or the map getting confused.
On board maps and a dedicated chip is the way to go
Yes there is one already, FREE, with turn by turn voice commands:
http://obamapacman.com/2010/03/appl...p-voice-directions-from-mapquest-sans-google/
Yep, that's the one I use. It's ugly and doesn't support the retina display but it works fairly well.
Aside from this hire, Apple has a "tiger by the tail" as Steve once said. They are not "besting Microsoft" in terms of OS installs (yet) but they are large and in charge on hardware deliveries, store access, and network development, on a purely non-commodity basis unlike Microsoft.
Rocketman
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@Petter, yes Ovi Maps is very good, I use it for Navigation on a regular basis and has never failed me. Turn by turn and offline maps is great ( especially when travelling abroad or no available cell network).. something Google maps still doesnt do. Being able to update maps on the device is useful too.. no need for a computer.
The travel guides, weather, and road reports is also pretty handy.. and all free!
@Petter, yes Ovi Maps is very good, I use it for Navigation on a regular basis and has never failed me. Turn by turn and offline maps is great ( especially when travelling abroad or no available cell network).. something Google maps still doesnt do. Being able to update maps on the device is useful too.. no need for a computer.
The travel guides, weather, and road reports is also pretty handy.. and all free!
Google Map 5.0 includes 3D map view, free navigation and voice with turn by turn direction. Apple better bring all of this to their next iOS 5.0 updates.
iOS still needs a lot of updates.
1. Notifications. It's old. Never changed since iOS 1.0. Sad. Very Sad!
2. Even nokia has free maps for their users. God apple. Your navigation better be whopping ass good.
3. A lot more, but I am too lazy to write and I am sure apple will not add to many features anyway.
iOS still needs a lot of updates.
1. Notifications. It's old. Never changed since iOS 1.0. Sad. Very Sad!
2. Even nokia has free maps for their users. God apple. Your navigation better be whopping ass good.
3. A lot more, but I am too lazy to write and I am sure apple will not add to many features anyway.
Yes, this is the part that immediately jumped out at me. What's the real story behind that bullet point? Is Apple admitting that OS X isn't as good a Unix for servers as Linux? Are they giving up on OS X on the server already? It's clear that they seem uninterested in catering to the enterprise market as a whole since the Xserve is going away, but you'd think they would still use their own product (a very capable one) for all of their own servers.
It also talks about distributed systems in that bullet - wasn't this something that Apple was touting as superior in OS X a few years ago with Xgrid and all of that?
It all seems very odd. Unless Apple's just looking to bring in people who are experienced with this stuff on Linux to help them improve OS X in the areas where Linux outshines it. Who knows.
Yeah, I just copy paste address in it, and use the voice part.
Agree that it's fugly. The map part doesn't have momentum scrolling.
Google is so open, it does not allow its map to be used for navigation by third parties.
MacOS X Server is perfect for the small business that benefits from very user friendly setup, so they can get a server running without any dedicated IT personnel. Apple is _not_ a small business that wants to get a server running for a variety of useful tasks without dedicated personnel.
In this case, they will be using servers with software written for one specific task. And they will be using lots of servers, all with identical setup. All the reasons to use an XServe don't apply in this situation.
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Will Google Streetview be abandoned in the next iOS? Hope Google will bring it to it's web based mobile version
Will Google Streetview be abandoned in the next iOS? Hope Google will bring it to it's web based mobile version
Good point. Also, with the Xserve being dead - I don't think Apple has the hardware to run a huge data center. (Mac Minis and Pros don't count for obvious reasons.)
So what hardware are they going to run on if they were to run OS X Server? Custom, Apple made hardware doesn't sound like a good idea at all.
The most logical choice would be commodity x86 hardware - self built or bought from HP/Dell. To do that they would need lot of new hardware support in OSX. So it is not far fetched to imagine that Apple said screw it we will just use Linux on say the HP hardware and get done with it so we can focus on what we need to build.
Plus with Linux they get access to lots of programmers that already know how to make the best out of it without relying on proprietary stuff like WebObjects.
That's not up to Google.
Google licenses much of the map data from TeleAtlas.
Their license does not allow for third parties to use it for navigation, as TeleAtlas's primary business is selling the data to hundreds of companies (including Mercedes, Ford, GM, Porsche, Audi, Bentley, etc) for that purpose.
Personally, I'm very happy that Google pays for the amount of access that so many developers use every day. Many apps were impossible before that happened. Ditto for many weather providers.
Nokia Ovi Maps, been there, done that.
Nokia Ovi Maps?! I suppose Apple will change navigation software experience!
Google is Open to Apple using the Maps and Navigation and ton of other cool stuff that Apple has failed miserably on - Notifications, Flash, Cloud based backup/restore, OTA updates, C2DM, Wireless Sync etc. - Apple just has to Open up to using Android and ditching iOS - Oh and same for Nokia
Nokia Ovi Maps?! I suppose Apple will change navigation software experience!
To me, it would be good enough if Apple created some basic navigation software that actually works properly.
I bought a TomTom about a year ago. It is _slow_. Sometimes it doesn't display where I am, but where I was a second ago. If you get on a roundabout, the display lags so much that it is really hard to find your exit using TomTom.
The maps are mostly decent, but several times I wanted to go to a location that was not directly on a public road, from say sixty miles distance, and it just says that there is no way to the destination. Instead of getting me as close as possible to the destination, it just says "no". So if all you have is a postcode, the only thing you can do is enter a very similar postcode (like AB12 3XZ instead of AB12 3XY) and hope it is nearby. Which isn't always the case. Sometimes the maps are rubbish; if you enter the postcode where I work, you end up fifteen minutes search away from your destination.
The graphics could be improved. What you see in their advertisements are the pretty graphics for motorway exits, which look pretty, but are just stored images that don't actually have anything to do with the way the exit looks like.
Lorry drivers can get a database of bridges with height limits. However, TomTom just uses them as "points of interest" and not as "points where your lorry is too high to fit below the bridge". Very, very clever.
The bloody thing doesn't know the time! Every GPS receiver _must_ know the time because it gets it from the satellites with about 30 nanoseconds precision. You still have to set the time yourself. Great.
The bloody thing doesn't know directions! It only knows where your car is pointing once you get moving. So if you start in your parking spot, enter your destination, it cannot tell you whether to turn left or right. 50% chance of going the wrong direction first.
I could go on and on and on. TomTom hasn't improved its basic software one bit in the last three years. About like Adobe with Flash, where they needed a major kick in the arse to get moving, and now they are moving, but it may be too late. TomTom hasn't started moving yet. Maybe if Apple releases navigation software that will give them the kick they need. Improving on what TomTom delivers is not very difficult.
Do you really think Apple woke up on December 17th and thought, just because of Google's updates, "Oh ****! We should update our maps."?
Yes. Although they should have thought about it on the 16th when Google did their update, but sadly it took Apple an entire day to realize it.