Everyone saying Apple should partner with somebody and not do maps alone...I agree... But haven't they partnered with Tom Tom? Inside the map app it says "info from Tom Tom and others..." So is this just satellite data or cities and POI?
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Australian Police Warn Against Use of Apple Maps Due to Safety Concerns
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Heresy? You're saying Apple is a religion and anything said against them is heresy?
Serious, if Google were to sue, we would get this thing called "discovery" where they ask what they want to see, and Apple gives it to them. If evidence disappears, the judge will just assume that the disappearing evidence would have been against the one who lost it.
So something like what you suggested is _not_ going to happen.
Here's Apple's solution to the problem:
http://www.theonion.com/video/apple-promises-to-fix-glitches-in-map-software-by,30616/
http://www.theonion.com/video/apple-promises-to-fix-glitches-in-map-software-by,30616/
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C'mon people.
How can you blame Apple?? These people don't use common sense when they drive, they just blindly drive off road?
This comes from the same country that likes gossip so much that they support radio hosts who cause death for tabloid stories. pfffft.
I'm surprised by the number of posts like this one. Just because paper maps and road signs exist, it doesn't absolve Apple. People (rightly) expect better.
As bad as some of these mapping points are, some people will just continue following GPS instructions without common sense
This occured in March this year http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/travel/travel-news/taking-the-most-direct-route-to-straddie-20120315-1v85m.html
This occured in March this year
http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/travel/travel-news/taking-the-most-direct-route-to-straddie-20120315-1v85m.htmlMore (well-deserved) bad press for Apple! Tim Cook and company should IMMEDIATELY abandon Apple's folly of trying to reinvent the wheel and ink a deal with Google to return Goggle's mapping data as the default Maps data in EVERY iOS device.
Without a deal with Google, this is NOT a problem that is going to be fixed by Apple anytime soon. Not in a year, not in 2 years, not in 5 years. Google will ALWAYS be ahead of Apple with the regard to the quality of mapping data available. Even when Apple gets most of the kinks out, Apple's mapping data will always be "almost as good as" Google's.
Apple has never been a company to settle for "almost as good as." I miss that.
Mark
Without a deal with Google, this is NOT a problem that is going to be fixed by Apple anytime soon. Not in a year, not in 2 years, not in 5 years. Google will ALWAYS be ahead of Apple with the regard to the quality of mapping data available. Even when Apple gets most of the kinks out, Apple's mapping data will always be "almost as good as" Google's.
Apple has never been a company to settle for "almost as good as." I miss that.
Mark
Don't take this wrong way, because it's not meant to sound rude but, have you driven through Australia? Seriously, on the many times I've driven through Australia (drove from Cairns to Adelaide once), you quite often think you're driving through the desert and then start thinking 'where the hell am I...', even though you're on the right track.
Just saying that the tourists can probably be forgiven for driving longer than sounds logical, but it's quite often what driving in Australia is like.
Besides, you can only expect your GPS to be accurate, so you believe it.
Nah, there's a big sealed highway to and through Mildura. There is no need to go on any dirt roads to get there.
Apple licensed TomTom's raw data, NOT how that data is implemented within a mapping app. TomTom continues to argue it's not TomTom's fault:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-19659736
I have a navigation system in my Infiniti and I use a TomTom GO 740 in my Mazda. The TomTom is definitely more accurate than the factory navigation software in the Infiniti. I've used the TomTom all across the country and, other than Google's mapping data, the TomTom is the most accurate mapping device I've tried.
This whole iOS 6 mess is giving TomTom a bit of a (undeserved) black eye. I suspect TomTom is regretting its deal with Apple.
Mark
I tried apple maps for traffic and it reported there was none when clearly there was heaps. Google of course works fine, so I either use google maps via web browser on iPad (slow) or my android phone. Either works well, apple maps, while pretty as it looks, is all window dressing for now.
I'm from Australia and while I will admit that Apple Maps was not up to scratch when it first emerged, I will now say that's it's brilliant and easily better than Google Maps ever was. Any problems that it had with directions or naming, I have reported and they have all been rectified. I wonder whether anyone else is reporting the problems they are having?
I honestly don't know where all the negativity comes from???
Cheers, Brett
I honestly don't know where all the negativity comes from???
Cheers, Brett
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TomTom's raw data tried to drive me through a field last week. And I don't mean using Apple's map. Garmin and Google have done similar things in the past, as well. Apple's new Maps is pretty bad, but I could stand to see the entire mapping industry step back and make a few corrections.
The short answer is, yes, those paper maps are generally pretty awful. As for copying maps from somebody else's data, the way map companies have been able to get copyrights on their maps is by including fake landmarks, streets, even towns so their maps are unique and if somebody else uses those landmarks, they know somebody's copied their maps and can sue.
Some kind of automated testing would be useful, I'm sure, but it's very hard to create that automated test, and there's no way of really verifying if that data you're comparing to is accurate. You can't know what assumptions and estimations the other maps have used. Short of copying outright, or starting from scratch, I don't imagine it's easy to do that kind of automated testing or presumably Apple would have done it.
The world is very big. The more of it you try to map, the more of it is going to be out of date, inaccurate, or otherwise flawed. Google went through these growing pains some years ago, and even today there's the occasional error. Apple will have to go through the same process.
Back when Google was doing mapping, it was fairly new on the internet, and not a major part of their business, so people gave them a lot of slack. Apple is pretty much just screwed no matter what they do, now. Google was using Maps as a weapon against Apple in the Android/iOS war, refusing to cooperate. So Apple had to leave Google and do their own maps which nowadays is a major feature. They have to play catch-up. The alternative was being left behind on other features their customers expect and demand. They couldn't really wait, the mobile war is still raging, and the only way they can do the sorts of verification and corrections to make the maps better is to get a huge amount of feedback from locals everywhere, which means they had to release it early. In a few years, people will still talk about "mapgate" as they do "antennagate" and other overblown scandals, but the Apple Maps will be very, very good. Apple will also remain independent, and can roll out new features quickly whenever they want.
I agree. Love the racism in this thread. Shall we start talking about Americans next? So you are saying, old Google way of displaying all results within the viewing zone is not possible because Apple's IQ is less than 70 and enduser has to compensate by trying different searches.
Ah, thanks. I stand corrected. Posts (such as the one immediately above yours, in fact) seem to suggest otherwise.
I think Apple should bring back Google maps, NOW.
This does not even look ready as Beta, ie Alpha software.
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Supposedly the license with Google is good for another year, so they only likely thing stopping Apple is pride.
Better swallow pride before lawsuits fly!
This does not even look ready as Beta, ie Alpha software.
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Supposedly the license with Google is good for another year, so they only likely thing stopping Apple is pride.
Better swallow pride before lawsuits fly!
Based on this assessment, nothing is coming our way as Eddy Cue was in charge of internet services. I am not sure why folks were excited with other guy being replaced with this kind of more of the same fellow. I still remember mobile me apologetic emails ...
It is not to say Apple is good, or should have released beta maps as the default.
BUT, I'm surprised by the number of people in Australia who drive in what is so obviously the wrong direction. If it said Sydney was in the middle of the outback, they would probably drive there too and blame the map instead of themselves.
Just a quick question...
I see on major freeway exchange with many overpasses it looks like the lower freeways are driving into walls when the images render the underpasses in Apple Maps. ( I hope that makes sense.)
Is that considered an error and something to report to Apple?
Thanks in advance.
I see on major freeway exchange with many overpasses it looks like the lower freeways are driving into walls when the images render the underpasses in Apple Maps. ( I hope that makes sense.)
Is that considered an error and something to report to Apple?
Thanks in advance.
well, few things to note here, first Apple does start the route with a BIG flashy message warning drivers that the directions might be inaccurate and they should observe road signs.
second, when your mapping application, be it apple, google, TT, nokia maps, or any other suggest that you take an exit, in the middle of nowhere, out of the paved road, to a complete dirt road and on another route no road at all, just an off-road area (check attached pictures please), yeah well.... i wouldnt really blame the maps provider much.
it's the same story to when apple maps suggested to take a turn and drive straight into a river somewhere in the states, you wouldn't do that now, would you ? and if you actually do that and go diving with your car into the river cause the maps app said you should do so... mmmmmmm... i wouldn't comment on that !
as i said earlier, am not defending apple maps, i agree its completely useless, but at the same time, i believe this story is over rated, and if i was one of those guys who :
hell i would make sure nobody knows who i am, i will be so ashamed of myself.....
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I don't believe this is as simple as you claim as I doubt people are making obvious mistakes. There have been instances all over the world, the U.S. included, in which people are given directions that may cause accidents. Examples include erroneously listing a one way street on a route in the wrong direction, or using outdated data in cities such as Boston in which the "Big Dig", having been completed, is not updated with current street information. Someone trusting their application for directions in a major city and beginning to make a turn down the wrong street and stopping in the intersection doesn't make that individual stupid, it is an easy mistake when driving in high traffic area's that require quick decisions. If my car's navigation system did this, I would be just as infuriated. It's an app meant to do one thing, supply proper directions. If it cannot do that correctly, it is not the users fault.
Maps correct, definitions wrong
The Mildura example is just one of many that can be replicated. All over Australia many of the towns & city pin drops are not centred on the middle of the town, but they are still within the Government Area of the same name, which can encompass areas 10s - 100s of Km in area.
In most cases if you search a street name, hospital, airport etc in the same Government Area you will get a specific pin drop that is accurate to within metres.
A Government Area can be confused with a town or city of the same name: eg City of Mildura can both mean the Municipality of Mildura which encompasses the Town of Mildura and surrounding rural areas & "National Parks".
Another famous example in Australia the media like to mock is the the pin for "Uluru" (Ayer's Rock) is not at the rock, but set somewhere within the "Uluru National Park" which includes the rock.
Obviously Google has recognised this distinction and Apple yet hasn't or has chosen a different way.
While it is clearly the intent of someone looking for a town to get the centre of the town and not some political jurisdiction, the reporting of Apple Maps issues has been full of misinformation and padded with lots of pictures of minor flaws in 3D texture mapping.
If you have other information to add to your search (eg street name or known landmark) Apple Maps is largely accurate.
The Mildura example is just one of many that can be replicated. All over Australia many of the towns & city pin drops are not centred on the middle of the town, but they are still within the Government Area of the same name, which can encompass areas 10s - 100s of Km in area.
In most cases if you search a street name, hospital, airport etc in the same Government Area you will get a specific pin drop that is accurate to within metres.
A Government Area can be confused with a town or city of the same name: eg City of Mildura can both mean the Municipality of Mildura which encompasses the Town of Mildura and surrounding rural areas & "National Parks".
Another famous example in Australia the media like to mock is the the pin for "Uluru" (Ayer's Rock) is not at the rock, but set somewhere within the "Uluru National Park" which includes the rock.
Obviously Google has recognised this distinction and Apple yet hasn't or has chosen a different way.
While it is clearly the intent of someone looking for a town to get the centre of the town and not some political jurisdiction, the reporting of Apple Maps issues has been full of misinformation and padded with lots of pictures of minor flaws in 3D texture mapping.
If you have other information to add to your search (eg street name or known landmark) Apple Maps is largely accurate.
I think it's 'classic' that you find it reasonable to have to check two different maps to find a location.