Google Announces New 3D Features for Google Earth, Is "Committed to Offering" Google Maps on 'All Platforms'

I guess ignorance really is bliss. Shame, cuz he brings up some good points.

Possibly, but a) I didn't even reply to him originally, and b) the original post was simply pointing out that the person mentioned a Siri of the future when it was mature and reaching potential as opposed to the unreliable state it is now.
 
I don't blame Apple for wanting to be less dependent on their customers, but unless they switch to Bing Maps (I can't normally stand Microsoft, but for MAPS - Bing Maps is much more accurate and has much higher quality imagery in my area at least), they're going to almost certainly be downgrading their map quality, not upgrading it.
 
Possibly, but a) I didn't even reply to him originally, and b) the original post was simply pointing out that the person mentioned a Siri of the future when it was mature and reaching potential as opposed to the unreliable state it is now.

And I'm simply pointing out to you that it's irrelevant what the OP said, because how immature Siri is or how mature it becomes will still never be good enough. If you read my post, you'd realize that.
 
And I'm simply pointing out to you that it's irrelevant what the OP said, because how immature Siri is or how mature it becomes will still never be good enough. If you read my post, you'd realize that.

I just seen an unnecessary rant toward someone who was merely pointing out that the person in question was not talking about the Siri of today. Your points, which I have now gone back and read, are indeed valid but the context in which you've used them is baffling.

I see your points, but they have very, very little relation to the post I made. You've taken one topic, a very throw away comment, and turned it into something it was never intended to be.

I am more than aware Siri is far from perfect, and being a Glaswegian I know only too well that the success rate is never going to be 100% due to my accent (unless I do a Siri male voice impression!).

However, you are somewhat arrogant if you think Siri will NEVER be good enough. You cannot comment on how accurate voice recognition software will be in 5 or 10 years time. So, in that regard, the point I made is quite right, where I said that the post I originally quoted did not proclaim the Siri of today to be great, but more that the Siri of the future, when technology has become more advanced, will be capable of more.

Siri, and you can take this to the bank, will one day recognise accents, local dialect, and what we say to the letter. It may not be in 5 or 10 years, it may not even be Siri which does it, but voice recognition software WILL one day become far, far, far more sophisticated than it is today.

When I was 6 years old, loading games from audio cassettes into my Spectrum 48k and waiting 25 minutes for games to load, never could I have imagined what technology would become in the mere 27 years since then.

From clunky rubber keyed, tape deck add-on, computers with cassettes and long loading times, to slim tablets that are instant on, with next to no loading time on software, with full 3D graphics and media editing and playback capabilities.
 
I just seen an unnecessary rant toward someone who was merely pointing out that the person in question was not talking about the Siri of today. Your points, which I have now gone back and read, are indeed valid but the context in which you've used them is baffling.

I see your points, but they have very, very little relation to the post I made. You've taken one topic, a very throw away comment, and turned it into something it was never intended to be.

I am more than aware Siri is far from perfect, and being a Glaswegian I know only too well that the success rate is never going to be 100% due to my accent (unless I do a Siri male voice impression!).

However, you are somewhat arrogant if you think Siri will NEVER be good enough. You cannot comment on how accurate voice recognition software will be in 5 or 10 years time. So, in that regard, the point I made is quite right, where I said that the post I originally quoted did not proclaim the Siri of today to be great, but more that the Siri of the future, when technology has become more advanced, will be capable of more.

Siri, and you can take this to the bank, will one day recognise accents, local dialect, and what we say to the letter. It may not be in 5 or 10 years, it may not even be Siri which does it, but voice recognition software WILL one day become far, far, far more sophisticated than it is today.

When I was 6 years old, loading games from audio cassettes into my Spectrum 48k and waiting 25 minutes for games to load, never could I have imagined what technology would become in the mere 27 years since then.

From clunky rubber keyed, tape deck add-on, computers with cassettes and long loading times, to slim tablets that are instant on, with next to no loading time on software, with full 3D graphics and media editing and playback capabilities.

Yeah, but voice recognition is irrelevant to Google search. It doesn't matter how good it can understand dialect or expressions because voice recognition isn't what provides you with the information you need. How does voice recognition replace Google search? How does Siri replace anything other than a keyboard?

Yes, theoretically Siri could become a search engine in the future and Google's search technology could theoretically learn to make sandwiches. That's a ridiculous way to put it though. What you'd want to say is that Apple could create a search engine that only Siri has access to and Google could build sandwich making machine that only its search bar can control.

In reality, Google is far more likely to create a Siri-like service that interacts with its search engine than Apple is to create a search engine that interacts with Siri.

Siri will only ever be as good as the products/services from which it gets its data. I can say Siri will never be good enough because it doesn't make sense to take Siri out of the context in which it currently exists, just like it doesn't make sense to take Google search out of a search engine context and stick into into a manufacturing one. Siri exists as voice recognition software interfaced with a bunch of different services on which it depends for its answers/actions, and that's it. Why even bother mentioning it if you are just talking about some other completely unrelated, theoretical, future product?

Which goes back to my question: How would Siri replace Google search for anything other than yes/no, factual information? Most revenue creating searches do not fall into these categories in the first place and most searches don't benefit from these kinds of results. Not to mention that Google is already pursuing all the same stuff and has 100x the expertise, technology, and sheer indexed information for this kind of stuff than Apple.
 
Last edited:
There are other mail apps, browser apps, reminder apps, messaging apps, out there. Why wouldn't they allow maps apps?

I think there is nothing to be worried about Apple bringing their own maps. Healthy competition. And you can only expect improvements to their maps since this would be their entry.

Considering Apple has been using Google's maps for years with no direct "map" app from Google itself, and no other choices from Apple itself, it seems more likely they have an exclusivity agreement about maps. And considering the recent activity about maps from both companies, I'd say that agreement is just about to run out.

----------

I'm not saying that they (read: TomTom or Navigon) should ditch their technologies. I'm merely arguing that MARKET FORCES may leave them no other choice but to adapt. Especially if it reverses to/increases profits.

They have been adapting. They all have apps out, at least on iOS.
 
I don't blame Apple for wanting to be less dependent on their customers, but unless they switch to Bing Maps (I can't normally stand Microsoft, but for MAPS - Bing Maps is much more accurate and has much higher quality imagery in my area at least), they're going to almost certainly be downgrading their map quality, not upgrading it.

You're so certain they're downgrading?! When you haven't even seen it?! Lol. Wow. If anything, it's definitely an upgrade, check out the C3 YouTube link I posted a few posts up, you'll see.


The new maps they provide within their iOS iPhoto software.

ya know, this https://www.macrumors.com/2012/03/07/iphoto-for-ios-not-using-google-maps/

It is a POS

You do realise that the maps in iPhoto is just temporary placeholder which will change when iOS6 comes out, Apple wouldn't have given it the full blown new maps and spoil their announcement Monday... Use some common sense mate!
 
You're so certain they're downgrading?! When you haven't even seen it?! Lol. Wow. If anything, it's definitely an upgrade, check out the C3 YouTube link I posted a few posts up, you'll see.

The C3 stuff is pretty impressive, I'll give you that. But is it more impressive? They both look about equal to me. A slightly different implementation of the same idea.
 
Google is in panic mode, and this ad hoc presentation with no product availability date show it. They're basically saying "Hey, we used to be important in maps." What's worse is that Apple will probably move completely away from Google in the next few years. Maps is just the beginning; Google search will be obsoleted when Siri and semantic voice search comes to its full potential.

Eh? Google are the best at maps currently. They didn't used to be important in maps, they are important in maps. Apple dont have a map product.

Therefor Google>Apple at maps.

Siri should never have been sold on the iPhone in anywhere other than the US. Its not finished and releasing unfinished/second rate products is not the Apple way.
 
The C3 stuff is pretty impressive, I'll give you that. But is it more impressive? They both look about equal to me. A slightly different implementation of the same idea.

Pretty equal? google is only now equal as C3 was 18 months ago, there's definitely been improvements made by C3/Apple and Google don't even have a hint as to when it's going to be released.... Google are playing catch up here....
 
So far, all we've seen out of both the new Google Maps and the tech backing Apple's map app are a bunch of swishy "ooh 3D" effects. This doesn't tell us what's so much better about each one, how they're more useful, or what the big improvements are over what we currently use. All we know right now is that they're going to be nicer looking.

Will Apple have access to as much raw data as Google? Will it be more precise? Easier to use? Right now, Google Maps is fairly precise and easy to use, and it'd take a huge amount of effort on Apple's part to reach parity with them, let alone improve upon the things Google has already done.

So I'm still going to say that it'll be good, but will it be as good, or better than what we currently have?
 
Eh? Google are the best at maps currently. They didn't used to be important in maps, they are important in maps. Apple dont have a map product.

Therefor Google>Apple at maps.

Siri should never have been sold on the iPhone in anywhere other than the US. Its not finished and releasing unfinished/second rate products is not the Apple way.

Voice technologies always need a lot of sample data so you often have to put them in the wild and them fix them as you gather data.
 
So far, all we've seen out of both the new Google Maps and the tech backing Apple's map app are a bunch of swishy "ooh 3D" effects. This doesn't tell us what's so much better about each one, how they're more useful, or what the big improvements are over what we currently use. All we know right now is that they're going to be nicer looking.

Will Apple have access to as much raw data as Google? Will it be more precise? Easier to use? Right now, Google Maps is fairly precise and easy to use, and it'd take a huge amount of effort on Apple's part to reach parity with them, let alone improve upon the things Google has already done.

So I'm still going to say that it'll be good, but will it be as good, or better than what we currently have?

We know that part of what apple is using is OSM, as well as C3, which if you saw the latter in action, looks very easy to use. Google still shows where I live as empty land, my house is 7 years old, so google is behind, where as open street maps shows my whole estate.

Have a look at the companies apple bought up for maps and what they did, you'll get an idea of what's coming

We'll see more on Monday anyway
 
You're so certain they're downgrading?! When you haven't even seen it?! Lol. Wow. If anything, it's definitely an upgrade, check out the C3 YouTube link I posted a few posts up, you'll see.

C3 3D tech may be better... but at the end of the day its just a smokescreen to cover up the fact that apples map app will be inferior to google maps.
 
I think if Apple wants a decent competitor to Google Maps, they better provide large amount of funds to help the people doing OpenStreetMap to develop maps that are just as good as Google Maps. I wouldn't be surprised that Apple's new iOS map program uses OpenStreetMap data.
 
Google executives also took questions from the audience. Brian McClendon, VP of Engineering for Google Maps, said Google was "really proud of Google Maps" and that the company was "committed to offering those services on all platforms". Based on these statements, it seems likely Google will offer a standalone iOS app for Google Maps even if Apple chooses to implement its own mapping solution in the native iOS Maps app, much like it does for the existing Google Earth app.
In other words, if it's not available under iOS6, it's Apple's fault.

I can understand why Google showed off their upcoming mapping offerings. They have upstaged Apple with presumably similar technologies to what Apple will be offering, but because they're not selling a product, they can afford to announce upcoming offerings before they are ready to deploy because there are no sales to be lost on current products while the public waits for the next thing to arrive.

----------

C3 3D tech may be better... but at the end of the day its just a smokescreen to cover up the fact that apples map app will be inferior to google maps.
Spoken with a lot of certainty from one who hasn't seen the product.

You may be right, but I'll wait for Monday to find out.
 
Well, it now appears that TomTom joined the Apple ship. Smart move.

Not sure that Apple had any other good choice other than going with TomTom-owned TeleAtlas.

NavTeq is generally considered to be much better data (Garmin licenses it and Google used to), but NavTeq is now owned by Nokia and Apple probably wanted to avoid depending on them.
 
And still nothing to do with what the OP said.

TomTom had a deal with Google, no has another with Apple and, at the same time, sell their app

I was responding to your comments specifically, and not the OP. Otherwise I would have done so.
 
Not sure that Apple had any other good choice other than going with TomTom-owned TeleAtlas.

NavTeq is generally considered to be much better data (Garmin licenses it and Google used to), but NavTeq is now owned by Nokia and Apple probably wanted to avoid depending on them.

Depends in the country. I was reading up on those NavTeq has better maps in the US and TeleAtlas has better European maps
 
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Back
Top