Google's Work Toward Standalone iOS Maps App Complicated by Integration with Google Earth

[Oletros]

Google had a big headstart, but with millions of pieces of user input, given time, APPLE's MAPS is bound for excellence. No doubt about it!

Those millions of users will be also driving street view cars to collect geo data?

----------

I don't think Apple will ever add StreetView. FlyOver has the potential to beat StreetView at its own game and go waaay beyond.

No, it can't. Try to do FlyOver in urban canyons or in cities like Barcelona with such small and narrow streets.

Do they will scan ALL the terrain Street View cars have driven until today? Remember, 5 million miles and not only on roads

Ah, by the way, Google has also Flyover like technology

 

[ipedro]

With 15 cm resolution, u can't read the open store hours

I was clearly using hyperbole for effect but still, the 15cm figure was where the technology was 3 or 4 years ago. That's impressive and may be all we need for a StreetView like experience but SLRs today have up to 36 megapixels so they'll be able to get closer than 15cm if needed.

 

[dv8r]

I was clearly using hyperbole for effect but still, the 15cm figure was where the technology was 3 or 4 years ago. That's impressive and may be all we need for a StreetView like experience but SLRs today have up to 36 megapixels so they'll be able to get closer than 15cm if needed.

Get as close as you want - this still takes place from above, and won't get you storefronts in narrow streets (feel free to experiment with this on Manhattan on your own iPhone). The only thing you will be able to see is cleavage and bald spots.

 

[quinntaylor]

Speaking of delusional...

A lot of you, including ipedro are delusional. ... Further, to say it's well played by Apple is hilarious. It's like Apple can do no wrong in your eyes. If you took all Google services off the iPhone like I hope Google does, i.e., Google Earth, Chrome, Gmail, Google+, translate, Google Voice, Google Drive, YouTube, Apple would be in a world of hurt. It's funny you people think it's going to take a measily couple of months to almost fully heal Apple Maps when it's taken Google years and years and years to get it done right. Start from the ground up. Apple bought tons of companies and slapped them all together hoping they'd work. I think it's genius of Google to have kept their app available at iOS 6 launch. Now people will see how horrible Apple Maps is and how long it'll take to get it even near usable and they'll be begging for Apple to bring back Maps.

If Google were to pull all their services from iOS, (1) they'd be "cutting off their nose to spite their face" and lose all the related ad revenue from iOS, and (2) they'd get roasted on a spit by pretty much everyone (users, tech press, etc.) and immediately come under scrutiny for monopolistic behavior. Think about it, mobile is huge, and despite the market share Android has, it would be foolhardy to write off iOS. It makes no sense to hope that Google would make such a move regardless of where your allegiances lie; it would hurt iOS users and it would hurt Google, so it's a lose-lose situation.

Nobody commenting on these forums really has any idea how Apple went about incorporating the companies they bought or how long it will take for the data to improve to the point that most people find acceptable. Anyone who asserts that it will be X amount of time is making wild conjectures. If Google had been smart, they'd have had their own app available on launch day to capture all the vocal detractors and prevent them from giving the new maps app a shot in the first place. Instead, they've left the door wide open for Apple.

 

[MapForumscom]

They had an app ready, it existed, any "reasons" it's not ready are just excuses.

Google doesn't have an mapping app for iOS because they don't want one.

Microsoft has had a decent mapping app on iOS for years actually -- in the Bing applications, there is their Bing Maps app. Not great but not terrible either.

Eric