Wow. Apple Maps is a disaster.

[KnightWRX]

If we go quite far back to the root of all this:



Perhaps he's not right about there not being any licensing, but the bolded bit is spot on.

I asked for a citation (and to reply to shandyman : Yes, I am ignoring you. Probably based on the fact that you're too Apple biased for your own good as most of my ignore list is based on that) and it was provided. Why the license "ran out" and why Apple feels they "need a license" other than as someone else pointed out, the use of the Youtube Trademark, we can argue long and wide.

The end result is the same though. Google will now be able to provide us with a much better experience, and at least issue App updates, something Apple didn't seem willing to do. Apple has a knack for releasing a "stock app" and then never updating it. Google is much more on the ball than that.

 

[shandyman]

I am ignoring you. Probably based on the fact that you're too Apple biased for your own good as most of my ignore list is based on that) and it was provided.

lol I'm too apple biased?! I'm a windows pc man thru and thru and I have an iPhone, so not biased at all really. Maybe you just don't like being proven wrong...

Why the license "ran out" and why Apple feels they "need a license" other than as someone else pointed out, the use of the Youtube Trademark, we can argue long and wide.

Apple probably doesn't "feel the need" to have a licence, but are probably required to, or risk legal action.... Anyway as stated, they had a licence, it ran out. End of story.

 

[BuckeyeMac]

Wow seriously ladies, how about you take the bickering back and forth to PM. I'm looking for information about maps, and I have to sift through a petty argument

 

[melb00m]

I think it's time to get some perspective here.

I've been using maps in the iOS 6 GM here in Germany for a few days now on my iPhone 4 and iPad 2, and I think so far it seems to be pretty solid.

Sure, Google has more details and better POI placements -- but I've only come across a handful of occasions where POIs actually were misplaced or missing. But I think that this situation -- as with the traffic information -- will get much better quickly once iOS 6 is public and people are starting to report POIs and crowd-sourced traffic information.

It's not like Google pulled off Maps the way it is now from nothing, it took more than a decade to reach the current form, and users contributed a lot to make it what it is today. Compared to that, the new Maps service from Apple is already pretty impressive right from the start.

The way I see it is that there's _finally_ some movement with the Maps app. We now got a much speedier, vector-based app instead of the tiles that the old app still was using after all those years. Maps can be rotated, so can the viewing angle. Plus we've got turn-by-turn navigation, and everything is just much snappier. The shortcomings are that (for the start) data are less detailed and complete, and we'll probably lose StreetView forever.

But it's a very solid foundation at least, and it has the chance to evolve quickly. Plus, there's now competition -- it's not unlikely that Google will release it's own Google Maps app so it doesn't lose the iOS-platform alltogether, and customers can only benefit from that.

 

[BuckeyeMac]

Do we know of a process in adding POI's?

Would be great if they opened it up and let users add POI's

 

[MozMan68]

Do we know of a process in adding POI's?

Would be great if they opened it up and let users add POI's

Just do it via Yelp

 

[mnemonix]

It's not like Google pulled off Maps the way it is now from nothing, it took more than a decade to reach the current form, and users contributed a lot to make it what it is today. Compared to that, the new Maps service from Apple is already pretty impressive right from the start.

People keep using this excuse... but it's not acceptable. Mapping is a major feature of the product and previously it was very good. It doesn't matter one bit how long anyone spent developing their product, if it's gone to market it has to be competitive right there and then. For many of us, unless Apple throws a magic switch tomorrow, it's far from competitive and in many cases completely unacceptable. An acknowledged beta such as Siri which didn't replace a previously functioning service is one thing, but broken maps on a new, $1000 smartphone in a marketplace where every other smartphone has a complete and polished solution will be met with the derision it deserves.

 

[NT1440]

People keep using this excuse... but it's not acceptable. Mapping is a major feature of the product and previously it was very good. It doesn't matter one bit how long anyone spent developing their product, if it's gone to market it has to be competitive right there and then. For many of us, unless Apple throws a magic switch tomorrow, it's far from competitive and in many cases completely unacceptable. An acknowledged beta such as Siri which didn't replace a previously functioning service is one thing, but broken maps on a new, $1000 smartphone in a marketplace where every other smartphone has a complete and polished solution will be met with the derision it deserves.

Yay monopoly? That "polished solution" is google maps. Thats it.

 

[MozMan68]

People keep using this excuse... but it's not acceptable. Mapping is a major feature of the product and previously it was very good. It doesn't matter one bit how long anyone spent developing their product, if it's gone to market it has to be competitive right there and then. For many of us, unless Apple throws a magic switch tomorrow, it's far from competitive and in many cases completely unacceptable. An acknowledged beta such as Siri which didn't replace a previously functioning service is one thing, but broken maps on a new, $1000 smartphone in a marketplace where every other smartphone has a complete and polished solution will be met with the derision it deserves.

$1,000? Can you be MY customer?

Is the Apple notepad included on the phone the best one out there? What about the clock app? What about any of the other included apps?

Everyone always thinks there is something better out there....and in their minds, for what they need, maybe they are right.....but to say that Apple Maps (which hasn't been released yet) is not going to be "great" for the millions and millions buying new phones and iPads...and the millions and millions who will upgrade their iOS on existing devices is ridiculous.

It went from nearly nothing in beta one to something that would rival nearly any map app out there...in 3 months....and don't think it will not be improved every day going forward.

 

[Dwalls90]

They likely had an annual license and it ran out, with Apple choosing not to renew it.

What's the big deal?

 

[MozMan68]

They likely had an annual license and it ran out, with Apple choosing not to renew it.

What's the big deal?

Exactly...semantics aside, read my previous post....Google issued their own YouTube app and will most likely release their own map app.

Expecting Apple to synch their entire OS to a competitors app just because you feel it may be better thAn their own solution (in the case of maps) is irrelevant.

They are here to serve themselves and make a profit....if it happens to make you happy in the process so you buy more products, good.

 

[mnemonix]

$1,000? Can you be MY customer?

In the UK, unlocked: $974

Is the Apple notepad included on the phone the best one out there? What about the clock app? What about any of the other included apps?

These are basic apps which have always worked. I didn't even say 'best'.

Everyone always thinks there is something better out there....and in their minds, for what they need, maybe they are right.....but to say that Apple Maps (which hasn't been released yet) is not going to be "great" for the millions and millions buying new phones and iPads...and the millions and millions who will upgrade their iOS on existing devices is ridiculous.

I'm not sure what your point is. I have a 3G with a complete, polished and working map app on it. I'm also one of those millions who preordered an iPhone 5 and will receive it on Friday. In what irrational universe do you live in which it is in any way acceptable that this new phone presents me with a map app that shows low rez, black and white satellite imagery and is missing many POI's in my locality?

It went from nearly nothing in beta one to something that would rival nearly any map app out there...in 3 months....and don't think it will not be improved every day going forward.

That is the generally accepted process of product development. BEFORE it is released and sold to the public, notwithstanding the fact that it replaces a product, effectively from the same company, that their customers have come to expect is complete and comprehensive. It's amateurish and shows a lack of respect for their customers.

 

[NT1440]

That is the generally accepted process of product development. BEFORE it is released and sold to the public, notwithstanding the fact that it replaces a product, effectively from the same company, that their customers have come to expect is complete and comprehensive. It's amateurish and shows a lack of respect for their customers.

The entire industry has moved to crowdsourcing info for these apps, none of them hit their prime until they're out in the wild having users feed info into them.

 

[mnemonix]

The entire industry has moved to crowdsourcing info for these apps, none of them hit their prime until they're out in the wild having users feed info into them.

How exactly does crowdsourcing satellite imagery work?

And what industry? Every mapping product I've ever bought, from phones to satnavs has had a complete and finished solution installed and I'm also unaware of any other product on the market now that is being sold effectively as incomplete and unfinished as this. Crowdsourcing might be good to keep something up to date, but again, it is simply amateurish and disrespectful to release a product in this state and expect customers not to have an issue with that.

 

[TLewis]

The end result is the same though. Google will now be able to provide us with a much better experience, and at least issue App updates, something Apple didn't seem willing to do. Apple has a knack for releasing a "stock app" and then never updating it. Google is much more on the ball than that.

Really? Except for google earth, I think most of their iOS apps are pretty underwhelming. For example, their latest youtube app is an iPhone app, and doesn't fully support the iPad display. Seriously? I know that the youtube web page is pretty decent, but I think it's pretty insane to not have iPad support in the iOS app.

I'll believe that google can write a decent iOS maps app when I see it. Personally, I think we'll see something crippled, like the most of their other iOS apps (IMO). (For that matter, have you seen Google's mobile maps page? It's missing key features like streetview. You'd think google could at least bring up a web page with decent functionality, but they haven't.)

 

[Ungibbed]

This makes me a bit undecided on updating to iOS 6. I use mapping a lot and it's painfully clear that the Maps and YouTube apps built into iOS 5 and earlier are really showing age.

All the "new" features of Apple Maps have been on Android phones for years now (including navigation).

Hopefully Google brings a updated Maps app to the iOS platform. The updated YouTube app from Google is very similar to current Android versions. Hopefully they will fill in the gap with a standalone Maps app as well which has been a major selling point on early Android phones with a much larger set of features.

It could be worse folks. We could be stuck with Bing! with it's crash happy glory (My personal experience with the bundled Bing! maps app on the BlackBerry PlayBook).

 

[NT1440]

How exactly does crowdsourcing satellite imagery work?

And what industry? Every mapping product I've ever bought, from phones to satnavs has had a complete and finished solution installed and I'm also unaware of any other product on the market now that is being sold effectively as incomplete and unfinished as this. Crowdsourcing might be good to keep something up to date, but again, it is simply amateurish and disrespectful to release a product in this state and expect customers not to have an issue with that.

I'm not talking about imagery, I'm talking about features such as traffic.

TelNav, Waze, Google Maps, TomTom....They all use crowdsourcing, hell TomTom just released an API to allow developers to use.

Taking on the king of the hill STARTS at some point, no way in hell would anyone be able to match Google feature for feature right out of the gate. That is simply reality.

 

[matttye]

All the "new" features of Apple Maps have been on Android phones for years now (including navigation).

Google Maps also has: -

- Better maps (more street level detail, points of interests, etc.)
- Transit navigation
- Walking directions
- Street view
- First person view for points of interests (you can look around bars and venues as if you were actually there)

Apple clearly just want to get rid of Google from their OS. Not surprising really as they are rivals, but it would be nice if they at least provided something as good or better.

 

[NT1440]

Google Maps also has: -

- Better maps (more street level detail, points of interests, etc.)
- Transit navigation
- Walking directions
- Street view
- First person view for points of interests (you can look around bars and venues as if you were actually there)

Apple clearly just want to get rid of Google from their OS. Not surprising really as they are rivals, but it would be nice if they at least provided something as good or better.

Ten years of refinement vs. a brand new solution. How in the world is anyone supposed to launch matching Google's massive maps initiative?

It will catch up, but you don't beat the front runner out of the gate when he's been running for a decade.

 

[mnemonix]

I'm not talking about imagery, I'm talking about features such as traffic.

And I'm talking about maps as a whole.

TelNav, Waze, Google Maps, TomTom....They all use crowdsourcing, hell TomTom just released an API to allow developers to use.

They are all adding or using crowdsourcing with already mature products and I have no objection to crowdsourcing to keep a product up to date and relevant. It's still no excuse for the state maps is currently in for many users, especially outside the US.

Taking on the king of the hill STARTS at some point, no way in hell would anyone be able to match Google feature for feature right out of the gate. That is simply reality.

You're not really responding to my point. It's not a case of matching feature for feature, and that isn't my gripe, I'm a reasonable person - but they are replacing a key feature of their product that used to work very well and replacing it with something that for many users barely works at all.

 

[matttye]

Ten years of refinement vs. a brand new solution. How in the world is anyone supposed to launch matching Google's massive maps initiative?

It will catch up, but you don't beat the front runner out of the gate when he's been running for a decade.

So why remove a very good mapping solution and replace it with one that's very much in its' infancy? Maps is a very important app. People rely on it to find their way around. To take something that works extremely well and has had years of refinement, and replace it with something that's absolutely pants, is crazy.

Do they care about their customers at all? Why not keep Google Maps while they refine their own maps for a few years and then give it to customers when it's more ready for prime time?

Says it all really.

 

[NT1440]

So why remove a very good mapping solution and replace it with one that's very much in its' infancy? Maps is a very important app. People rely on it to find their way around. To take something that works extremely well and has had years of refinement, and replace it with something that's absolutely pants, is crazy.

Do they care about their customers at all? Why not keep Google Maps while they refine their own maps for a few years and then give it to customers when it's more ready for prime time?

Because google made it clear to Apple that the rivalry was going to spill out into every aspect of their cooperation. They already excluded the better Maps application for android from iOS, so why would apple just continue to hope that Google was going to play nice?

Watch how quickly iOS Maps matures Big things coming in the .X updates of 6.0

 

[matttye]

Because google made it clear to Apple that the rivalry was going to spill out into every aspect of their cooperation. They already excluded the better Maps application for android from iOS, so why would apple just continue to hope that Google was going to play nice?

Watch how quickly iOS Maps matures Big things coming in the .X updates of 6.0

What are you basing that expectation on? iOS is still using the same wall of icons it did when it was first released. It still has a similar design, i.e. a physical home button and power button with the rest being on screen. Why do you think maps will mature quickly when everything else has moved at a steady pace?

 

[tomjleeds]

Because google made it clear to Apple that the rivalry was going to spill out into every aspect of their cooperation. They already excluded the better Maps application for android from iOS, so why would apple just continue to hope that Google was going to play nice?

Watch how quickly iOS Maps matures Big things coming in the .X updates of 6.0

...or they could make iOS Maps fit for purpose, and then swap over.

 

[Inconsequential]

Having just installed iOS 6 on my iP4 the road maps are great, the satellite imagery sucks and there is no street view.

I'll probably download Google Maps when google makes it available...