
Apple Maps up to five times more data efficient than Google Maps - iPhone1
http://www.loopinsight.com/2012/10/01/apple-maps-up-to-five-times-more-data-efficient-than-google-maps/
======
mtgx
The title is a little misleading. It may be more efficient compared to the 5
years old Google Maps app on iOS, but Google Maps for Android has been vector
based since December 16th, 2010, when they launched Google Maps 5.0.

[http://googlemobile.blogspot.com/2010/12/under-hood-of-
googl...](http://googlemobile.blogspot.com/2010/12/under-hood-of-google-
maps-50-for.html)

Also don't forget Apple's Maps retrieve a lot less data than Google Maps,
since they don't actually have that data. Google Maps offers a lot more
information.

~~~
jonursenbach
The title isn't misleading because the test has nothing to do with Android.
They're comparing the two iOS map offerings, not cross-platform.

~~~
recoiledsnake
How would you infer that from the title? Bandwidth used by apps can and is
frequently constant across platforms.

Won't adding a "on iOS" at the end help clarify things?

~~~
jonursenbach
It's assumed. If you can't grasp that, I'm sorry.

~~~
mparlane
In the title two competing products are mentioned. Google Maps and Apple Maps.

The article is comparing iOS Google Maps to iOS Apple Maps. iOS Google Maps is
not the same as the product Google Maps.

If you can't grasp the difference of those two, I'm sorry.

~~~
lostsock
Not to mention the old iOS mapping app was actually written by Apple, it was
only using Google's tiles

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jtchang
Of course you use less data when you don't need to download anything
important...like oh say, roads, important subway stations, or cities!

~~~
robert_nsu
Yeah, I'd rather wait 5 minutes for correct information instead of waiting 2
minutes for incorrect information.

~~~
Timmy_C
This is a false dichotomy. The data you're getting in iOS is not wholly
incorrect. You're right that there are some big holes. But, in apps like
foursquare, the speed gains are significant. Especially when you just need the
map to find what your geo coordinates are.

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ftwinnovations
Apple maps has caused me plenty of headaches so far, but hearing this
definitely pleases me. I remember traveling lost in Beijing and just ripping
through my AT&T international data plan using maps to get back to my hotel.

Sure, with Apple maps I won't even _find_ my hotel, but at least I'll do it
five times more efficiently!

~~~
ghshephard
The reports that I've seen suggest Apple has better map tile/POI detail in
China than Google does. China is one of the places that Apple comes out ahead
of Google in terms of Map Data Quality.

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ghshephard
This would be an assessment over the application and the efficiency of using
vectors - thought it is interesting to hear that the satellite maps show a win
as well.

When I'm traveling internationally, and have roaming disabled, I use Google
Maps in "Standard View" very cautiously - keenly aware of that $0.15/megabyte
charge I'm racking up.

So, for those cities that do have decent road layouts, routing, and POI
information - this actually is a nice little benefit.

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highwind
Can anyone compare this to the Google Maps on Android? Downloading vector
based map will obviously use less data than raster map image (different one at
different zoom level nonetheless). I don't see how this is much of a news.

~~~
ghshephard
It's news to anyone with an iPhone that has to pay for their data when
downloading maps @ $0.15/megabyte when traveling internationally. I've racked
up $20-$30 just using the maps application on a single trip, so this is
positive news for me.

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mapgrep
Customer: It's not much of a cheese shop, is it?

Owner: Finest in the district!

Customer: (annoyed) Explain the logic underlying that conclusion, please.

Owner: Well, it's so clean, sir!

Customer: It's certainly uncontaminated by cheese....

<http://www.minderella.com/words/cheeseshop.htm>

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chaz
Google Maps for Android has an offline cache, which is a huge advantage,
especially for those traveling in subways without a data connection. Would
love to see that show up on iOS.

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lilc
I find it ironic that Apple is using RPC-encoded Google protocol buffers for
communication in their Maps product.

~~~
sli
I'd like to hear more about that. Care to elaborate?

~~~
lilc
During the last XCode beta, I was playing around with the iPhone simulator and
using a proxy I saw the server would respond to geocoding requests with an
'application/x-protobuf' header. That header has since been removed, but the
data is still encoded the same (comparing the same request before and after).
I was going to try to figure out the RPC encoding method Apple's using, but I
lost motivation after reading that they are rate-limiting the API, making it
less useful to me.

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DigitalSea
I guess, it's a lot easier to be data efficient... When you have next to no
map data to retrieve in the first place. I am tired of hearing about Apple's
Maps, whether it's good or bad, everyone can agree (even Apple themselves
agree) that the maps application is sub-par and finding nice things to say
about it doesn't change the fact that if you want to get somewhere the new
Apple Maps can only promise to get you within 80km of the location you want to
be in (if you're lucky), not to mention the missing landmarks, weird black and
white colouring of some areas and missing roads.

Let's not detract away from the real problem here. Lets see if Apple Maps are
as data efficient in 5 years when they catch up to half the level that Google
Maps are currently at provided they work day and night to get to that stage.

~~~
zarify
No, but I'm sure we _can_ all agree that map quality and POI quantity/accuracy
will vary significantly by area.

Let's not detract from the real problem here: the lack of sea monsters and
other mythical beasts in all smartphone mapping offerings (sure Google
included them in their 8 bit maps, but they tried to pass that off as a joke).

------
ChrisLTD
That's great, but I'm sure most people would rather spend more data in
exchange for more accurate and complete maps.

Another thing to remember: with LTE larger maps wouldn't even take much longer
to download.

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lurkinggrue
In other news: Apple Maps missing 5 times the data that Google offers.

------
capo
For the umpteenth time:

 _There was never a Google Maps app on the iPhone, there was an Apple app
powered by Google's data_.

The correct way of stating this is that Apple's iOS6 maps app is more data
efficient than previous versions. As for the main reason the current app is
more efficient is that it relies on vector graphics instead of image tiles, a
technique Google have been using on Android for nearly 2 years:
[http://googlemobile.blogspot.com/2010/12/under-hood-of-
googl...](http://googlemobile.blogspot.com/2010/12/under-hood-of-google-
maps-50-for.html)

Another Android maps feature lets users select areas to cache offline, which I
imagine saves even more data (it auto-caches frequented areas):
[http://google-latlong.blogspot.com/2012/06/go-offline-
with-g...](http://google-latlong.blogspot.com/2012/06/go-offline-with-google-
maps-for-android.html)

That feature is also worth mentioning for when Apple duplicates it and some
people try to convince themselves that it was Apple's idea.

~~~
taligent
Calm down. Everyone is just calling it Google Maps out of simplicity.

And yes it is vector on Android which was rumored to be one of the reasons
Apple even started on this whole maps adventure. Because Google wasn't willing
to license the vector data to give Android a competitive advantage.

~~~
capo
I'm just a bit bothered by this phenomena of discovering features on the
iPhone that were present on Android for ages and then attributing them to
Apple: the notifications shade, voice input, voice actions, the ability to
answer phone calls with canned texts, and now maps among many other things.

Many in the press keep omitting the fact that Android did it first, which I
think is important in this climate where Apple is very litigious regarding
this stuff and the press keeps touting their originality while simultaneously
dismissing other innovators.

~~~
taligent
I'm just a bit bothered by this phenomena of discovering features on Android
that were present on Palm phones for ages and then attributing them to
Android: voice input, voice actions, the ability to answer phone calls with
canned texts, and now maps among many other things.

You have heard of Palm, right ?

~~~
zarify
Fairly sure one of my old dumbphones had canned texts for phone calls.

One of the good things about Apple is precisely what lot of people here are
complaining about: they tell you what you can do with your phone and why it's
neat. Samsung have been getting on board wih this of late, with their Apple
mockery ads, where they actually advertise features to the general public.

