

Apple to drop Google Maps in iOS 6 for in-house Maps? - blearyeyed
http://9to5mac.com/2012/05/11/ios-6-apple-drops-google-maps-debuts-in-house-maps-with-incredible-3d-mode/

======
yellowbkpk
This entire article boils down to one sentence "According to trusted sources,
Apple has an incredible headline feature in development for iOS 6: a
completely in-house maps application."

The rest of it is speculation about what might exist.

~~~
deepGem
As speculative as it seems, this coincides with that mapping company Apple
bought in recent times. Forgot the name of the company, but they had some
beautiful 3D views of select cities. For all you know Apple might make 3D maps
standard in iOS 6. Damn, wouldn't that be something :).

~~~
untog
Honestly, the utility of 3D maps is way overblown. Even satellite map tiles
are too- way too much extra, unimportant information.

~~~
Terretta
> _Even satellite map tiles are too- way too much extra, unimportant
> information._

They're great for geocaching though.

~~~
davepm
So true, saved so much hunting time by using the satellite maps! Especially
the nano's in the middle of cities etc!

------
_djo_
I fear that if true this might be a step backwards for users outside of the
US, as Google has spent a massive amount of effort collecting Street View data
from all over the world.

I highly doubt that Apple or the mapping companies it has acquired have quite
the same coverage.

~~~
SkyMarshal
Is street view anything more than a fringe benefit? Google Maps got popular
long before they had it. As long as you've got detailed street maps, ideally
with actual stores and whatnot at their addresses, that should be enough to
roll out.

~~~
_djo_
I've found it very useful on more than one occasion, but that's not why it's
so important. Rather it's that as a result of their Street View mapping Google
has developed an extremely accurate map database of even obscure corners of
the world which in turn has allowed them to offer turn-by-turn navigation for
those areas.

~~~
mseebach
I didn't know that, but in that case it would make sense if causation was the
other way around: that Street View was a by-product of "develop[ing] an
extremely accurate map database of even obscure corners of the world".

"We're gonna be driving around all these places anyway. Let's stick a camera
on top of the cars when we do it."

------
dabeeeenster
What a lot of hot air. The killer aspect of Google Maps on Android is the turn
by turn navigation with traffic. That saves me hundreds of £ a year and is
just brilliant.

"but it is described as a much cleaner, faster, and more reliable experience"

I'm sorry, but what a lot of bullshit.

~~~
muraiki
I remember when my wife got her iPhone 4S. We were heading out to somewhere
and, having an Android phone for work and seeing that her iPhone had a Google
Maps application, figured that we could use her phone to help us get to our
destination.

Imagine my surprise when not only did it not have turn by turn navigation, but
it didn't recalculate the route when we made a wrong turn and were clearly
driving off of the calculated path. I couldn't believe that such a feature was
missing on the iPhone version of Google Maps.

Is there some reason that this is the case? I don't know enough about mapping
and phones to know if this is due to some technical limitation or not.

~~~
pilom
It used to be you could only get those features by purchasing Apples $50/year
add on which included turn by turn and device locator functionality (parents
could track children or you could catch a thief after your phone was stolen).
Not sure if those are still options or not.

~~~
ropiku
Can you detail that ? I don't know that Apple ever offered a monthly turn by
turn option, only carriers. The device locator was/is free.

------
chucknelson
How did this get on the front page of HN?

This is just another rumor speculating about things that were speculated on
last month, and the month before that, etc. I guess I don't understand what
makes this one so much more interesting or credible/worthy of much discussion.

Edit: Also, the link/headline is totally misleading. I'm sure others have said
this too.

~~~
brk
_How did this get on the front page of HN?_

Hn is run on a software stack that allows a registered user to submit a
link/URL to an item they determine to be of potential interest to the
community.

After that link is submitted it appears on the listing of recently submitted
articles at the /newest URL. Other users (with sufficient karma) that also
find the link of value either upvote it, flag it, and/or comment on it.

As an item receives upvotes and/or comments an algorithm ranks it accordingly
amongst other submitted stories, making it potentially visible on the "front
page" of the site.

An items ranking is an overall generic indication that a sufficient number of
users have found it noteworthy (or not).

It's all really pretty basic and uses a concept that has been around for about
7 or 8 years now. However this "how did this item get to the front page..."
question seems to come up with enough frequency that an answer should be more
easy to find, or maybe even be emailed to all new accounts so that people will
not need to ask these sorts of questions amongst discussions of the article
itself.

~~~
stanleydrew
I am reasonably certain that chucknelson is aware of the technical way a story
makes it to the front page. His question then should be read as "how has a
sufficient number of users found this noteworthy?"

~~~
chucknelson
Ah, it's nice to have some balance to the snarkiness, thanks! :)

------
rvkennedy
And all I want is a decent Google Maps app on my iPhone. The Android map is so
far above what iOS offers - having recently lost my Galaxy s2 to a freak
elevator accident I thought I'd go back to iPhone for a while, and this was
one of many shocks to the system. I'm approaching the feeling that the only
things iPhone does better than Android (for my purposes) is store music and
sync podcasts.

~~~
marvin
Did you drop the phone into the tiny crack between the elevator car and the
wall? Because I have nightmares about doing that whenever I carry a smartphone
around an elevator.

~~~
nikomen
I thought I was the only person who ever had these nightmares. I almost always
put my phone in my pocket before stepping in and out of an elevator.

~~~
nthitz
My friend managed to lose his keys down the gap. Elevator technicians got them
out next time they were in the building.

------
jasonkostempski
How about spoken turn-by-turn navigation first so people can stop risking
their lives and the peoples lives around them every time a turn is coming up?

~~~
rkudeshi
I'm not sure it's fair to pin that on Apple. There are a number of navigation
apps in the App Store, free and paid, that anyone can download (I use Navigon
and it's paid for itself a hundred times over).

It's not as if Apple doesn't permit them, they just choose not to include it
for free.

Would you say Google is obligated to add free text messages to Android just
because Apple has it (iMessage) and it saves money for people?

~~~
matt312
Well, in all fairness, Google _does_ offer free text messages in Android via
Google Voice.

------
mxfh
That right mockup view comes apparently from a screenshot of Nokia Maps 3D,
even down to the old Nokia font and label Coloring:

[http://maps.nokia.com/37.7976001,-122.3979938,17.42,195.29,7...](http://maps.nokia.com/37.7976001,-122.3979938,17.42,195.29,72,3d.day)
(requires Plugin)

WebGL Version:
[http://maps.nokia.com/webgl/#|37.7976|-122.3979938|0|900|70|...](http://maps.nokia.com/webgl/#|37.7976|-122.3979938|0|900|70|160)

------
swalsh
Can I choose to use google maps if I wish? Or is that against apples command?

~~~
rkudeshi
Nothing stopping Google from publishing their own app in the App Store when
this happens, much like how Bing has their own Maps app or Vimeo has an app
even though YouTube is pre-installed on iOS.

In fact, that might even be better for Google. They've griped in the past
about how Apple was slow to implement new features.

In particular, I know they hated the YouTube app (which Apple made). That's
why the mobile site no longer redirects to the app - they wanted to be able to
control the experience and iterate faster.

(I suspect the only reason Google hasn't terminated their agreement on the
preinstalled apps already is because having YouTube and Google Maps on every
single iOS device is worth more than fast integration of new features.)

------
shinratdr
As someone who uses public transit, I couldn't care less about turn by turn or
voice nav. All I want from iOS 6 Maps.app is alternate transit routes. As much
as I agree with Apple's move from a srratigic standpoint, as a user I'm
worried about possible regressions.

I hope they choose to release it only for the iPad or iPod touch to gauge
reaction before releasing it to iPhone users. I think the average usage of
those products would allow a pretty Maps app that still needs fleshing out,
whereas I need my phone maps app to be reliable over all else.

------
philp
Coming from Android what I'm really missing — and was hoping to get out of the
numerous geo related Apple acquisitions — is a proper competitor to Google's
in-house navigation software. The GPS software integrated with iOS is an
atrocity compared to what you get with Gingerbread(?) and higher.

Seeing that smartphones are increasingly replacing standalone consumer GPS
solutions, I think its fair to say that Apple dropped the ball on this one.
Maybe I'm jaded but who cares about 3D pictures when what I really want is a
solution to get from A to B?

------
canthonytucci
Here's hoping I don't have to go back and change all my my UIMapView code.

------
thornofmight
Can someone more knowledgable on the subject elaborate on how exactly this 3d
works?

~~~
aw3c2
You take aerial imagery and laser-scan/photogrametric data. You can create
rough 3D models from the aerial images already if they overlap enough. The
laserscanning data and terrestrial photos can be used for more detail and
accuracy. You could also use government data if your government provides
geodata like coordinates, houses etc.

It is impressive but not really hard (theoretically).

Check out eg <http://maps3d.svc.nokia.com/webgl/index.html>

~~~
xanadohnt
What's this laser scanning? Vector topographic data and aerial imagery is all
that's necessary.

~~~
aw3c2
Theoretically just the aerial images would be enough if you have some control
points. But I remember the Nokia people say they used mobile laserscan data.
Can't find the source anymore though, I thought it was on HN actually.

------
heed
Just so it's clear I want to point out that the current Maps app isn't a
Google developed app. The only part that is Google is the map data and base
map, everything else is Apple tech.

------
destraynor
This kind of thing is inevitable.

"We believe that we need to own and control the primary technologies behind
the products we make. We participate only in markets where we can make a
significant contribution." – Tim Cook on Apple's philosophy.

(full text here: <http://destraynor.com/cook/>)

------
st3fan
Maybe Siri will now also start working in Canada. Seriously, what is holding
Apple back. Is Google stalling that?

------
protomyth
Apple acquired Placebase in 2009, Poly9 in 2010, and C3 Technologies in 2011.
I cannot imagine not replacing a 3rd party product when a company buy 3
companies for the same product, particularly if the 3rd party product is owned
by a competitor.

------
jonknee
3D is a cool demo, but turn by turn is actually useful. Let's hope Apple at
least matches what Google Maps can do before switching for the sake of taking
a jab.

------
surferbayarea
Cool! I've lost some love for google maps since they started showing the
sponsored link as the first result. What was before a one search, one click
activity is now one search, zoom to distinguish between the sponsored and real
listing(often close by), then click. Pain!

------
asdfdsa1234
I have been delayed by Google Maps mistakes several times, and I don't even
use it often. The error rate is ridiculous. I would love for Apple to come up
with a superior product.

~~~
statictype
I've found Google Maps to be great for spanning long distance but poor at
navigating individual streets. I've been burned many times by landmarks and
locations being no where near where it shows on the map (I live in India -
your milage may vary).

That said, Google's been doing this for years and this is kind of the thing
that they would be very good at (making sense out of a large corpus of data
quickly). I'd be very surprised if Apple's new maps were as good out the door
(let alone better).

~~~
asdfdsa1234
This fits my experience as well--long distances are fine, but closer in it's
unreliable. No doubt this is not an easy task and I have to agree that Apple
faces an uphill fight here.

------
n9com
What happens to apps that use MapKit?

~~~
kyleslattery
I imagine it would just keep on working exactly the same, except that the map
tiles will look slightly different.

------
T-zex
Will they provide an offline mode?

~~~
megablast
They would probably provide caching, which is what the current map application
does. Hopefully they will let you pre-cache areas, such as you can do in
Android, but I doubt it. Anyway, no point speculating too much.

------
danso
Out-of-context excerpt: Technology behind Apple's new iPhone mapping system
"based on de-classified missile target algorithms" developed by former
"aerospace and defense company"

Linkbait-conspiracy-tech-blog-post in 3...2...1

~~~
ricardobeat
Lot's of tech in any smartphone (not just Siri) comes from military offshoots.

