
IPhoto for iOS Not Using Google Maps? - basil
http://512pixels.net/iphoto-for-ios-not-using-google-maps/
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ericd
The article claims that it doesn't appear that they're using OSM data, but if
you look at the label of the green area on Apple's map and OSM, they're both
labeled Great Salterns Golf Corse[sic]. So, it seems likely that they're using
at least some data from OSM.

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3ds
Well spotted! It appears that the author does not know the difference between
map data and rendering it.

I have looked at other places in OpenStreetMap and Apple Maps tiles and there
is no doubt that they use OSM data, just their own renderer.

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ericd
Good stuff, thanks for the confirmation! I wonder if Apple will be a powerful
new contributor to OSM (I really, really hope so)

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cageyjames
Slippy map with the Apple Tiles:

<http://www.refnum.com/tmp/apple.html>

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potatolicious
Visually interesting, but functionally leaves a lot of be desired. Seems more
style over substance.

e.g., Zoomed over the entirety of the US - San Jose appears over San
Francisco. Entirety of Midwest is empty even though there's plenty of room for
some city names. Boston and New York make the cut, but evidently Baltimore is
more important than DC :P Jacksonville FL makes the map before Miami or
Orlando?

Hell, when zoomed into North Dakota _not a single name is drawn_.

This is pretty sloppy for Apple standards.

~~~
runjake
Actually it's a bug in the web app. If you actually look in iPhoto, there are
detailed tiles for the region you mention.

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ugh
Apple has been using prettier tile sets in iMovie on OS X – but (just like in
this case) only for presentation, never for browsing or when you actually want
to use maps.

I don’t think this indicates anything.

(Also: Those tiles are fine for presentation purposes but not even close to
what Google offers otherwise. The tiles for Germany are horrible. Some cities
don’t show up at all, some show up twice. There is no consistency, no rhyme,
no reason. And that’s only the fundamentals, not even whether I can
comfortably search for Italian restaurants.)

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cageyjames
Here is a great resource to compare Apple tiles and OpenStreetMap tiles at the
same time:

<http://ivan.sanchezortega.es/leaflet-apple.html>

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hinathan
Using iPhoto on my iPhone 4s right now — the maps are ... weird. Italic serif
fonts, oddly bad anti-aliasing, and off-center-by-2-pixels highway numbers.
Feels like it's been upscaled from half resolution as well. It's clearly not
Google's maps, but it's also clearly below Apple's normal visual standards.

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JaggedNZ
If it is OSM data then it is a stale cut that is several years out-of-date,
more likely it's data pulled from the same origin's as OSM, but with none of
OSM's improvements. Map styling is pretty ugly IMHO too. If Apple is going to
get serious about the mapping space it needs to start buying data.

~~~
cjensen
I agree. In my area, the Apple maps show some roads which have no existed in
decades. I'm pretty sure OSM was preloaded with USGS base maps (which are
generally decades old) because when OSM was young, it too suffered from the
"obsolete road" problem. Some of the errors I remember from the early OSM maps
have been corrected in the Apple maps, but others remain.

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marcusestes
John Gruber of Daring Fireball just confirmed that it is in fact using data
from Google Maps: <http://daringfireball.net/linked/2012/03/07/iphoto-maps>

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sumukh1
It very well could be, but according to other it's polling Apple servers.
[http://gsp2.apple.com/tile?api=1&style=slideshow&lay...](http://gsp2.apple.com/tile?api=1&style=slideshow&layers=default&lang=de_DE&z=13&x=4253&y=2743&v=9)

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joejohnson
However, iPhoto (for OS X, also updated today) definitely still is. I wonder
how soon Apple plans on completely severing ties with Google Maps.

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dan1234
iPhoto for OS X uses the pretty tile set when in slide show mode. I think it
has done for the past few versions.

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hsshah
Interesting indeed. Get the users to slowly get familiarized with their own
maps solution before ditching Google Maps.

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mvkel
John Gruber confirmed from Apple that it IS Google Maps data

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BigTigger
He's edited it again,

UPDATE 2: OK, what I’m hearing now is that Places still uses Google Maps, but
the maps in Journals and slideshows are not using Google Maps, and are Apple’s
own stuff

<http://daringfireball.net/linked/2012/03/07/iphoto-maps>

~~~
cageyjames
Right so the license says this:

If your application displays Places API data on a map, that map must be
provided by Google. Places API responses may include Listings provider
attributions in HTML format that must be displayed to the user as provided.
Any links included in the HTML must be preserved. We recommend placing this
information below any search results or Place Details information.

[http://code.google.com/apis/maps/documentation/places/#Limit...](http://code.google.com/apis/maps/documentation/places/#Limits)

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laconian
Look at them. They are the most beautiful tiles I've ever used.

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jinushaun
It's not a surprise. Everyone seems to be ditching Google Maps, whether it's
because of the new pricing rules or because companies just want to rely less
on Google for core functionality. Interesting predicament Google is having.

I think startups with a heavy reliance on Facebook are going to come to the
same conclusion in the near future...

