
Source: Apple Aggressively Recruiting Ex-Google Maps Staff To Build Out iOS Maps - neya
http://techcrunch.com/2012/09/23/source-apple-aggressively-recruiting-ex-google-maps-staff-to-build-out-ios-maps/
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JoeCortopassi
"...position sounds like a product development manager position, and will pay
him _$85k+_ and all the moving expenses from the East Coast..."

"Apple _Aggressively_ Recruiting Ex-Google Maps Staff..."

^These are contradictory statements

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smartician
It's a product development manager, not an engineer. They do the specification
and to some extent project management. AFAIK managerial talent is not as rare
as technical talent nowadays.

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georgemcbay
I could see a run of the mill CRUD app PM making $85k, but someone who is
being actively sought after by the most profitable company in the world
because of demonstrated domain knowledge in an area where they have a clear
need and who is expected to relocate to SV? $85k is laughable for that.
Laughable!

~~~
smartician
Hm, I guess you're right. Maybe not laughable, but nothing to boast about on
TC.

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mercuryrising
I'm confused - can someone explain to me the benefit of Apple developing it's
own mapping software? Apple is not full of PhD's studying problems for the
sake of it, they are a collection of people creating products that push their
bar higher and higher. They make commissions from digital goods being
purchased on their devices. This is why I'm confused. They don't have computer
science PhD's to throw at challenging problems. They could hire tons of PhDs,
but Apple hasn't really done that yet, they design something pretty good,
package it up nicely, and sell it.

Google has a very attainable goal (or cause) for it's mapping project (at
least that's what it seems from the outside) - the creation of self driving
cars. Regardless of their initial motivation, looking back in ten years it
will seem like Google wanted self driving cars, and Google created awesome
mapping to provide the infrastructure for their cars.

Apple isn't going to create 'Apple cars' that drive around and take pictures
of everything, will they?

How much is their to gain in them creating their own mapping software, what is
their motivation for doing it?

~~~
bo1024
It's all about the data. The more you know, the better you can serve your
users. But to get data on people, you need people using your products.

~~~
fpgeek
Um, what data can Apple get from iOS 6 Maps that they couldn't get previously?
Remember, they wrote the iOS 5 Maps app, Google was just the information
source. They could (and did) have gathered whatever data they wanted. It is
quite possible they didn't want some data that they should have gathered, but
that's a different issue entirely.

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capkutay
"many of those individuals seem eager to accept due in part to the opportunity
Apple represents to build new product, instead of just doing “tedious updates”
on a largely complete platform."

Apparently, doing "tedious updates" on google maps is hard work and
undesirable, but building apple maps should be a walk in the park.

~~~
Zirro
I don't see that being said anywhere. Rather, it seems that these employees
are looking for a challenge, that being on the Google Maps team can not
currently provide.

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fosk
This should have been done before actually releasing the product to M of
people.

~~~
josephagoss
This is completely on the mark, think about it, Apple have massively damaged
their reputation through this. Perhaps they could have removed a default map
app for now and speed through Google's map app, as they have made one. and
wait till a few months to release their own version, then for next year make
it default.

~~~
sneak
> Apple have massively damaged their reputation through this.

No, they haven't. Stop it. It's one app, and Google Maps is still browser-
accessible. Seriously, just stop.

~~~
josephagoss
Its just one app that everyone I meet talks about, I am surrounded by non-tech
people from all walks of life, no bubble here. Apple has become a bit of a
embarrassment.

In fact one friend felt bad about upgrading his iPhone because his provider
offered a upgrade on his contract. He said it didn't cost too much so doesn't
matter. These are normal people who think iPhone is becoming a joke.

This is because of a sub-par launch that was over anticipated and a complete
mockery of the richest public company in the world because of this single app.
A app widely used by millions for transportation times and searching for
places.

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blinkingled
So the anti-poaching agreement with Google will now bite Apple right when they
badly need current Google Maps staff?

It's the data silly - and if they are recruiting analysts that correct data
manually or by writing scripts (per endtime's speculation) - $85K is
believable.

But if they don't have complete data and they aren't running their own street
view cars - how much would correcting existing data help in actually reaching
parity with GMaps?

~~~
captaintacos
Not if the anti-poaching agreement makes no specific mention about
"CONTRACTING employees" of Google. If that is the case, then it's turkey shoot
for Apple.

~~~
blinkingled
I was more thinking of regular Google maps employees that do more than just
data collection/correction - Apple would benefit a lot from poaching them in
absence of the anti-poaching agreement.

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protomyth
Apple bought three mapping companies: C3 Technologies, Poly9, and PlaceBase
before this. I wonder what the heck happened on the data side.

~~~
ziadbc
Given the way Google implemented gathering street view data, I wouldn't be
surprised if Google has more map data in the USA than all the other map
companies combined.

~~~
taligent
It's hilarious how many people fell for Google's PR efforts.

Street View is great for finding faults in existing data but the fact is that
it is the same old mapping/directory companies that do most of the work.

~~~
tonfa
> the same old mapping/directory companies that do most of the work

In that case, wouldn't it be mentioned in the copyright at the bottom right
corner of maps.google.com when looking at US maps? I only see "Map Data (c)
2012 Google".

The Atlantic article mentions that they started with the TIGER data, not
something from a mapping company.

[http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2012/09/how-
go...](http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2012/09/how-google-
builds-its-maps-and-what-it-means-for-the-future-of-everything/261913/)

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nicholassmith
Interestingly, which was glossed over and pretty much ignored on TC, it sounds
like Apple has been ramping this up for a while. If people were enquiring
about jobs based off the rumours that Apple was working on a mapping
application then you're going back a few years really, at least two.

Once again though, we know _nothing_ about the situation past rampant
speculation, maybe Apple has had senior analysts and engineers in for a week
or for years, who knows. It's easy to read a lot into recruitment postings.

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benologist
Only AOL could turn requiring perhaps the most relevant experience into news.

Where "news" is used almost as loosely as "journalism".

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fiatmoney
Better late than never?

