Daniel Hruska There is still a lot of buzz around the new maps in iOS 6. No wonder, for five years iDevice users were used to Google Maps, now they have to reorient themselves to a completely new application Maps. Any radical change in the operating system will immediately gain its supporters and, conversely, opponents. So far, it looks like there are a lot more users from the second camp, which doesn't sound too flattering for Apple. But who can we blame for maps full of errors and unfinished business? Apple itself or the data provider?
First of all, it is necessary to realize why Apple embarked on its solution in the first place. Google and its maps have had a decade of continuous improvement. The more people (including users of Apple devices) used Google services, the better they became. The later Apple would release its maps, the bigger the lead it would have to catch up afterwards. Of course, this step will pay a toll in the form of many dissatisfied customers.
Noam Bardin, CEO of Waze, one of the many data suppliers, believes in the ultimate success of the new maps: "We bet a lot on it. Apple, on the other hand, is betting that within two years they will be able to create the same quality maps that Google has been creating for the last ten years, including search and navigation.”
Bardin further notes that Apple took a significant risk in choosing TomTom as its main map supplier. TomTom started as a manufacturer of classic GPS navigation systems and has only recently changed to a provider of cartographic data. Both Waze and TomTom provide the necessary data, but TomTom carries the heaviest burden. Bardin did not reveal what role Waze plays in the new maps.
[do action=”citation”]The later Apple would release its maps, the bigger the lead it would have to catch up.[/do]
"Apple has partnered with the weakest player," says Bardin. "Now they come together with the least comprehensive set of maps and try to compete with Google, which has the most comprehensive maps." The dice are cast and it will be seen in the coming months how Apple and TomTom will cope with the currently unrivaled Google maps.
If we look at TomTom's side, it simply provides raw data. However, it is not only their provision to Apple, but also to RIM (maker of BlackBerry phones), HTC, Samsung, AOL and, last but not least, even Google. There are two main factors when using a map application. The first is the maps themselves, i.e. the data, which is precisely TomTom's domain. However, without visualizing this data and adding additional content (such as Yelp integration in iOS 6), the maps would not be fully usable. At this stage, the other party, in our case Apple, must take responsibility.
The CEO of TomTom commented on the visualization of the content in the new maps as follows: “We didn't actually develop the new Maps app, we just provided data with a primary use for car navigation. All functionalities above our data, typically route search or visualization, are created by everyone themselves."
Another big question mark hangs over the aforementioned Yelp. Although Apple is an American company, in recent years it has expanded on a huge scale to most countries of the world. Unfortunately, Yelp currently only collects data in 17 countries, which is obviously a punishing number. Even though Yelp has promised to expand to other states, it is very difficult to estimate at what pace the whole process will take place. Honestly, how many people (not only) in the Czech Republic knew about this service before iOS 6? We can only hope for its growth.
[do action=”quote”]Parts of the maps were first explored only by iOS 6 end users instead of one of the QC teams.[/do]
Mike Dobson, professor of geography at the University of Albany, sees the main difficulty, on the other hand, in the dismal data. According to him, Apple has done a very good job with its software, but the data problems are at such a bad level that he would recommend entering it completely from scratch. This is because a lot of data has to be entered manually, which Apple apparently didn't do, relying only on an algorithm as part of quality control (QC).
This fact then led to an interesting phenomenon where parts of the maps were first explored only by iOS 6 end users instead of one of the QC teams. Dobson suggested Apple use a service similar to Google Map Maker, which allows users to enhance locations with certain inaccuracies. TomTom's MapShare service, which allows users to edit maps, could help in this regard.
As can be seen, it is not possible to clearly determine the "culprit". TomTom and its map background are definitely not perfect, Apple and its map visualization also falters. But it is Apple that wants to compete with Google Maps. Apple considers iOS to be the most advanced mobile operating system. Siri will simply confirm that you are holding the best device in the world. Apple must bear responsibility for how reliable the services integrated into its system applications will be. TomTom has nothing to lose, but if it manages to catch up with Google at least partially together with Apple, it will gain a decent reputation and, last but not least, earn some money.
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In fact, I have experience with buying navigation systems, because of buying, selling, consulting...it ended up everywhere but not with this...I don't understand why Apple doesn't agree with Garmin, which is 10 classes higher...I wonder how long such an agreement with the company takes, but I'm guessing that Jobs probably wasn't there... it's clear that Apple wanted to give as little as possible, but this was a total mistake...
It cannot be said that Google is fed by Europe, however, it does not care about it, or rather it is 100x more interested in it than Apple and the companies it buys... I can see iOS maps on Google Maps for at least 3 years... although with another company and Apple finances it could to be in less than a year...I don't understand.
Either it's a scam or it's lobbying by this acquaintance...
Garmin is also just navigation. Their navigation uses NAVTEQ maps. You're in a mess. In the past, even Google took data from NAVTEQ or from Teleatlas.
I don't have a problem with it, I take it from the point of view of the end customer... with garmin there were simply a minimum of claims, questions, complaints... even if Apple created the maps as a company with 5 employees, it had good results, as many restaurants, gas stations, etc. were included... people will be satisfied... in the end, tourist hiking garmin boxes are unsurpassed in Europe... that is, in that price...
It's a mess... How could Apple argue with Garmin if it also takes the maps from someone? And the fact that TT just happens to be the owner of certain map materials (and, among other things, some navigation) is just a coincidence. You should probably tidy it up ;-)
And just for the sake of interest, the maps from the aforementioned NavTequ (if you didn't know, they belong to Nokia, and Apple probably won't be friends with them) have any navigation, so why is there such a diametric difference between the navigation behavior of Navigon, IGO and, for example, the Czech Ben-on road? I'll tell you, it's in what other data (or perhaps route calculation algorithms) these companies add to it, and it actually works the same way with Apple.
Well, I would really like to get advice from you...
Well, I don't know, but as a customer I'm not interested in who the maps belong to, but how it's used, and the fact is that I hope that Google will hurry up with the application and I can put the ones from Apple in the "unused applications" folder :-)
And one more detail, look in the license for those maps, you will see there more than thirty "suppliers" of those map materials... If Garmin is written there, despite its perfection, it is also a moron...
Allow me to respond: I have: TomTom, Dynavix, Navigon-Garmin, Copilot installed on my iPhone, and I tried iGo, Route 66 on WindowsMobile. I think I have some experience using them.
What Navigon demonstrates today in navigation is a gamble. It advises to turn through barriers, double solid line, onto turns that are impassable to cars etc…ignores overpasses on class 2 roads…and it's not set up for eg pedestrians….that's why I drive with TomTom or Dynavix.
From the point of view of the end user, what is the point of who made a mistake and where? The iPhone user gave Apple a lot of money and the reason for the malfunction does not interest him... Apple has enough money to be able to invest in maps, nothing forced him to let go of more money... He had a he has enough time to release a quality product. The height of arrogance and insolence is to ask customers to fix the map... they won't do the work for someone else and certainly a well-paid employee... Maps are an example of how Apple... for all but the US
Absolutely accurate, and the author's best babbling won't change that. Apple has failed - or rather, the differences between Apple and China No-name manufacturers are getting smaller and smaller...
Sloppy maps, copied clocks, closed email in iCloud, attempt to withdraw from the eco policy... I'm sad. I've been an Apple user for 20 years and it's starting to look bad.
But this is not a mistake, it's a very new feature of iOS 6, it's called Hadej where am I? :D
I have already asked a few people and no one has been able to give me an answer. How did the Zlín/Gottwaldov type error get into the maps? I understand that the earth is crooked, that it miscalculates positions, etc., but the word Gottwaldov is not invented by the system itself. Where did it come from? When someone created digital maps, did they have maps from the period after WW2 as a basis?
I hope Gottwaldov will be there again. I live here and since it is called Zlin it is worth……
I wish they were visionaries!!!
Some of the comments are really funny. Do you buy an iOS device just for the maps? Maps are an important part, but the media bubble that has arisen around it is completely exaggerated! Yes, they don't even reach the ankles of google maps yet, but they are temporary alternatives until things get better .
Furthermore, delusions such as Apple screwing up Europe, etc. Are you serious?!? You probably got to Apple recently, because you couldn't let such crap go - remember when a few years ago there were no official localizations of operating systems, very limited app stores, products were only available half a year after launch and not a week later like now! Cursing the price is also completely out of line (courses that apple can't afford) etc. etc.
There are also things that bother me and that I would like differently, but those were also under Jobs.
I think that throwing dirt and talking about how apple is getting worse is unfounded, it continues to drive in its ruts and does not deviate, at least it doesn't seem that way to me yet.
The fact that there are alternatives is not so true, because these maps are system and therefore used by almost all applications. If it were possible to switch to another, at least to OpenStreetMap, then it can be called something like an alternative.
The iPhone is not exactly the cheapest thing, and given that Apple likes to play perfectionist, this can be considered a big problem. Regardless of the fact that it is one of the richest companies in the world (if not the richest), they could perhaps afford reasonable vector maps for their millions of users - i.e. road network, waterways, forests, built-up areas, etc. about points of interest or not to mention
On Windows Phone I was a little disappointed with Bing maps, which are also system-based, but Apple has surpassed all of these.
I don't understand why they didn't either postpone those maps until later, or if the reason for the switch was the expiration of some Google map data licenses, why didn't they start preparing earlier?
According to the latest available information, apple is going to rename the Maps app to Guess Where I am. And they should be available in the next update together with the pre-designed clock environment, specifically the minutes and timers. Because the coloring pages of the son of one of the iOS graphic designers got into the GUI by mistake.
Stay Tuned :D
that Petr: I've been using Apple specifically since it used IBM G3 processors, etc. I believe that the maps in the smartphone are an essential part of the system, the overall quality of the production is decreasing... that Europe... there is an obvious demand only in the presentation of the product, it has foreign markets, online support etc., pricing policy….
As I already wrote, I will have different claims for a phone for 3000 kc and another for a phone for 20000 kc... the price of the product must correspond to the quality and the performance of the iphone is obviously lagging behind...
as you wrote, alternatives to maps are needed, that's true, but nothing forced Apple to use the worst option.. and Schiller's statement about scratching the black version speaks for itself... A phone for such money must also represent the appearance side and hold something, and what about I did not find a single IP5 foil or packaging for its protection at any official Apple store
Sorry, the question of Who is to blame is completely out of the question... The so-called system integrator is always to blame for such problems, i.e. the one who decides what the final product will look like, guesses all the consequences of his (especially technological) decisions, manufactures and assembles the product from the supplied components (which he carefully selects and pre-tests) and finally performs a very careful quality control (QA) of the final product. In this case, of course, it's Apple, no tolerance here. The products are normally great and the system integration is therefore mastered. I consider Mapgate to be (perhaps) a rare fluke.
Vítek,
item no. member of the system integration team of one Czech SW manufacturer ;)
Zgercik - I'm not saying that the sharp release of new maps at this stage in iOS 6 was a happy solution from Apple, but it's still just an application (albeit a native one). There was always some problem that soon disappeared, but now it's all maps .The scratching of the iPhone is also quite exaggerated in my opinion, there are also videos where, on the contrary, they show how after swiping the key it does nothing..
Like the new iPad and "overheating", dozens of articles were written about it, and nobody remembers it today.
By that I mean that I don't agree with the fact that the quality of Apple is going down. That requires him to take an android for a week and that will cure you :-) you will be very happy to return to the iPhone.
I don't want to fiercely defend Apple here, but sometimes it turns me off because I think they are wronged.
I accept the maps (even if it turns a mosquito into a camel), but I don't agree with the rest
And one more thing... after all, no one is forcing you to buy a new iPhone and you have the right to choose. anyway, I won't go to another brand anyway, because no one can yet offer such an ecosystem and interconnectedness (Mac, iPad, iPhone, Apple TV and everything related to it).
Going back to windows is unimaginable for me and the rest is related to that.
The only slight disappointment this year is the extension of the display, I kept hoping it wouldn't be true and unfortunately it happened, but I want to try it first before people judge it, so I'll keep quiet.
I have the same opinion about that display. And they also operate their own Apple ecosystem, so I'll just stick with it, but I really don't like the maps. The previous Google version was great, after adding street view it was perfection for me, but now I miss it and I have no way to fully replace it. In addition, I'm working with the language version of iOS - I'm fine with English (Czech labels for some functions and buttons are horrible and, for example, the "cancel" button is something that threatens my health and that of the phone itself), but looking at the map of our country is appalling in English . What is this village called Saar? Or Horgassing, Piser and others? Why are some names written in Czech and some in Hottentot? I would really like to be able to delete these maps and upload the previous ones there. And of course for a fee. (even though I spent 20 sticks for that mobile phone, I should probably deserve something for it too)
Exactly, as soon as I saw the new maps, I looked at OpenStreetMap and cried bitterly, when even these maps are better than what Apple showed. If only the OpenStreetMaps could be turned on as system...
That's not such a good comparison.
OpenStreet Maps are often much better than Google Maps. For example, definitely in Prague. Even Waze maps are much better than Google in Prague.
The new maps didn't particularly upset me and I understand Apple's steps to break away from dependence on the competition, but on the other hand, this is probably the first time I think that Jobs probably wouldn't let this out, even if he could do it. But he would not want to swallow such a bitter pill from the whole world.
It is true that Apple now mainly needs data from people, it will move them forward faster. It's just a necessary risk. I completely agree with the article.