First look: Apple's all-new Maps in iOS 6

What I hate most about maps is that you have to keep paying to update it. Car nav and dedicated units. Even ios apps. You get the app but then have to keep paying for updated maps. I am hoping apples maps are updated quickly when new roads appear or construction work makes detours for streets, etc. And most likely this is going to be free of charge with the purchase of apple hardware.

What a bummer they left the new maps out of reach for iPhone 4 owners. 

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Originally Posted by ny3ranger 

What I hate most about maps is that you have to keep paying to update it. Car nav and dedicated units. Even ios apps. You get the app but then have to keep paying for updated maps. 

Not sure which you are using, but I've got the TomTom UK iOS app and I get map updates included free with every app update...

They have to do it this way unless they want to release a new app per map update as otherwise people buying the app new would be on outdated maps... 

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Originally Posted by jason98 

What a bummer they left the new maps out of reach for iPhone 4 owners. 

Was that info in another thread?  I didn't see that in the AI article.

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Originally Posted by jason98 

What a bummer they left the new maps out of reach for iPhone 4 owners. 

Yeah, I don't get that either... Perhaps the flyover was too intensive for the CPU/GPU in the 4, but turn-by-turn? That seems like an arbitrary limitation. Pretty sure even the original iPhone would have been able to handle that. 

Is there any way to make the major roads more pronounced?  I would expect Broome Street, Broadway, and W Houston to be a little more pronounced... it makes the map look weird.. is this how maps are in other cities as well?

Very grateful for this upgrade.  Goodbye to rented GPS on car rentals!

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Originally Posted by cpr1 

Was that info in another thread?  I didn't see that in the AI article.

It's on the info page: 

1. Some features may not be available in all countries or all areas. Flyover and turn-by-turn navigation will be available only on iPhone 4S and iPad 2 or later. Cellular data charges may apply.

I am very pleased about finally getting voice turn by turn. That was my #1 request for any Apple mapping app. Waze and Mapquest offer that now for free, but they really aren't very good and the commercial apps seem far too pricey for just an occasional user. One thing I know for a fact, navigation apps can eat through a lot of data very quickly. People without an unlimited or reasonably large data plan  better be very careful about using this new app. 

Goodbye, Waze.  It isn't you, it's me.  Well, since you insist... I have found another...  We can still be friends...

It's worth noting that TomTom owns Tele Atlas and also supplies mapping data to Google. So Apple's new application essentially uses the same data as Google Maps. It's not just turn-by-turn data, it's the geographical data on which the map tiles are based. If you look through the acknowledgments for Apple's new Maps and Google Maps many of the sources are the same.

Finally! I'm so excited for Turn-by-turn. I missed that feature the most from my Droid X. It's a major selling point for Android phones, which why I suspected we never got it through the Google iMap.

Street view would be nice, Google might release a version of the map app that you can have separate for street view? Who knows. That might be the new selling point of Android's now.

i would think that turn by turn includes via bluetooth

i also hope that google maps is still an option, since i use it for search, restaurants, gas, etc

i'd still like both and be able to choose

maps and data, since on a server, should be continuously updated

very much looking forward for this

its a pain upgrading my gamin, takes 3 hours,  BUT i help off updating my  unit when i heard this today

I can understand limiting the 3D views to newer devices, but restricting turn-by-turn navigation? That's just downright idiotic.

That's interesting...I live in the town the person is getting directions to...

In my opinion it's unfortunate that they chose to partner with Tom Tom. In my experience their maps are really inferior to Navteq maps in the U.S.  Not nearly as reliable.  Maybe the addition of so many new users will finally lead to an improvement in those maps, but I really think they should have used Navteq data instead.

Real shame about the tomtom partnership -- tomtom tends to be the most unreliable navigation system around, and Navigon on my iPad provides far better route planning and much better maps too.

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Originally Posted by cgavula 

In my opinion it's unfortunate that they chose to partner with Tom Tom. In my experience their maps are really inferior to Navteq maps in the U.S.  Not nearly as reliable.  Maybe the addition of so many new users will finally lead to an improvement in those maps, but I really think they should have used Navteq data instead.

So just a problem in the U.S. then?  Is the rest of the world affected?  I've never heard anything bad about Tom Tom in that way.  In Europe they seem to be one of the most popular.  I think that TomTom are way more established than Navteq, and so Apple probably went with the more established experienced company to partner with.  Plus Navteq is a Nokia subsidiary, which probably has something to do with it.

If you drive off course, will it automatically update your route?

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Originally Posted by Mazda 3s 

I can understand limiting the 3D views to newer devices, but restricting turn-by-turn navigation? That's just downright idiotic.

It looks like you still get some of the functionality (I'm running it on a 4th gen iPod touch). You get the route, you can press "Start" and it shows the turn-by-turn directions at the top. You can swipe through them and it will move along the route. I'm not sure what happens if you drive it since I haven't had a chance to take it out, but it doesn't look like there are voice directions and I'm not sure it'll warn you ahead of reaching a turn. It's sort of like manual turn-by-turn.

The way I understood it, new non-satellite maps will be vector based, unlike current non-satellite maps which are images, just like the satellite ones. Better yet, the vector maps need to be downloaded once for a certain sector, then you can zoom in or out at your heart content. That's not true for current map images: at certain point in your zooming, new images need to be downloaded. Besides, street labels are fixed, and many times missed, in the map images, but in the vectorized ones they are independent, crisp and present when necessary. Vector information is orders of magnitudes smaller than bitmapped information.

So, the new maps will download faster, in lesser oportunities and minor chunks, be cheaper, be more reliable... in fact, more information can be cached, so off-line is not out of the possibilities. I don't know if the new Google maps will also be vectorized, but until then I expect new maps will rule over google's version.

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Originally Posted by Haggar 

If you drive off course, will it automatically update your route?

Yes.

I think the most amazing thing about the new maps is the fact that they are fully vectorial maps, and not Raster-Vector hybrid (like google maps).

This will allow shorter map info download and possibly offline browsing!.

Ungenio:

I was writing something similar and didn't read yours....

Totally agree! Vector maps are way better. I have develop software using Shapefiles for map rendering and I offer offline browsing or online spatial-DB based browsing. 

I am praying that the TomTom link means that this does not suck outside of USA/Europe. 

If it does, it pretty much prevents any updating - or forces me to install other software, ontop of the software apple forces onto the phone.

Vector maps are really a perfect match for apple.

1) Vector graphics (should be) smaller so they can download faster on mobile internet.  Hopefully they will cache better too (privacy issues aside)

2) Retina display will render vector maps beautifully.  Vector graphics are independent of display resolution.

3) stepping out on a limb here, there is actually much more information in Vector format maps compared to image maps.  Apps and AI can more readily take advantage of 2D/3D vector data compared to raster images.  Who knows, the vector format may actually have the map meta-data built into it and delivered to the device rather than 100% processed on the server....

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Originally Posted by iVince 

So just a problem in the U.S. then?  Is the rest of the world affected?  I've never heard anything bad about Tom Tom in that way.  In Europe they seem to be one of the most popular.  I think that TomTom are way more established than Navteq, and so Apple probably went with the more established experienced company to partner with.  Plus Navteq is a Nokia subsidiary, which probably has something to do with it.

I have used Navigon in the US for years - excellent (and now owned and somewhat converted by Garmin).  I also used Navigon Europe, driving over 2500 km across Germany, Switzerland, Austria, and down into Italy - always flawless.  My understanding is that Navigon started in Europe (Wurtzburg, Germany, I believe), and was/is the most popular one there - that is the reason they opted to be the first out with the iphone app (just before TomTom here in the US), to get better known in the US - so much so that Garmin bought them out.  Navigon has always rated higher than TomTom, by a little, and don't know how it compares with their own native Garmin iphone App now, but, in Europe, from my experience, it was awesome, and completely accurate.

By the way, unfortunately, the turn-by-turn is not through Bluetooth, and I use a Griffin RoadTrip, which connects directly through Aux port or by FM transmitter to any frequency on hour radio - works just fine, and allows you to play itunes also.  Great combination.  I tend to use my iphone with the Griffin, and only use the ipad if I want to get a better view of maps.  Navteq maps are great with the Navigon App, although the Google maps are better looking and more detailed.  Will be interesting to see how Apple chooses to integrate the features that Navigon/Garmin and TomTom have used for years, to stay competitive.  I wouldn't give up my paid Navigon App if the free Apple App didn't incorportate ALL the features I now enjoy and depend on with the Navigon Apps.

Another great thing about Navigon is that you don't need a cell or wifi connection to use it, as you do with the Google maps.  I can even program the Navigon in my plane while flying - putting in addresses/POI's, etc, to be used upon landing, saving me time and allowing me to prepare my route and time on the ground.  I assume you can do the same with the Garmin and TomTom apps, but have never used them.

Navigon also allows you to get POI information directly from Google, if you are internet connected, and will automatically load it into the app for navigation.  It has POI built in, of course, but this can be somewhat out-of-date, as I have found.  Then again, the Google info has also been found to be out-of-date, so don't really know how often Google updates it.  (not very often, since they don't get any search revenue from this source, which drives everything do).  Navigon probably paid Google a one-time licensing fee, or maybe a little bit for every app purchased - don't know how this works, but there are no ads on the Navigon/Google POI search feature, only addresses and user comments, which are Google's own, although limited compared to their desktop versions of Google search.

Google always had old satellite views. Sometimes 3 yrs old. Guess it depends on what satellites they got the data from? Why does that happen? I hope their maps are using new data/images.

I assume there is a bit of local caching but no true offline navigation? I travel in Europe a lot so even Google's 10 mile cache is redundant. I need the entire country offline.

TomTom did issue a 27 word press release (shortest in their history probably) confirming Apple is using their maps and associated data, but declines to share anything else about the agreement. With TT earning so little revenue recently it should be pretty easy to make an educated guess on how much Apple is paying after their next financials get released. I also wonder if the agreement with Apple has anything to do with the TT principals, according to a press report, suggesting they might delist their stock and take the company private.

No street view will make this 'update' a huge downgrade. It's simply an essential feature which I could never do without. Perhaps Google will release a stand alone maps app for iOS to repair the damage Apple have done, but even then it will never be as integrated as it could otherwise have been.  

I suspect the lack of Street View may be so damning as to make people switch to Android.

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Originally Posted by MacBook Pro 

Goodbye, Waze.  It isn't you, it's me.  Well, since you insist... I have found another...  We can still be friends...

Waze is cross platform, so will have far better crowd sourced traffic information than an iOS only turn by turn ever could.  Plus Waze has personality and character, which Apple's map app certainly doesn't.