And you know as of their most recent update it no longer works with Safari, it says you have to use chrome only. I guess they want to be able to track you habits without Apple interfering. They also screwed up maps on android as well, Before when you search for something like a gas station or something more generally it will put push pins all over the map which allowed you to pick which one you wanted to look at. They obviously show ones which they had ad deals with first. However, now it only show you one push pin at a time and you have to swipe left of right to see the next one in the list. This is completely stupid, but from their point of view if they only show you one and it top advertisers you may not look to see if there are other chooses.
This is what apps like this are better not being done by an ad company.
The desktop version of Google Maps works in Firefox so it's not a Chrome or nothing choice.
As far as the Maps on Android you're also mistaken. If you search for "gas station" within Maps on an Android device you will get a map with multiple red dots showing you all the gas stations in the surrounding area.
However, in my opinion a smartphone user should be searching for a gas station using GasBuddy to find one and it can then connect to Maps to give you turn by turn directions from there (but that's a little beside the point you were trying to make).
1) Caching map data for out of cell travel. User defined in MBs. Cache 50MB of map data within my route at X level (arial view down to street details). OS X Map should allow for regional caching. Cache the US or Canada, etc.
2) Recalculating look-ahead for city driving, so Maps will have a plan B if you miss your turn. By the time any map app recalculates I am already past that next street. (yes, I should slow down….)
3) POI pit-stops. After I hit start, I want to be able to have Maps reroute me to coffee, gas, etc., then back on my original route without me having to reenter the destination.
4) Trip planning. Multiple POIs along a trip route. Calculate time and fuel based off MPG that I enter. San Diego CA to Scottsdale AZ, stopping at X, Y, and Z locations, including hotel. Map will suggest possible gas stops along the way.
5) I would not mind folders for favorites
6) Ability to easily drop a pin to mark a favorite location. Great for hiking/photography, etc. (also see #8)
7) Multiple pins on a map to see distances and routes between them. Great for planning.
8) Persistant pins. I want to push a pin, give it a name, and ALWAYS have it on the map as my personal POIs. These should also then be searchable and sync with my iOS devices.
9) Route archiving. When I take those awesome drives in California and find one that I want to repeat I should be able to save last drive route in my favorites, while also adding personal POIs (#8). Of course, I should be able to share these with friends.
1) Caching map data for out of cell travel. User defined in MBs. Cache 50MB of map data within my route at X level (arial view down to street details). OS X Map should allow for regional caching. Cache the US or Canada, etc.
2) Recalculating look-ahead for city driving, so Maps will have a plan B if you miss your turn. By the time any map app recalculates I am already past that next street. (yes, I should slow down….)
3) POI pit-stops. After I hit start, I want to be able to have Maps reroute me to coffee, gas, etc., then back on my original route without me having to reenter the destination.
4) Trip planning. Multiple POIs along a trip route. Calculate time and fuel based off MPG that I enter. San Diego CA to Scottsdale AZ, stopping at X, Y, and Z locations, including hotel. Map will suggest possible gas stops along the way.
5) I would not mind folders for favorites
6) Ability to easily drop a pin to mark a favorite location. Great for hiking/photography, etc. (also see #8)
7) Multiple pins on a map to see distances and routes between them. Great for planning.
8) Persistant pins. I want to push a pin, give it a name, and ALWAYS have it on the map as my personal POIs. These should also then be searchable and sync with my iOS devices.
9) Route archiving. When I take those awesome drives in California and find one that I want to repeat I should be able to save last drive route in my favorites, while also adding personal POIs (#8). Of course, I should be able to share these with friends.
10) Crowd sourcing for iOS Maps would be nice.
I just want it to tell me where the nearest WaWa is.
It's clear that Apple's Maps works a lot better in the US than it does here in the UK. Adding public transport info is a great idea but a little superfluous when, where I live, Maps still can't actually find the railway station. [Reported it? Yeah. Twice.]
Ah well, at least Siri is coming out of Beta and we in the UK can choose a female voice now (and that's a sincere comment, it's genuinely getting better). Apple's software backlog must be scary!
A feature commonly found on GPS units, perhaps there are patents that prevent Apple or Google from implementing this feature.
The ability to avoid highways when planning routes is something that Google maps apparently had in 2007 (http://www.seroundtable.com/archives/013600.html). In any case, what you describe seems like broad functionality, and not a specific implementation that would be eligible for a patent (at least not if the USPTO follows its own rules).
It certainly looks good that Apple is taking positive steps to correct Maps. However, Apple needs to understand that Maps was, still is, and will be a crowdsourced development. Having the largest number of most talented engineers working on Maps will NOT outwight the value of millions ordinary people who continuously add/correct Maps data.
Many people rightly pointed out that Google Maps was no better than Apple Maps in the begining. In fact it was in most ways much worse. However, once people started the editing of maps, things improved rapidly. I myself contributed enormously, added over hundreds of places, corrected wrong locations, added useful info like address, contact numbers etc. It took merely 1 or 2 weeks to get my updates reflected in Google Maps. The same is true for OpenStreetMap where my submissions almost immediately become visible.
Apple Maps is a different matter. I have submitted several corrtections through the Maps app but none of them is reflected till date. Some of the submission goes back to the 1st week of the release of Maps. I am now concentrating on OpenStreetMap in the hope that Apple will use them more and my changes will be reflected. Apple can improve their Maps overnight by asking people to correct any wrong in their known areas through OpenStreetMap or other Mapping partners and incorporate the changes rapidly.
My favorite suggestion is that Apple build (or help build) an App for correction and editing OpenStreet Maps data. Currently I am using a desktop browser for editing maps data, but if I can do that from my iPhone, my submissions will increase 3 fold. I am sure most iPhone users will contribute and Maps will be a better product in no time.
And you know as of their most recent update it no longer works with Safari, it says you have to use chrome only. I guess they want to be able to track you habits without Apple interfering. They also screwed up maps on android as well, Before when you search for something like a gas station or something more generally it will put push pins all over the map which allowed you to pick which one you wanted to look at. They obviously show ones which they had ad deals with first. However, now it only show you one push pin at a time and you have to swipe left of right to see the next one in the list. This is completely stupid, but from their point of view if they only show you one and it top advertisers you may not look to see if there are other chooses.
Google maps seems to work fine in Safari. How is it broken for you? I agree that searching for "gas station" in Android maps no longer puts pins on all of the hits at once, but the hits that aren't selected are still marked with a small gas station icon.
My wishlist for Maps is that they introduce Directions in India. Currently, I cannot search for any location and directions are out of the question. But it doesn't look like they are overly interested in it. Hopefully by iOS 10...
Comments
And you know as of their most recent update it no longer works with Safari, it says you have to use chrome only. I guess they want to be able to track you habits without Apple interfering. They also screwed up maps on android as well, Before when you search for something like a gas station or something more generally it will put push pins all over the map which allowed you to pick which one you wanted to look at. They obviously show ones which they had ad deals with first. However, now it only show you one push pin at a time and you have to swipe left of right to see the next one in the list. This is completely stupid, but from their point of view if they only show you one and it top advertisers you may not look to see if there are other chooses.
This is what apps like this are better not being done by an ad company.
The desktop version of Google Maps works in Firefox so it's not a Chrome or nothing choice.
As far as the Maps on Android you're also mistaken. If you search for "gas station" within Maps on an Android device you will get a map with multiple red dots showing you all the gas stations in the surrounding area.
However, in my opinion a smartphone user should be searching for a gas station using GasBuddy to find one and it can then connect to Maps to give you turn by turn directions from there (but that's a little beside the point you were trying to make).
I still want…
1) Caching map data for out of cell travel. User defined in MBs. Cache 50MB of map data within my route at X level (arial view down to street details). OS X Map should allow for regional caching. Cache the US or Canada, etc.
2) Recalculating look-ahead for city driving, so Maps will have a plan B if you miss your turn. By the time any map app recalculates I am already past that next street. (yes, I should slow down….)
3) POI pit-stops. After I hit start, I want to be able to have Maps reroute me to coffee, gas, etc., then back on my original route without me having to reenter the destination.
4) Trip planning. Multiple POIs along a trip route. Calculate time and fuel based off MPG that I enter. San Diego CA to Scottsdale AZ, stopping at X, Y, and Z locations, including hotel. Map will suggest possible gas stops along the way.
5) I would not mind folders for favorites
6) Ability to easily drop a pin to mark a favorite location. Great for hiking/photography, etc. (also see #8)
7) Multiple pins on a map to see distances and routes between them. Great for planning.
8) Persistant pins. I want to push a pin, give it a name, and ALWAYS have it on the map as my personal POIs. These should also then be searchable and sync with my iOS devices.
9) Route archiving. When I take those awesome drives in California and find one that I want to repeat I should be able to save last drive route in my favorites, while also adding personal POIs (#8). Of course, I should be able to share these with friends.
10) Crowd sourcing for iOS Maps would be nice.
I still want…
1) Caching map data for out of cell travel. User defined in MBs. Cache 50MB of map data within my route at X level (arial view down to street details). OS X Map should allow for regional caching. Cache the US or Canada, etc.
2) Recalculating look-ahead for city driving, so Maps will have a plan B if you miss your turn. By the time any map app recalculates I am already past that next street. (yes, I should slow down….)
3) POI pit-stops. After I hit start, I want to be able to have Maps reroute me to coffee, gas, etc., then back on my original route without me having to reenter the destination.
4) Trip planning. Multiple POIs along a trip route. Calculate time and fuel based off MPG that I enter. San Diego CA to Scottsdale AZ, stopping at X, Y, and Z locations, including hotel. Map will suggest possible gas stops along the way.
5) I would not mind folders for favorites
6) Ability to easily drop a pin to mark a favorite location. Great for hiking/photography, etc. (also see #8)
7) Multiple pins on a map to see distances and routes between them. Great for planning.
8) Persistant pins. I want to push a pin, give it a name, and ALWAYS have it on the map as my personal POIs. These should also then be searchable and sync with my iOS devices.
9) Route archiving. When I take those awesome drives in California and find one that I want to repeat I should be able to save last drive route in my favorites, while also adding personal POIs (#8). Of course, I should be able to share these with friends.
10) Crowd sourcing for iOS Maps would be nice.
I just want it to tell me where the nearest WaWa is.
It's clear that Apple's Maps works a lot better in the US than it does here in the UK. Adding public transport info is a great idea but a little superfluous when, where I live, Maps still can't actually find the railway station. [Reported it? Yeah. Twice.]
Ah well, at least Siri is coming out of Beta and we in the UK can choose a female voice now (and that's a sincere comment, it's genuinely getting better). Apple's software backlog must be scary!
A feature commonly found on GPS units, perhaps there are patents that prevent Apple or Google from implementing this feature.
The ability to avoid highways when planning routes is something that Google maps apparently had in 2007 (http://www.seroundtable.com/archives/013600.html). In any case, what you describe seems like broad functionality, and not a specific implementation that would be eligible for a patent (at least not if the USPTO follows its own rules).
It certainly looks good that Apple is taking positive steps to correct Maps. However, Apple needs to understand that Maps was, still is, and will be a crowdsourced development. Having the largest number of most talented engineers working on Maps will NOT outwight the value of millions ordinary people who continuously add/correct Maps data.
Many people rightly pointed out that Google Maps was no better than Apple Maps in the begining. In fact it was in most ways much worse. However, once people started the editing of maps, things improved rapidly. I myself contributed enormously, added over hundreds of places, corrected wrong locations, added useful info like address, contact numbers etc. It took merely 1 or 2 weeks to get my updates reflected in Google Maps. The same is true for OpenStreetMap where my submissions almost immediately become visible.
Apple Maps is a different matter. I have submitted several corrtections through the Maps app but none of them is reflected till date. Some of the submission goes back to the 1st week of the release of Maps. I am now concentrating on OpenStreetMap in the hope that Apple will use them more and my changes will be reflected. Apple can improve their Maps overnight by asking people to correct any wrong in their known areas through OpenStreetMap or other Mapping partners and incorporate the changes rapidly.
My favorite suggestion is that Apple build (or help build) an App for correction and editing OpenStreet Maps data. Currently I am using a desktop browser for editing maps data, but if I can do that from my iPhone, my submissions will increase 3 fold. I am sure most iPhone users will contribute and Maps will be a better product in no time.
And you know as of their most recent update it no longer works with Safari, it says you have to use chrome only. I guess they want to be able to track you habits without Apple interfering. They also screwed up maps on android as well, Before when you search for something like a gas station or something more generally it will put push pins all over the map which allowed you to pick which one you wanted to look at. They obviously show ones which they had ad deals with first. However, now it only show you one push pin at a time and you have to swipe left of right to see the next one in the list. This is completely stupid, but from their point of view if they only show you one and it top advertisers you may not look to see if there are other chooses.
Google maps seems to work fine in Safari. How is it broken for you? I agree that searching for "gas station" in Android maps no longer puts pins on all of the hits at once, but the hits that aren't selected are still marked with a small gas station icon.
My wishlist for Maps is that they introduce Directions in India. Currently, I cannot search for any location and directions are out of the question. But it doesn't look like they are overly interested in it. Hopefully by iOS 10...