Apple fires iOS 6 Maps chief

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  • Reply 121 of 170
    *confused face*
    *looks at clock*

    Oh, yeah, it's tomorrow where you are.

    LOL I knew that would happen and I was considering putting Nov 27. But I like my time zone... :)
  • Reply 122 of 170
    jnjnjn wrote: »
    Lets not fire everyone.
    The AppStore app is exellent on iPad 3.
    No lag, no stutter.
    J.

    It is beautiful. However the horizontal scrolling of app icons within a vertical scrolling is a bit non-useability-friendly.
  • Reply 123 of 170

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Tallest Skil View Post


     


    Guess Google should pull their maps.



    If their data is as bad as Apple's, then yes, they should.

  • Reply 124 of 170
    "Apple wrote:
    [" url="/t/154640/apple-fires-ios-6-maps-chief#post_2237562"]Good, people need to be held accountable for their actions. If somebody is not up for the job, then get rid of them, and replace them with somebody else.

    And whoever is in charge of the iOS appstore app should also be fired, because it's slow, it's laggy and when you scroll with your finger on the screen, it is jerky. That might be acceptable for an Android device, but not for any Apple device. The old app store was much better and much smoother and faster. Fire that person right away, and put somebody in charge who knows what they're doing.

    This is management. Rich hasn't touched or architected the design for these products. He was responsible for overseeing the teams that do. To me this is a management shake up to clear out long-standing folks who most likely butted heads one too many times with higher ups and they parted ways.

    Rich goes way back to the early days at NeXT and later came back in 2001 at Apple and led the creation of WebKit and Safari.

    This isn't a lack of talent. It's a changing of direction in certain areas and I imagine Eddy with his experience directly around Steve is quite secure in recognizing when individuals who have put well over 20 years into the industry are just not committed enough to put in another 10 years.

    The guy's not hurting for funds. He can go enjoy life and recharge. He'll probably create another start up.
  • Reply 125 of 170
    gazoobee wrote: »
    Could be great indeed.  I actually love opening up maps and cruising around the local mountains in 3D.  It's just that when it comes to the cities, the data is either totally f*cked up or missing entirely.  I don't miss street view as much as I thought I would either.  If they simply fixed the data (and there is oceans and oceans of bad data), and added transit directions it would all be fine for most people.  

    I've been reporting errors a lot however and so far not a single one of them has been fixed.  For instance I was in Vancouver BC last week and pretty much all the data is still bad or missing.  This is a big city too, one of the largest in the country.  

    Consider the only general public release is 6.01 since the initial Maps.app release I'd expect you wouldn't get bug fixes yet. Especially when Apple is focused on making a large Maps.framework available for 3rd party devs to leverage and extend its functionality.
  • Reply 126 of 170
    jragostajragosta Posts: 10,473member
    It is not at all nonsensical to prefer using the same maps solution on desktop and on mobile devices.

    No more nonsensical than preferring Google Maps to work on my toaster oven, I guess.

    They're different devices with different functions.
    Show me a proper, exhaustive comparison that reports "few" significant differences between Apple Maps and Google Maps. I don't even know how one would define the comparison to begin with, and I am way smarter (and better looker) than you.

    I see. So lack of a proper, exhaustive comparison doesn't prevent calling Apple's Maps terrible, but it prevents one from saying that Apple Maps are OK? Strange logic you have there.

    In reality, there hasn't been a comprehensive exhaustive comparison, but there have been enough regional or local comparisons to get an idea. In each case, Apple's Maps was at least as good as Google Maps (sometimes better). The Canada comparison was reported in this thread. The China comparison (where Apple Maps was miles ahead) was reported elsewhere, as was the San Francisco comparison.

    In reality, there is not a single shred of evidence supporting the widely reported claim that Apple Maps is inferior.
  • Reply 127 of 170
    alexnalexn Posts: 119member
    nagromme wrote: »

    Snip...

    User reports—and to some extent automated GPS processing (which we hope is anonymized properly)—provide the necessary info to improve and update mapping systems.

    ...snip

    Oh no! I can see it now: privacy-gate! Head for the hills! Apple is doomed! /s

    Sorry about hijacking your well-reasoned post, I couldn't resist.
  • Reply 128 of 170


    But, why? I thought Apple makes the BEST mobile MAP in the world, and no one comes close to its perfection and its superb ability to navigate people with flying cars...?  It doesn't make sense...

  • Reply 129 of 170
    Why is Teckstud still posting?
  • Reply 130 of 170
    alexnalexn Posts: 119member

    Consider the only general public release is 6.01 since the initial Maps.app release I'd expect you wouldn't get bug fixes yet. Especially when Apple is focused on making a large Maps.framework available for 3rd party devs to leverage and extend its functionality.

    I would have thought that changes would be incremental (e.g., on a daily basis) as database changes were committed and the DBs reloaded. But not being involved I really don't know how this would be being done, and am only guessing (based also on what others have said).
  • Reply 131 of 170
    Define problem.
    Oh, like missing every single street in Cayman Islands for example? You do know that a MAP app should be global right? Not just around your house! The people of Cayman Islands had a perfectly good map WITH STREETS, and then suddenly NO MORE STREETS for them! Do you think that could be a problem?
  • Reply 132 of 170
    nagrommenagromme Posts: 2,834member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by NelsonX View Post





    Oh, like missing every single street in Cayman Islands for example? You do know that a MAP app should be global right? Not just around your house! The people of Cayman Islands had a perfectly good map WITH STREETS, and then suddenly NO MORE STREETS for them! Do you think that could be a problem?


     


    Sounds like Google Maps in China :P (Slightly larger than the Cayman Islands, and slightly less likely to get fixed any time soon, compared to Apple fixing the Cayman Islands which is a sure bet. Google Maps are limited in China compared to Apple’s new data sources. Note that I don’t fault Google for having bad relations with China—I’m on Google’s side! But the facts for users of maps remain.)


     


     




    Quote:

    Originally Posted by AlexN View Post





    I would have thought that changes would be incremental (e.g., on a daily basis) as database changes were committed and the DBs reloaded. But not being involved I really don't know how this would be being done, and am only guessing (based also on what others have said).


     


     


    You’re right—incremental changes are happening continually. People have noticed 3D buildings appearing in areas that lacked them, higher-quality Flyover in areas that had been distorted, color satellite imagery replacing black-and-white, misplaced pins moving to where they should be (I’ve seen some of that myself), etc.


     


    That’s mapping data fed from a server, and can be updated at any time. But bugs in the app itself (and the mapping service used by third party apps) only get fixed with an OS update.


     


    P.S. One awesome improvement with the new Maps:


     


    I moved to iOS 6 just prior to Hurricane Sandy. My area wasn’t affected that much but there were a lot of trees and powerlines down for a day or so. The new maps marked every tree and powerline that was down, routing me around them automatically! Saved me getting stuck in some colossal traffic jams. Tap one of the icons (exclamation points) and it even said which police department had reported the blocked road. Very nice—a welcome complement to the simple dotted-line traffic indicators. And they seemed to appear (and disappear) pretty quickly when conditions changed. Not sure what public database is involved, but somehow local police data was getting to Apple’s map service in realtime. I went online to compare Google Maps and got no such detailed assistance.


     


    And how easily people forget that the old Maps app had NO turn-by-turn guidance, and no 3D terrain (which the new Maps app has globally). It also lacked the detailed Yelp info for businesses, which I’ve found really nice for restaurant info. (And watch Yelp’s data grow massively now that iOS users are suddenly relying on it and submitting info!)


     


    iOS 6 Maps really is 10 steps forward, 1 step back, for me—and it seems for most users. For some, it’s probably 10 steps forward and 11 steps back... temporarily. (Or in China, it’s just 20 steps forward!)


     


    P.P.S. The Maps media ad-bait “scandal” reminds me of many (not all) Apple “scandals”: you see a LOT of people complaining on behalf of OTHER people... and relatively few complaining on their own behalf. Considering the human motivation to complain is high, the fact that I see so few personal complaints (especially non-trivial ones) about Maps bodes well. Bring on a Google app for the sake of transit and we’ll be very fortunate to be on iOS! Android’s not getting Apple’s app... and the day will come when it will be worth a lot of jealousy.


  • Reply 133 of 170


    Apple wouldn't lie. That would be like Santa telling you're gonna get something for Christmas and you go out to the tree and it's not there! Nooooo!


     


    I watched the keynote and Maps was flawless. No way would Apple show something insanely great and then ship something Meh... Tell me that didn't happen!!!

  • Reply 134 of 170
    nagromme wrote: »
    Sounds like Google Maps in China :P (Slightly larger than the Cayman Islands, and slightly less likely to get fixed any time soon, compared to Apple fixing the Cayman Islands which is a sure bet. Google Maps are limited in China compared to Apple’s new data sources. Note that I don’t fault Google for having bad relations with China—I’m on Google’s side! But the facts for users of maps remain.)

    It's not the same thing. Cayman Islands HAD maps and Apple REMOVED it! China didn't had good maps and now they have. That's ok, but you can not screw people and say: "Hey, I screwed you, but... it's better for other people, so you should be happy!".
    I don't have movies in iTunes and I don't complain because I never had them in the first place. I knew when I bought the iPhone that I will not have movies and it was my decision to buy the iPhone knowing that I will have limited functionality. But I would be mad like hell if I had movies and then Apple decided to remove them!
  • Reply 135 of 170
    sr2012sr2012 Posts: 896member
    Apple wouldn't lie. That would be like Santa telling you're gonna get something for Christmas and you go out to the tree and it's not there! Nooooo!

    I watched the keynote and Maps was flawless. No way would Apple show something insanely great and then ship something Meh... Tell me that didn't happen!!!

    That's the thing. It's just not expected of Apple. The brand tells you in some way what you should get. In this case, we didn't ~quite~ get what we wanted, whiners or no whiners.

    The "-gate-ness" of it can be reflected in the facts. Antenna-gate: signal drop when holding it a certain way. Was it overblown? Yes. Was it an illegitimate gripe? No. Same for maps.
  • Reply 136 of 170
    Now to see how fast they are going to turn this thing around and improve the maps experience. I don't see anything happening before iOS 7. That would be a big fail. It will be interesting to see the next couple of years on how apple is going to fare.
  • Reply 137 of 170
    The maps used by Apple are still very crappy outside US. Particularly in Asia.
    Big downside from what Google is providing.

    The US version of Apple Maps is much much better than what we are having outside. This is the most critical point.
  • Reply 138 of 170


    No, the China version of Apple Maps, when the user is located in China is worth than the google version for many reason like the poor search results, slower speed and weird design. 

  • Reply 139 of 170

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by nagromme View Post



    Sounds like Google Maps in China :P (Slightly larger than the Cayman Islands, and slightly less likely to get fixed any time soon, compared to Apple fixing the Cayman Islands which is a sure bet. Google Maps are limited in China compared to Apple’s new data sources. Note that I don’t fault Google for having bad relations with China—I’m on Google’s side! But the facts for users of maps remain.)


    No, the China version of Apple Maps, when the user is located in China is worth than the google version for many reason like the poor search results, slower speed and weird design.

  • Reply 140 of 170

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by NelsonX View Post





    It's not the same thing. Cayman Islands HAD maps and Apple REMOVED it! China didn't had good maps and now they have. That's ok, but you can not screw people and say: "Hey, I screwed you, but... it's better for other people, so you should be happy!".

    I don't have movies in iTunes and I don't complain because I never had them in the first place. I knew when I bought the iPhone that I will not have movies and it was my decision to buy the iPhone knowing that I will have limited functionality. But I would be mad like hell if I had movies and then Apple decided to remove them!


    No, the China version of Apple Maps, when the user is located in China is worth than the google version for many reason like the poor search results, slower speed and weird design.

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