If Apple uses ads in maps I would imagine it would be in the form of identifying places on your route. A McDonalds logo showing you the location of one of their restaurants for example.
There ARE two options you know, instead of just copying!!
1. Innovate like apple and find a better way to do it
2. Ask apple nicely for a license to the patent, and pay for the license!! (The problem for these other companies is this! They want to give things away for free, so they have no choice but to steal instead of paying the licensing fees).
As a software developer I hate this free nonsense! Any cars being sold for free out there? or staplers? or homes? music? movies? or anything infact! Why should software be free? It can be cheap, the price can be a downright steal, but free it shouldn't be. Too many developers suffering because people have gotten used to getting free software out there!
His complaint was that Apple itself would not make good use of its own patents.
I generally dont like most software patents because the majority try to patent fairly obvious things with the goal of obstructing others.
In Apples case, most of their patents lately very much patent things other people not only have come up with, but already have implemented and running in a product.
Apple uses them to browbeat small fish. Even if you know prior art exists and the patent is bunk, nobody wants to go to court and fight Apples lawyers. The exceptions would be companies with big legal teams or tech that could prove the patents are bunk. Once proven bunk the patents are invalid so its a little game they play of not using patents likely to be invalidated against companies with the clout to do it.
This patent would get laughed at if they tried to use it against Waze or Google, and would have a high chance of being invalidated. If Im a startup on a shoestring budget I dont have time or resources to fight Apple in court so I automatically lose.
Not to be too much of a downer, but Apple still needs to realise that most people around the world don't drive cars, and it's far more important to get transit information into their maps application, than it is to be constantly tweaking the perfection of traffic info for gas guzzling Americans living in California. This is American navel-gazing at it's worst.
Transit info, bike routes, & walking directions all completely suck in Apple maps. They are practically non-existent in my town.
I have at least a dozen friends who travel around town exclusively by bicycle and regularly send info in to the Apple maps people about bike routes and pedestrian areas.
It's been over a year now and *none* of this information has shown up on the maps app.
None of it.
There is more to the world than the US of A and the freeways of southern California.
The rating at the end is a big dumb unless it is optional. A smart system should know how about the stops, traffic lights, slow traffic etc. and be able to use heuristics to determine how efficient the trip was. Just look at a lot of people going from and to similar places and see how they did going different routes at different times of the day. Over time that will build up the kind of data base that Waze has and won't require any user feed back. In fact I suspect that Apple is doing this right now (or should be).
The best way for Apple's routing system to learn is to watch when users don't go the suggested route but still get to the destination in a reasonable amount of time. If many users skip one section of the suggested route and go another way, that means that the suggestion is bad and the routing system should use the preferred route for everyone. There is a section like this when I drive from San Jose to Sacramento. It takes you off the freeway and onto a local street with traffic lights. I guess it may save a mile or two but the frustration of dealing with those lights and lane changes on a local street makes staying on the freeway a much better choice so I always skip that suggestion.
His complaint was that Apple itself would not make good use of its own patents.
I generally dont like most software patents because the majority try to patent fairly obvious things with the goal of obstructing others.
In Apples case, most of their patents lately very much patent things other people not only have come up with, but already have implemented and running in a product.
Apple uses them to browbeat small fish. Even if you know prior art exists and the patent is bunk, nobody wants to go to court and fight Apples lawyers. The exceptions would be companies with big legal teams or tech that could prove the patents are bunk. Once proven bunk the patents are invalid so its a little game they play of not using patents likely to be invalidated against companies with the clout to do it.
This patent would get laughed at if they tried to use it against Waze or Google, and would have a high chance of being invalidated. If Im a startup on a shoestring budget I dont have time or resources to fight Apple in court so I automatically lose.
You act as though Waze wouldn't defend it's IP. Only Apple sues right?
The best way for Apple's routing system to learn is to watch when users don't go the suggested route but still get to the destination in a reasonable amount of time. If many users skip one section of the suggested route and go another way, that means that the suggestion is bad and the routing system should use the preferred route for everyone. There is a section like this when I drive from San Jose to Sacramento. It takes you off the freeway and onto a local street with traffic lights. I guess it may save a mile or two but the frustration of dealing with those lights and lane changes on a local street makes staying on the freeway a much better choice so I always skip that suggestion.
I agree. I have used waze but never reported speed traps or accidents or really anything. I did report a few errors on Apple maps a year ago but they still have not been corrected. I don't think you can reply on user reporting. A better way would be for Apple maps to just monitor your speed and other data automatically and make smart adjustments. But still allow for manual reporting as well for those kind souls that actually do report problems.
You act as though Waze wouldn't defend it's IP. Only Apple sues right?
False! But my point was that Apple is pretty smart about who they sue and that they would NOT sue waze with this patent which Apple applied for after Waze already had a similar (actually superior) method in use in its product. Apple would be more likely to use it to prevent smaller competitors via litigation.
The whole maps debacle could have been avoided if Apple had only added one word to the software's title: beta. Apple maps beta.
If your software has some kinks call it a beta.
Regarding ads I suggest the map app work perfectly until you are deep into the trip. Then it forces you to watch a commercial in order to find out how to go the rest of the way.
I disagree. Taking away a working option and replacing it with an option that still has kinks is rarely going to go over well regardless of calling it a beta or not. I think the whole maps debacle could have been avoided if Apple had chosen to use a parallel installation process instead of the direct installation process they ended up going with.
If Apple uses ads in maps I would imagine it would be in the form of identifying places on your route. A McDonalds logo showing you the location of one of their restaurants for example.
Not to be too much of a downer, but Apple still needs to realise that most people around the world don't drive cars, and it's far more important to get transit information into their maps application, than it is to be constantly tweaking the perfection of traffic info for gas guzzling Americans living in California. This is American navel-gazing at it's worst.
Transit info, bike routes, & walking directions all completely suck in Apple maps. They are practically non-existent in my town.
I have at least a dozen friends who travel around town exclusively by bicycle and regularly send info in to the Apple maps people about bike routes and pedestrian areas. It's been over a year now and *none* of this information has shown up on the maps app.
None of it.
There is more to the world than the US of A and the freeways of southern California.
Get it together Apple.
Do you have statistics showing the majority of Apple's customers don't drive cars?
Your constant bashing of American self-centeredness gets kinda old. Apple is a multi-national company, but they're still an American company and are always going to have American attitudes regarding things.
Regardless, I understand what you're saying about the slowness to upgrade. But that's universal, not just non-car info. It's easy to say Apple should just hire a few thousand people to work on Maps... but that likely wouldn't make sense from a fiscal standpoint.
I always thought that reporting accident during your drive is too manual of a task. If you are using maps and are on a highway and going much slower then posted limit shouldnt it be a safe bet that there is an accident when you look at it with croud sourcing point of view. If 10 people are going slower then its gotta be an accident.
I just think needing to report an accident is to manual and apple can make a better system.
The rating at the end is a big dumb unless it is optional. A smart system should know how about the stops, traffic lights, slow traffic etc. and be able to use heuristics to determine how efficient the trip was. Just look at a lot of people going from and to similar places and see how they did going different routes at different times of the day. Over time that will build up the kind of data base that Waze has and won't require any user feed back. In fact I suspect that Apple is doing this right now (or should be).
Yes I think smart sensing plus a optimal "report a traffic problem" should be there and at end "rate this route?" Popup for 10 seconds.
His complaint was that Apple itself would not make good use of its own patents.
I generally dont like most software patents because the majority try to patent fairly obvious things with the goal of obstructing others.
In Apples case, most of their patents lately very much patent things other people not only have come up with, but already have implemented and running in a product.
Apple uses them to browbeat small fish. Even if you know prior art exists and the patent is bunk, nobody wants to go to court and fight Apples lawyers. The exceptions would be companies with big legal teams or tech that could prove the patents are bunk. Once proven bunk the patents are invalid so its a little game they play of not using patents likely to be invalidated against companies with the clout to do it.
This patent would get laughed at if they tried to use it against Waze or Google, and would have a high chance of being invalidated. If Im a startup on a shoestring budget I dont have time or resources to fight Apple in court so I automatically lose.
Really? Its not even a granted patent yet. How could you possibly predict the validity of a patent that isn't granted?
Secondly, Apple does not use its patents to beat down small companies. If Apple likes a companies technology, they buy the company and bring the people in house. They did it with touch gesture recognition, ARM design optimization, fingerprint sensor technology, etc. Apple is about the best large company I can think of when it comes to treating small companies fairly. They don't buy companies very often, but they don't rip them off either...maybe you were thinking of Google.
Marginally related and not a solution offered by either Apple or Google:
"Garmin unveiled a new portable head-up display (HUD) for smartphone navigation apps. The display projects directions onto a transparent film on the windshield or an attached reflector lens.
The display receives navigation information from a Bluetooth-enabled smartphone running a Garmin StreetPilot or NAVIGON app. Head-up displays have been around for years but have so far failed to gain mainstream adoption, mostly because of high costs. It remains to be seen how Garmin’s new after-market device performs."
Comments
Quote:
Originally Posted by iamnemani
There ARE two options you know, instead of just copying!!
1. Innovate like apple and find a better way to do it
2. Ask apple nicely for a license to the patent, and pay for the license!! (The problem for these other companies is this! They want to give things away for free, so they have no choice but to steal instead of paying the licensing fees).
As a software developer I hate this free nonsense! Any cars being sold for free out there? or staplers? or homes? music? movies? or anything infact! Why should software be free? It can be cheap, the price can be a downright steal, but free it shouldn't be. Too many developers suffering because people have gotten used to getting free software out there!
His complaint was that Apple itself would not make good use of its own patents.
I generally dont like most software patents because the majority try to patent fairly obvious things with the goal of obstructing others.
In Apples case, most of their patents lately very much patent things other people not only have come up with, but already have implemented and running in a product.
Apple uses them to browbeat small fish. Even if you know prior art exists and the patent is bunk, nobody wants to go to court and fight Apples lawyers. The exceptions would be companies with big legal teams or tech that could prove the patents are bunk. Once proven bunk the patents are invalid so its a little game they play of not using patents likely to be invalidated against companies with the clout to do it.
This patent would get laughed at if they tried to use it against Waze or Google, and would have a high chance of being invalidated. If Im a startup on a shoestring budget I dont have time or resources to fight Apple in court so I automatically lose.
Not to be too much of a downer, but Apple still needs to realise that most people around the world don't drive cars, and it's far more important to get transit information into their maps application, than it is to be constantly tweaking the perfection of traffic info for gas guzzling Americans living in California. This is American navel-gazing at it's worst.
Transit info, bike routes, & walking directions all completely suck in Apple maps. They are practically non-existent in my town.
I have at least a dozen friends who travel around town exclusively by bicycle and regularly send info in to the Apple maps people about bike routes and pedestrian areas.
It's been over a year now and *none* of this information has shown up on the maps app.
None of it.
There is more to the world than the US of A and the freeways of southern California.
Get it together Apple.
You act as though Waze wouldn't defend it's IP. Only Apple sues right?
Quote:
Originally Posted by GrangerFX
The best way for Apple's routing system to learn is to watch when users don't go the suggested route but still get to the destination in a reasonable amount of time. If many users skip one section of the suggested route and go another way, that means that the suggestion is bad and the routing system should use the preferred route for everyone. There is a section like this when I drive from San Jose to Sacramento. It takes you off the freeway and onto a local street with traffic lights. I guess it may save a mile or two but the frustration of dealing with those lights and lane changes on a local street makes staying on the freeway a much better choice so I always skip that suggestion.
I agree. I have used waze but never reported speed traps or accidents or really anything. I did report a few errors on Apple maps a year ago but they still have not been corrected. I don't think you can reply on user reporting. A better way would be for Apple maps to just monitor your speed and other data automatically and make smart adjustments. But still allow for manual reporting as well for those kind souls that actually do report problems.
I doubt this will show up on the iPhone.
Quote:
Originally Posted by bmason1270
You act as though Waze wouldn't defend it's IP. Only Apple sues right?
False! But my point was that Apple is pretty smart about who they sue and that they would NOT sue waze with this patent which Apple applied for after Waze already had a similar (actually superior) method in use in its product. Apple would be more likely to use it to prevent smaller competitors via litigation.
Quote:
Originally Posted by 512ke
The whole maps debacle could have been avoided if Apple had only added one word to the software's title: beta. Apple maps beta.
If your software has some kinks call it a beta.
Regarding ads I suggest the map app work perfectly until you are deep into the trip. Then it forces you to watch a commercial in order to find out how to go the rest of the way.
I disagree. Taking away a working option and replacing it with an option that still has kinks is rarely going to go over well regardless of calling it a beta or not. I think the whole maps debacle could have been avoided if Apple had chosen to use a parallel installation process instead of the direct installation process they ended up going with.
Quote:
Originally Posted by markbriton
If Apple uses ads in maps I would imagine it would be in the form of identifying places on your route. A McDonalds logo showing you the location of one of their restaurants for example.
Yes, I believe that's what Google does.
Do you have statistics showing the majority of Apple's customers don't drive cars?
Your constant bashing of American self-centeredness gets kinda old. Apple is a multi-national company, but they're still an American company and are always going to have American attitudes regarding things.
Regardless, I understand what you're saying about the slowness to upgrade. But that's universal, not just non-car info. It's easy to say Apple should just hire a few thousand people to work on Maps... but that likely wouldn't make sense from a fiscal standpoint.
Yes I think smart sensing plus a optimal "report a traffic problem" should be there and at end "rate this route?" Popup for 10 seconds.
It's safe to say most acquisitions are to prevent the competition from getting it.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Frood
His complaint was that Apple itself would not make good use of its own patents.
I generally dont like most software patents because the majority try to patent fairly obvious things with the goal of obstructing others.
In Apples case, most of their patents lately very much patent things other people not only have come up with, but already have implemented and running in a product.
Apple uses them to browbeat small fish. Even if you know prior art exists and the patent is bunk, nobody wants to go to court and fight Apples lawyers. The exceptions would be companies with big legal teams or tech that could prove the patents are bunk. Once proven bunk the patents are invalid so its a little game they play of not using patents likely to be invalidated against companies with the clout to do it.
This patent would get laughed at if they tried to use it against Waze or Google, and would have a high chance of being invalidated. If Im a startup on a shoestring budget I dont have time or resources to fight Apple in court so I automatically lose.
Really? Its not even a granted patent yet. How could you possibly predict the validity of a patent that isn't granted?
Secondly, Apple does not use its patents to beat down small companies. If Apple likes a companies technology, they buy the company and bring the people in house. They did it with touch gesture recognition, ARM design optimization, fingerprint sensor technology, etc. Apple is about the best large company I can think of when it comes to treating small companies fairly. They don't buy companies very often, but they don't rip them off either...maybe you were thinking of Google.
I have never been a google fan, and if Apple has a new service similar to waze, the timing couldn't be better now that google owns waze.
From the images, a Mac OS (i.e. pre OS X) interface would just be icing on the cake!
"Garmin unveiled a new portable head-up display (HUD) for smartphone navigation apps. The display projects directions onto a transparent film on the windshield or an attached reflector lens.
The display receives navigation information from a Bluetooth-enabled smartphone running a Garmin StreetPilot or NAVIGON app. Head-up displays have been around for years but have so far failed to gain mainstream adoption, mostly because of high costs. It remains to be seen how Garmin’s new after-market device performs."
List price is $129.99, which seems fair if the product works as described.
https://buy.garmin.com/en-US/US/prod134348.html