Apple seeking UI designer for 'secret' maps project, hints at future Web presence

Posted:
in General Discussion edited January 2014
A job listing appeared on Apple's careers site Friday seeking a frontend Web designer and developer for 'a new secret project' tied to the company's mapping systems and services.

Apple Maps job posting
Source: Apple


The full-time position based at Apple's Cupertino, Cali., headquarters will be part of a "small team working on an advanced web platform upon which many of Apple's future services will be based" and was first spotted by MacRumors. The company is looking for applicants with a cross-disciplinary skill set in design and development with experience in HTML, CSS, Javascript, and data exchange formats like XML and JSON.

The new product may not be customer facing, given the listing's specific mention of developing a "platform." Apple has been actively expanding and improving their mapping services of late, recently acquiring transit directions startups Embark and HopStop, while bringing Maps to the desktop in OS X 10.9 Mavericks.

While mere speculation, the job posting could signal Apple's intent to expand the Maps platform beyond its own devices by creating a Web portal or service accessible through a regular browser. This could extend Maps' reach and represent an interesting opportunity for developers looking to incorporate mapping data into their websites or apps.

Apple Maps debuted to a famously poor reaction in iOS 6, despite the team's apparently impressive array of talent and technology following Apple's acquisitions of companies like Placebase and C3 Technologies. The rollout was so bad that Apple CEO Tim Cook penned a personal apology to customers, and the debacle ultimately cost then-iOS chief Scott Forstall his job.
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 33

    Couldn't Apple just purchase Google at this point?

  • Reply 2 of 33
    poochpooch Posts: 768member
    rob bonner wrote: »
    Couldn't Apple just purchase Google at this point?

    it would likely cost more to turn it into an ethical company than what it's worth.
  • Reply 3 of 33
    jd_in_sbjd_in_sb Posts: 1,600member

    deleted

  • Reply 4 of 33
    Originally Posted by jd_in_sb View Post

    the job posting actually made no mention of maps at all.


  • Reply 5 of 33

    This makes a lot of sense.  I just received a link today from Maps on an iPhone and opened it in Safari on my Mac.  It was weird to be redirected to Google Maps.  It seems like most of the work is already done and just a web front end needs to be slapped on.

  • Reply 6 of 33
    Originally Posted by macslut View Post

    This makes a lot of sense.  I just received a link today from Maps on an iPhone and opened it in Safari on my Mac.  It was weird to be redirected to Google Maps.

     

    That shouldn’t be the case come Mavericks.

  • Reply 7 of 33
    jd_in_sbjd_in_sb Posts: 1,600member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Tallest Skil View Post

     


    You're right. My bad. Sorry AppleInsider!

  • Reply 8 of 33
    mstonemstone Posts: 11,510member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Tallest Skil View Post

     

    That shouldn’t be the case come Mavericks.


     

    Don't you think they need a web interface too? Everyone else in maps has one.

     

    Mapbox, Open Street Maps, Mapquest, Yahoo, Nokia, Google, etc. Without a web solution Apple Maps seems very limited in its functionality. There are many Apple fans who use older hardware incapable of running Mavericks. Furthermore there are many Apple consumers who work on Windows in their day job who could use Apple maps in a browser and save, share and print maps while at work. Lastly, web pages could embed Apple maps and help spread the Apple mantra to the yet to be converted masses.

  • Reply 9 of 33
    Originally Posted by mstone View Post

    Don't you think they need a web interface too? Everyone else in maps has one.


     

    I think for their web-based services that use maps they should be backended with Apple Maps, but as a standalone function there’s not much reason to have one.

  • Reply 10 of 33
    mstonemstone Posts: 11,510member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Tallest Skil View Post

     
    Originally Posted by mstone View Post

    Don't you think they need a web interface too? Everyone else in maps has one.


     

    I think for their web-based services that use maps they should be backended with Apple Maps, but as a standalone function there’s not much reason to have one.


     

    So you think the billions of Google Maps embedded in web pages is non consequential to Apple Maps long term success?

  • Reply 11 of 33
    Originally Posted by mstone View Post

    So you think the billions of Google Maps embedded in web pages is non consequential to Apple Maps long term success?


     

    I think the hundreds of thousands of Apple Maps embedded in iOS apps and, hey, even Mac App Store applications is consequential to Apple Maps’ long-term success.

     

    The web isn’t the solution. It’s not the way to go. Apple Maps should be the backend for Find My iPhone on iCloud.com, but is it really needed elsewhere? What is to be gained from an Apple Maps Web API that no one will ever use anyway?

  • Reply 12 of 33
    If it's under the control of that idiot Jony Ive (who is responsible for the visual disaster that is IOS7) all the maps will be in shades of light gray, lighter gray, still lighter gray, white, and maybe a little pale blue thrown in for effect. Can you imagine the disaster it would be if he were in charge of the maps display?
  • Reply 13 of 33
    Originally Posted by Sky King View Post

    Can you imagine the disaster it would be if he were in charge of the maps display?



    Who says he isn’t already? You ought to chillax.

  • Reply 14 of 33
    I just wish the Apple Maps trainwreck would get fixed.
  • Reply 15 of 33
    Originally Posted by wubbus View Post

    I just wish the Apple Maps trainwreck would get fixed.

     

    Done about a year ago. Man, you’ve really missed out! Obama got reelected and everything.

  • Reply 16 of 33
    zabazaba Posts: 226member
    sky king wrote: »
    If it's under the control of that idiot Jony Ive (who is responsible for the visual disaster that is IOS7) all the maps will be in shades of light gray, lighter gray, still lighter gray, white, and maybe a little pale blue thrown in for effect. Can you imagine the disaster it would be if he were in charge of the maps display?
    Visual disaster? I have been in the business of design for over 26 years and can assure you that this is no visual disaster. When using such comments it implies you have some professional reasoning. You not liking it or even saying it is shit would probably be a fairer comment as it possibly doesn't align with your personal taste and wouldn't warrant any response. Just read that back and I apologise for sounding like a pompous twat, but I'm gonna post anyway.
  • Reply 17 of 33
    I think the hundreds of thousands of Apple Maps embedded in iOS apps and, hey, even Mac App Store applications is consequential to Apple Maps’ long-term success.

    The web isn’t the solution. It’s not the way to go. Apple Maps should be the backend for Find My iPhone on iCloud.com, but is it really needed elsewhere? What is to be gained from an Apple Maps Web API that no one will ever use anyway?

    Unless Apple also went into search and developed their own search engine that integrated with Apple Maps...
  • Reply 18 of 33
    it sounds more like sproutcore or some new web framework.
  • Reply 19 of 33
    gluben wrote: »
    Unless Apple also went into search and developed their own search engine that integrated with Apple Maps...

    Looking up an address, getting a business name for an address or getting directions are all types of search. So is Siri. These aren't web queries to find other websites the way a typical Google search works, but it doesn't have to be. I would like Apple to offer a better web search option if they have a better idea but Google seems like they have this down pretty well. On the Maps side there is a lot they can do better.

    If it's not in Apple's best interest to make a web presence for Apple Maps (which now defaults to Google Maps), that Apple Maps on Mac OS X Mavericks+ and iOS 6+ are good enough and users on other systems shouldn't have access to it TS needs to argue why it is in Apple's best interest to have the iCloud.com web presence for many things available to Apple's OSes, including the iWork apps.


    PS: Let's remember that when Google started doing maps there was the much better MSN and MapQuest, but there lead didn't last long.
  • Reply 20 of 33

    Originally Posted by AppleInsider View Post



    The company is looking for applicants with a cross-disciplinary skill set in design and development with experience in HTML, CSS, Javascript, and data exchange formats like XML and JSON.

     

    Knock, knock, Google.  How's that whole ChromeOS thing going?

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