Rumour has it that Apple will be implementing public transit shortly, so the only outstanding feature would be some kind of StreetView.
Apple's POIs are painfully outdated and wrong. It's missing one of three Wal-Marts in my area. And I've reported it multiple times. Search also sucks.
Quote:
Originally Posted by mubaili
well, Nokia bought the map operation back in 2007 for $8.1B. A $3B now would be a steal.
IIRC, they were Google Maps' primary provider back then (before they went to TeleAtlas and eventually their own data). With that gone, and the market for stand-alone GPS nav declining, the company is simply worth less now than it did then.
If Microsoft don't express an interest they are absolutely mad. The HERE mapping and apps is the one reason I bought a Nokia phone; to use as a GPS. I doubt I am the only person who's purchase decision was heavily influenced by HERE being part of the platform. If Microsoft let someone else buy it they would be without any cartographic resources for their entire ecosystem as I believe even Bing uses HERE data. I doubt anyone could re-create the HERE data set from scratch for $3 billion and it would take a decade or more.
If someone else buys it and denies them access to the data, what are they going to do? I suppose a HERE purchase might come with existing licensing obligations, but long term, replacing HERE would be a nightmare for Microsoft and others. What's Garmin going to do? It might actually be rather prudent of existing HERE customers to form a consortium and jointly buy HERE to ensure continuity of access.
yeah, what would apple gain aside from people? better to take a fraction of that money and invest in their own mapping efforts.
TBH, I don't think the Maps usage warrant this purchase. I don't go near Maps because it is nowhere as near a complete service in the UK when compared to GM. Maybe Apple knows it's service is not popular.
TBH, I don't think the Maps usage warrant this purchase. I don't go near Maps because it is nowhere as near a complete service in the UK when compared to GM. Maybe Apple knows it's service is not popular.
What would it take for you to consider using Maps? Better data? That would be the reason for doing a deal. I like the idea mentioned above where Apple would be part of the European car manufacturer consortium possibly just as a perpetual licensee of raw data.
TBH, I don't think the Maps usage warrant this purchase. I don't go near Maps because it is nowhere as near a complete service in the UK when compared to GM. Maybe Apple knows it's service is not popular.
The data isn't good so people don't use the service, but you don't think it's worth Apple purchasing data because people don't use the service?
I tend to use GM too, because the transit directions are very good in London; Apple certainly have a few things they need to do if they want to be the app of choice for all, but they'll never compete if they don't try, either internally or by acquisition.
More connected data, instead of telling me to go find another app....Like the poster who replied as well as you, in London, I can use GM for roads, transit, and walking. But its the transit feature I like most. Here in Somerset, GM will tell me when the next bus is as well. If HERE offered this and maybe more, then I'd say money well spent. But in how many years has Maps been going? has this connected data ben a strong feature. Have to say I don't know about the USA. Plus GM has streetview, which for me is like a godsend to locate an actual house or business.
No idea about Somerset, but Here has very good transit directions where I am. It also has a very good option to overlay the transit routes on the map, which is better than anything I've seen in GMaps. No Streetview, but I suspect Apple are working on their own version of that.
The type of 3D data Apple has been collecting over last two years uses multiple cameras and two LiDAR units. It is very high resolution. "Here" has been collecting this kind of data with a single LiDAR unit for a little over one year. Nokia's other project for collecting high quality 3D data, the "True" effort, suffered from disorganization and the inability to resolve the data in a timely manner. They also had Microsoft riding on the True platform and that caused a lot of delays in implementation that were not Nokia's fault.
Nokia has the richest "Point of Interest" (POI) data pool just because they have been doing it forever. It goes all the way back to the origin of Navteq in the 1980s. Google has some pretty powerful methodologies and processes in place for the collection and reduction of data so they are very capable of matching the Here product. Apple is working on catching and surpassing the efforts of both of the other companies but it will take a little longer to get there. Apple's current vehicle count for 3D data collection may be considerably larger than the Here fleet.
Apple could certainly put the Here dataset to use but the price is to high for what they would get and they are well on their way to having a comparable product offering with the potential for a virtual street view. In terms of autonomous basemap data, Apple, Google, Here and Microsoft are players. GeoDigital is collecting a basemap dataset for one of the major US automakers and Mandli Communications has collected network 3D data for many of the state and local DOTs across the country.
I used Nokia HERE Maps in Finland and got really accurate Transit data. I'm convinced that it would be a good bunch of data for Apple to acquire. I mean, if we get Transit data for the US for iOS9 - it'll just be another one of those "only for the US consumers" Apple feature - just like iTunes Radio and a few others. Obviously the data merging would be hellish, but considering some of the addresses that Apple Maps tells me are a kilometer away from where they should be - and receive no updates no matter how many times I report them as inaccurate and show them the right place.. Well.. It'd be good for us people up here in the North, that's for sure.
Apple would be gaining a map data store that is proven to be better than anyone else's overnight - NAVTEQ mapping is the same data behind most of the automotive industry's nav systems, and Garmin (at least until 2013).
This is why BMW, Mercedes, and VW want in - they're already licensing this data, and need to continue having access to it.
I wonder if Apple is interested in combining their Maps effort with HERE Maps. I would imagine it being an engineering nightmare to do so.
Not at all. I understand that Nokia Here data is in the Cloud "As A Service" and Apple Maps is designed to be able to swap map data providers like Google, Tomtom and/or Nokia Here in and out. So it would be relatively easy. Apple would probably want a copy of the data on it's own Cloud infrastructure and control updates to the map data.
Not at all. I understand that Nokia Here data is in the Cloud "As A Service" and Apple Maps is designed to be able to swap map data providers like Google, Tomtom and/or Nokia Here in and out. So it would be relatively easy. Apple would probably want a copy of the data on it's own Cloud infrastructure and control updates to the map data.
I am not aware of Here data being in a 'Cloud'. On a Nokia phone you download maps for countries of interest to your phone. The data is stored locally on your device. I have never heard of Apple Maps using third party data sets. Where did you get that from?
The more I think about it I believe this is a bogus rumor to begin with. Having bought DeCarta just a couple of months ago why would they now want Here too, and for $3B? No, IMHO this is simply a ruse put out by someone, probably Nokia, in an attempt to oil the bids.
Comments
Quote:
Rumour has it that Apple will be implementing public transit shortly, so the only outstanding feature would be some kind of StreetView.
Apple's POIs are painfully outdated and wrong. It's missing one of three Wal-Marts in my area. And I've reported it multiple times. Search also sucks.
well, Nokia bought the map operation back in 2007 for $8.1B. A $3B now would be a steal.
IIRC, they were Google Maps' primary provider back then (before they went to TeleAtlas and eventually their own data). With that gone, and the market for stand-alone GPS nav declining, the company is simply worth less now than it did then.
yeah, what would apple gain aside from people? better to take a fraction of that money and invest in their own mapping efforts.
They've... er... tried that.
If Microsoft don't express an interest they are absolutely mad. The HERE mapping and apps is the one reason I bought a Nokia phone; to use as a GPS. I doubt I am the only person who's purchase decision was heavily influenced by HERE being part of the platform. If Microsoft let someone else buy it they would be without any cartographic resources for their entire ecosystem as I believe even Bing uses HERE data. I doubt anyone could re-create the HERE data set from scratch for $3 billion and it would take a decade or more.
If someone else buys it and denies them access to the data, what are they going to do? I suppose a HERE purchase might come with existing licensing obligations, but long term, replacing HERE would be a nightmare for Microsoft and others. What's Garmin going to do? It might actually be rather prudent of existing HERE customers to form a consortium and jointly buy HERE to ensure continuity of access.
TBH, I don't think the Maps usage warrant this purchase. I don't go near Maps because it is nowhere as near a complete service in the UK when compared to GM. Maybe Apple knows it's service is not popular.
What would it take for you to consider using Maps? Better data? That would be the reason for doing a deal. I like the idea mentioned above where Apple would be part of the European car manufacturer consortium possibly just as a perpetual licensee of raw data.
TBH, I don't think the Maps usage warrant this purchase. I don't go near Maps because it is nowhere as near a complete service in the UK when compared to GM. Maybe Apple knows it's service is not popular.
The data isn't good so people don't use the service, but you don't think it's worth Apple purchasing data because people don't use the service?
I tend to use GM too, because the transit directions are very good in London; Apple certainly have a few things they need to do if they want to be the app of choice for all, but they'll never compete if they don't try, either internally or by acquisition.
More connected data, instead of telling me to go find another app....Like the poster who replied as well as you, in London, I can use GM for roads, transit, and walking. But its the transit feature I like most. Here in Somerset, GM will tell me when the next bus is as well. If HERE offered this and maybe more, then I'd say money well spent. But in how many years has Maps been going? has this connected data ben a strong feature. Have to say I don't know about the USA. Plus GM has streetview, which for me is like a godsend to locate an actual house or business.
No idea about Somerset, but Here has very good transit directions where I am. It also has a very good option to overlay the transit routes on the map, which is better than anything I've seen in GMaps. No Streetview, but I suspect Apple are working on their own version of that.
If there is a specific place giving you the wrong directions, just report it and they will fix it.
Some things to consider.
The type of 3D data Apple has been collecting over last two years uses multiple cameras and two LiDAR units. It is very high resolution. "Here" has been collecting this kind of data with a single LiDAR unit for a little over one year. Nokia's other project for collecting high quality 3D data, the "True" effort, suffered from disorganization and the inability to resolve the data in a timely manner. They also had Microsoft riding on the True platform and that caused a lot of delays in implementation that were not Nokia's fault.
Nokia has the richest "Point of Interest" (POI) data pool just because they have been doing it forever. It goes all the way back to the origin of Navteq in the 1980s. Google has some pretty powerful methodologies and processes in place for the collection and reduction of data so they are very capable of matching the Here product. Apple is working on catching and surpassing the efforts of both of the other companies but it will take a little longer to get there. Apple's current vehicle count for 3D data collection may be considerably larger than the Here fleet.
Apple could certainly put the Here dataset to use but the price is to high for what they would get and they are well on their way to having a comparable product offering with the potential for a virtual street view. In terms of autonomous basemap data, Apple, Google, Here and Microsoft are players. GeoDigital is collecting a basemap dataset for one of the major US automakers and Mandli Communications has collected network 3D data for many of the state and local DOTs across the country.
This is why BMW, Mercedes, and VW want in - they're already licensing this data, and need to continue having access to it.
I wonder if Apple is interested in combining their Maps effort with HERE Maps. I would imagine it being an engineering nightmare to do so.
Not at all. I understand that Nokia Here data is in the Cloud "As A Service" and Apple Maps is designed to be able to swap map data providers like Google, Tomtom and/or Nokia Here in and out. So it would be relatively easy. Apple would probably want a copy of the data on it's own Cloud infrastructure and control updates to the map data.
Uber appears to be shaking things up with an initial bid of $3B.
Consortiums sometimes fall apart when shaken up too much.
Time will tell.
Not at all. I understand that Nokia Here data is in the Cloud "As A Service" and Apple Maps is designed to be able to swap map data providers like Google, Tomtom and/or Nokia Here in and out. So it would be relatively easy. Apple would probably want a copy of the data on it's own Cloud infrastructure and control updates to the map data.
I am not aware of Here data being in a 'Cloud'. On a Nokia phone you download maps for countries of interest to your phone. The data is stored locally on your device. I have never heard of Apple Maps using third party data sets. Where did you get that from?