Apple re-ups digital maps pact with TomTom

Posted:
in iPhone edited May 2015
Apple will continue to work with TomTom on mapping data, the Dutch firm revealed on Tuesday, extending one of the oldest and most important partnerships in Apple's expanding navigation and mapping efforts.




Financial terms of the renewed agreement, which was first reported by Reuters, were not disclosed. It also remains unclear how long the new contract will run.

Apple has been licensing TomTom data since at least 2012, when it introduced Apple Maps alongside iOS 6. TomTom provides much of the street-level detail for Apple Maps in North America and Europe, two of Apple's largest and most important markets.

Apple has long been rumored to have interest in purchasing Nokia's HERE maps division, which is a major rival to TomTom. Such talk has cooled off, however, following reports that the bidding for HERE has come down to carsharing service Uber and a consortium of German automakers.

Apple is also known to be operating a fleet of minivans loaded with high-resolution laser scanners and precise global positioning equipment. The purpose of this data gathering exercise is unknown, but it will likely augment the data Apple receives from TomTom and others, including the OpenStreetMap project.
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 55
    dougddougd Posts: 292member
    I just wish you could set Google Maps as default. I truly hate Apple Maps
  • Reply 2 of 55
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by DougD View Post



    I just wish you could set Google Maps as default. I truly hate Apple Maps



    I'm glad we have AppleMaps. Less data for Googs to sell. I'm also glad you have an open mind and aren't basing your opinion off of 2012 impressions. Let me guess, you think Siri still sucks too?

  • Reply 3 of 55
    konqerrorkonqerror Posts: 685member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by TheWhiteFalcon View Post

     



    I'm glad we have AppleMaps. Less data for Googs to sell. I'm also glad you have an open mind and aren't basing your opinion off of 2012 impressions. Let me guess, you think Siri still sucks too?


     

    Theres still some serious issues with Apple Maps. Having switched between the two:

    -Apple Maps POI sucks bad. It's missing a whole Wal-Mart that I've repeatedly reported

    -Apple Maps has no campus coverage

    -Apple Maps search sucks. Type a name wrong, you get sent to a one stoplight town in the middle of nowhere. You search for Wal-Mart it sends you to the cell phone booth in a Sams Club.

    -Apple Maps Navigation has no lane guidance

    -Apple Maps Navigation doesn't alert soon enough on the highway

    -Navigation doesn't handle nested exits: where you make one exit and quickly make a second. It alerts you on the first, then once you pass it, it's too late ("Exit right then keep right")

    -Navigation doesn't handle ambiguous exits, where more lanes of the highway exit than continue ("Keep right")

    -It's a pain to adjust zoom level when driving with the pinch gesture (imprecise), and it doesn't seem to remember zoom levels, so it's always showing only 100 feet of future road.

     

    Apple Maps has improved, but Google Maps has improved even more.

  • Reply 4 of 55
    idreyidrey Posts: 647member
    ?maps works great for me. I use it every day. Usually when I can't find an address in ?maps I can't find it in goomaps either. I really don't see what people complain so much about ?maps.
  • Reply 5 of 55
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by konqerror View Post

     

     

    Theres still some serious issues with Apple Maps. Having switched between the two:

    -Apple Maps POI sucks bad. It's missing a whole Wal-Mart that I've repeatedly reported

    -Apple Maps has no campus coverage

    -Apple Maps search sucks. Type a name wrong, you get sent to a one stoplight town in the middle of nowhere. You search for Wal-Mart it sends you to the cell phone booth in a Sams Club.

    -Apple Maps Navigation has no lane guidance

    -Apple Maps Navigation doesn't alert soon enough on the highway

    -Navigation doesn't handle nested exits: where you make one exit and quickly make a second. It alerts you on the first, then once you pass it, it's too late ("Exit right then keep right")

    -Navigation doesn't handle ambiguous exits, where more lanes of the highway exit than continue ("Keep right")

    -It's a pain to adjust zoom level when driving with the pinch gesture (imprecise), and it doesn't seem to remember zoom levels, so it's always showing only 100 feet of future road.

     

    Apple Maps has improved, but Google Maps has improved even more.




    That's funny, I do a lot of these things you claim Maps won't do without issue. Again, 2012 opinions still?

  • Reply 6 of 55
    konqerrorkonqerror Posts: 685member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by TheWhiteFalcon View Post

     



    That's funny, I do a lot of these things you claim Maps won't do without issue. Again, 2012 opinions still?


     

    Show me Apple Maps lane guidance. Point made.

    Maybe you should try Google Maps sometime and realize how much better it is.

  • Reply 7 of 55
    pscooter63pscooter63 Posts: 1,080member

    My preference for Apple Maps over Google remains firm (as documented in previous posts of mine).  I finally found a chink in that armor this past week, though.

     

    There's a stretch of "new" interstate in my area that has been open since December 2009... yet Apple Maps believes it to be still under construction, and insists on routing traffic around it.  This was more than a little inconvenient last Saturday around midnight (the area being unfamiliar to me).

     

    By contrast, a new two-lane thoroughfare opened up in a much more densely-populated area within the past year, and Maps has already accommodated it. 

     

    It's hard for me to understand how update priorities could be so skewed... since this is part of the Interstate system, it's hard to believe that it hasn't been repeatedly reported already.

  • Reply 8 of 55
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by konqerror View Post

     

     

    Show me Apple Maps lane guidance. Point made.

    Maybe you should try Google Maps sometime and realize how much better it is.




    Why don't you buy an Anderoid phone if you love Google so much? Personally, I believe in starving that pig as much as I can.

  • Reply 9 of 55
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by DougD View Post



    I just wish you could set Google Maps as default. I truly hate Apple Maps

    Seconded. After being taken to the wrong location by Apple Maps, I won't use it again. It was a botched rollout, driven by greed.

     

    I'm a huge fan of Apple products and an Apple developer of many years, but when Apple started providing links to working alternative map apps the product should have been withdrawn and then re-released/rebranded when it was 100%. Simply dumping Forstall isn't enough.

  • Reply 10 of 55
    zer0her0zer0her0 Posts: 24member

    We use both in our car regularly (I use Apple Maps, GF uses Google Maps).

     

    Both have their own issues, some of them overlaps, for instance delayed or slow response to exits. Telling us to exit basically as we would be passing the exit, thankfully the girlfriend is reading ahead so she often alerts me in a timely manner, unlike either Apple or Google maps. Not sure if that's an issue w/ GPS/Cell signal or what, but that's one of the biggest issues with both.

     

    The only thing we've found repeatedly an issue w/ Apple is, their search is pretty bad if you don't know the address of where you're going, or it's a non-unique store (i.e. big box stores or generic names seem to want to send you way off course).

     

    Things we've repeatedly have an issue w/ Google, taking us off the highway and using local roads before dumping us back on the same high way (and we could easily see their was no construction, accident, or delays of any kind on the highway from the local road it directed us to), routing us different ways repeatedly through rural areas that we've driven a few times but not enough to know by heart (which really throws off your sense of direction), and finally it took them a year to get the fact it was a dead end with the proper name for street my old house was on, 4 complaints by me to get it right. Oh and the kicker is that wrong name meant that people that typed our address in right (or used their address book contact) would end up in a town an hour away with the same/proper name, which was always fun to explain to people that had driven several hours and thought their trip was done.

     

    Moral of the story, maps vary for a lot of people for a lot of different things. Neither is perfect yet, always check the location it's set before you head off and also glance through the steps to make sure it makes sense and seem logical.

  • Reply 11 of 55
    philboogiephilboogie Posts: 7,675member
    I think people need to realise that Google has an eight year head-start on creating their Maps product/service.

    Bad mouthing Apple Maps may be viewed as 'oh, he has a point there' when pointing something out but would people rather wait for a company to release a product 20 years after someone else has because they 'finally though' the product was ripe for release?

    Saying Apple has a gazillion dollars in the bank won't help here either I think, but that's just an opinion.
  • Reply 12 of 55
    mike1mike1 Posts: 3,275member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by konqerror View Post

     

     

    Theres still some serious issues with Apple Maps. Having switched between the two:

    -Apple Maps POI sucks bad. It's missing a whole Wal-Mart that I've repeatedly reported.

    -Apple Maps has no campus coverage Guess it's just your campus.

    -Apple Maps search sucks. Type a name wrong, you get sent to a one stoplight town in the middle of nowhere. You search for Wal-Mart it sends you to the cell phone booth in a Sams Club. Fixation with Walmart?

    -Apple Maps Navigation has no lane guidance

    -Apple Maps Navigation doesn't alert soon enough on the highway Never had that issue.

    -Navigation doesn't handle nested exits: where you make one exit and quickly make a second. It alerts you on the first, then once you pass it, it's too late ("Exit right then keep right") Not true at all. I use it all the time.

    -Navigation doesn't handle ambiguous exits, where more lanes of the highway exit than continue ("Keep right") Have not experienced this. You could still look at the signs if you're confused.

    -It's a pain to adjust zoom level when driving with the pinch gesture (imprecise), and it doesn't seem to remember zoom levels, so it's always showing only 100 feet of future road.

     

    Apple Maps has improved, but Google Maps has improved even more.


  • Reply 13 of 55
    nolamacguynolamacguy Posts: 4,758member
    konqerror wrote: »
    Show me Apple Maps lane guidance. Point made.

    he didnt say "all" of those items, he said "a lot". you identifying one it does not, doesnt negate his point.

    really?
  • Reply 14 of 55

    TomTom was the most expensive App I've ever bought. Reg. $60, Xmas sale for $30. And it was one of the best Apps. This was way back when I traded in my original iPhone for a 3GS. Good times! :)

     

    I liked how it would automatically switch to dark blue at dusk. And it kept beeping at me and I didn't know why...until it dawned on me that it was letting me know I was going over the speed limit.

     

    The best thing about it was I set in an appointment location and it would tell me that I'd be arriving 15 minutes early. It took all the stress out of arriving on time for important meetings. Loved it.

     

    Of course all maps/GPS do this now.

     

    I don't know why Apple didn't originally release their maps program in beta, first. Oh well.

     

    I now use Apple maps and yes it has some short comings but I like how it is integrated with Siri. 

     

     

    Best

  • Reply 15 of 55
    richlrichl Posts: 2,213member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by TheWhiteFalcon View Post

     



    I'm glad we have AppleMaps. Less data for Googs to sell. I'm also glad you have an open mind and aren't basing your opinion off of 2012 impressions. Let me guess, you think Siri still sucks too?


     

    Apple Maps might be great where you live but it still sucks in London.

  • Reply 16 of 55
    nolamacguynolamacguy Posts: 4,758member
    gregquinn wrote: »
    It was a botched rollout, driven by greed.

    what nonsense is this? it was driven by google's refusal to issue turn-by-turn or vector tiles, unless apple handed over user data.

    apple stayed true to their users and google subsequently released a stand-alone app. best of both worlds -- my privacy, backup nav if ever i needed it (and honestly, occasionally i do have to get a POI's street address from GM, then paste it into AM).
  • Reply 17 of 55
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by gregquinn View Post

     

    Seconded. After being taken to the wrong location by Apple Maps, I won't use it again. It was a botched rollout, driven by greed.

     

    I'm a huge fan of Apple products and an Apple developer of many years, but when Apple started providing links to working alternative map apps the product should have been withdrawn and then re-released/rebranded when it was 100%. Simply dumping Forstall isn't enough.




    How was it greed? They don't charge for AppleMaps, and they weren't paying Google for their maps...if anything, it was the opposite of greed considering the cost.

  • Reply 18 of 55
    adamwadamw Posts: 114guest
    This is good new for Apple customers.
  • Reply 19 of 55
    konqerrorkonqerror Posts: 685member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by mike1 View Post

    Fixation with Walmart?

     

    Wal-Mart is the number one retailer and employer in the United States. If they can't get Wal-Mart right, do you think they're going to get smaller POIs right? On the other hand, there's no Wal-Marts in the Bay Area, so those Apple engineers would have no idea.


     


    Quote:



    Originally Posted by mike1 View Post

    -Navigation doesn't handle nested exits: where you make one exit and quickly make a second. It alerts you on the first, then once you pass it, it's too late ("Exit right then keep right") Not true at all. I use it all the time.

    -Navigation doesn't handle ambiguous exits, where more lanes of the highway exit than continue ("Keep right") Have not experienced this. You could still look at the signs if you're confused.


     

    I have a feeling that it works better in California where they have newer highways that are more regular. Go drive in cities with older highways that have weird exits, and it chokes. I do remember it totally failing in Houston, which has a distinctive style of on-ramps and frontage roads.

     

    Reading the signs doesn't help because Maps says something like take "Road A and Road B" exit when immediately after, the exit splits to two separate A and B exits.

     

    Commenters on this forum are just like Apple engineers. Works for me here. Must work for everybody else in the world.

  • Reply 20 of 55
    maestro64maestro64 Posts: 5,043member
    konqerror wrote: »
    Show me Apple Maps lane guidance. Point made.
    Maybe you should try Google Maps sometime and realize how much better it is.

    Actaully Waze is far better as long as you do not use the Google provide POI locations guarratee to get you lost. Waze maintians their own POI database which is maintain by user updates so if something is wrong is not wrong for long.

    I have seen this issue for a long time with Google maps which dates back to 2010, you find a POI it shows at the correct location but when you use the actual address provided in the POI and navigate to that location it takes you somewhere else. I has this happen again just last month. Went into google maps got the POI location sent it to someone with the attached address and the person was lost miles from the right place. I personall looked into why this happens. Google will use the town of the location verse its actually postal address. There places with the zip code refers to one town and the actually location is another town. The other issue I found is google maps when navigating uses the GPS coordinate position not the actually street number locations and there are a number POI with the wrong GPS position or the GPS location is closer to another street so you find yourself on the wrong street behind what you are looking for. My work is one of these place it try to navigate me threw as golf course to get my building since actually GPS marker for the business address is at the far back corner of the property. I have requested this to be fix in Google maps no luck, fix the issue in Wave in less than a week.

    I will tell you I loved my TomTom stand alone unit. It just works well and to your point about lane guidance it was far better than even Waze or google map solutions. I hate that Google bought waze since it now filled with popup ads but I learn to ignore them ever time the car stops moving.

    I can not speak to Apple Maps for navigation since I only used it a few times going places which I would say is simple to navigate to. I have used Apple maps both on the phone, ipad and Mac to find address and even business locations it was right on with the location so I not sure how people are still saying POI are missing. Then Again wal-mart is not my go too location
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