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0 pointstaligent13y ago0 comments

Actually Apple does have a big part in it. They bring together all the data from Tom Tom, Waze, OSM etc as well as the two teams they purchased: C3 and Placebase into one coherent product.

It's amazing that Apple has nearly matched Google in some parts (maps, directions) and far exceeded them in others (3D).

0 comments

17 comments · 4 top-level

te_chris13y ago· 5 in thread

Apple has not "nearly matched" google, not at all. Maybe in the US they have, but in New Zealand, where google is as good as any of the local street maps/directories, if not better normally, the new ios maps is atrocious. The places are now even worse too, because they're relying on Yelp, who don't have a presence here at all.

trips213y ago

Maybe he works for Apple, they're his main client or owns lots of stock or something.

The Apple worship is truly mind-boggling.

OpenStreetMap is where the crucial data comes from. And if I'm not mistaken it's submitted by volunteers.

taligentOP13y ago

Yep. You don't like my opinion so clearly I must be working for Apple or own stock. In fact it is neither.

And at no point did I say that OSM wasn't responsible for the map data. Only that Apple added other pieces from other companies.

1 more reply

taligentOP13y ago

Actually Google should be the same as local street directories since that is where they get there data from. I live in Australia (hi, neighbour) and it is Sensis (Yellow/White Pages) who supply data to Google.

As for quality of maps it is about 80% as good as Google and has been getting noticeably better over time.

Tichy13y ago

I was under the impression that Google has their own places product, so I suspect they combine several sources.

1 more reply

stromstad13y ago

Haven't the street view cars been down under yet?

twelvechairs13y ago· 5 in thread

> far exceeded them in others (3D).

Actually Google and Apple have pretty similar systems for 3d maps. Apple are in beta with their new version for ios6, which will have slightly better resolution than (the current, been there for a while) Google Earth, but not hugely so. See for comparison http://www.iphoneincanada.ca/iphone-news/3d-maps-comparison-...

Nokia are producing similar 3d maps, although again slightly lower resolution than Google.

I think more importantly than resolution will be coverage. 3d maps of the centre of major cities are one thing, but the whole world is a very different challenge, and one we have no clear idea of a winner on.

sxp13y ago

This might be the 3D map that Nokia will use in their phone if you want to compare: http://maps3d.svc.nokia.com/webgl/index.html

Tichy13y ago

I wonder if the iPhone 5 will have a bigger screen. The iPhone 4 screen seems very tiny compared to my Galaxy Nexus. What is the use of fancy 3d if the screen is tiny?

taligentOP13y ago

Actually we do. Apple supports 26 cities. Google supports 13.

BitMastro13y ago

Where did you get those numbers? As far as I can tell, more that one hundred cities have textured buildings in Google Earth (they were created by building maker https://www.google.com/intl/en_uk/earth/learn/3dbuildings.ht...) as well as in mobile maps (http://www.google.co.uk/mobile/maps/3d/ my city has 3d outlines and it's not even in the map). Apple maps too should have at least 40 cities in 3D.

jonknee13y ago

All things equal, Apple doesn't support any cities yet since their mapping program hasn't been released.

tonfa13y ago· 3 in thread

I thought OSM was copyleft similar to the GPL. Can you combine OSM with proprietary data and without the licence forcing you to open up everything?

vidarh13y ago

Their license used to be horrible for commercial use, but mostly because it was an extremely bad fit for a data collection, leading to lots of confusion over what was ok and not.

A better comparison for their current license would be the LGPL - as long as you keep your proprietary data separate from the OSM data, you don't need to release it but you still need to release any changes to the OSM data itself.

yellowbkpk13y ago

To be clear, the license has not changed yet. We're in the process of changing the license (and they recently announced [0]) that the next full-planet data dump will be under the new license, but it hasn't been switched yet.

[0] http://blog.osmfoundation.org/2012/09/06/your-first-odbl-pla...

rmc13y ago

The old OSM licence was CC-BY-SA, but it is being changed to a new 'database licence'

jonknee13y ago

I'll take transit navigation and street view before slightly improved 3D any day.

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse

0 comments

17 comments · 4 top-level

te_chris13y ago· 5 in thread

trips213y ago

Maybe he works for Apple, they're his main client or owns lots of stock or something.

The Apple worship is truly mind-boggling.

OpenStreetMap is where the crucial data comes from. And if I'm not mistaken it's submitted by volunteers.

taligentOP13y ago

Yep. You don't like my opinion so clearly I must be working for Apple or own stock. In fact it is neither.

And at no point did I say that OSM wasn't responsible for the map data. Only that Apple added other pieces from other companies.

1 more reply

taligentOP13y ago

As for quality of maps it is about 80% as good as Google and has been getting noticeably better over time.

Tichy13y ago

I was under the impression that Google has their own places product, so I suspect they combine several sources.

1 more reply

stromstad13y ago

Haven't the street view cars been down under yet?

twelvechairs13y ago· 5 in thread

> far exceeded them in others (3D).

Nokia are producing similar 3d maps, although again slightly lower resolution than Google.

sxp13y ago

This might be the 3D map that Nokia will use in their phone if you want to compare: http://maps3d.svc.nokia.com/webgl/index.html

Tichy13y ago

I wonder if the iPhone 5 will have a bigger screen. The iPhone 4 screen seems very tiny compared to my Galaxy Nexus. What is the use of fancy 3d if the screen is tiny?

taligentOP13y ago

Actually we do. Apple supports 26 cities. Google supports 13.

BitMastro13y ago

jonknee13y ago

All things equal, Apple doesn't support any cities yet since their mapping program hasn't been released.

tonfa13y ago· 3 in thread

I thought OSM was copyleft similar to the GPL. Can you combine OSM with proprietary data and without the licence forcing you to open up everything?

vidarh13y ago

Their license used to be horrible for commercial use, but mostly because it was an extremely bad fit for a data collection, leading to lots of confusion over what was ok and not.

yellowbkpk13y ago

[0] http://blog.osmfoundation.org/2012/09/06/your-first-odbl-pla...

rmc13y ago

The old OSM licence was CC-BY-SA, but it is being changed to a new 'database licence'

jonknee13y ago

I'll take transit navigation and street view before slightly improved 3D any day.

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse