“ Apple buys smaller technology companies from clock time to time , and we more often than not do not discuss our purpose or plan . ”
Those who have keep abreast the company for any length of fourth dimension have a go at it that conviction is about as secretive as Apple ever bring forth to instantly confirming that it ’s acquired another firm . Most latterly , the company in question was Coherent Navigation , which was reportedly working on a more accurate and robust version of GPS .
In and of itself , that acquisition is n’t in particular surprising , but Apple ’s leverage of Coherent is n’t an isolated event . It ’s one of 10 known acquisitions by Apple in the map and placement arena since 2009 . If two is coincidence and three ’s a trend , then 10 is probably in the locality of a smoking triggerman .
Of course , it ’s long been clear that Apple is interested in location information and mapping , and has been even since before itlaunched its own Maps appback in 2012 . But so far , it ’s been hard to draw a line from the society it ’s buy to real shipping feature .
WithiOS 9 around the corner , however , it ’s possible that the company is preparing to make yet another foray into single-valued function on both fluid gadget and the desktop . Even if iOS 9 is focused for the most part on performance improvements and bug mending , Maps could still be a tentpole of the release . And I say it ’s long overdue .
Rumors and hearsay
The launching of Maps in 2012 was one of the most public disappointments to face Tim Cook ’s Apple . Rife with errors and poor location data , Apple Maps became the ass of more than a few jokes — and that mockery was just undeserved . Cook sound so far as topublicly apologize for the snafu , and even pointed users in the direction of the caller ’s challenger .
Since then , what development there ’s been on maps has been passably modest . With every new year and new departure since iOS 6 , we ’ve expected braggy sweeping change , but somehow those whispered about advance and updates have never really happen .
Even Maps know that its rival have it shell for biking and transit directions .
The stakes have gotten higher in the intervening metre , as well . Were Apple to come out at WWDC and say that they ’d gear up all the exist problems with Maps , they ’d sure get a unit of ammunition of applause — but it would be the civilized , lukewarm , “ it ’s about clip ” kind , not the truly ecstatic , ft - stump thunderous variety . The window for delivering a Maps that ’s “ right enough ” has passed ; the troupe should be wait to not only equal butsurpassits competitors .
Apple has its piece of work turn off out for it . Not only have its competition not been standing still , but neither have its customers . In the years since Apple Maps debut , many users have become habitual to turning to substitute solutions , chief among themGoogle Maps — the very service that Apple Maps was intended to supplant .
Apple need to take a cue from its own playbook : when the troupe launched the iTunes Store in 2003 , it was to provide an choice to what was out there . The company has always functioned at its best when its made a gimmick or a technology so good that it made peoplewantto switch .
Wrong turns
But in order of magnitude to convince its customers to give up whatever app they ’ve turned to , or even just get them to confide Apple Maps again , there are a figure of arena where Apple ask to expend its time and energy . Off the top of my head , here are just a few :
Public transitAfter three year , there ’s no excuse for the deficiency of public transportation directions in Apple Maps . Yes , building out such a database is time consuming , and it ’s tricky to make indisputable that it remain up to particular date . Hard trouble , to be sure , but far from unsolveable one , especially with the imagination Apple has its disposal . Right now the want of public theodolite directions in Maps is not just annoying , it ’s embarrassing . There ’s been some first-class third - party work in this area , with apps like Transit and Citymapper , and it ’s great that those options exist . But to have to plough to them — or Google Maps — for the last three years is a pregnant gap in Apple ’s user experience . At least a dyad of the location - based company Apple ’s purchased — Embark and HopStop — are right in the wheelhouse here , and it ’s hard to guess what Apple bought them for , if not this .
Indoor mappingIt ’s not a feature that ’s become commonplace yet , but Apple ’s competitors , including Google , are increasingly going not just broad for their mapping efforts , but deep as well . Being able to whizz along into an business office building or a shopping mall and see exactly which stores are where is useful , and right on now , it ’s a spot where Apple Maps come up lamentably short . As in public transit , this is another place that Apple ’s invested sagely : WiFiSlam , which it corrupt in 2013 , was working on engineering of precisely this sorting .
If this was a Street View railroad car … wouldn’t there be more of them ?
Street ViewIt ’s a Google hallmark , but other map solution , like Microsoft , have begun offering street - level imagery as well . Street View on the iPhone and iPad was always kind of a cool demonstration — even my recent grandma was instill the first time I attract up a picture of her house on my phone — but it ’s utile , too . As someone who likes to cognise his way around , especially when going to new and unfamiliar localization , it ’s ready to hand for scouting out just where I ’m supposed to be survive for that meeting or appointment . One of the theories twirl aroundthe hypothesise Apple cars spotted a few months back , and my personal favorite account , was that the company was collect street - level data for mapping . But if that were the case , it would need to be either taking advantage of a fleet of such vehicles , or acquiring the data from another seed that had already done the heavy lifting .
AccuracyThe big one . Google Maps remains the golden standard in online chromosome mapping , and the troupe ’s devoted a lot of time and energy to the endeavor . While it has its shortcoming , it ’s right more often than it is n’t , and it ’s tough to say the same about Apple Maps . It ’s for certain meliorate over the last couplet class , but there ’s plenty of body of work left to do . I ’m not the only person I screw who regularly double checks locations in Google Maps before setting out , just in case . And , in the eventuality that there is a variance , I hump which one of them gets my trustfulness .
Get your kicks
When it total to Maps , Apple ’s got a tough route in the lead of it — if you ’ll pardon the expression . But it ’s been steady building up talent and applied science over the last several long time , and a steady watercourse of reports about home examination of features and task postings related to function indicate that it ’s not sitting still . I certainly do n’t see Tim Cook or the rest of the Apple team as the kind of people to take a misstep like single-valued function lie in down .
But Cook ’s Apple is more developed than it was in those early days , and it ’s also proved willing to swallow its pride and admit that it ’s fallen scant of the German mark in the past times , and will aim to do better in the futurity . So do n’t be surprised if this yr ’s WWDC finds mapping back in the glare of the spotlight , urbane and quick for a 2nd run at the chore .
