8 ms·

Apple’s New Map, Expansion #7: Final Parts of the Continental U.S.

119 points by Amorymeltzer 7y ago

supernova87a 7y ago
How does he get those cutout comparison tiles exactly identical in perspective, position, and zoom level? Does he have some call that allows doing that?
- xenospn 7y ago
  Was wondering that myself. Presumably when you update your maps app or when the server updated, you have no more access to the old maps. Unless he took a whole lot of screenshots in preparation?
  - et-al 7y ago
    The URL to an Apple Maps tile includes a version number and numerous style options. It's possible the author knows about historical tile versions and updates the URL to fetch older versions, or has been archiving Apple's tiles periodically. https://cdn4.apple-mapkit.com/md/v1/vtile?x=1310&y=3166&z=13&scale=2&style=1&v=2002014&type=poi&lang=en&tint=light&emphasis=standard Grabbed the tile from Apple's page here: https://developer.apple.com/maps/web/ https://developer.apple.com/maps/web/ The author also has their email address listed on their site if we'd like a definite answer. - - - Edit: Looks like MapKit provides an easy way to take snapshots: https://developer.apple.com/documentation/snapshots https://developer.apple.com/documentation/snapshots
    - xenospn 7y ago
      I completely forgot about Mapkit JS! I wonder how feature complete it is compared to Leaflet.
  - gen3 7y ago
    He could have done the whole “in preparation screenshot” thing using the js api. Or maybe there is a way to call and receive the old maps.
- threeseed 7y ago
  Not sure if this works. But Apple Maps exists as an OSX app so you could possibly use Apple Script to open the app, navigate to a point and take a photo.
hprotagonist 7y ago
Perhaps soon we'll get cycling directions.
nicoboo 7y ago
Always a wonderful work by Justin.
williesleg 7y ago
Oh that's it for Apple Maps, they're too busy selling your data. Maps were fun but too expensive to keep building out. They're only there to keep people from switching to Android.
dang 7y ago
Recent and related: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22193657 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22193657
celeritascelery 7y ago
There was off ramp that changed 4 years ago near where I live. Google maps was correct, but Apple always would have you take the wrong exit and you had to loop back. With the most recent update this is finally fixed. However most people still saying that Apple Maps in unreliable. Having big issues like that for years can really damage people’s perception of your product long after it has been changed.
- Ididntdothis 7y ago
  In my area (Santa Rosa, CA) Apple Maps is still worse than Google Maps. The routing is often very strange and it sometimes still can't find stores like OfficeDepot close by.
  - threeseed 7y ago
    POIs are a whole different story. I can't speak for US but in Australia and UK it is so far behind Google. It feels like 1/3 of them are simply missing and a 1/3 of them are inaccurate in some way e.g. opening hours. I don't know how Foursquare and Yelp who supply Apple are surviving right now with such inadequate data.
    - cptskippy 7y ago
      Does Apple let users update POIs? We went to a restaurant recently and it was closed, I snapped a photo of the hours and tagged the restaurant with it in Google Maps and it was updated to reflect the correct hours the same day.
      - labcomputer 7y ago
        1. Press the circle-i icon on the top left of Maps. 2. Select Report an Issue 3. Select Map Labels 4. Fill out the form, and add pictures. 5. Wait a few weeks. I've added my workplace this way.
        deleted 7y ago
masked_titan 7y ago
Can someone tell me where did Apple get all this new data from? Was it taken from OSM, bought from Here Maps or some other provider or just built on their own from sattelites and on the ground surveys?
- vineyardmike 7y ago
  It appears to be most-of-the-above: https://www.justinobeirne.com/new-apple-maps https://www.justinobeirne.com/new-apple-maps
- GeekyBear 7y ago
  Previously they licensed TomTom's data and tried to fill in gaps with data from OpenStreetMap and others. Now they have decided to build their own data set from scratch. >So a new effort was created to begin generating its own base maps, the very lowest building block of any really good mapping system. After that, Apple would begin layering on living location data, high-resolution satellite imagery and brand new intensely high-resolution image data gathered from its ground cars until it had what it felt was a “best in class” mapping product. https://techcrunch.com/2018/06/29/apple-is-rebuilding-maps-from-the-ground-up/ https://techcrunch.com/2018/06/29/apple-is-rebuilding-maps-f... That TechCrunch article has a good overview of their old and new mapping systems.
  - rathel 7y ago
    Due to ODbL licence they can't mix OSM data directly with other data. Apple does use OSM data, but only in some countries (Belarus for example IIRC), as allowed by https://wiki.osmfoundation.org/wiki/Licence/Community_Guidelines https://wiki.osmfoundation.org/wiki/Licence/Community_Guidel...
    - rmc 7y ago
      Due to ODbL licence they can't mix OSM data directly with other data. The ODbL has no restrictions on mixing, unlike the creative commons “no derivies” clause. The ODbL just says that you need to share those changes, and that new database, with everyone else. If we give you OSM data, you should give us back the data you combine with it. If the other dataset doesn't allow that, then the restriction is from that dataset's licence, not from OSM's ODbL.
atdt 7y ago
How are they generating the 3D models of various landmark buildings? It's hard to believe that they were generated from photos, since the lines look so clean. But there are too many of them to do by hand, no?
- vineyardmike 7y ago
  The author of this post made other posts, including one discussing the building generation: https://www.justinobeirne.com/new-apple-maps https://www.justinobeirne.com/new-apple-maps It appears to be a combination of algorithmic work from satellites with manual generation mixed in.
mataug 7y ago
I've recently switched to using apple maps exclusively as much as possible, and TBH its gotten quite comparable to Google maps. There are still remote places (e.g an address in a small town) which apple maps struggles to find, but for the most part within cities I find myself reaching more often for apple maps. I'm also one of those people who struggles to translate navigation instructions on a map to real world turns. So features such as highlighting and Stop signs & Traffic signals go a long way in helping me navigate safely.
- ajpkco 7y ago
  Apple Maps displaying stop signs and traffic lights is a killer feature for me. Made me switch from Gmaps.
CameraSupra 7y ago
Yawn.
jccalhoun 7y ago
There is still too much use of green. At least for me, I think green = park. I live near the end of a bypass and on apple maps it looks like a big park. I don't think I would want to go have a picnic on the slope of an off-ramp.
peburrows 7y ago
I appreciate the work this author does to compile these posts, but man, every time I visit his site, I get frustrated that there’s no way to stop the map animations to inspect in detail what has actually changed. Invariably, I get frustrated by the constant flashing back and forth and just close the tab without getting the information I’d actually like to get.
ycombonator 7y ago
Apple Maps is no where near google maps. It took me to someone’s driveway as “an entrance to” an elementary school, when in reality the school was behind their backyard with no direct access. They haven’t fixed one thing I painstakingly reported over the years. I wanted Apple Maps to succeed but from what I gather they are too disorganized to compete with Google Maps.

119 points by Amorymeltzer 7y ago

How does he get those cutout comparison tiles exactly identical in perspective, position, and zoom level? Does he have some call that allows doing that?

xenospn 7y ago
Was wondering that myself. Presumably when you update your maps app or when the server updated, you have no more access to the old maps. Unless he took a whole lot of screenshots in preparation?
- et-al 7y ago
  The URL to an Apple Maps tile includes a version number and numerous style options. It's possible the author knows about historical tile versions and updates the URL to fetch older versions, or has been archiving Apple's tiles periodically. https://cdn4.apple-mapkit.com/md/v1/vtile?x=1310&y=3166&z=13&scale=2&style=1&v=2002014&type=poi&lang=en&tint=light&emphasis=standard Grabbed the tile from Apple's page here: https://developer.apple.com/maps/web/ https://developer.apple.com/maps/web/ The author also has their email address listed on their site if we'd like a definite answer. - - - Edit: Looks like MapKit provides an easy way to take snapshots: https://developer.apple.com/documentation/snapshots https://developer.apple.com/documentation/snapshots
  - xenospn 7y ago
    I completely forgot about Mapkit JS! I wonder how feature complete it is compared to Leaflet.
- gen3 7y ago
  He could have done the whole “in preparation screenshot” thing using the js api. Or maybe there is a way to call and receive the old maps.
threeseed 7y ago
Not sure if this works. But Apple Maps exists as an OSX app so you could possibly use Apple Script to open the app, navigate to a point and take a photo.

hprotagonist 7y ago

Perhaps soon we'll get cycling directions.

nicoboo 7y ago

Always a wonderful work by Justin.

williesleg 7y ago

Oh that's it for Apple Maps, they're too busy selling your data. Maps were fun but too expensive to keep building out. They're only there to keep people from switching to Android.

dang 7y ago

Recent and related: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22193657 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22193657

celeritascelery 7y ago

There was off ramp that changed 4 years ago near where I live. Google maps was correct, but Apple always would have you take the wrong exit and you had to loop back. With the most recent update this is finally fixed. However most people still saying that Apple Maps in unreliable. Having big issues like that for years can really damage people’s perception of your product long after it has been changed.

Ididntdothis 7y ago
In my area (Santa Rosa, CA) Apple Maps is still worse than Google Maps. The routing is often very strange and it sometimes still can't find stores like OfficeDepot close by.
- threeseed 7y ago
  POIs are a whole different story. I can't speak for US but in Australia and UK it is so far behind Google. It feels like 1/3 of them are simply missing and a 1/3 of them are inaccurate in some way e.g. opening hours. I don't know how Foursquare and Yelp who supply Apple are surviving right now with such inadequate data.
  - cptskippy 7y ago
    Does Apple let users update POIs? We went to a restaurant recently and it was closed, I snapped a photo of the hours and tagged the restaurant with it in Google Maps and it was updated to reflect the correct hours the same day.
    - labcomputer 7y ago
      1. Press the circle-i icon on the top left of Maps. 2. Select Report an Issue 3. Select Map Labels 4. Fill out the form, and add pictures. 5. Wait a few weeks. I've added my workplace this way.
      - deleted 7y ago

masked_titan 7y ago

Can someone tell me where did Apple get all this new data from? Was it taken from OSM, bought from Here Maps or some other provider or just built on their own from sattelites and on the ground surveys?

vineyardmike 7y ago
It appears to be most-of-the-above: https://www.justinobeirne.com/new-apple-maps https://www.justinobeirne.com/new-apple-maps
GeekyBear 7y ago
Previously they licensed TomTom's data and tried to fill in gaps with data from OpenStreetMap and others. Now they have decided to build their own data set from scratch. >So a new effort was created to begin generating its own base maps, the very lowest building block of any really good mapping system. After that, Apple would begin layering on living location data, high-resolution satellite imagery and brand new intensely high-resolution image data gathered from its ground cars until it had what it felt was a “best in class” mapping product. https://techcrunch.com/2018/06/29/apple-is-rebuilding-maps-from-the-ground-up/ https://techcrunch.com/2018/06/29/apple-is-rebuilding-maps-f... That TechCrunch article has a good overview of their old and new mapping systems.
- rathel 7y ago
  Due to ODbL licence they can't mix OSM data directly with other data. Apple does use OSM data, but only in some countries (Belarus for example IIRC), as allowed by https://wiki.osmfoundation.org/wiki/Licence/Community_Guidelines https://wiki.osmfoundation.org/wiki/Licence/Community_Guidel...
  - rmc 7y ago
    Due to ODbL licence they can't mix OSM data directly with other data. The ODbL has no restrictions on mixing, unlike the creative commons “no derivies” clause. The ODbL just says that you need to share those changes, and that new database, with everyone else. If we give you OSM data, you should give us back the data you combine with it. If the other dataset doesn't allow that, then the restriction is from that dataset's licence, not from OSM's ODbL.

atdt 7y ago

How are they generating the 3D models of various landmark buildings? It's hard to believe that they were generated from photos, since the lines look so clean. But there are too many of them to do by hand, no?

vineyardmike 7y ago
The author of this post made other posts, including one discussing the building generation: https://www.justinobeirne.com/new-apple-maps https://www.justinobeirne.com/new-apple-maps It appears to be a combination of algorithmic work from satellites with manual generation mixed in.

mataug 7y ago

I've recently switched to using apple maps exclusively as much as possible, and TBH its gotten quite comparable to Google maps. There are still remote places (e.g an address in a small town) which apple maps struggles to find, but for the most part within cities I find myself reaching more often for apple maps. I'm also one of those people who struggles to translate navigation instructions on a map to real world turns. So features such as highlighting and Stop signs & Traffic signals go a long way in helping me navigate safely.

ajpkco 7y ago
Apple Maps displaying stop signs and traffic lights is a killer feature for me. Made me switch from Gmaps.

CameraSupra 7y ago

Yawn.

jccalhoun 7y ago

There is still too much use of green. At least for me, I think green = park. I live near the end of a bypass and on apple maps it looks like a big park. I don't think I would want to go have a picnic on the slope of an off-ramp.

peburrows 7y ago

I appreciate the work this author does to compile these posts, but man, every time I visit his site, I get frustrated that there’s no way to stop the map animations to inspect in detail what has actually changed. Invariably, I get frustrated by the constant flashing back and forth and just close the tab without getting the information I’d actually like to get.

ycombonator 7y ago

Apple Maps is no where near google maps. It took me to someone’s driveway as “an entrance to” an elementary school, when in reality the school was behind their backyard with no direct access. They haven’t fixed one thing I painstakingly reported over the years. I wanted Apple Maps to succeed but from what I gather they are too disorganized to compete with Google Maps.