5 ms·

I love this type of article, and the effort put into it - but the main thing I can't help but do is wonder what kind of person is driven to exhaustively researc

by johnfn 6y ago

I love this type of article, and the effort put into it - but the main thing I can't help but do is wonder what kind of person is driven to exhaustively research Apple Maps over a 5+ year period.

ardy42 6y ago
> I love this type of article, and the effort put into it - but the main thing I can't help but do is wonder what kind of person is driven to exhaustively research Apple Maps over a 5+ year period. I'm under the vague impression that Justin O'Beirne works in this space, so this isn't just a hobby. Can anyone confirm? Edit: this article (https://www.businessinsider.com/google-maps-vs-apple-maps-key-difference-2016-6 https://www.businessinsider.com/google-maps-vs-apple-maps-ke...) describes him as "a map expert who helped work on Apple Maps." This article (https://medium.com/all-consuming/the-most-overlooked-touchpoint-20ec2afade98 https://medium.com/all-consuming/the-most-overlooked-touchpo...) describes him as "Head of Cartography at Apple."
- tobr 6y ago
  He is also listed on several mapping-related patents for Apple over the past several years.[1] It seems surprisingly un-Apple-y to allow someone in that position to publish articles detailing the flaws in Apple maps, speculate about where they get their data and how the quality problems might affect unannounced future products. 1: https://patents.justia.com/inventor/justin-o-beirne https://patents.justia.com/inventor/justin-o-beirne
  - ardy42 6y ago
    > It seems surprisingly un-Apple-y to allow someone in that position to publish articles detailing the flaws in Apple maps, speculate about where they get their data and how the quality problems might affect unannounced future products. That tells me he no longer works at Apple. If he did, why would he need to speculate about Apple's internal processes based on what they publicly release? This article (https://www.justinobeirne.com/a-summer-of-google-maps-and-apple-maps https://www.justinobeirne.com/a-summer-of-google-maps-and-ap...) from 2017 even has him noting hits from Apple's website and tracking how long it took them to correct gaps he outlined. Those two articles I linked were dated 2016 and 2017. Looking at his website, before that time it seems like he was mostly writing about Google Maps. So maybe he wrote about Google when he was at Apple, then started writing about Apple when he left.
    - tobr 6y ago
      There’s certainly overlap between the date stamps on his articles and his Apple patents. Not sure if someone might be listed as inventor on a patent filed after they left. There are probably a lot of teams working on different aspects of the maps, so he wouldn’t automatically be privy to everything because he’s worked on one aspect of the product.
    - yoda_sl 6y ago
      Yes he used to work at Apple in the Maps team for many years but left a few years ago... thus his guess.
      - maparticle 6y ago
        Why did he leave the Maps team?
brundolf 6y ago
I will also say it took way too long to get to the point. Several points that could've been made with 1-2 examples had 5-6. It got a little exhausting.
- netsharc 6y ago
  After too much scrolling just now, I remember a similar-looking article, also about Apple Maps, from a few years ago that was probably from this same blog. His style is way too many illustrations and a few lines of text in between. Feels buzzfeedy. Sorry, just not for me.
  - maparticle 6y ago
    Disagree. I enjoyed the investigative style and liked being able to follow along as the author laid out the evidence. I’d rather see how the they came to their conclusions than read a bunch of bullet points.
    - netsharc 6y ago
      I still went through it until it got to the SHORTCUTS section. At that point I got frustrated wondering what this pivot was all about and how much longer this article was going to go on until it got to the point (as many here have said) of what he wants to say. Sure, evidence, but the many tables and images that I had to focus on to interpret just distract from the flow of the story. Too many! There are also too many maps trying to show coverage, they don't take too much brain power to interpret, but after the first 3 I thought "yeah yeah yeah, I fucking get it". Obviously it's a free world to disagree, but if I were his editor I'd tell him his blog posts are ineffective because it's rambling, and if he presents it more concisely, more people would appreaciate it.
      - maparticle 6y ago
        Someone else pointed out that some of his earlier articles (written in the same style) got >1000 points on HN: - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18358902 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18358902 - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15965653 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15965653 Do you also think these were bad / annoying to read? (The reason I ask is because I started a newsletter at the beginning of the year and have been trying to emulate his style. But if people genuinely hate it, then I obviously don’t want to follow it. :))

by johnfn 6y ago

I love this type of article, and the effort put into it - but the main thing I can't help but do is wonder what kind of person is driven to exhaustively research Apple Maps over a 5+ year period.

ardy42 6y ago

> I love this type of article, and the effort put into it - but the main thing I can't help but do is wonder what kind of person is driven to exhaustively research Apple Maps over a 5+ year period. I'm under the vague impression that Justin O'Beirne works in this space, so this isn't just a hobby. Can anyone confirm? Edit: this article (https://www.businessinsider.com/google-maps-vs-apple-maps-key-difference-2016-6 https://www.businessinsider.com/google-maps-vs-apple-maps-ke...) describes him as "a map expert who helped work on Apple Maps." This article (https://medium.com/all-consuming/the-most-overlooked-touchpoint-20ec2afade98 https://medium.com/all-consuming/the-most-overlooked-touchpo...) describes him as "Head of Cartography at Apple."

tobr 6y ago
He is also listed on several mapping-related patents for Apple over the past several years.[1] It seems surprisingly un-Apple-y to allow someone in that position to publish articles detailing the flaws in Apple maps, speculate about where they get their data and how the quality problems might affect unannounced future products. 1: https://patents.justia.com/inventor/justin-o-beirne https://patents.justia.com/inventor/justin-o-beirne
- ardy42 6y ago
  > It seems surprisingly un-Apple-y to allow someone in that position to publish articles detailing the flaws in Apple maps, speculate about where they get their data and how the quality problems might affect unannounced future products. That tells me he no longer works at Apple. If he did, why would he need to speculate about Apple's internal processes based on what they publicly release? This article (https://www.justinobeirne.com/a-summer-of-google-maps-and-apple-maps https://www.justinobeirne.com/a-summer-of-google-maps-and-ap...) from 2017 even has him noting hits from Apple's website and tracking how long it took them to correct gaps he outlined. Those two articles I linked were dated 2016 and 2017. Looking at his website, before that time it seems like he was mostly writing about Google Maps. So maybe he wrote about Google when he was at Apple, then started writing about Apple when he left.
  - tobr 6y ago
    There’s certainly overlap between the date stamps on his articles and his Apple patents. Not sure if someone might be listed as inventor on a patent filed after they left. There are probably a lot of teams working on different aspects of the maps, so he wouldn’t automatically be privy to everything because he’s worked on one aspect of the product.
  - yoda_sl 6y ago
    Yes he used to work at Apple in the Maps team for many years but left a few years ago... thus his guess.
    - maparticle 6y ago
      Why did he leave the Maps team?

brundolf 6y ago

I will also say it took way too long to get to the point. Several points that could've been made with 1-2 examples had 5-6. It got a little exhausting.

netsharc 6y ago
After too much scrolling just now, I remember a similar-looking article, also about Apple Maps, from a few years ago that was probably from this same blog. His style is way too many illustrations and a few lines of text in between. Feels buzzfeedy. Sorry, just not for me.
- maparticle 6y ago
  Disagree. I enjoyed the investigative style and liked being able to follow along as the author laid out the evidence. I’d rather see how the they came to their conclusions than read a bunch of bullet points.
  - netsharc 6y ago
    I still went through it until it got to the SHORTCUTS section. At that point I got frustrated wondering what this pivot was all about and how much longer this article was going to go on until it got to the point (as many here have said) of what he wants to say. Sure, evidence, but the many tables and images that I had to focus on to interpret just distract from the flow of the story. Too many! There are also too many maps trying to show coverage, they don't take too much brain power to interpret, but after the first 3 I thought "yeah yeah yeah, I fucking get it". Obviously it's a free world to disagree, but if I were his editor I'd tell him his blog posts are ineffective because it's rambling, and if he presents it more concisely, more people would appreaciate it.
    - maparticle 6y ago
      Someone else pointed out that some of his earlier articles (written in the same style) got >1000 points on HN: - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18358902 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18358902 - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15965653 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15965653 Do you also think these were bad / annoying to read? (The reason I ask is because I started a newsletter at the beginning of the year and have been trying to emulate his style. But if people genuinely hate it, then I obviously don’t want to follow it. :))