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Don't like iOS6's (lack of) transit directions? You need this.
- psychotik 14y agoOr, use the bing app. I am not a fan of their ux but it sure works well!
- nordr 14y agoholy shit an actual solution, sans bitching, on hn. this represents a dangerous threat to your business model.
- scottschulthess 14y agoIs this in the app store or what?
- Void_ 14y agoNo, it's open-source. In order to run it on your iPhone, you'll have to pay Apple $100 per year. Or find somebody who is already in Apple Developer program, ask him to add your iPhone ID.
- stcredzero 14y agoSomeone should start a "iDevBuddy" site, where people can pay a dev for use of her/his unused provisioning slots and install their own software.
- scottschulthess 14y agoOpen source apps can be in the app store, like openmbta
- pudquick 14y agoNo. You need the $99USD/year iOS developer program from Apple to be able to compile it and install it on an actual iOS device (without it being jail broken).
- bas 14y agoI can only speak for my setup (I have Embark NYC installed), but the new Maps app delegates transit routing to Embark NYC. Presumably this works for other cities?
- dailyrorschach 14y agoSo far for me yes. Interestingly enough since I live in DC - I never had transit directions in Google Maps anyway.
- dailyrorschach 14y agoOr maybe it was just me or I gave up trying, they appear to be there now at least on the website, no transit layer to view, but directions do appear.
- mikeash 14y agoWMATA finally got their act together and opened their data to Google sometime in the last year or so. They refused to do so for the longest time because, as I recall, they didn't want to lose advertising revenue from wmata.com. Revenue which amounted to something like $50,000/year, out of a budget of hundreds of millions. Anyway, Google is pretty good at DC transit routing these days, at least in my experience.
- Void_ 14y agoThank you for releasing this as open-source.
- antirez 14y agoMajor cities here in Italy are all very well covered with transit directions, pretty surprising it's not like that for US cities.
- techtalsky 14y agoIt's not so much that. If I'm at home in Brooklyn and want to get to a place in Manhattan, there might be two ways to go. Google maps calculates what the fastest way is, including walk time and train connections, and gives me a route that shows the stops, walking directions, and connections.
- DanHulton 14y agoI'm probably just going to pin http://maps.google.com http://maps.google.com to my front page and be done with it, unless of course Google releases a full-blown app (oh please oh please).
- djbender 14y agoHas everyone forgotten http://maps.google.com http://maps.google.com? From what I can tell you can get transit direction from their website and even place a shortcut to your Home Screen.
- smspence 14y agoBut then what would all the blogs complain about?
- jedberg 14y agoIt's not as good as the native maps app. In fact, I was just using it today. It's still slow and buggy (doesn't respond to all the taps).
- swang 14y agoIf you use Google's transit maps at all you'd know how it's pretty much a step below the original native Maps app. The only thing going for the mobile web version is bike routes otherwise it's still a below par experience compared to Maps.
- tomjen3 14y agoCan anybody explain why Google can't simply make a version of google maps that is installable through Safari (they way Steve wanted apps to be delivered?) You need absolutely no permission from Apple, and their app already works on the web (just used it to get directions, in fact).
- egypturnash 14y agoPossibly they might not have been interested in fixing their competitor's mistakes for them.
- tomjen3 14y agoBing is a competitor to Google. IOS is a complement, which Google is trying to make a commodity through Android (and Chrome, its involvment is Google Fiber as well as its monetary donations to Firefox). Google has no issue with IOS having access to excellent apps. They just don't want them to get a monopoly position.
- siglesias 14y agoThey have that.
- deleted 14y ago[deleted]
- rayhano 14y agoIf you're in London, check out http://Citymapper.com http://Citymapper.com (their iPhone app saves me everyday with live bus timings and the best route with multiple transport options).
- antoinevg 14y agoThank you so much for this kind sir!
- m_st 14y agoWow, this is a true hacker at work. Getting things done rather than yelling around. Thank you so much for this.
- Cbeck527 14y agoAgreed. This is a refreshing submission after all of these rant-y blog posts we've been seeing lately.
- pcl 14y agoSweet! Any plans to put this on the app store? I'd love to recommend an easy fix for my parents that doesn't involve my dev certs. Oh, and I'll happily pay for the app... Somewhere between $0 and $5 seems about right.
- tmalloy 14y agoCo-Founder of Embark here (letsembark.com). We have apps for 12 systems, mostly in the US (BART, Caltrain, NYC, LIRR, MNR, NJT, DC Metro, Philly, CTA, Metra, Boston & London Tube). We also integrate with iOS 6 maps, so our apps should show up for you if they're relevant. In my subjective opinion, it's a way better experience than a google maps web view. EDIT: Looks like my co-founder David beat me to the punch
- slykat 14y agoI love Google Transit directions. Can you give some examples of where Embark beats out Google Transit (screenshots if possible)? Also do you have real-time updates on arrival times with SF Muni? Google Transit does not.
- tmalloy 14y agoHere's one example we saw recently in new york going from the 116th/Columbia stop to 12 St Marks Place. Google's result: http://i.imgur.com/8zpbY.png http://i.imgur.com/8zpbY.png Our result: http://i.imgur.com/gpDu5.png http://i.imgur.com/gpDu5.png & http://i.imgur.com/8hvrs.png http://i.imgur.com/8hvrs.png Currently we don't have an app for muni, though it's something we're working towards. There are some nice apps for Muni that have real-time arrivals but lack routing. Transporter & Routsey are probably the two best.
- frozenflame 14y agoNot sure if Google is monitoring your posts or if their routing glitched before but doing the search just now gave me pretty much the same results on Google Maps... http://goo.gl/maps/fsfKF http://goo.gl/maps/fsfKF
- tmalloy 14y agoLooks like they're watching. It had been like that for a couple weeks and still was up until the time I posted.
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- davidwhodge 14y agoHey guys. David Hodge here from Embark. I just wanted to let you know that we've got you covered for transit directions in many large cities. (And more being added all the time) Look for Embark in NYC, Washington DC, Boston, London, Chicago, San Francisco. Embark will work underground and has results tailored to each city instead of the very general results you tend to get from Google Transit.
- zbowling 14y agoHi David, I love your apps. Long time iBart user, but what would be nice is a single app that will cover making connections across transit systems. If I'm going to the South Bay tell me how to take Muni to BART or CalTrain and then BART /Caltrain to VA and how far to walk. THAT would be the killer feature that would making having no transit directions awesome.
- davidwhodge 14y agoHi zbowling, great to hear you like our apps! Thank you for the suggestion. We'll keep that in mind for the future.
- Terretta 14y agoI'm in Rome, and it's simply not possible to get from most points A to B with crossing transit modes and transit brands – most trips need two or three, sometimes four. Try getting from Pz. Belli in Trastevere to Villa d'Este in Tivoli in time for the 8:30 PM light show. Then try to get back when the train isn't running. Both trips involve an area bus or train, as well as local metro, bus, and tram. The downtown map comes with four brands' routes. In Rome even Google isn't grasping this, but same is true of NYC, getting into the city, or heading from Newark to Queens, or Stamford to JFK and LGA.
- gergles 14y agoThe m.511.org site is serviceable if not beautiful and does what you're asking.
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- driverdan 14y agoHow about just sticking with iOS 5 until Apple fixes this? Is it really that important to upgrade to 6? (obviously doesn't apply to the new phone) The latest doesn't always mean the greatest.
- w1ntermute 14y agoThat's little consolation to people who've bought the iPhone 5.
- mtgx 14y agoI've never understood why people like to pre-order something before even one review on it is released, or before they get a chance to see it for themselves.
- Simucal 14y agoWell I've used iPhones for several generations now. I pre-ordered before any reviews because I have a pretty good idea of what the general experience will be like and I'm looking to upgrade my phone to one with a larger screen and faster hardware. The iPhone 5 ticked those boxes for me while still allowing me to use my same apps and devices in my home. I'm not really interested in switching to an entirely different ecosystem at this time as I have a lot invested in this one. It is unfortunate that the maps application is a step backward in some regards but I've been bracing myself for this since I first heard they were working on their own map app. I don't live in a city where I rely on transit directions so that didn't effect me a lot but I can see how it would be frustrating to people who do. However, because I mostly drive everywhere the turn-by-turn directions is a huge addition for me. So, I'm not entirely disappointed in the new map app.
- kelnos 14y agoIt's Apple. In the eyes of the faithful, they can't release a bad product. As much as we may make fun of "fanbois", it's incredible the amount of loyalty, trust, and goodwill Apple has managed to generate for themselves.
- vegashacker 14y agoSomewhat off-topic, but does anyone in SF who rides public transportation agree that Google's Map directions in terms of time predictions don't work? Like they're almost always completely wrong. I wonder if they use scheduled bus times instead of actual ones. Anyway, I was hoping to be able to plug in something like Routesy to iOS 6 maps, and then I'd be a happy camper.
- davidwhodge 14y agoWe've found that Google has historically had a very hard time in San Francisco, and many other big cities for that matter. The results often seem reasonable at first, but end up being impractical in practice. We've found that getting good routing results in cities like SF requires a lot of attention to detail in each particular city. Google has very smart people, but they can't focus everywhere at once. Disclaimer, I work at Embark and we make transit apps. (letsembark.com) Edit: it also doesn't help that Muni often doesn't run on schedule.
- malyk 14y agoIt shouldn't matter if they don't run on schedule because every bus/train has a GPS on it from which you can make predictions. iCommuteSF and Routesy (and i'm sure others) use this to give me results that are accurate the vast majority of the time.
- jarek 14y agoThere's no universally accepted API for the real-time data unlike the GTFS (General Transit Feed Specification) for theoretical schedules. You can approach some commonality with Nextbus API/scraping (http://www.nextbus.com/predictor/agencySelector.jsp http://www.nextbus.com/predictor/agencySelector.jsp) but not every agency offering real-time data uses it. So iCommuteSF might very well be doable, but you can't use that everywhere like you can Google Maps with GTFS.
- malyk 14y agoI didn't mean to imply you could do it everywhere. I was specifically replying to the part about "MUNI" in the parent comment. The geo data for current MUNI positions is public data. So if you are making an SFMUNI specific app, there's no excuse not to use it. Also, I didn't realize that embark also does routing, which is more than iCommuteSF and Routesy do.
- m0skit0 14y agoJust don't use it.
- jsanz 14y agoGuys, I'm from HopStop. Our app has got you covered for your public transit needs. We support lots of cities in the USA, Canada and some in Europe. We also have some nice features other than transit directions, such as schedules and transit maps. Check us out! Note: Maps integration coming soon for our iPhone app. Our iPad app is already working fine with Maps.
- gedaxiang 14y agoMake a paid version so I can get rid of the ads!
- drewda 14y agoAnother option coming soon: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/228865951/transit-app-for-ios-6-and-beyond/ http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/228865951/transit-app-fo...
- joeshaw 14y agoI just learned about Lumatic today (http://lumatic.com/ http://lumatic.com/) and it seems like a worthy replacement for transit directions in many places. Here in Boston it seems to think that I am not near any transit, but it does happily use the transit near my house to route me on different trips. I like the landmark-based turn-by-turn navigation -- I hope that's something that becomes more useful as time goes on.