6 ms·

Nokia 'Here Map' arrives at the App Store

45 points by Libertatea 14y ago

mtrimpe 14y ago
Let's hope Google Maps for iOS will be released soon now. I had trouble not chuckling at Google not releasing it after the Maps debacle, but fundamentally I think it's doing a disservice to the Google brand and it's customers in general.
- Tyrannosaurs 14y ago
  Supposedly it wasn't ready. The Apple / Google maps deal had a year or so still to run so apparently Google were taken by surprise that Apple pulled the existing app when they did.
  - wukkuan 14y ago
    Do you happen to have a source for this? I've always heard (via offhand comments, admittedly) that the deal was done and Google wasn't surprised.
    - Tyrannosaurs 14y ago
      Nothing categorical and to be honest I'm not sure I buy it 100%. The timing of dropping Google maps makes sense - Apple are on an annual upgrade for iOS. If the choice is to launch their own maps 14 months before the end of the deal or 2 months before the end of the deal 14 months makes sense so you've got a fall back. And if it makes sense then it seems sensible that Google who had all the information and knew of the animosity would be able to work it out.
  - jarcoal 14y ago
    As long as they read the rumor mills they had 6-8 month notice. Still might not be long enough, I'm not sure how much development time it takes for an app like that.
- natesm 14y ago
  Quick Route uses Google's data and is fantastic: http://excitedpixel.com/apps/ios/quickroute/ http://excitedpixel.com/apps/ios/quickroute/
  - garrettmoon 14y ago
    Hey, I made that! Happy to answer any questions if anyone has them. Also, have a few promo codes: http://tokn.co/6tjd3a4h http://tokn.co/6tjd3a4h http://tokn.co/9r3w9v66 http://tokn.co/9r3w9v66 http://tokn.co/y3n96tjt http://tokn.co/y3n96tjt
mamp 14y ago
Interface is a bit rough and appears rushed - hard to tap on some targets, keeps resetting to current location when moving in and out of the app. The live traffic information doesn't seem as up to date as Apple Maps. Nice to have actual locations available compared to the sparse Apple Maps.
- lucaspiller 14y ago
  I had a quick play around with it, and major locations seem more accurate, but shops and smaller locations are still off (e.g. in the middle of a road or the wrong side) here in Dublin. At least the Zoo is in the right part of the city... http://i.imgur.com/4bZWP.png http://i.imgur.com/4bZWP.png vs http://i.imgur.com/eby5R.png http://i.imgur.com/eby5R.png
- edgeman27 14y ago
  Agreed. The entire map view (including location dot, paths and markers) seems to be rendered in half resolution on Retina devices. Public transport in London seems to work very well, and the Underground overlay is a nice feature. I will be using this for the time being.
  - snuze 14y ago
    How did this get past QA? It looks terrible on any retina device (every Apple flagship).
rwbt 14y ago
I like 'Nokia Maps' much better than 'Here'.
- mtgx 14y ago
  Yes, it's pretty terrible branding, especially for non-English countries. Nokia Maps was much better. I don't know why they felt the need to change it. Just to get a few more articles in the press about it?
- panacea 14y ago
  No kidding. Maps are about getting you to there.
0x0 14y ago
This one actually has poorer satellite imagery than Apple Maps where I live.
symmetricsaurus 14y ago
It's quite quick on my iphone 4 but the actual maps are blurred. It would seem that they are rendered at the "old" iphone resolution. This gives the app a very unpolished look unfortunately.
- greenmountin 14y ago
  Yeah, it's blazing fast for me; I don't understand the hate in the other comments. Unlike Bing maps, getting directions is intuitive for me, and I couldn't care less about satellite imagery. If caching works at all, this will be a useful app. Guess I will have to give it a week or so for evaluation, though.
mjs 14y ago
Much better than Apple Maps, but still: * The Hayward Gallery is in the wrong place: http://here.net/united-kingdom/london/museum/hayward-gallery--826gcpuq-b9a7bec242fe48ccac0d273c98487159 http://here.net/united-kingdom/london/museum/hayward-gallery... * Searching for "Dover Castle" goes to the Castle in Dover rather than the pub <500m away. (There is a drop-down list which has the match I want, though.) And the non-Retina resolution tiles are annoying. Do Nokia's high-resolution phones get the same tiles?
- stcredzero 14y ago
  Still has my closest grocery store listed as "Albertson's." At least it found the store, which took some coaxing from Apple Maps. It also finds 1 California Street in SF, which Apple Maps failed at a few weeks ago. I note that the pinch gesture behaves in an atypical way. It's more of a "pure zoom" and has no scroll at all, which is kind of a pain.
- weiran 14y ago
  How is it much better than Apple's maps app? It's just a thin wrapper over Nokia's web site (here.net), and for my location the data is worse and there's no satellite imagery at all. Directions are far more limited (public transport routing isn't even available in the UK) and the UI completely unintuitive (how do I start a route?) I would welcome a superior maps app to Apple, however just putting a thin wrapper over your existing website isn't going to cut the mustard compared with a slick and native app like Apple's. I'm not sure even Google can match Apple's maps experience, although their superiority with data will make the bigger difference.
  - mdasen 14y ago
    how do I start a route? This bugged me for a while until I realised that they don't do driving navigation. There's a purple button with an arrow (play button) when you're in walking mode that lets you start voice navigation. It's very disappointing.
panacea 14y ago
Does this have better local data in areas where Apple's mapping app is lacking? I ask, because where I live, this is actually bolstering the case for the new iOS mapping service.
- snuze 14y ago
  In my area, Apple Maps has better local data.
aes 14y ago
On an iPad, the experience seems to be identical to using http://here.net/ http://here.net/ in Safari. So this is not particularly big news.
robmcm 14y ago
Doesn't look like they are using vectors and there is no inertia when zooming. Perhaps features they are saving for the Nokia phones...
deleted 14y ago
[deleted]
nachteilig 14y ago
I really wanted to like this, but Google is still tops for its location database. Maybe Nokia and the other non-Google players can band together to address this, because I don't see how anyone will catch up otherwise. It's also strange to me that this is the case, because if they're using FedEX and UPS data you would think that would be a superior location data mining operation.
jarcoal 14y ago
That interface looks like MapQuest ten years ago. Completely unacceptable.
pixelcort 14y ago
Looks like the streets in Tokyo are missing.

45 points by Libertatea 14y ago

Let's hope Google Maps for iOS will be released soon now. I had trouble not chuckling at Google not releasing it after the Maps debacle, but fundamentally I think it's doing a disservice to the Google brand and it's customers in general.

Tyrannosaurs 14y ago
Supposedly it wasn't ready. The Apple / Google maps deal had a year or so still to run so apparently Google were taken by surprise that Apple pulled the existing app when they did.
- wukkuan 14y ago
  Do you happen to have a source for this? I've always heard (via offhand comments, admittedly) that the deal was done and Google wasn't surprised.
  - Tyrannosaurs 14y ago
    Nothing categorical and to be honest I'm not sure I buy it 100%. The timing of dropping Google maps makes sense - Apple are on an annual upgrade for iOS. If the choice is to launch their own maps 14 months before the end of the deal or 2 months before the end of the deal 14 months makes sense so you've got a fall back. And if it makes sense then it seems sensible that Google who had all the information and knew of the animosity would be able to work it out.
- jarcoal 14y ago
  As long as they read the rumor mills they had 6-8 month notice. Still might not be long enough, I'm not sure how much development time it takes for an app like that.
natesm 14y ago
Quick Route uses Google's data and is fantastic: http://excitedpixel.com/apps/ios/quickroute/ http://excitedpixel.com/apps/ios/quickroute/
- garrettmoon 14y ago
  Hey, I made that! Happy to answer any questions if anyone has them. Also, have a few promo codes: http://tokn.co/6tjd3a4h http://tokn.co/6tjd3a4h http://tokn.co/9r3w9v66 http://tokn.co/9r3w9v66 http://tokn.co/y3n96tjt http://tokn.co/y3n96tjt

mamp 14y ago

Interface is a bit rough and appears rushed - hard to tap on some targets, keeps resetting to current location when moving in and out of the app. The live traffic information doesn't seem as up to date as Apple Maps. Nice to have actual locations available compared to the sparse Apple Maps.

lucaspiller 14y ago
I had a quick play around with it, and major locations seem more accurate, but shops and smaller locations are still off (e.g. in the middle of a road or the wrong side) here in Dublin. At least the Zoo is in the right part of the city... http://i.imgur.com/4bZWP.png http://i.imgur.com/4bZWP.png vs http://i.imgur.com/eby5R.png http://i.imgur.com/eby5R.png
edgeman27 14y ago
Agreed. The entire map view (including location dot, paths and markers) seems to be rendered in half resolution on Retina devices. Public transport in London seems to work very well, and the Underground overlay is a nice feature. I will be using this for the time being.
- snuze 14y ago
  How did this get past QA? It looks terrible on any retina device (every Apple flagship).

rwbt 14y ago

I like 'Nokia Maps' much better than 'Here'.

mtgx 14y ago
Yes, it's pretty terrible branding, especially for non-English countries. Nokia Maps was much better. I don't know why they felt the need to change it. Just to get a few more articles in the press about it?
panacea 14y ago
No kidding. Maps are about getting you to there.

0x0 14y ago

This one actually has poorer satellite imagery than Apple Maps where I live.

symmetricsaurus 14y ago

It's quite quick on my iphone 4 but the actual maps are blurred. It would seem that they are rendered at the "old" iphone resolution. This gives the app a very unpolished look unfortunately.

greenmountin 14y ago
Yeah, it's blazing fast for me; I don't understand the hate in the other comments. Unlike Bing maps, getting directions is intuitive for me, and I couldn't care less about satellite imagery. If caching works at all, this will be a useful app. Guess I will have to give it a week or so for evaluation, though.

mjs 14y ago

Much better than Apple Maps, but still: * The Hayward Gallery is in the wrong place: http://here.net/united-kingdom/london/museum/hayward-gallery--826gcpuq-b9a7bec242fe48ccac0d273c98487159 http://here.net/united-kingdom/london/museum/hayward-gallery... * Searching for "Dover Castle" goes to the Castle in Dover rather than the pub <500m away. (There is a drop-down list which has the match I want, though.) And the non-Retina resolution tiles are annoying. Do Nokia's high-resolution phones get the same tiles?

stcredzero 14y ago
Still has my closest grocery store listed as "Albertson's." At least it found the store, which took some coaxing from Apple Maps. It also finds 1 California Street in SF, which Apple Maps failed at a few weeks ago. I note that the pinch gesture behaves in an atypical way. It's more of a "pure zoom" and has no scroll at all, which is kind of a pain.
weiran 14y ago
How is it much better than Apple's maps app? It's just a thin wrapper over Nokia's web site (here.net), and for my location the data is worse and there's no satellite imagery at all. Directions are far more limited (public transport routing isn't even available in the UK) and the UI completely unintuitive (how do I start a route?) I would welcome a superior maps app to Apple, however just putting a thin wrapper over your existing website isn't going to cut the mustard compared with a slick and native app like Apple's. I'm not sure even Google can match Apple's maps experience, although their superiority with data will make the bigger difference.
- mdasen 14y ago
  how do I start a route? This bugged me for a while until I realised that they don't do driving navigation. There's a purple button with an arrow (play button) when you're in walking mode that lets you start voice navigation. It's very disappointing.

panacea 14y ago

Does this have better local data in areas where Apple's mapping app is lacking? I ask, because where I live, this is actually bolstering the case for the new iOS mapping service.

snuze 14y ago
In my area, Apple Maps has better local data.

aes 14y ago

On an iPad, the experience seems to be identical to using http://here.net/ http://here.net/ in Safari. So this is not particularly big news.

robmcm 14y ago

Doesn't look like they are using vectors and there is no inertia when zooming. Perhaps features they are saving for the Nokia phones...

deleted 14y ago

[deleted]

nachteilig 14y ago

I really wanted to like this, but Google is still tops for its location database. Maybe Nokia and the other non-Google players can band together to address this, because I don't see how anyone will catch up otherwise. It's also strange to me that this is the case, because if they're using FedEX and UPS data you would think that would be a superior location data mining operation.

jarcoal 14y ago

That interface looks like MapQuest ten years ago. Completely unacceptable.

pixelcort 14y ago

Looks like the streets in Tokyo are missing.