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Apple Buys Another Map App, Embark
- SandersAK 13y agoDavid Hodge and co are legends. Congrats.
- swang 13y agoIs this why Embark SF shutdown about a week ago?
- bradleyjg 13y agoI use both the LIRR and NYC Subway versions all the time. I hope they aren't shut down.
- crazygringo 13y agoNJ Transit too. Likewise, really hope they don't shut down until Apple integrates their functionality. I mean, they don't need constant connections to servers or anything, but they do need to update their schedules every so often. I don't know if they download from Embark servers, or if it's directly from transportation sites, but I would suspect the former.
- harrytuttle 13y agoTell me when they get even close to Nokia Here on WP...
- clauretano 13y agoSounds like they're getting serious about transit, between Embark today, HopStop on 20 July[0], and Locationary on 19 July[1]. All too soon for iOS 7. Hopefully soon we won't have to hop back and forth between apple maps and random mediocre third party transit solutions --or just use google maps, which most probably do now. [0]http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-07-19/apple-said-to-buy-hopstop-pushing-deeper-into-maps.html http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-07-19/apple-said-to-buy-h... [1]http://allthingsd.com/20130719/apple-acquires-local-data-outfit-locationary/ http://allthingsd.com/20130719/apple-acquires-local-data-out...
- r00fus 13y agoLuckily, they can update Maps app without waiting for an OS release. Sure, it'd make a great preso, but I'd prefer they take their time and get it right. Google maps also has better UX than Apple Maps unless you use Siri. I hope Apple tackles UX as well - perhaps converting Apple Maps to the new flat look and adding more swipe support.
- smackfu 13y ago>Luckily, they can update Maps app without waiting for an OS release. Can they? It's not actually a separate app from the app store like Find My Phone or iBooks. So it would require at least an OS point release, and Apple doesn't seem too keen on doing those for features.
- untog 13y agoWell, at this point parts of iOS7 are still an unknown. Maybe they could add that possibility.
- ajju 13y agoEmbark makes some of the best transit apps out there [1]. Given their attention to detail on UX, Apple seems like a great fit for them. Congratulations to David Hodge and team! ([1] Disclaimer: David is a friend, but I am pretty sure his non-friend users will tell you the same :))
- gfosco 13y agoEmbark and HopStop are both Parse-powered apps, which allows them to focus on providing a great UX and not have to worry about servers. Disclaimer: I work on the Parse team. Come to Parse Developer Day: http://www.parsedeveloperday.com/ http://www.parsedeveloperday.com/
- JoeCortopassi 13y agoI'm sure Parse has a great team at it's disposal, but once they were purchased by Facebook I wrote them off completely. Absolute last company I want to trust with the system critical infrastructure for my apps is Facebook.
- TazeTSchnitzel 13y agoWho wants to bet that next year they'll shut down Parse?
- samstave 13y agoI use iBart and Caltrain app every single day! The apps are fantastic! The only complaint I have about them is that iBart makes train connections too short for some stations. To transfer at 12th street you have to change levels, and iBart gives you one minute to make the connection, but I've only made that connection once. All other times I missed it.
- willimholte 13y agoPerhaps I'm missing something, but I am interested in what behavior you expect from the app vs the behavior you are observing. (I've used iBart a few times, but not in a few months and not to route trips in Oakland.) Are you saying that your train arrives at 12th Street at noon and iBart tells you to board a train leaving 12th Street at 12:01? Would you prefer iBart tell you to board the next train? (Not sure about schedules, is that about 15 minutes later?)
- prawn 13y agoIn Switzerland, train connections are optimised for minimising time and allow for distance between the platforms in question. It's stunningly efficient.
- r00fus 13y agoI'm curious - what are examples you've seen that differ from what exists in less efficient platform layouts?
- prawn 13y ago(Hope I'm understanding your question correctly. I'm not from Switzerland, but used their train system for a week a month ago.) They have an excellent web site and app, first up. It allows you to set departure and destination, earliest departure time (if you don't want to leave before 10am, say) or latest arrival time (i.e., so you can make a flight), tweak routing and see every detail to the minute. You can get print-outs (if required) telling you what to do and when. The platforms for arrivals and departures are set rather than vague as in many other countries so you know exactly what's happening in advance. I'm confident that they've worked nation-wide to coordinate arrivals and departures to ease passage for the absolute majority of people. Each train change is aware of the distance between platforms so that it might allow two minutes to cross platform to another train, or seven minutes if you need to move a bit further. You don't get stuck waiting for 30 minutes or have two minutes to cross six platforms. (We were travelling with an infant and a lot of luggage that meant changing trains was traumatic - in Switzerland, it was a dream.) In one very handy sequence, we caught a series of two gondolas down a mountain, switched to a bus, then a train, then another train. Waiting time was barely there - it was brilliant. Trains seemed to leave shortly after you got to them, like the world was designed around you. People were joining or leaving on other routes too and seemed to have a similar experience. I got the impression that popular routes were optimised to minimise walking distance between platforms, but could've been imagining that. Another handy thing was that every platform access had stairs in one direction and a ramp in the other. The underground systems in London, Paris, etc were no where near as handy for people with luggage or prams, often not even having lifts for disabled access.
- mmanfrin 13y agoShortcut to a huge buyout: develop a map app that generates local, personalized content for users, then start a bidding war between Apple and Yahoo.
- jmduke 13y agoI would pay a non-trivial amount of money for an app that, amongst other things, told me which coffeeshops in my area has the least traffic.
- malandrew 13y agoJust look for Yelp 1-star reviews on coffeeshops. I reckon that should work. I know this sounds like a facetious answer, but any app that does what you asked for would probably return results that correlate with the quality of the coffee.
- ajju 13y agoThey have been working (very hard) on this for 4 years. If that's a shortcut, what is a long cut?
- deleted 13y ago[deleted]
- untog 13y agoI use the Android version of Embark. Oh dear. Time to find a new app (that doesn't repeatedly crash, hopefully) An interesting purchase- Embark doesn't have any valuable data, or user details, etc. I can only assume Apple bought them because they have great UI/design instincts, and might be able to help rescue Apple Maps. Kudos to them for achieving their goal - giving away an ad-free transit planning app could only have one aim, really.
- bumbledraven 13y agoArticle says Embark is a YC company. Congrats on the exit!
- aroman 13y agoI for one am really happy to see Apple getting really serious about all this mapping and transit data. Competing with Google on this front is going to be a win for the consumer, I believe.
- droopyEyelids 13y ago'Grats guys. I absolutely love my Embark Metra app. The absolute least friction to getting what I want to know-- thanks to a lot of insight into, thought about, and work on how I'd use it no doubt.
- swang 13y agoEveryone saying Apple is finally taking Maps seriously: shit does that mean they brought their C game against Google? Their serious "A" game against Google was what you saw with the first version. And it stunk. Just terrible. It wasn't that they weren't "serious" about Maps. Apple just completely dropped the ball. Terrible data, no bus/transit routes without third party apps (if this wasn't a huge red flag for, "we are not ready to release Maps" I don't know what is), and an icon that subconsciously told their users to drive off a bridge. They assumed users would give them a pass on their lack of data because they would be too busy being wowed by the Flyover views. Well they were wrong.
- glhaynes 13y agoTheir serious "A" game against Google was what you saw with the first version. Not sure why you'd say this then list its obvious and avoidable failings. Failings which contributed to an SVP being ousted and a huge amount of investment being made to catch up. Seems more like they came out with their "C" game and are now trying to ramp it up to their "A" game.
- JofArnold 13y agoI love Embark. Even though they've stopped supporting it in London - and it comes up with that blasted "we've stopped supporting it" message every time - it's still one of the best travel apps around. Well done guys.