Google Maps

Nokia unveils new mapping service Here, native iOS app coming soon

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated July 12, 2017

The embattled handset maker Nokia introduced at today's press conference in San Francisco today some interesting news related to maps. In an attempt to beat Google and Apple to the mapping punch, Nokia tapped 20 years of location expertise and its data sets spanning 200 countries to map out a new strategy which involves a re-branding effort, cool new features and a good ol' acquisition. Nokia Maps is no more. Henceforth, the new mapping service shall be known as Here.

The new cloud-based map service works across multiple devices and operating systems, it does directions and location, lets people save favorite locations and supports crowd-sourcing by allowing users to report errors and make changes themselves.

The service is based on HTML5 and an iOS app is in the works, pending Apple's approval. The iOS app will have voice-guided walk navigation, public transport directions and will cache data for offline use. And taking page from Apple's book, Nokia spent an undisclosed sum to snap up California-based 3D mapping company Earthmine, with aim to use its technology to help index the world in 3D...

A Google Maps iOS app approval is anything but given, insiders claim

Christian Zibreg ∙ November 5, 2012

Google submitted its native Maps iOS app to Apple in September with the hope of having it approved by Christmas. Two weeks later, its chairman Eric Schmidt acknowledged that a Google Maps iOS app is up to Apple and a newspaper report this morning now suggests that insiders don't have high hopes that it will be approved by the iPhone maker after all. Google previously released a native YouTube app for iOS devices following the removal of stock YouTube software from iOS 6. Last month, the search Goliath also enabled Street View as a web app in the mobile Safari browser...

Apple pulls Google-powered ClassicMap from the App Store

Cody Lee ∙ October 12, 2012

While the jury is still out on whether or not Apple will approve Google's rumored standalone Maps app, it seems clear now that the company doesn't want any copycats in the App Store.

Reports started surfacing this morning that Apple has pulled ClassicMap, a Google-powered mapping application that looks a lot like the Google Maps app Apple replaced in iOS 6...

Microsoft targets Android’s Google Maps app in German patent lawsuit

Christian Zibreg ∙ October 11, 2012

Google's pricey $12.5 acquisition of handset maker Motorola Mobility didn't change the dynamics of patent wars as Google hoped it would. Recently, Microsoft and Apple scored a major win in a patent dispute in Germany, forcing Google's Motorola subsidiary to pull all of its Android-based smartphones and tablets from store shelves in the country.

Luck continues to be in short supply at Mountain View, California. Today, the Windows maker has expanded the Motorola patent case to include Google Maps for Android, specifically naming Google as a defendant.

As the public fight between Google and Microsoft gets uglier, Google faces a real possibility of Google Maps becoming unavailable in Germany as early as next spring. Ouch!

Eric Schmidt on Maps situation, the Android-Apple platform fight

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated June 13, 2016

Google chairman Eric Schmidt sat down with The Wall Street Journal tech columnists Walt Mossberg and Kara Swisher last night to talk Maps, Apple and Android. “Apple should have kept our maps”, he remarked. “Apple decided a long time ago to do their own maps", he revealed, suggesting Google very well knew way in advance that the iPhone maker would nuke Google Maps from orbit on iOS devices.

He also talks about the epic iOS versus Android fight and comments what it would take to persuade him to become an Apple CEO. A couple more highlights and a nice video right after the break...

Apple Maps offers automatic caching for offline navigation

Ed Sutherland ∙ Updated April 10, 2018

While most media attention about Apple Maps has centered on bridges on dry land, landmarks that don't exists and other oddities, the digital cartographers at Cupertino, Calif. have been stuffing the app with some amazing features, like offline browsing. Unlike maps in iOS 5, Apple's vector-based Maps are cached and GPS navigation work even without an Internet connection.

For instance, Apple's vector maps loaded while in San Francisco, Calif. can still be browsed on a flight from Anchorage, Alaska to Lima, Peru, according to AppleInsider. The writer was able to navigate across the state and via street-level maps as far west as Salt Lake City, Utah -- and in 3D, to boot. By comparison, Google Maps, which use bitmap tiles, would let you navigate offline for about a 10 mile radius before complaining.

Street View feature now available in Google Maps web app

Cody Lee ∙ October 4, 2012

As expected, Google has started rolling out its popular Street View feature to the web version of its Maps app this morning, bringing the option back to iPhone 5 and iOS 6 users.

Early reports claimed that the data was limited to the US and Canada. But now it appears that the feature has gone live around the world. Keep reading for our first impressions...

How Steve Jobs initiated Maps project, almost dropped Google search from iPhone

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated July 12, 2017

Bloomberg Businessweek has an interesting story up this morning which takes a look at Tim Cook's first year as Apple's CEO. The article also offers a few previously unknown tidbits related to late CEO Steve Jobs's role in the iOS 6 Maps project (originally an afterthought during the iPhone development). It also touches upon the retirement of hardware boss Bob Mansfield and his $2 million a month advisory agreement with Cook, Apple moving away from Intel, the iPad mini later this month and more...

Google Street View rolling out to iOS tomorrow?

Christian Zibreg ∙ October 3, 2012

iDB discovered a week ago that Google is set to introduce street-level photography on the iOS platform in form of a web app in about two weeks. Today, The Wall Street Journal columnist Walt Mossberg made it a fact, claiming that the software is coming as early as Thursday, possibly tomorrow. The journalist had some hands-on time with the web app which includes both360-degree photographic street views and interior photographic views of certain businesses...

Consumer Reports says nice things of Apple Maps

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated February 13, 2018

Consumer Reports, an influential U.S. magazine published monthly since 1936 by Consumers Union, gave Apple's iPhone 5 a thumbs-up recently but initially slammed iOS 6 Maps navigation ("we were disappointed"). Melted bridges aside, the publication known for its reviews and comparisons of popular products took both Apple Maps and Google Maps for a spin, concluding that Apple's offering is "certainly more favorable than comments and articles that we've been reading online"...

When Apple was designing the original iPhone, Maps was an afterthought

Christian Zibreg ∙ September 29, 2012

Piggy-backing on the ongoing Apple Maps drama, The New York Times gives us a couple interesting tidbits that help explain the origins of Google Maps on the iPhone. For starters, Apple never intended to put maps on the iPhone. It was a decision late CEO Steve Jobs made last minute, one that would cost Apple its reputation five years later as Apple rushed its own solution out of the door too early.

In a way, the report notes, Apple Maps continue on a string of Internet services missteps, with notable examples of the recently axed Ping social network for music, Siri, a controversial digital assistant, the MobileMe suite of web tools and recent iCloud outages.

These blunders expose Apple as a hardware and design-focused culture, which is more often than not a difficult match for online services on a world scale, where Google rules the landscape by a wide margin...