Saturday, July 7, 2012

Apple Ditching Google Maps

Jacqui Cheng:

It looks like Google’s terms for use of the API clearly restricts companies like Apple from offering turn-by-turn navigation in their apps. But this leaves at least one unanswered question: what if Apple and Google had worked out their own agreement that isn’t necessarily subject to the TOS that are applied to everyone else?

Street View and integrated transit information seem like big losses.

1 Comment RSS · Twitter

I will forever miss Street View, but I do reluctantly accept the thinking in that article I saw a few weeks back saying that some transit authorities are assholes about their data.

There are two remaining gaps. The first is the inability for said authority to register their web site for inclusion in the routing ecosystem, but I guess many localities big enough to be served by transit will have at least one app developer that will jump at the chance, so I think it's not going to be a practical problem in the long term. Many transit systems of repute are already well-served by apps.

The second is the inability to route across several transit systems. You'll have to divvy up the route. That's a clear downside that might never be resolved without real transit integration.

Leave a Comment