A Year of Google Maps & Apple Maps
Justin O’Beirne (Hacker News):
According to Google Analytics, that essay has received more than 1,000 hits from computers on Apple’s corporate network, mainly Apple’s Sunnyvale and Cupertino campuses. Yet nearly a year later, Patricia’s Green still isn’t green.
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Google has distinct locations for each. But Apple plots them at the same location... […] ...and as the months pass by, Apple cycles through all three – padding our addition/removal counts[…]
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Speaking of place labels, did you notice that halfway through the year, Google’s changed in appearance?
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And in addition to the color changes, Google also flattened the map – eliminating the coastline dropshadows it had added just a couple years ago and removing most of the road casings[…]
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And speaking of places, Google has also been increasing the variety of places it shows.
I hope Apple’s on-the-ground data collection indicates that they’re pushing for a big improvement soon. But, while they may be working really hard, Google’s designers and engineers aren’t twiddling their thumbs either, and Google is starting with a much stronger base. This article is so good that Apple could almost use it as a todo list. And they probably should.
O’Beirne was apparently the “Head of Cartography” at Apple, but given this essay and the one last year, it sounds like he no longer works there.
