By It seems Google could be losing its crown as the King of mapping and navigation soon. Google Maps has been the best of its category for many years, and it is a life-saver for mobile devices. Rumors are indicating that Apple has something under its, sleeve, though, and it will “blow your head off.”
9to5Mac and All Things Digital’s sources are indicating that Apple’s multiple mapping company acquisitions are finally coming to fruition with the next iteration of iOS. All signs indicate that Apple will be leaving Google Maps behind and introducing a 3D, realistic imaging map service.
This would be a product of one of Apple’s acquired companies, C3 Technologies. Such map application could display your favorite places with life-like textures and 3D models. It would be a mixture of Google Maps’ 3D buildings and satellite images, which does seem rather mind-blowing. And we could be seeing more about this during WWDC, or whenever the next version of iOS is announced.
We haven’t heard anything about any possible responses from Google. But this could be the start of a fierce battle between mapping services, as well as yet another competing factor for the never-ending fight between Android and iOS. Do you think this will be next iOS’ “ground-breaking innovation,” much like Siri claimed to be for iOS 5? And if so, is Google Maps in trouble?
[Via: All Things Digital]
I’m actually glad, might make Google update Maps a bit more
Exactly. Love Google maps, but competition is great!
Agreed.
ALthough I do not really see a great 3D view as killer argument, for 99% of the time you’ll still use a normal view.
That’s what I bet they are banking on. Nobody really cares about 3d maps. Its a fun toy for a while but that’s it.
like Siri then
You hit the nail on the head here…Maps have always been a 2d affair due to their ease of viewing and usability when you actually need to use a MAP. 3d mapping is purely a gimmick. Do I see people ever using a 3d map to plan their route somewhere? Hell No
Agreed to you. I mean with the ever changing structure of Houston, I can only begin getting lost because they have an old building. LoL!!
And when you’re driving, you use Navigation and I doubt it’ll be 3D navigation, so what’s the point doing ALL of that?
I think this is great. I do wonder how intuitive it will be with that much graphics mapping going on. It seems like it would be a processor hog. Honestly I want something to work well like maps.
Nah. Google maps is embedded in people’s psyche.
and iMaps will be embedded in millions of iPhones..
Touche
But ONLY iDevices AFAIK. Are Apple planning on making it as easy to embed into my web pages as google does?
Probably not. They will want a bunch of money, and I bet people will pay it. Apple doesnt care if people want to put it on their websites, they are going to sell millions of phones with their technology on it, tell people its the greatest thing ever, and everyone will believe it.
Sad but true…
…or it’ll just like the 3d layer on google maps and siri. Cool for about five minutes but ultimately useless for anything other than hyping in a commercial.
They’ll use the 3d to mask the fact that their maps is losing a huge head start to a mature and full-featured google maps.
The isheep will eat it up of course.
Street view or gtfo, amiright?
This will be a feature just for the new iphone so that gives the isheep some incentive to upgrade sort of how siri was an iphone 4s exclusive
No offense, it is a maps application and its Apple, they will have what GMaps have and glamour it up.
Street view is far more important and useful than this
Love my Google maps and will continue too! Isheep could do whatever!
Er, and how much data will that suck up to use?
dudes, with the greedy carriers tightening up on data, how much more will this app eat up?
Google has such a head start it ain’t even funny. Apple won’t be able to catch up. I mean, look at the Street View database and the indoor maps. That’s next level shit.
5 year head start, basically the whole world photographed, now even places like Stonehenge and indoors? don’t think so.. Next bit of FANBOYiOSM??
Please, learn how to spell or at least proof read your articles. “Losing” not “loosing”.
I am sorry, that one slipped. Thanks for catching it! :)
And like all Apple key software it won’t be licensed to anybody including Google. Remember how long they took to begrudgingly release iTunes for Windows. I highly doubt they’ll put those maps on Android like Google maps are licensed to iOS
Actually, Google pays Apple to use their maps and search, and in turn they make money through schemes on searches and mapping. BTW there is nothing wrong in doing that.
Post your sources or it’s a lie.
This has been common knowledge since the first iPhone.
Next IPhone launch = Iphone4sII…….With Maps. The sheep will love it.
You come up with that all by yourself?
Chances is that it will be better than Google maps. It’ll be more seamless and make companies around the world ask “why didn’t I think of that? ”
Isheep and all this kiddy name calling needs to end. Grow up. Apple is a great tech company and so is Google. But Google is shooting themselves in the foot it seems with Android. Fragmentation, slow updates, and the never ending finger pointing of who’s to blame for the updates.
Respect apple, for they are the only company that I know that’s so far ahead of the game that it doesn’t have to change its design and it takes years for other companies to catch up with their quality.
I was just going to say something about the iSheep comments. Seems like nobody can come up with anything original, so they just overuse the one word they know.
sad thing is you didn’t even say anything wrong and these bed wetters buried your comment…
Yeah I’m not too butt hurt about it. Android fanboys are just as bad as apple’s, and if you say anything real they just get mad.
Like how all the sheep mindlessly repeated “DOA, Fragmentation, and Lag” endlessly across multiple tech sites?
So you’re saying you want to be just like them?
Never inferred that at all, you can imply it if you want, even though it won’t be true.
So far ahead that they’re releasing their own maps 5 years late?
let me think, it took apple two years to do video recording and they are
still the best at it, almost two years to do mms delivery yet still
ahead of its class, two years to do cut, copy , and paste and tech
companies around the world are still using their methods as the solution
into doing that. i can go on about this forever but the point is rather
you like it or not once when apple does something they do it right
regardless of the time it took you bunch of digalings! and i think it’s
pathetic that you guys thumbs down a comment that’s actually true. i
love android i just don’t like the android method of upgrading.
How will it be more seamless than Google maps is with android?
i dont even use the map features on my gn…..
No it will not be better, I must be a dying breed where if you want maps you want clear, concise, accurate simply displayed information. Not all this 3D, photos, satellite style stuff that makes using a mapping service tedious, annoying and far more hungry on data/could/gpu etc. I hope Google maps does update to compete, but in a more useful and user friendly way, not with more and more gimmicks that are simple not welcome in the mapping space.
Maybe google will sue Apple? Lol
There’s nothing new about this. It’s already available on Nokia Maps. Also by C3 Technologies.
http://maps.nokia.com/
If you want to try it just select 3d view and tilt the camera with the button thats next to the zoom button.
Question should be, does anyone care?
Android and Maps suit my needs. I will use them until something else better comes along.
To each their own.. Shrug.
beat google maps?? my a** it will
3D is a marketing gimmick. I’d be happy with a map app that provides accurate navigation. Google has been failing miserably on that front lately. Their development focus no longer seems to be on functionality.
Smoke and mirrors, just like Siri was. No bigger screen and no 4G, but hey, look at this great app!
And they wonder why people call them sheep.
who cares
this is the next big thing on iphone 5? “it has 3d maps” like siri was with apple
its almost laughable this is useless …unless ofcourse .”flying a plane over nyc? which is extreamly illegal
maps. apple.com? if its only confined to an iOS device Apple wont have a chance
How about a maps app that uses satellites and ZERO data, and doesn’t need voice coverage either? Don’t regular GPS devices do this?
To do that, you’d have to download the maps to your phone. Both iOS and Android have apps in their stores for that. Google Maps doesn’t support it.
Better watch Apple you wouldn’t want to to steal idea’s from Google Lol. Apple is now getting scared that eventually they will lose every ITard…….
How many stuff is Apple gonna copy from Google yet still try to sue them?
Because Google invented maps. *smh*
This will be another passing fad like Siri and almost as useless. Next!
Until it’s available EVERYWHERE like gmaps, I doubt it’ll have anything other than a ‘cool’ factor.
A majority of GMaps access is from non-mobile so if Apple are planning to ‘beat’ Google in the mapping stakes they will need to make it available EVERYWHERE to everyone, otherwise it’s like ovimaps or whatever, irrelevant to most people.
The only scary thing is Google losing search revenue from iOS. And let the iFans take their iMaps with them; the lack of Turn by turn navigation is something they have been missing for so many years anyway, they won’t see a difference.
C3 only has maps of 100 cities. Fancy sure, but useless for 90% of the world. Apple can have the fancy graphics, I’ll take accurate data that covers the entire globe. Also these graphics will make it easier for the bad guys to attack our homeland.
Um…? So if I was using an iPhone, it would show as if I’m driving down the street, or is this just with viewing the map? Because I really don’t view the map. I just look at directions. I mean, the 3D graphics are pretty nifty.
This wouldn’t be so great since buildings are changing all the tym. Seems like it’ll be kinda costly to keep changing. Seems to be another gimmick.
Just want to brag on google maps for a sec, but all my friends have iphones. I LOVE when we are going somewhere and they attempt to use their stripped down version of maps. I get to whip out my up to date turn by turn navigation and save the day. This actually happened tonight.
I welcome any competition. It will be great for everyone, maybe motivate google to push it to the limits. Not sure how much better it could get, but I am sure there is always room for something. And if it is anything like siri, it will be cool for a sec, but not the most practical thing.
I think this goes beyond maps… the “iMap” itself might be nice, but the problem is, unless you have integrated information (places on the map with associated phone numbers, hours, reviews, etc) that google has (and the ability to search for it in real time), then the “iMap” itself is useless.
Probably Big A will relaese it in Beta stage and market it like Crazy as though it’s in Fully built mode..but tht won’t stop people from buying it like crazy..not that theres anything wrong with tht.. :-) Anyways, I don’t think Google needs to worry much about it atleast in short term..They are keeping their fingers crossed to file Map related Lawsuits..I believe.. haha
Now iSheep will be forced to buy 64gb version phones or pay hefty data bills to get that data hungry 3D bla bla things…. Lol, I will get another reason to laugh at them…. ROFL
Do you really think Google will take this lying down? They will respond with something as good, maybe better.
this seems more gimmicky and useless as siri roflmmfao! apple, can you release anything that isnt a useless marketing gimmick that appeals to people that have brains? lol
Oh Apple, why do you even try?
Actually, the inferiority of iPhone’s Maps app was one of the two things that pushed me from iPhone to Android in the first place. In particular, as someone who relies on mass transit, it jumps out at me that even with this planned upgrade, even when it does ship, iOS’s mass transit support will lag years, and I do mean years, behind Android’s, because while Apple was carefully making sure that every icon’s rounded corner rectangle had the exact same radius, Google was setting up automatic data interchange deals with every transit agency in the country.
3D map view is eye candy, useful once in a very rare while for trying to find the entrance to a building or something. What I need every day from a map application on a phone is three things: semantic search, accurate routing, and turn-by-turn driving and stop-by-stop transit directions. Apple lags Google in all three areas, and hasn’t even announced any planned improvements in any of them.
Loading all those textures will kill the battery AND eat your data like nuts! Google Maps is simple to use, clean to look at & Google Navigation already bests other products such as Garmin / TomTom with ease.
Sweet! Another ridiculously gimmicky thing for apple to boast about!!!
I love my mac-book, and I genuinely enjoy iOS as well…but these “Mind blowing” features are really hard to take seriously…
Time for Google to unleash the patent trolls!!!
With Google Maps being free, how much is this going to cost the user to have access to? Doesn’t Apple already have mapping software that costs money? Everyone I know that has an iphone uses Google Maps. I don’t see it being free. It takes a huge amount of work and updating to keep the maps updated. This costs money, Apple will need a revenue stream to keep it up. Google has that in place. In addition, as mentioned before, Google has their entire database at their disposal to give you as much information as possible. This is an area where Apple will fail miserably. It WILL cost to use it. As good as Google Maps is, I do not see this taking off. It will take tons of data and that will be a problem. Google has done a great job of adding features to Google Maps while keeping the software light. Maps are so integrated I giggle sometimes when I see how well it works and how well it is integrated into the phone, software and searches.
Google changed the game with Street View; Street View data has great utility.
3D Maps and Terrain Maps are nothing new, but am expecting a whole new user experience from Apple. It could be engaging.
I’d like to see street view navigation!
C3 technologies had a web-based demo a few months ago, it was awesome (maybe it’s still out there, but I can’t find it). If Google isn’t working on a copycat right now I sincerely hope they get on the ball soon. When Apple launches this, it will make current style mapping look archaic. The problem for apple is to have completely fleshed out business listings to go with this.
Maps are maps. This is more like Google Earth.
Yeah, it’s going to be mind blowing. They are going to have this app, that when you speak where you want to go, it will give you turn by turn directions on how to get there. Something only unique as what Apple can bring to the table…. 4 years later than everyone else!
just like to add still no Google maps here in Korea though so they still have room to make things better….
We don’t more map products.. This will just be another shit product. Free software for all! Base everything on openmaps and develop together,!!!!!!!!
Hey at least they are starting to innovate right? lol
Google should by Waze. Waze is much better at getting you some place in the fastest time possible.
Sooooooo…
They’ve been spending all this time and money making Goo, I mean, iEarth? Way to be “revolutionary”.
Also, 3D satellite imagery is everything I DON”T need when trying to use a map to navigate. Is it pretty? Sure. Is it useful? Not so much.
Of course its gonna be better according to the sheep.
If it doesn’t have free navigation, then it doesn’t matter. One reason why everyone likes Google Maps is because of the free navigation.
NO! Apple does not know how to create real software that people will use..Maybe they are going with Bing.
This reminds me of PlayStation home. Lol I don’t know why.
Navigation beta by Google is by far the best Nav I have ever owned. Gonna be tough to take that crown, its pretty polished.