Side by Side comparison: Apple Maps vs Google Maps
(source: @corxo -> Here’s new iOS6 maps and the normal Google Maps side by side for Kings X. Which would you rather use?)
Very good post by MG Siegler Apple Maps and the digital mapping landscape in general. There is a large shift, finally, occurring in the digital mapping world and it will lead to a ton of innovation in the space.
In its initial iteration, Apple does not need to beat Google Maps 5 but simply make something comparable to the existing Maps App on iOS. The biggest challenge here will be to match or beat, Google search results on the map. This includes, one box search, location logic (does New York Pizza mean pizza in New York or a place called New York Pizza) and overall venue freshness and accuracy. Google is very very good at this and users will notice poor results very quickly.
Regarding map API’s for developers, this will not be as big of a challenge as some people suspect. Essentially, MapKit just sends map tiles on request for developers to layer information on top. Creating a map tile set, once you have the data, is something Apple is very capable of doing.
The more interesting innovation will occur down the road. The map provider who is able to provide an API that is vector based and give developers the tools to harness the power of vectors will create an new ecosystem of innovation.
*** I obviously have my biases in how this map industry shakeup will turn out. My company, UpNext, is a interactive 3D mapping platform for mobile. We strongly believe vector based mapping is the future of maps. Check it out for yourself -> UpNext Maps for iPhone
UpNext Maps for iPhone -> iTunes Link
We just launched our newest and best app, UpNext Maps for iPhone. Watch the video above for a quick demo.
UpNext Maps is the first fully dynamic map; a map that fluidly moves between three different but essential experiences.
1) Immerse/3D - a city-centric experience, giving users a feel for a city without actually being there. Complete with fully textured cities, enhanced roadways and tappable buildings.
One of the highlights of this year’s NVCA meeting was seeing Mike Markkula interview Arthur Rock.
Rock’s “most fun deal” was Scientific Data Systems, his first big exit. He didn’t get into details about this spectacular investment so I did a bit of research.
SDS was founded in 1961, the same…
Over the years, much of Eugene’s business wisdom became widely known as “Kleiner’s Laws.” I was fortunate to have many lessons taught me one-on-one. Some of my favorites:
• Make sure the dog wants to eat the dog food. No matter how ground-breaking a new technology, how large a potential market, make certain customers actually want it.
• Build one business at a time. Most business plans are overly ambitious. Concentrate on being successful in one endeavor first.
• The time to take the tarts is when they’re being passed. If an environment is right for funding, go for it. Eugene, more than anyone, knew that venture capital goes in cycles.
• The problem with most companies is they don’t know what business they’re in.
• Even turkeys can fly in a high wind. In times of strong economies, even bad companies can look good.
• It’s easier to get a piece of an existing market than to create a new one.
• It’s difficult to see the picture when you’re inside the frame.
• After learning some of the tricks of the trade, some people think they know the trade. This reflected some of Eugene’s own humility; he recognized that many venture capitalists thought they were experts when they had just a bit of knowledge.
• Venture capitalists will stop at nothing to copy success.
• Invest in people, not just products. Eugene always respected founding entrepreneurs. He wanted to build companies with them not just with their ideas.
On Nov. 20, Eugene Kleiner died at the age of 80. In the last weeks of his life, I asked Eugene if he had any regrets — any investments he wished he’d made, places he wished he’d visited, anything he’d missed. He sighed deeply, and his answer surprised me, “I know I was lucky to get out (of Austria) myself, and I was young, but I wish I could have brought some of my friends too — I know it’s not realistic, but I wished I could have saved them.” With all that Eugene had done, all that he had contributed, he never forgot the value of a single human life.
Hi there. I took a break from posting (and social media in general—if you check my twitter, it’s been pretty thin lately) for a while due to some major life events both expected and not. Nothin’ like a little life to put the world of consumer software startups into perspective. But while I may not have been so chatty in the last four months, we’ve been hard at work at Hopscotch.
What’s Hopscotch, you ask? Short version: educational software to teach kids to program.
Yeah, yeah, we know programming education has been a hot topic lately. Learning to code is sexy because of startup sweepstakes stories like Instagram, and roaring demand for software engineers at a time of sustained high unemployment. A lot of people —especially in the world of tech startups—like the idea of learning to program.
But Sam and I were talking about doing something like this quite a while ago—back when we were figuring out how to overcome marketplace dynamics for Kangaroost. ”I wish there was a toy to get girls into learning how to program,” we thought. We were focused on something else though, so after idly chatting about how great the equivalent of female Legos for programming would be, I added it to my list of startups I wished someone would build.
But this past fall, when Sam, Evan and I were feeling a little lukewarm about applying to YC with NerdNearby, we dredged this idea back up again and all instantly realized we were all much more excited about this than a mobile location-based app.
Our general take on teaching kids to code is that you only want to learn to code in order to make stuff. Programming a computer is a means to an end: you don’t just code for the sake of learning coding, you code to make a product that has its own value. And so to get kids interested in it, you need to give them specific things to make.
Following the “launch early and often” philosophy, we put out a couple of experimental products:
1) Daisy the Dinosaur - an iPad app with a drag and drop programming language to animate a dinosaur.
2) Hopscotch Kits - CoffeeScript coding tutorials to make specific projects using the Raphael drawing library.
We’ve been surprised by the positive response these products have received, considering their lack of polish and our lack of promotion. To us, it only underlines the strong demand for a good product that gives people exposure to programming.
We’ve also learned a lot about kids learning programming. We’re hard at work on a new product now, and we’re back to the iPad. We’re really excited about all of this. And I’m excited to (try!) to be a little more consistent about posting here. Stay tuned, folks.
Wait, what? Can someone explain this to me? These guys were fucked, weren’t they?
Loopt (Sequoia) -> Green Dot (Sequoia)
Thank you. Dirty VCs.
lol. yeah a VC board member forced a public company ceo to buy another one of the VCs companies. not how the world actually works.
My other thought was that Green Dot exhaustively evaluated the location space, identified the most innovative companies, found the one with the right fit and paid a fair price for the company.
Wait, what? Can someone explain this to me? These guys were fucked, weren’t they?
Loopt (Sequoia) -> Green Dot (Sequoia)
The OpenStreetMap Foundation says that Apple has indeed switched from Google Maps in the new iOS version of iPhoto — to their maps. And they note that they’re using older data and not crediting OpenStreetMap. Interesting.
A few people pointed out yesterday that Apple’s new maps don’t look like OpenStreetMap, but it appears Apple may have just re-skinned the tiles. But there’s still some confusion here.
Some additional thought on this… Apple and Maps - New tiles are just the first step to building a mapping platform
