[HN Gopher] Why doesn't "Look Around" cover more areas?
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Why doesn't "Look Around" cover more areas?
Author : joao
Score : 38 points
Date : 2021-02-09 23:21 UTC (1 days ago)
(HTM) web link (www.justinobeirne.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (www.justinobeirne.com)
| coldtea wrote:
| > _...seem to suggest that Apple might be having issues
| algorithmically identifying POI information in its imagery. And
| if that's the case, it raises interesting questions regarding
| Apple's overall mapping effort..._
|
| Really? The quote sounds grandiose, but what "interesting
| questions" does it raise, aside from "it's not perfect" (who
| would have thought) and "what else might be missing?"?
| paunchy wrote:
| Did anyone actually finish this article? It felt like it was
| building towards something really interesting but could have used
| just a bit more editorial discipline.
| sdfhbdf wrote:
| It had gone into too details about author's life and specific
| cities midway and I ended up with just the conclusion that
| there is some chaos between different parts of Apple Maps -
| Look Around, POI etc.
|
| I also felt it was building towards something really
| interesting.
|
| Perhaps it could have used less examples.
| coldtea wrote:
| I've read from this website before, they're not about some
| snappy argument/case, they're about thorough research and lots
| of detailed examples.
| [deleted]
| pierrebai wrote:
| Sometimes, article have low information/length ratio.
|
| This one has a ton information of information, but still fail
| to satisfy because it has a low point/information ratio. It
| just rambles on with data points and examples.
|
| AFAICT, the points made are: * Apple switched
| from vans to subarus for data gathering. (IOW, they changed
| their data acquisition equipment.) * Their new equipment
| must be better, because Apple seem to have thrown away all data
| they acquired with vans. * Yet, they still lack tons of
| labels and mis-label / mis-place many buildings / store etc.
| * Apple seems to be processing data faster than they used to.
|
| ... and even these points are must of the shrug / why would I
| care category, except maybe the fact that most cities are not
| labeled.
|
| Take-away: you're better off with google street view.
| ardy42 wrote:
| > This one has a ton information of information, but still
| fail to satisfy because it has a low point/information ratio.
| It just rambles on with data points and examples.
|
| On his front page, this article appear in this section:
|
| > Research + Updates
|
| > Material for future essays + updates to earlier essays
|
| It honestly reads more like notes than an article.
| hobbescotch wrote:
| Didn't realize so much of Canada was mapped. There's some really
| good imagery of northern Canada and the rockies there.
|
| I also noticed that the images don't distort as much around the
| edges of the screen when rotating the view as compared to Google
| Streetview.
| johnfn wrote:
| I love this type of article, and the effort put into it - but the
| main thing I can't help but do is wonder what kind of person is
| driven to exhaustively research Apple Maps over a 5+ year period.
| ardy42 wrote:
| > I love this type of article, and the effort put into it - but
| the main thing I can't help but do is wonder what kind of
| person is driven to exhaustively research Apple Maps over a 5+
| year period.
|
| I'm under the vague impression that Justin O'Beirne works in
| this space, so this isn't just a hobby. Can anyone confirm?
|
| Edit: this article (https://www.businessinsider.com/google-
| maps-vs-apple-maps-ke...) describes him as "a map expert who
| helped work on Apple Maps." This article
| (https://medium.com/all-consuming/the-most-overlooked-
| touchpo...) describes him as "Head of Cartography at Apple."
| tobr wrote:
| He is also listed on several mapping-related patents for
| Apple over the past several years.[1] It seems surprisingly
| un-Apple-y to allow someone in that position to publish
| articles detailing the flaws in Apple maps, speculate about
| where they get their data and how the quality problems might
| affect unannounced future products.
|
| 1: https://patents.justia.com/inventor/justin-o-beirne
| ardy42 wrote:
| > It seems surprisingly un-Apple-y to allow someone in that
| position to publish articles detailing the flaws in Apple
| maps, speculate about where they get their data and how the
| quality problems might affect unannounced future products.
|
| That tells me he no longer works at Apple. If he did, why
| would he need to _speculate_ about Apple 's internal
| processes based on what they publicly release? This article
| (https://www.justinobeirne.com/a-summer-of-google-maps-and-
| ap...) from 2017 even has him noting hits from Apple's
| website and tracking how long it took them to correct gaps
| he outlined.
|
| Those two articles I linked were dated 2016 and 2017.
| Looking at his website, before that time it seems like he
| was mostly writing about Google Maps. So maybe he wrote
| about Google when he was at Apple, then started writing
| about Apple when he left.
| tobr wrote:
| There's certainly overlap between the date stamps on his
| articles and his Apple patents. Not sure if someone might
| be listed as inventor on a patent filed after they left.
|
| There are probably a lot of teams working on different
| aspects of the maps, so he wouldn't automatically be
| privy to everything because he's worked on one aspect of
| the product.
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(page generated 2021-02-11 23:02 UTC)