mapping

Australia police discourage use of Apple maps app after rescues

Apple recognized a few months ago that its iOS map app was so inefficient that it encouraged use of competing apps. Now police in Australia are suggesting that such a move might save the lives of motorists Down Under.

Police in Victoria, Australia, issued a warning Monday discouraging iPhone users from relying on Apple's map app after rescuing several people who became stranded in recent weeks in the wilderness following the app's directions -- some who were stranded 24 hours without adequate food and water.

Police said they rescued six motorists who were stranded following Apple's directions … Read more

Apple Maps fiasco makes Mad's '20 Dumbest' list

Apple, already the world's most valuable company, has received yet another superlative... from Mad Magazine.

Uh-oh. This can't be good for Tim Cook and the Cupertino clan.

Indeed, get ready for some serious harshness from the wit-masters at Mad who earlier gave us the above hilarious mock New Yorker cover featuring the world as seen by Apple Maps.… Read more

Google updates its maps for 10 European countries

Google today said it had updated maps for 10 countries and regions in Europe, bringing the number of countries it has mapped through its globe-spanning Ground Truth project to 40.

The new maps cover the following places: Andorra, Bulgaria, Estonia, Gibraltar, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Slovakia, Slovenia, and Spain.

The update comes as part of Ground Truth, the 4-year-old effort to combine licensed map data with algorithms, photography, and old-fashioned human labor to create the best map possible.

In addition to new roads and highways, the update encompasses walking paths, ferry lines, building outlines, park boundaries, and university campuses, Google said … Read more

News Corp. cans The Daily

News Corp. axes The Daily.

The Daily, which was an ambitious tablet-only news publication backed by News Corp., is shutting its doors December 15. Launched back in February 2011, The Daily was an interactive newspaper stylized for consumption on the iPad. Best of all, a year's subscription went for only $40 and offered a wide variety of sections. While there will be no more issues of The Daily, its brand will live on other channels within News Corp.

This week marks the 20th anniversary of the first text message. On December 3, 1992, SMS pioneer Matti Makkonen successfully sent … Read more

Google updates Maps API to improve in-app map views

Google updated its Maps API today, giving developers a handful of new features to improve the way Google Maps are displayed inside their apps.

The company wrote in a blog post:

We've incorporated many of the highly requested features developers want, such as:

• More dynamic and flexible UI designs for large screen Android devices, such as tablets, using Android Fragments • Adding more Google Maps layers in their apps including satellite, hybrid, terrain, traffic and now indoor maps for many major airports and shopping centers • The ability to create markers and info windows with less code.

More … Read more

Ten days with the LTE iPad Mini

You might not think that adding cellular LTE onto an iPad Mini would be all that exciting. After all, the larger Retina Display iPad and iPhone 5 are both LTE devices. However, the Mini has something unique going for it in the world of Apple devices: it's the smallest contract-free iOS LTE gadget short of getting an unlocked iPhone.

I got the opportunity to try out a black Verizon LTE Mini and see how the experience differed from using the Wi-Fi only version. There really shouldn't be many surprises, right? Still, there are some use cases I realized were pretty compelling, and might even merit the idea that an LTE iPad Mini is more of an ideal purchase than the larger LTE iPad ever was.… Read more

Apple tells maps manager to get lost, report says

Apple has fired the manager in charge of its controversial mapping software, according to a new report.

Citing unnamed sources, Bloomberg said Apple Senior Vice President Eddy Cue recently fired Richard Williamson, who was in charge of the company's maps software for iOS. Cue took over the maps product last month.

Williamson had been with Apple since 2001 and at Steve Jobs' NeXT Computer before that. His most recent role, according to his LinkedIn profile, was the senior director of Apple's iOS services team. He's also listed on numerous Apple patents, including one the company was granted … Read more

Google Maps helps man walk 5,000 miles

Imagine hiking 5,000 miles through Asia, with only Google Maps as your guide. Winston Fiore, a U.S. marine formerly deployed to Senegal and Afghanistan, did it in about a year, calling the journey his "Smile Trek."

The inspiration for "Smile Trek" came in 2007 when Fiore witnessed "an incredible amount of poverty" while in Senegal. He then decided to set aside a year for traveling, and found a cause to throw his weight behind: the International Children's Surgical Foundation (ICSF), a nonprofit that provides free corrective surgery for kids in developing countries with cleft lips and palates.

For the past year, he has hiked through Malaysia, Thailand, Laos, Vietnam, China, Taiwan, the Philippines, Brunei, and Singapore. He completed his journey last week.

Speaking to CNET Asia in Singapore, his start and end point, Fiore says he didn't carry any physical maps and only relied on Google Maps to map his daily walking route. (Probably a good thing Fiore wasn't using an iPhone 5 -- we all know about the Apple Maps kerfuffle.)

Along with Google Maps, Fiore relied on Google Translate (to communicate with locals); Google Latitude (for keeping his family, friends, and supporters informed of his whereabouts); and MyTracks (to record his speed, distance, and places visited). … Read more

About-face on e-mail surveillance bill

week in review After public criticism of a proposal that would let government agencies warrantlessly access Americans' e-mail, a prominent senator says he will "not support" such an idea.

Sen. Patrick Leahy has abandoned his controversial proposal that would grant government agencies more surveillance power -- including warrantless access to Americans' e-mail accounts -- than they possess under current law. The Vermont Democrat said on Twitter that he would "not support such an exception" for warrantless access, a few hours after a CNET article disclosed the existence of the measure.

Leahy's about-face comes in response … Read more