Hasta La Gadget!

According to many of our readers, if Apple’s iOS 6 Maps software isn’t suitably filling in for the old Google-powered Maps then the quickest workaround is simply using Google Maps as a web app. While we’ll likely be waiting some time to find out if a standalone replacement from Google really is in the cards, The New York Times‘ David Pogue mentions — while bemoaning some navigation related mishaps in the new app — Street View imagery will be accessible that way “in two weeks.” Hopefully users will find that makes the wait easier, but at least they’re not making you carry around one of those backpacks to make it all work.

Filed under: Software, Mobile

Google Maps Street View will be available via Mobile Safari in two weeks originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 26 Sep 2012 21:56:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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This whole Apple Maps and Google Maps fiasco has gotten pretty crazy. After iOS users found out that the new Apple Maps pretty much sucked, they were left wondering why Apple ditched Google Maps in the first place. Many believed it had to with the crumbling relationship between the two companies, but it turns out the answer is as simple as it gets: Apple left Google Maps because it didn’t have turn-by-turn navigation.

As any iPhone or iPad user may know, Google Maps for iOS did not come with turn-by-turn navigation unlike the Android version. Google was adamant about keeping turn-by-turn an exclusive feature on Android. Somehow, Apple was okay with that and they signed the contract that would allow a modified version of Google Maps to be used on iOS.

However, Apple slowly started to realize that they needed built-in turn-by-turn navigation on iOS that was free, but their contract with Google (which still had a year left) still wouldn’t allow that. In order to compete with Android, Apple’s only choice at that point was to build their own solution that came with turn-by-turn navigation.

So, Apple began to quietly and quickly develop an in-house maps app that had voice-guided turn-by-turn navigation built in, with the goal of having it ready for iOS 6. Once they knew that it would be ready for iOS 6, the company decided to announce their new maps app at WWDC back in June and ditch Google Maps once and for all.

The transition isn’t going so well for Apple, since their new Maps app is getting a lot of flack for being extremely buggy and pretty inaccurate. Then again, this is Apple’s first time doing this, and even know we’re talking about a great company like Apple, no one does something great on the first try. They even said it themselves.

[via AllThingsD]

Apple ditched Google Maps due to lack of turn-by-turn navigation is written by Craig Lloyd & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Yesterday, Google chairman Eric Schmidt said that the company has yet to start work on a Google Maps app for iOS. It certainly bummed a lot of iPhone and iPad users out since it would now be a while before they could be saved from the Apple Maps fiasco. However, the New York Times is reporting that Google is indeed currently working on a Maps app for iOS after all.

As you may already know, Apple ditched Google Maps in favor of their own solution in iOS 6. However, Apple’s new maps app isn’t exactly a home run. The accuracy isn’t all that great, and public transit information and directions aren’t supported. This has resulted in a majority of iOS users begging for Google to save the day.

However, when Schmidt was asked about bringing a Google Maps app to iOS, he said that it wasn’t currently being worked on. Then again, according to sources close to the New York Times, that’s not true at all, as we should be seeing a Google Maps app for both the iPhone and the iPad appear by the end of the year.

It’s too bad Google wasn’t as quick to the punch as they were with their new YouTube app. After Apple also pulled their built-in YouTube app from iOS 6, Google was surprisingly quick to deliver their own YouTube app for iOS users to download and enjoy. Hopefully Google is working hard to deliver its Maps to iOS users as we speak.

[via Ars Technica]

Google Maps iOS app rumored to arrive by the end of the year is written by Craig Lloyd & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Google Maps has extended Street View into even more unusual places, adding underwater panoramic images courtesy of a collaboration with The Catlin Seaview Survey. The new under the sea shots include not only incredible marine topology, such as the Great Barrier Reef and Apo Island, but a wealth of sealife too (none of which has been blurred out for privacy, unlike hapless humans who accidentally get caught in Google’s more pedestrian Street View system).

The photos were taken using a special camera tailored to underwater use, the Seaview SVII. It shoots 360-degree panoramic images instantaneously, firing off one every three seconds while moving at around 2.5mph, and each with geo-location and camera direction appended so that the data can be accurately plotted on a map.

The SVII is the second-generation of the camera, and – unlike its more finicky predecessor – is entirely controlled by a tablet. Catlin says that makes it incredibly easy to use, as well as cutting out time-consuming tasks like opening and resealing the waterproofed housing to change settings or offload images. The company intends to launch the camera commercially, though currently only two examples exist.

So far, six locations have been photographed and shared on Google Maps, in Australia, the Philippines, and Hawaii. You can find all of the underwater panorama images at maps.google.com/ocean.

Google Street View goes diving with underwater panoramas is written by Chris Davies & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

iOS 6 users, here is what you will be missing on your spanking new iPhone 5 (as well as other devices that have been updated) – Google Maps’ recent introduction of checking out vibrant and stunning photos underwater, right across half a dozen of the ocean’s most incredible living coral reefs located throughout Australia, the Philippines and Hawaii. Imagine being up close and personal with sea turtles at Heron Island, Great Barrier Reef, while remaining as dry as a bone in the safety and comfort of your living room.

Google Maps managed to pull this off after partnering with The Catlin Seaview Survey, a major scientific study of the world’s reefs, so that the amazing images that you see will also be made available to millions worldwide through the Street View feature found only in Google Maps, although I would think that calling it Sea View would be a whole lot more appropriate. How do you find what you have seen so far, and have you come across any of the weirder images while underwater?

By Ubergizmo. Related articles: Google Maps to arrive on iPhone and iPad, All your Google Maps are belong to us,