Apple ‘Aggressively’ Going After Google Maps Engineers To Fix Its New Maps Service [Report]

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It could be some time before you can rely on Apple's new Maps app.
Apple is hoping Google Maps employees can help fix its new service.

Apple is said to be “aggressively” recruiting Google Maps employees in an effort to fix its highly criticized Maps service, according to an unnamed source “with connections on both teams.” The Cupertino company is reportedly using recruiters to attract individuals who have previously helped develop Google Maps, and many of them seem to be snapping up the opportunity to work at Apple.

According to a source for TechCrunch, some of the individuals are keen to take on a new project at Apple, rather than just developing “tedious updates” on Google’s “largely complete” Maps platform:

My source — a contractor who worked on Google Maps as part of a massive undertaking to integrate Street View and newly licensed third-party data to improve European coverage, as well as develop the platform’s turn-by-turn navigation — says that when attention turned to indoor mapping, things started to become less interesting and a lot of staff began looking around for other opportunities. That turned out to be good timing for Cupertino.

It is claimed that Apple is actively seeking ex-Google employees to bolster its Maps team, and the company may be even more desperate to do so following the negative response it has received to Maps since iOS 6 made its public debut last week.

iOS users have become accustomed to a complete Maps experience on their iPhones and iPads, but Apple’s service — despite compelling features like 3D Flyover and turn-by-turn navigation — is far from that at this point in time. In fact, it’s so poor in some places that jailbreak developers are already trying to bring the old Maps app back to iOS.

Source: TechCrunch

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