Apple’s often-ridiculed Maps app is getting some much-needed assistance, thanks to a recent new hire who helped invent the satellite navigation systems used by a bevy of automakers.
Sinisa Durekovic, a software engineer who was the principle architect and engineer for Harman International Industries’ navigation systems, has reportedly joined Apple, and the company won’t say what he is working on.
When you’re out in the sticks somewhere, you might get to a place where there’s no signal. How will you ever find your way home (or to the next party) without your trusty Google Maps app?
Well, with a little foresight, you can make sure Google Maps continues to be useful, even when you’re not within range of cellular data. Here’s how to use Google Maps offline to make sure you never get lost again when your smartphone goes offline.
Note: This tip will work with Android and iOS versions of Google Maps.
Google Maps has rolled out something special for the premiere of Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice this weekend: You can take a stroll around the film versions of Bruce Wayne’s house and Batman’s lair through Street View.
The tour contains a lot of surprises for long-time Batfans who have been keeping cold on the new film. For one thing, did you know that Batman is secretly Bruce Wayne? It’s crazy. Even stranger than that is the fact that while the film places Gotham City somewhere in New Jersey, Google Maps puts it on the border of a dog park in southern Michigan.
Google has finally updated its iOS app to include the Uber connectivity that Android users have had for like a week now.
It’s not just Uber, but that’s definitely the biggest ride-sharing company to get support in the new version. Users in Brazil, India, the UK, Spain, and Germany can also use their local call-a-car service of choice.
Android owners have been able to insert detours into their Google Maps routes since October, but now the company is letting iPhone users in on the cool feature.
Starting today, Google is rolling out “pit stop” functionality to the iOS version of its navigation app. The company says it will work in the over 100 countries in which it offers driving directions.
One of my favorite features of the Google Maps app is its ability to save offline maps on iPhone. Whether you want map access regardless of cell reception or you’re traveling abroad and won’t have a data connection, Google Maps is king. Even better, it costs you absolutely nothing.
Traveling abroad, especially for the first time, can be overwhelming. From figuring out transit systems to finding places to say, there’s a lot to consider. That’s why over the past several years, I’ve come to rely on a handful of choice apps to help me travel better, smarter, and cheaper.
International or not, these are the travel apps for iPhone and iPad I never leave home without:
We aren’t going to pretend we’re perfect, but that doesn’t mean we have no appreciation for the mistakes of others. They make us feel better about our own glaring flaws, and they also make for some good fodder for “weirdest of 2015” news roundups.
This year, we saw some really impressive corporate blunders as well as some head-slapping moments from Apple fans.
It’s hard to think of too many Apple-related bombs bigger than Apple Maps, the disastrous mapping service introduced in 2012, which resulted in widespread ridicule, at least one major executive leaving the company, and Tim Cook himself recommending that customers use rival services.
But just a few years later a new report suggests that Apple Maps is used “three times as often” as Google Maps on iOS devices, with “more than five billion map-related requests each week.”
How’s that for a turnaround?
Google Maps is getting offline navigation to ensure you never get stranded in a strange place when your data connection disappears. Users can download entire areas onto their smartphone, then get turn-by-turn directions even while they’re offline.
