Apple Buys Another Map App, Embark
jessicalessin.com
jessicalessin.com
Congratulations to David Hodge and team!
([1] Disclaimer: David is a friend, but I am pretty sure his non-friend users will tell you the same :))
Disclaimer: I work on the Parse team.
Come to Parse Developer Day: http://www.parsedeveloperday.com/
Or perhaps you're concerned about Facebook changing the business of Parse or shutting it down? They went out of their way to disclaim that when they did the MA, so I would worry about your own business long before I worried about Parse being the reason you win or fail.
So far they only launched for NYC and London but they are truly amazing.
They are pretty much the only thing that makes London public transit bearable.
Their mission is: "to save Londoners from London!"
Disclaimer: I know the founders from London quite well.
Their serious "A" game against Google was what you saw with the first version. And it stunk. Just terrible. It wasn't that they weren't "serious" about Maps. Apple just completely dropped the ball. Terrible data, no bus/transit routes without third party apps (if this wasn't a huge red flag for, "we are not ready to release Maps" I don't know what is), and an icon that subconsciously told their users to drive off a bridge.
They assumed users would give them a pass on their lack of data because they would be too busy being wowed by the Flyover views. Well they were wrong.
Not sure why you'd say this then list its obvious and avoidable failings. Failings which contributed to an SVP being ousted and a huge amount of investment being made to catch up. Seems more like they came out with their "C" game and are now trying to ramp it up to their "A" game.
An interesting purchase- Embark doesn't have any valuable data, or user details, etc. I can only assume Apple bought them because they have great UI/design instincts, and might be able to help rescue Apple Maps.
Kudos to them for achieving their goal - giving away an ad-free transit planning app could only have one aim, really.
I mean, they don't need constant connections to servers or anything, but they do need to update their schedules every so often. I don't know if they download from Embark servers, or if it's directly from transportation sites, but I would suspect the former.
[0]http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-07-19/apple-said-to-buy-h...
[1]http://allthingsd.com/20130719/apple-acquires-local-data-out...
Google maps also has better UX than Apple Maps unless you use Siri. I hope Apple tackles UX as well - perhaps converting Apple Maps to the new flat look and adding more swipe support.
Can they? It's not actually a separate app from the app store like Find My Phone or iBooks. So it would require at least an OS point release, and Apple doesn't seem too keen on doing those for features.
The apps are fantastic!
The only complaint I have about them is that iBart makes train connections too short for some stations. To transfer at 12th street you have to change levels, and iBart gives you one minute to make the connection, but I've only made that connection once. All other times I missed it.
(I've used iBart a few times, but not in a few months and not to route trips in Oakland.)
Are you saying that your train arrives at 12th Street at noon and iBart tells you to board a train leaving 12th Street at 12:01? Would you prefer iBart tell you to board the next train? (Not sure about schedules, is that about 15 minutes later?)
They have an excellent web site and app, first up. It allows you to set departure and destination, earliest departure time (if you don't want to leave before 10am, say) or latest arrival time (i.e., so you can make a flight), tweak routing and see every detail to the minute. You can get print-outs (if required) telling you what to do and when. The platforms for arrivals and departures are set rather than vague as in many other countries so you know exactly what's happening in advance.
I'm confident that they've worked nation-wide to coordinate arrivals and departures to ease passage for the absolute majority of people. Each train change is aware of the distance between platforms so that it might allow two minutes to cross platform to another train, or seven minutes if you need to move a bit further. You don't get stuck waiting for 30 minutes or have two minutes to cross six platforms. (We were travelling with an infant and a lot of luggage that meant changing trains was traumatic - in Switzerland, it was a dream.)
In one very handy sequence, we caught a series of two gondolas down a mountain, switched to a bus, then a train, then another train. Waiting time was barely there - it was brilliant. Trains seemed to leave shortly after you got to them, like the world was designed around you. People were joining or leaving on other routes too and seemed to have a similar experience.
I got the impression that popular routes were optimised to minimise walking distance between platforms, but could've been imagining that.
Another handy thing was that every platform access had stairs in one direction and a ramp in the other. The underground systems in London, Paris, etc were no where near as handy for people with luggage or prams, often not even having lifts for disabled access.
It just needs an update that a realistic transfer at some stations require N amount of time minimum between trains to account for walking between platforms. Although the only issue I have had this far is specifically at 12th
So yes, ideally the app would know that you can't walk a city block and two flights of steps in one minute and nix that as a transfer option. Bonus points if it told you which part of the train to get on to minimize the transfer time.