Linux Journal | December 2012 | Issue 224 - ACM Digital Library

EOFBiggest DataDOC SEARLSOur old enemy was proprietary platforms. Should it now beproprietary data?Turns out maps matter.That’s always been the casefor me. I’m a map freak. I ownhundreds of paper maps in variousspecialties, plus many atlases, bookson geography, geology and other geoobsessions.But I’m no longer an edgecase, because maps are proving to beessential on smartphones, which todayapproaches a billion or more people.Digital maps on phones are now amongthe core portfolio of smartphone apps,alongside voice, text, calendar andcontacts. What could be more mobileabout a phone than a map to help theuser look things up and get around?In appearance and function,smartphone maps evolved fromstandalone GPS units, which werelimited to location lookup and turnby-turndirections in both text andvoice form. But maps on phones grewmuch deeper, because boundlessamounts of memory, intelligenceand usage-based heuristics could belocated in the cloud, and delivered tothe app and the user through an APIover a live data connection.Nobody has done more with cloudbasedmapping than Google. By themiddle of this year, Google-made or-based map apps were the primarysources of location and navigationinformation for users carrying all kindsof mobile devices—especially Androidand Apple mobile devices. Amongsmartphones, that pair alone comprisedabout a 90% market share in the US.In September 2012, however, Applereleased iOS 6 and the iPhone 5, bothwith a new Maps app that did notuse Google as a data source. The newGoogle-free Maps app quickly turnedinto Apple’s worst fail since the Newton.Initial sales of the iPhone 5 were good,as were installs of iOS 6. But thencame reports of the new Maps app’sdisabilities, which were extreme. Missingwere countless major points of interest,such as the entire subway systems ofNew York, London and Paris. Museumswere moved into rivers. Dead businessescame to life, and live businesses wentaway. At the time of this writing108 / DECEMBER 2012 / WWW.LINUXJOURNAL.COM