Courtesy of Next Web 

MapBox, a service for designing and publishing custom maps, has launched version 1.0 of its iOS SDK. According to MapBox, this release marks the ”completion of the [SDK's] first stage of functionality and stability” since it made its debut last year.

We originally highlighted the SDK, which is based on OpenStreetMap, post-launch for its high quality, customizable maps that challenged Apple’s own MapKit. Now, MapBox has received a number of new features and fixes, including improved documentation and changes which allow for easier memory management.

More specifically, MapBox shares that it has added a new code examples gallery, support for Automatic Reference Counting (ARC), improved documentation, code cleanups and consistency tweaks. Additional changes below:

• Added delegate callbacks for annotation selection & deselection notification.

• Added a long press gesture recognizer for annotation layers.

• Added an API for setting an SDK-wide custom user-agent string for network requests.

• Added a convenience method for MBTiles tile sources to more easily find them in your app’s bundle.

• Allow selection of a nil annotation in order to deselect the current annotation.

• Added an API for clearing MapBox marker local caching.

• Map views now default to a watermarked MapBox Streets map instead of OpenStreetMap.

• User location accuracy circle now bounces when first homing in on coordinate.

• Compass heading path now adjusts width based on heading accuracy reading.

• Annotation clustering API is now much simpler and easier to use.

• Privatized some header files to reduce clutter during Xcode autocompletion.

• Latest upstream improvements, including constraints, annotation z-ordering, and bounding box fixes.

For more on the evolution of the MapBox iOS SDK, head here.

Google Maps developers for iOS will now have more tricks that they can use in when they want to build maps into their online applications.

Google has unveiled an updated version of its Google Maps Software Developers Kit (SDK) for iOS, which will give iOS map developers additional features they can build into their maps applications for iPhone and iPad users.

"This version of the SDK includes support for ground overlays, gesture control and geodesic polylines," wrote Andrew Foster, a senior product manager for Google Maps, in a Feb. 21 post on the Google Geo Developers Blog. "To get started, enable the Google Maps SDK for iOS service in the Google APIs Console alongside other Google APIs."

Also included in the SDK is a new sample app to help developers learn how to use Google maps when they create new apps, wrote Foster. There is even a YouTube video that demonstrates the capabilities of the Google Maps SDK for iOS 1.1 release. 

"We hope these updates will enable you to enhance your app with Google maps (or create some new ones!)," wrote Foster. "As always, keep sending us your feedback and ideas, as we continue to make improvements to the SDK based on ideas that you’ve suggested and starred. For additional support, head over to Stack Overflow with your technical questions or watch our Google Maps Developers Liveshows for tips, tricks and news about using the Google Maps APIs."

Some of the new capabilities in the updated SDK including the ability to allow users to view and interact with a Google map in an iOS app, according to Google. "With rotation, tilt, 3D buildings and many other features, you can create highly interactive apps for your users. Also, your app can launch the Google Maps for iPhone appusing a URL scheme, enabling users to search, get directions and view Street View imagery."

The Google Maps SDK for iOS lets developers add maps based on Google maps data to their applications, according to Google. "The SDK automatically handles access to the Google Maps servers, map display, and response to user gestures such as clicks and drags. You can also add markers, polylines, ground overlays and info windows to your map. These objects provide additional information for map locations and allow user interaction with the map."

It was an interesting road for Google to bring the latest Google Maps app back to iOS in December 2012.

Apple announced in May 2012 that it would drop the native Google Maps app that had been part of iOS since the arrival of the first iPhones so that the company could introduce its own maps app. 

The arrival of the Apple Maps app in iOS6, however, was a disaster for the company last September when it was met with many complaints and criticisms from users who bashed its lack of accuracy and geographic details. The PR problem was so bad at the time that Apple's CEO Tim Cook even offered a public apology for the problems, vowing that they would eventually be resolved.

Google, of course, didn't sit on the sidelines. It rushed its own stand-alone Google Maps app for iOS into production, releasing it through the Apple Store last December. The Google Maps app for iOS proved to be very popular, hitting the 10 million download mark in the first 48 hours that it became available.

Some iOS 5 users never even upgraded to iOS 6 when it was released because they knew that they'd lose access to the native built-in Google Maps app that was missing until the release of the latest Google maps app. 

Available through Apple's App Store portal online, Google Maps offers local search, voice-guided turn-by-turn navigation, public transit information, Street View and live traffic information. The application also features a sign-in option that allows users to call up previous searches and directions made from the user's computer.

Courtesy of Apple Bitch

Apple has started advertising for a large number of iOS Software Engineers whose specific focus will be on improving the Apple Maps app that is included with iOS 6. The company is advertising for ten new Software Engineer positions, all dedicated to working on various aspects of the Maps app that has courted both praise and criticism since it launched last year, replacing Google Maps as the standard iOS 6 mapping application.

The positions include the opportunity to work on user interface development, integration with other iOS services such as Siri and MapKit (the framework that allows other app to use Apple Maps), Turn-by-Turn navigation enhancements, real time maps display, road and points of interest labelling, 3D flyover and road rendering, as well as those will expertise with spatial algorithms. All are based in Cupertino and will be part of the team that is dedicated to improving the Apple Maps application.

The company has been actively requesting the reporting of bugs and issues with the new Maps application, and CEO Tim Cook has promised that the app will improve over time. A number of key staff involved in the initial development of the Apple Maps application are now no longer involved in it, including Scott Forstall, the SVP with responsibility for iOS 6, and Richard Williamson who reportedly oversaw the mapping service. Apple SVP Eddy Cue is now taking responsibility for online services, including Mapping, and as such is likely making a major push to improve the application.

Courtesy of Dexigner

Video - eDrawings for iOS with Augmented Reality in Action   

By pointing their iPad or iPhone camera at a special marker, designers can view a full-scale representation of their project as it would appear in its final, physical state. This allows designers to accelerate their projects by avoiding disparities in transitioning from the virtual to physical world - like improperly sized parts.



Augmented Reality (AR) is available in both the Standard and Professional versions of eDrawings for iPad and iPhone.

Courtesy of Wired

Apple’s Maps app offers 3-D flyovers, but often incorrect locations. Photo: Alex Washburn/Wired

Australian authorities are urging motorists to use anything but Apple Maps to get around the Outback after the app left several people stranded in the searing desert, a mistake police called a “potentially life-threatening issue.”

Police in Mildura, Victoria, said they’ve had to rescue “a number of distressed motorists that were directed off the beaten track” and stranded in Murray-Sunset National Park. Apple Maps places the town about 43 miles (70 km) away from its actual location.

The Mildura Maps problem, before. Image: Victoria Police

It’s a potentially deadly mistake, as the location is in the middle of nowhere — the park has no water supply and temperatures can reach 115 degrees Fahrenheit (46 degrees Celsius).

“We’ve had at least four documented cases,” senior sergeant Stephen Phelan told The Guardian on Monday before Apple made the update. The Guardian reports that Apple updated the map today. When we tried it at 11:15 a.m. PST, the map appeared to have been fixed — Mildura was still labeled on the Map incorrectly, but navigation directions will send you to the town’s actual location. Apple had no comment when contacted by Wired.

Some of the motorists were stranded for up to 24 hours without food or water and “have walked long distances through dangerous terrain to get phone reception,”Victoria police said in a statement.

The fixed Maps navigation to Mildura. Image: Christina Bonnington/Wired

This is the latest, and perhaps most serious, criticism of the mess that is Apple Maps. The app launched in September with the debut of iOS 6, replacing the Google-built Maps app previous versions of iOS relied upon. The app has been widely criticized as essentially worthless, as people have been given erroneous directions or locations and landmarks simply did not appear. It has been such a PR disaster that Apple CEO Tim Cook apologized for the debacle and several people have been fired, including iOS chief Scott Forstall and Maps product manager Rich Williamson.

Australia isn’t alone in seeing problems with Apple Maps. In the U.K., for example, angry users reported a multitude of issues like anonexistent airport and black and white satellite imagery. So far the app hasn’t caused widespread problems for motorists or hikers in the United States. The National Parks Service told Wired it hasn’t heard of people getting lost because of Maps or other GPS-based mapping apps. It’s the same story far to the north in Alaska, where John Quinley with the Alaska National Parks said so far, so good.