Unto the pure, all things are pure

I had never believed that maps could calculate for me a practical drive-able route from point A to point B in the real world.  Earlier this year, just for the fun of it, I asked Google Maps the route from where I was in town to home.  I was surprised!  It knew where the U-turns were, where I could turn left, and where the ramp into and out of the highway was.  It gave the exact route that I was using for years. The details of the  information required for such as feat is complex.  I have been left behind on the progress and standards made in the cartographic world. In the last forty-eight hours, everyone has heard how Apple has bungled up on their maps.  I would like to relate an experience with Google maps here to demonstrate some of what it takes to build usable maps. In April, I had to make a trip to a remote outback of south Malaysia.  This was from Google Maps the day before I traveled in April. Google Maps BEFORE I drove For part ...

Steve Jobs said users don't know what they want or need and went on to build a couple of wildly successful items. Microsoft went the opposite way. According to Mr Sinofsky here , Microsoft collected telemetry on, I suppose, ordinary dumb users, and designed Metro/Windows 8 based on that data. It's hilarious how such a big company can be so dumb.