Bicycle Fixation Weblog
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06/13/2012: "Apple Drives Us Crazy Sometimes"
We admire and use many Apple products, but sometimes they are downright clueless, it seems.You may have heard that in iOS6, the new operating system for the iPhone, Google maps will no longer be used, in favor of a house-designed Apple mapping and directions function. Given Apple's history, this could be good--but as it now stands, it's not. Certainly not in a country where driving is falling out of favor with citizens of all regions, races, and income levels, and most age groups.
Because this function will offer only driving directions for now, and add walking directions at some unspecified time later on. Transit directions--now really quite good in Google maps--will be up to users to enable through the use of third-party apps (apparently a different one for each system), and we cyclists will be ignored altogether. Since we have become accustomed to having directions for the cleaner and more convivial modes of transport available online for quite a while now through Google, this can only be considered a step backwards—3D "flyovers" be damned.
There's a good overview of the situation on Velbusdriver's site, entitled, "Apple helping me to choose Android."
And there are the inevitable Twitter and Facebook campaign, led by Walkscore through their website here.
You can click a button and send a Tweet with an #apple hashtag, or post to Facebook.
But the canned Tweet doesn't mention cycling, so just add it in! Our suggestion is to replace Walkscore's text with the slight edit we used on our Bicycle Fixation Twitter feed:
Note to #apple -- Keep walking, cycling, transit directions in iOS6 maps. Driving is so last century!
Someone at Apple is monitoring Twitter, so word might get across.
