Infinite Loop / The Apple Ecosystem

iPhone SDK focus: Maps for your apps

The iPhone 3. developments.

Today's iPhone SDK 3.0 announcement brought a host of new map features to developers. Devs can now embed maps in applications and access many of the same GUI features found in the Google Maps application. Apple has taken the heart of the Maps app and made it a public API. You can pinch and zoom your data, switch between street, hybrid, and satellite views, add custom notes, and access all the normal core location features.

What you cannot do, however, is use Google's maps. Apple's Scott Forstall said today that devs will need to "bring your own maps." Due to licensing restrictions, Apple cannot let developers use Google's map tile data from the iPhone. (Update: readers have suggested that this limitation only applies to turn-by-turn use and that map tiles are freely available for other uses. Update 2: confirmed.) Presumably, one can access both Google Maps and Yahoo Maps data over the web, however. These services both come with terms of use, which you can read about on the Google Maps and Yahoo Maps sites. There are likely other third party map data services that devs can subscribe to as well. (Update 3: Ars reader Economics points to this tweet by CloudMade, supplier of iPhone Map libraries.)

In addition to embeddable maps, a new map feature is reverse geocoding. This is another "missing in action" feature that's very welcome to see. Reverse geocoding converts a latitude/longitude pair into a real world address, including your local city and country. This lets devs add a real-world meaning to a Core Location result, e.g. "You're now chatting with participants from Chicago, London, and Stockholm."

Saving the best feature for last, Apple has apparently finally given thumbs up to turn-by-turn navigation. Forstall stated that developers can now use Core Location to add turn-by-turn features to their applications, which means that users will now be able to ask the iPhone to guide them to the nearest pizza or coffee joint and it will all be SDK-compliant.

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8 Reader Comments

  1. So Apple cant let you use the tiles from Google. I guess this means you have to go to Google and apply for an API key (in the same way you apply for one to use their web API) and embed that key in your app. Otherwise its not much use.
    5007 posts | registered
  2. I wasn't there at the announcement, but my read of the reporting was that the bring-your-own-maps limitation only applies to applications doing turn by turn navigation. The example pictures shown of other apps are pretty clearly embedding Google map data into their apps, whereas the navigation app shown clearly had it's own thing being rendered.

    This is supported by the Google Maps licensing agreement at, which says in part that you can't use the Google Maps service for "...(i) real time navigation or route guidance, including but not limited to turn-by-turn route guidance that is synchronized to the position of a user's sensor-enabled device; " Basically, the companies actually making the map data (Navteq, et al) license their maps to navigation companies under a more permissive and more expensive license, and presumably Google gets a cheaper license to the data as long as they restrict their end users from repackaging it into real-time navigation.
    31 posts | registered
  3. Thats what I had originally thought too, but I re-read David's liveblog post and it seemed to not be TbT specific. Engadgets liveblog seems to lean more towards TbT was the only thing restricted.
    5007 posts | registered
  4. I too got the impression that the bring your own maps deal was for turn by turn directions. I assumed this was because Google has not licensed its map data for turn by turn directions, so they can't very well license it to someone else for the purpose.

    The live description even mentioned how when you embed the map widget you get everything you normally do, including hybrid view, etc. How would that be possible if you couldn't use google tiles when you embed the map?
    831 posts | registered
  5. Was writing this during the live blog. I'll update as I find out more details, especially about whether that limitation is turn-by-turn or not. I'm updating the post to mention that.
    202 posts | registered
  6. Did Apple just take out the dedicated GPS navigation system market with this announcement? If you can get a turn by turn program for $20, why would you shell out $200 for a dedicated unit?
    0 post | registered
  7. Okay, I just watched the actual announcement and demo, and it's 100% clear that "bring your own maps" is only talking about turn by turn navigation apps. All of the other sample apps are clearly embedding the Google maps from the Map app inside, complete with a little "Google" watermark in the lower left.
    31 posts | registered
  8. The turn-by-turn restriction is an interesting development for OpenStreetMap who should be able to fill this gap. Cloudmade (a company that bases it's products on OpenStreetMap) has been offering tools for iPhone developers already but this gives them an opening. I see they've noticed it already:

    Remember that "Google's Maps" aren't Google's, they license them from other people who make a great deal of cash from also licensing them out to in-car GPS navigation devices. They don't want to cut their own throat, but that leaves openings for others.
    129 posts | registered

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