Spatially Adjusted

Tag: mapquest

  • Unreal and Unity are the new Browsers

    Someone asked me why I hadn’t commented on Cesium and Unreal getting together. Honestly , no reason. This is big news honestly. HERE, where I work, is teaming up with Unity to bring the Unity SDK and the HERE SDK to automotive applications. I talk about how we used Mapbox Unity SDK at Cityzenith (though I have no clue if they still are). Google and Esri have them too. In fact both Unreal and Unity marketplaces are littered with data sources you can plug in.

    HERE Maps with Unity

    This is getting at the core of what these two platforms could be. Back in the day we had two browsers, Firefox and Internet Explorer 6. Inside each we had many choices of mapping platforms to use. From Google and Bing to Mapquest and Esri. In the end that competition to make the best API/SDK for a mapping environment drove a ton of innovation. What Google Maps looks like and does in 2021 vs 2005 is amazing.

    This brings up the key as to what I see happening here. We’ll see the mapping companies (or companies that have mapping APIs) deliver key updates to these SDK (which today are pretty limited in scope) because they have to stay relevant. Not that web mapping is going away at any point, but true 3D world and true Digital Twins require power that browsers cannot provide even in 2021. So this rush to become the Google Maps of 3D engines is real and will be fun to watch.

    Interesting in that Google is an also-ran in the 3D engine space, so there is so much opportunity for the players who have invested and continue to invest in these markets without Google throwing unlimited R&D dollars against it. Of course it only takes on press release to change all that so don’t bet against Google.

  • My Highlighter vs Mapquest

    Link – Better Directions – via John Banning

    …the most powerful maps can actually make it easier to get lost. Dazzled by their features – immersed in topographic information and GPS coordinates – we forget just to look around. In his book Between Meals: An Appetite for Paris, A. J. Liebling blamed a decline in French cuisine, starting in the 1920s, on the Michelin Guide. Prior to its publication, he argued, anyone brave enough to open a restaurant had to face the scrutiny of repeat customers. With the advent of this book, however, day-trippers would blithely follow its recommendations – once, and they’d never return. The fact that you can now download Michelin’s Paris guide to a PDA would probably have horrified Liebling. ChicagoCrime.org should worry any urban planner looking to revitalize a historic district. That’s the SimCity trap, emphasizing spatial relationships over more intimate, human considerations.

    I used to carry a Pocket PC and a GPS CF card everywhere I went so I could tell exactly where I was but no longer. The excitement of just driving around and discovering new things has become lost as we’ve optimized our lives to make our travel as quick as possible. Give me a AAA road map and I’ll map out my route myself with a highlighter rather than let Google or Yahoo! decide what route I should go. Believe me, the scenery outside the car is much more enjoyable than a printout for your ink-jet.