Roger Fingas
Apple is planning major changes to Maps that will involve radically overhauling the data services behind the platform, according to a job listing posted on Thursday discovered by AppleInsider.
The company is searching for a senior software engineer to join its Maps Data Services team, which is tasked with behind-the-scenes data infrastructure. The company is specifically asking for someone with experience in large-scale distributed systems, as well as skill in technologies like Java, Scala, Kafka, and/or Zookeeper.
Towards the end of the listing, the company states that it has "big plans," and is hunting for "engineers and leaders that can design and build clean, scalable, and performant data services."
More significantly, Apple says it is "overhauling things front-to-back," and wants "engineers that live and breath [sic] data and distributed services."
The full extent of Apple's plans is unknown. The company could conceivably be shaking up Maps for iOS 9 and OS X 10.11 — both of which should arrive this fall — but if so the new hire would likely be joining a project well underway. Apple is due to showcase the new operating systems at WWDC 2015, which starts June 8, and it will need at least some basics in place by then to share with developers.
In April, AppleInsider learned that Apple has a team working to restore public transit directions, a feature that has been missing in Maps since Google content was stripped out in 2012. That could be one reason for a major data services revamp.
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I like to take adventure hikes and Apple Maps never has any of the most popular adventure areas in the world searchable on their site. Going on an Everest Base Camp hike and flying into Lukla, Nepal to what National Geographic calls the most dangerous airport in the world. Maps informs you that "No Result Found." Ditto Everest Base Camp, Nepal. Wasn't that just recently in the news? Well Cupertino is clueless on that location as well. And the list goes on and on even as I have reported the locations of what I want to see on Maps.
It hasn't been mentioned here at all, but Apple recently completed a full top to bottom redo of Siri's backend, which is why she's much better these days. My guess is they're planning a similar effort here.
It hasn't been mentioned here at all, but Apple recently completed a full top to bottom redo of Siri's backend, which is why she's much better these days. My guess is they're planning a similar effort here.
So.. where has it been mentioned?
More significantly, Apple says it is "overhauling things front-to-back," and wants "engineers that live and breath [sic] data and distributed services."
Perfect.
So.. where has it been mentioned?
One article:
http://************/2015/04/27/siri-backend-mesos/
(I see AI doesn't allow linking to other Mac sites. You'll have to Google it, when you get home from your 9 to 5 job.)