Maps and the end of distance.

 
Maps are hot. Or that’s what it seems, since Apple is ditching Google Maps software on its latest iOS 6 and bringing turn-by-turn directions, 3D flyover, local search, Siri integration and more to iPhone and iPad users sometime this fall on their own Maps app.

Google, never the shy one, release an update to Google Maps with amazing 3D fly-over technology, biking and walking directions (I use both all the time), indoor maps, live traffic, and public transportation (including schedules!). The best new feature? Offline Maps: users can see and interact with the maps, even if without internet connection. All devices running Android OS 2.2 and above will be supported.

It is amazing that in cities like New York or Los Angeles distances determine where we live and work, on which activities we engage, the areas we discover and even our dating patterns. Due to the good public transportation in the Netherlands distance has become irrelevant. “We can reach almost any destination by train easily and relatively quick. In our busy lives we now think in time rather than distance. Therefore the current maps, as we know them today, are obsolete. Thinking in time affects a map and hence the shape of the Netherlands also depending on the perspective from which we look.”

Maybe one day we will have something like this in the U.S. Or maybe not.