{"id":1843064,"date":"2025-06-26T19:25:28","date_gmt":"2025-06-26T23:25:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/?p=1843064"},"modified":"2025-06-30T15:34:00","modified_gmt":"2025-06-30T19:34:00","slug":"a-map-in-every-pocket","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2025\/06\/a-map-in-every-pocket\/","title":{"rendered":"A Map in Every Pocket"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

It\u2019s been more than 18 years since Steve Jobs demonstrated Google Maps on the then-prototype iPhone, and it\u2019s hard to wrap one\u2019s head around how transformational the fact that every mobile phone comes with a detailed, always up-to-date map of the world. James Killick makes the point in the final installment of his \u201c12 Map Happenings that Rocked Our World\u201d<\/a>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

Well today there are estimated to be 7.2 billion smartphones in use around the planet. They are used by 4.7 billion people.2<\/a><\/sup> That\u2019s about 58% of the world\u2019s population. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

And every one of those devices has access to a maps app. And every maps app has a map of the planet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, if you boil it all down: at least one out of every two people on the planet now has a detailed map of the whole world in their pocket.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Process that thought. Before smartphones with data plans, car navigation meant GPS receivers with onboard maps that needed to be manually updated, often for a fee, or they\u2019d slowly go out of date. And before that? Well, discussion of that (example 1<\/a>, example 2<\/a>) is a good way to make people feel old on the Internet. It meant a needing to own collection of paper maps. It meant knowing how to navigate from a map<\/em>, which ain\u2019t nothing\u2014and was never universal. It meant asking for directions if you didn\u2019t, or if you didn\u2019t have the map you needed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cA GPS in every pocket is one of the few truly great things about the smartphone age,\u201d wrote Jeff Veillette on Bluesky<\/a>, and I\u2019m hard pressed to disagree. It will be harder for half the world\u2019s population to get themselves lost: how is that anything but an unalloyed good?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s been more than 18 years since Steve Jobs demonstrated Google Maps on the then-prototype iPhone, and it\u2019s hard to wrap one\u2019s head around how transformational the fact that every mobile phone comes with a… More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"link","meta":{"autoblue_enabled":true,"autoblue_custom_message":"","autoblue_shares":[],"autoblue_post_url":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[80],"tags":[508],"class_list":["post-1843064","post","type-post","status-publish","format-link","hentry","category-mobile","tag-iphone","post_format-post-format-link"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1791235,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2021\/06\/apple-maps-updates-announced-at-wwdc\/","url_meta":{"origin":1843064,"position":0},"title":"Apple Maps Updates Announced at WWDC","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"9 June 2021","format":"link","excerpt":"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=0TD96VTf0Xs&t=1787s Upgrades to Apple Maps were announced on Monday at Apple\u2019s Worldwide Developers Conference: see coverage from AppleInsider, Engadget and TechCrunch, as well as the video of the keynote itself (the Maps section starts at 29:47). The changes will be coming to iOS 15, iPadOS 15, and macOS Monterey this\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Mobile"","block_context":{"text":"Mobile","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/mobile\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Apple Maps on an iPhone","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/iphone-ios15-maps-150x300.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":5397,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2012\/11\/nokias-here-maps-app\/","url_meta":{"origin":1843064,"position":1},"title":"Nokia’s Here Maps App","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"20 November 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Earlier this month Nokia, the parent company of Navteq, announced its cross-platform mapping service, which they're calling Here. To that end, its free iOS app, Here Maps, appeared in the App Store this week. I've poked around with it a little bit today and have some thoughts. Those seeking a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Mobile"","block_context":{"text":"Mobile","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/mobile\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":5318,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2012\/05\/new-maps-in-ios-6\/","url_meta":{"origin":1843064,"position":2},"title":"Apple to Abandon Google Maps in iOS 6?","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"12 May 2012","format":"link","excerpt":"There are rumours that for iOS 6, the next version of the operating system for the iPhone, iPad and iPod touch, Apple will replace Google Maps with an in-house mapping application with an impressive 3D mode; the app will apparently \"blow your head off,\" to quote John Paczkowski's source. Much\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Mobile"","block_context":{"text":"Mobile","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/mobile\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1787538,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2019\/08\/a-close-look-at-apple-maps-in-ios-13\/","url_meta":{"origin":1843064,"position":3},"title":"A Close Look at Apple Maps in iOS 13","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"1 August 2019","format":"link","excerpt":"Writing for MacStories, Ryan Christoffel takes a deep dive into the new features of Apple Maps in iOS 13. His conclusions? Apple Maps in iOS 13 is the biggest step forward the app has ever taken. With new and greatly improved maps, Look Around, collections, repurposed favorites, and more, a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Mobile"","block_context":{"text":"Mobile","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/mobile\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3261,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2016\/11\/how-the-transit-app-got-its-curves\/","url_meta":{"origin":1843064,"position":4},"title":"How the Transit App Got Its Curves","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"2 November 2016","format":"link","excerpt":"The makers of the Transit app (iPhone, Android)\u00a0like to point out that whereas\u00a0Apple's transit maps are beautiful\u00a0but basically hand-drawn and\u00a0added manually and slowly, and Google's maps are algorithmically generated but look terrible, their maps are algorithmically generated but look smooth and neat. A technical post by their backend developer explains\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Mobile"","block_context":{"text":"Mobile","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/mobile\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"transit-app","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/transit-app-150x150.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1785744,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2018\/06\/third-party-map-apps-coming-to-carplay-in-ios-12\/","url_meta":{"origin":1843064,"position":5},"title":"Third-Party Map Apps Coming to CarPlay in iOS 12","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"4 June 2018","format":"link","excerpt":"As of iOS 12, coming later this year, CarPlay will support third-party map applications like Google Maps and Waze, Apple announced during its WWDC keynote earlier today: AppleInsider, Engadget, The Verge. Up until now the only maps available via CarPlay were Apple's own; drivers who would rather use something else\u2014and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Mobile"","block_context":{"text":"Mobile","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/mobile\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/carplay-150x150.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1843064","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1843064"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1843064\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1843067,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1843064\/revisions\/1843067"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1843064"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1843064"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1843064"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}