Hidden under the hood of Apple's new iPhoto for iOS app, released Wednesday, is new evidence that the Cupertino tech giant is bidding adieu to Google Maps.
Those who bring up the location feature in the new app will find that the map tiles look different than those in Apple's other iOS apps. That's because the iPhoto for iOS app uses Apple's own maps, instead of the familiar Google Map images used in all of its other iOS apps, and in the desktop version of iPhoto.
The new maps were generated by Apple with data from OpenStreetMap (OSM), a crowd-sourced mapping platform, the OSM Foundation confirmed in a blog post Thursday. However, the map information Apple used is from the beginning of April 2010, and is slightly out of date, the OSM Foundation said.
"It's also missing the necessary credit to OpenStreetMap's contributors; we look forward to working with Apple to get that on there," OSM Foundation said. Nontheless, "we're delighted to see another prominent map user make the switch to OpenStreetMap, and look forward to many more," the group said.
Apple's move to distance itself from Google Maps is not entirely surprising. Cupertino has made a number of mapping investments in recent years, including the acquisition of mapping companies Placebase in 2000 and Poly9 in July 2010. Then this past October, Apple bought C3 Technologies, a 3D mapping company.
Stephen Hackett of 512 Pixels was the first to reveal that iPhoto for iOS had slightly different and less accurate maps than Google Maps. "Rumors have been circulating for years that Apple was developing its own mapping solution," he wrote in a blog post Wednesday.
Writer Holger Eilhard later confirmed that the map images in iPhoto for iOS are being pulled down from Apple's own servers.
Apple is not the only company to say goodbye to Google Maps recently. Foursquare last week announced it is ditching Google Maps and rolling out new maps that were created by MapBox with data from OpenStreetMap.
For more, see PCMag's Hands On with iPhoto for iPad and the slideshow below.