41latitude was a blog on cartographic design, analyzing how Google, Bing, and Yahoo maps handle labels and styling.
HN commenters praise its Google Maps label readability posts as excellent, and regret that the author later took them down after joining Apple.
There was an amazing blog post (http://41latitude.com/post/2072504768/google-maps-label-read...) on 41Latitude when it still around about the absolute thing of beauty and art that is the labeling and visual design of Google Maps that enable it to have extremely high data density, while maintaining perhaps the best readability of any of the interactive maps out there. Correctness is the most glaring issue, but it's far, far more that sets Google apart from what Apple launched in their maps application.
EDIT: Here is an archived version found elsewhere: http://www.allhatter.com/showthread.php/13017-Google-Maps-amp-Label-Readability-Part-3
Is there any difference between those two maps? It seems that all Apple's POIs are on Google Maps, except with bigger font and symbols. Also, the Apple Maps screenshot shows a maps that is more zoomed in.
It also looks like Apple shows the local translations of the roads and POIs names - contrary to Google Maps, but this difference could be from the language preference of the app or OS?
Seriously, who would make a judgment based on those mere screenshots?
I wish http://41latitude.com was back online. It had the best maps comparisons every published, but Justin O'Beirne closed it when he joined Apple's Maps team few years ago.
When I saw this I could have sworn I had read it before, but in fact what I was remembering were earlier posts by the same guy (also comparing Google, Bing, and Yahoo maps); if you liked this post you might like them too:
http://www.41latitude.com/post/557224600/map-comparison
http://www.41latitude.com/post/1130407638/map-comparison-2
He wrote many more excellent articles before he worked at Apple, all posted to https://www.41latitude.com/
Sadly he took them down, disappeared into the memory hole the way so many Apple employee's work has a way of doing. I'm glad he's out and writing in public again.
The realistic-looking highway shields are a welcome addition. (They're much better than the cartoony-looking ones seen on most online maps.)
I wonder if they were influenced by this: http://www.41latitude.com/post/598792787/realistic-looking-highway-shields
I have to agree with your comment. The more I read the more I was drawn into the article. He had a previous post that was on HN a while ago that I found pretty well written too - http://www.41latitude.com/post/557224600/map-comparison