David Smith, “Six Years Perfecting Maps on watchOS”:
I love going on wilderness adventures. I am rarely happier than
when I am far off into the mountains without a soul in sight. As a
result, I have spent a lot of time learning how to safely explore
and navigate when I’m away from civilization. The most important
habit I’ve found for not getting lost is to be very regular in
checking your location as you go, and the best way I’ve found to
do that is to have a map on my wrist.For more than six years I’ve been working towards creating the
best possible mapping experience on the Apple Watch. With
yesterday’s launch of Pedometer++ 8, I feel like this
design journey has reached a meaningful destination. I would
contend that Pedometer++’s watchOS mapping support is the absolute
best available on the App Store.So I wanted to walk through the journey it took to get here.
“I love going on wilderness adventures” is how you start a post about an app update. Or at least my type of update to my type of app. I don’t have any desire for maps on my watch, but reading this makes me want it anyway. Enthusiasm is contagious. (See also: the Pedometer++ blog, and Stephen Hackett at 512 Pixels.)
