Google Maps for iOS Receives First Update Since Launch with Google Contacts Integration, Local Business Search

[MacRumors]

Google today updated its Google Maps for iOS to version 1.1, marking the first update since the company launched its standalone app in mid-December after Apple replaced Google with its own default mapping app in iOS 6.

The new update brings a few enhancements to Google Maps, including integration with Google Contacts addresses and easier searching of local businesses by category.

What's New in Version 1.1

- Search your Google Contacts; sign in to have your saved addresses show up when you search for friends and family by name.
- Quickly search for local places by selecting popular categories such as restaurants, bars, cafes, gas stations, etc.
- Choose between Kilometers or Miles for your preferred distance units.
- Note that some features may not be available in all countries.

Google Maps is a free download from the App Store. [Direct Link]

(Thanks, Arthur!)

Article Link: Google Maps for iOS Receives First Update Since Launch with Google Contacts Integration, Local Business Search

[gmanist1000]

Search your Google Contacts... not the contacts stored on my phone? Ugh. I guess I should transfer them all over to Google Contacts then...

[Mjmar]

iPad version plz

[furi0usbee]

Originally Posted by Mjmar

iPad version plz

Beat me to it.

[nav92]

Still no iPad version? C'mon Google!

[BigJohno]

Question is, does it crash on jail broken iPhones like chrome?

[JaySoul]

Nearby Places works very well.

Good job, Google.

[8281]

The audio is always really quiet for voice nav relative to the sound output on the phone when I'm playing music in the car. Anyone else have this issue? Wish I had an option to manually adjust the nav audio output.

[rMBP13]

Awesome! Apple should team up with Google to create a monopoly

[ilp]

Still no search in local contacts.

Still no remembering of my recent searches. This one completely baffles me. I stopped using Google Maps because of this. Why do I have to re-enter an address I just entered 5 minutes ago? Ridiculous.

[raazman]

Originally Posted by rMBP13

Awesome! Apple should team up with Google to create a monopoly

That would be a bad thing.

[KPOM]

Originally Posted by rMBP13

Awesome! Apple should team up with Google to create a monopoly

Originally Posted by raazman

That would be a bad thing.

Maybe they should just merge with Samsung, so that the combined company can have 103% of mobile device profits. That's even better than a monopoly.

As for Google Maps 1.1 the improvements are nice, but they seem to be resting on their laurels a bit (for instance, still no iPad version).

[ECUpirate44]

No crashes on Jailbroken 6.1!

[charlituna]

Originally Posted by gmanist1000

Search your Google Contacts... not the contacts stored on my phone? Ugh. I guess I should transfer them all over to Google Contacts then...

I was thinking the same thing. It is totally possible to link to our contacts so why haven't they

[ben428]

I was excited to see this -- contact search was the biggest piece missing from Google Maps (although it should also search iPhone contacts as others have pointed out). Anyway, I do have my contacts in Google, and I successfully searched for a couple of them, but them it seemed to stop working. When I search for my friend John Doe, I just get lots of listings for John Doe Garden Center, etc. Is anyone using this feature successfully? I tried signing out and back in.

[Patriks7]

Not sure if I'm missing some settings somewhere, but I can't for the life of me change mine from miles to kilometers

[Yelmurc]

Since I don't think I've ever seen Apple update a built in app through a App store update, this is an advantage for Google. It seems that Apple has to update the entire OS in order to do a maps upgrade. People are more willing to just update a app than they are their entire OS. Even though Apple does have very high adoption rates of its new OS releases.

[Small White Car]

I have Google Maps but it has definitely been put into 2nd place for me. I use it when Apple Maps can't find something (which is still a problem, yes). But when Apple's Maps find what I want I vastly prefer the actual software itself to Google's.

Originally Posted by Yelmurc

Since I don't think I've ever seen Apple update a built in app through a App store update, this is an advantage for Google. It seems that Apple has to update the entire OS in order to do a maps upgrade. People are more willing to just update a app than they are their entire OS. Even though Apple does have very high adoption rates of its new OS releases.

While I do agree with you in general, it should be pointed out that Apple's recently been putting out OS updates like they're going out of style. So perhaps this isn't as big of a problem as we both thought.

[ArtOfWarfare]

Continued lack of vector data makes Apple Maps superior to Google maps, IMO. It's about the only thing Apple Maps has on Google Maps, but it makes a huge difference.

Looking forward to seeing what kind of enhancements Apple Maps will get in iOS 7.

[mattopotamus]

Originally Posted by gmanist1000

Search your Google Contacts... not the contacts stored on my phone? Ugh. I guess I should transfer them all over to Google Contacts then...

That is what I did a while ago so I am not locked into something that is not cross platform

[KanosWRX]

Great update! So glad they have a dedicated app on iOS. Can't we all get along Until Apple gets updated maps and better traffic displays (death to red dots!!) I will always use google.

[Lucky736]

Originally Posted by Yelmurc

Since I don't think I've ever seen Apple update a built in app through a App store update, this is an advantage for Google. It seems that Apple has to update the entire OS in order to do a maps upgrade. People are more willing to just update a app than they are their entire OS. Even though Apple does have very high adoption rates of its new OS releases.

Apple Maps uses databases that, when updated, update each time you go back to the map unless you are offline. This means that you get the most up to date map, which doesn't necessarily mean it's good it's just up to date, that they have at all times as I understand it.

[Mad Mac Maniac]

Originally Posted by ilp

Still no search in local contacts.

Still no remembering of my recent searches. This one completely baffles me. I stopped using Google Maps because of this. Why do I have to re-enter an address I just entered 5 minutes ago? Ridiculous.

It remembers recent searches for me.... maybe because I'm logged in? Are you?

Yeah, I agree no search in phone contacts is ANNOYING... I don't know if I want to switch over to google contacts... Anyone know if that is difficult to do?

[gmanist1000]

Originally Posted by ilp

Still no search in local contacts.

Still no remembering of my recent searches. This one completely baffles me. I stopped using Google Maps because of this. Why do I have to re-enter an address I just entered 5 minutes ago? Ridiculous.

Agreed. Had this problem over the weekend, very annoying.

[zorinlynx]

Using FullForce to make this app work better on the iPad is the main reason I jailbroke my iPad.

Why the heck can't they spend the 20 minutes of dev time required to make this app work well on the iPad? If FullForce can do the trick so easily, it can't be that hard.

I should add that the app works so perfectly with Fullforce, you'd think it was an iPad native app. They literally require nearly ZERO development effort to do this.