Consumer Backlash Against Apple Maps Surprised Waze CEO

JHankwitz said:

This is like complaining that a 2-year old child isn't as smart and mature as an 8-year old. No matter how much money, time, and effort you have spent on the 2-year old, it's not going to be as smart and mature as an 8-year old. Yes, it's very frustrating, but this is how life and things work. All software evolves over time, just like everything else (like you and me). The best is always yet to come.

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I agree with everything you said. Which is why it's not too shocking that I use the "8-year old" software over its younger counterpart. I use what works for me today, not what I hope will work for me in the future.

And all this wouldn't be an issue if Apple didn't choose their default Maps app for me. So I made a choice as well.. to not upgrade to iOS 6 until both Google Maps & a jailbreak were both available.

If Apple Maps works great for you, awesome!

Waze is crap. I don't use it anymore. The traffic data is not updated, and the routing is moronic. It led me into dead-ends and odd turns too many times.

For me, the big distinction between Google maps and Apple (or others), you can have errored or incomplete spelling for locations.. Google would guess/infer with accuracy at what you really meant.


With Apple maps, many times if I use abbreviations it just says "no results found"

I find it makes a difference in real life scenarios where you are in a rush or have no time look up the correct spelling.

As for Waze, the graphics, UI & general presentation isn't very good... it reminds me too much of the traditional cartoon GPS graphics.
.

"Two years ago, Apple's Maps app on iOS 6 would've been a fine product"


Bull Crap! My iPhone maps (google) were better two years ago than apple's is now!
What's he talking about?

$1-2 billion for maps
*whiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiistle*

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iPhoneXL said:

In a couple of years, Apple maps will be the gold standard. And Waze will be irrelevant.

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You mean because apple maps will be the only option on the iphone? That's the only way I see gmaps losing out.

except Maps was good enough for most consumers. It was just the loud vocal internet message poster minority, many haters that never used the product, that complained. And the media just ran with that.

The reality was always that Maps was fine. It might not have been the best, but it certainly wasn't the snafu it was made out to be.

mrboult said:

"Two years ago, Apple's Maps app on iOS 6 would've been a fine product"


Bull Crap! My iPhone maps (google) were better two years ago than apple's is now!
What's he talking about?

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This, and his preceding remark is just as dismissive (emphasis mine)

Consumers now have a quality bar, and that bar is going up rapidly

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Google maps (integrated with search) has been a good product for many years and through several iterations has significantly improved. Just because Apple released an (arguably) inferior version, it doesn't mean user judgement of quality has just kicked in. Sigh.

i hate waze. i really do. several time i got lost using it, it's cramped with ads, and it's step-by-step is not that good. truth be told, i have been using apple maps for couple of months now and i'm very happy with it. sure, the search function could use a bit of improvement, but as for other things - it's great. i especially like they way it's says "in 200 ft turn right into <insert_street_name_here>", and not just "in 200 ft turn right" like waze (which leads to confusion, because it sometimes misses the turn by several ft and then you go into the wrong turn).

DaffyDuck said:

Google on the other hand, will use street view data to validate reports from users and make the change quickly. They are in complete control of their database so they can do this.

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Like Apple, Google also relies on 3rd party data: http://support.google.com/maps/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=7103

Like Apple Maps, Google maps is also flawed; beyond just its UI and dated appearance.
http://blog.telemapics.com/?p=263

Tinmania said:

Yes I remember thinking the same thing when google maps was forced on me at the time... oh wait, it wasn't.




Michael

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Good point. Apple Maps is un-removable, but I was talking about the fact that the OP was saying that it's impossible for an app to improve if it doesn't start out ahead of the pack.

xero9 said:

Am I the only one who HATES the Waze interface? AFAIK, their maps are user generated to some degree as I remember going in and actually drawing roads in my area that weren't there. But the interface of the map is downright horrible.

If they could take the data from Waze as well as the social aspect of it and use the look of Apple Maps it would be nice.

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I agree with you (and others) that Waze has a poor screen design; I don't know for whom its icons are designed (cute little cartoon cars, etc.), but surely not for grown-ups. However, most of its annoying features can be turned off--icons for other users' cars, other drivers' comments, etc. I find its directions to be generally accurate, and its spoken instructions accurate, timely, and spare (that is, it announces each turn three times: about a half mile in advance (at road speed), a few hundred feet in advance, and at the moment of the turn). On a recent trip from Maryland to NYC, both Apple Maps and Google Maps seemed to think I had turned on "avoid tolls" when I had not, and kept trying to route me off the the Jersey Turnpike. Apple mislocated my destination in Brooklyn. Waze took me where I needed to go via the fastest route. It's my "go-to" map app. Of course, YMMV.

I have installed and uninstalled waze several times really wanting to like it. I still do not.

Apple maps has been pretty good for me but in rural areas they all suck. I also miss street view and still use google maps to get it because it beats the pants off 3D. I have often wondered why more maps don't rely on collaborative information. If I am going somewhere and notice the map is wrong how come I cannot correct it and have people vote? Seems a wiki maps - with all the millions of phones and users would be pretty accurate in a relatively short amount of time.

Apple competitors did make a bid for Waze but not Apple and for all we know this guy started the rumor that certain tech companies are making a bid for it hoping that Apple will bite.

And now this guy is bad mouthing Apple and I bet his product in the first year is worst than Apple Maps and this goes for google maps.

The more I use Maps, the more I hate it.
At least half the locations for stores are off by 50 yards.

Apple should have spent some of the billions it has hired more and went with someone else, Garmin perhaps?

Yojimbo007 said:

It was the media bashing apple not the consumer !

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The people here are the consumers, and they were pissed off. That has been obvious on every maps related article that gets posted since iOS6 release

Having used many map apps/products I can say that it's kind of like cell phone service coverage. no particular company has ~100% coverage. it's just a fact. for instance tmobile can have great coverage in MY area whereas Verizon service may be spotty. at the same time Verizon is known to have comparatively greater coverage.

I wish Apple went with Garmin or Nokia for mapping solution. ah well.

I don't really have a justification for it (maybe it's too early), but for some reason I'd rather see Apple buy one of these services and go at it full swing, rather than contracting data from a third party. It seems silly to leave Google's option then rely on licensing from multiple 3rd parties.

Bardin was "surprised by the negative reaction many users had to Apple Maps" yet says "two years ago, Apple's Maps app on iOS 6 would've been a fine product"?

Either I've misunderstood the context of those statements or his organizational bubble is densely opaque. Surely he wasn't that ignorant of the consumer-level competition?

Karma*Police said:

Like Apple, Google also relies on 3rd party data: http://support.google.com/maps/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=7103

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No offense but I don't think you understand what this page is saying. The only 3rd party in the sense that I'm talking about (a corporate entity that they pay) is the Yellow Pages. Everything else is coming from Google, users, or business owners updating their info. This is superior for many reasons. Also, the Yellow Pages has been around a hell of a lot longer than Yelp.

I use Apple's Maps all the time and have had absolutely no problems whatsoever. The only location difference I've found between Maps and Google Maps had me drive a couple miles out of the way due to a bad address location. It was Google who had me drive out of the way, not Apple. This is in MI, so I can't comment on Apple Maps accuracy in other areas.

GUI of Apple Maps is perferable to Google's offering IMO, although it would be nice if Apple included a settings pane that slides out of the side the way some Android apps have.

Apple Maps may suck but it's intuitive to use. I can't figure out how to use Google Maps on iOS

Now if they could improve it with iOS 7 that would be great!

No metro

Apple maps were lousy for a couple of months, but they're pretty good now. I actually think that they are more legible on the iPhone than Google maps were. What really sucks is the new Google maps app. It is nothing like the original.

The main thing that I dislike about Apple maps is the lack of bus directions. Its a real hassle to link to secondary apps, most of which don't work very well. Google was clearly better in this regard. What Google lacked was GPS information on bus arrivals. A lot of cities track their buses so you know when it will really arrive, not just when it is scheduled. Apple could really move ahead if they did this well.

Why is nobody else mentioning this.... but as long as you have to stream the maps live, its completely useless. Unless you can download maps locally to your phone. Which I´m certain you cannot with either Google Maps or Apple maps.

I mean, we all use GPS for when we are traveling right? Often when we are in another country, and it is too expensive to use roaming. And most of us have turned it off. Which handicaps your maps.

Or when you are driving, the reception is too dodgy for it to work properly.

And if you´re concious about your data use, you really don´t want 3G and 4G to stream data continously for half an hour to your phone. The data should be there already. That´s the point.

I also find these map apps too be annoyingly slow, even when I use it in my own city. First it has to
-Download the map, which is okay for a small time
-Then locate my position, which it will get slightly wrong
-Recalibrate my orientation, so I can know I am actually walking in the right direction
-Sometimes, it turns out it has gotten my location wrong. And I will have spent several minutes already at a crossroads, going back and forth like an idiot.
-If I´m extra lucky, it will have a hard time downloading the next part of the map that I need, because of completely unexplainable reception issues.

Ramius said:

Why is nobody else mentioning this.... but as long as you have to stream the maps live, its completely useless. Unless you can download maps locally to your phone. Which I´m certain you cannot with either Google Maps or Apple maps.

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You can with Google maps on android.

But more importantly, your assertion that it is completely useless is bogus. I have used Apple maps and driven far out of cell service range and it kept right on navigating. All it needed was the coordinates of my turns for the route, which is a trivial amount of data to cache. The GPS does the rest.



Michael