Roundup of Features in Google Maps for iOS: Better Design than Android Version, iPad Version Coming

[jeff032177]

the first place i looked up with the app was a public school. It had no idea where it was. Apple maps found it perfectly. Apple's satellite map has a much more updated version of the site. Not saying Apple is perfect, but no one has a perfect mapping solution.

[BWhaler]

It's remarkably rare that an app makes it to my home page.

Rarer still that an app makes it to my home page and not buried in a folder.

But Google Maps, from a company I do not trust nor like, is now in the top row of my home page. Apple maps is buried in a folder I never open.

And the kicker is I haven't even used the Google Maps app yet. It's simply that mapping function is key to the mobile experience and there is no way Google's app is worse than Apple maps.

iOS 6 should be a wake-up call to Tim. Rampant quality and usability issues, sure, but the lack of innovation should scare the hell out of him. The battle is far from over, and offerings like Google Now, Google apps, Google Maps are getting better and better and better.

[ChazUK]

It looks to me that Google is changing and unifying their design language when it comes to apps on both iOS and Android now.

The recent Google Currents update is very clean.
I wonder if Google will push a unified design across both iOS and Android eventually?

Chrome (already the same), Currents, YouTube, Search, maps e.t.c all looking and behaving the same on both. As someone that uses both iOS and Android, the prospect of this does sound nice.

[iChrist]

Originally Posted by haruhiko

There was nothing like the iPhone on the market. I don't need to repeat what others say for what I saw just 5 years ago.

That's fine. But since then, the Jobs' wonder boy, mr Forstall, has sat on iOS and let the competition catch up. It's too bad.

.

[ChazUK]

Originally Posted by jeff032177

the first place i looked up with the app was a public school. It had no idea where it was. Apple maps found it perfectly. Apple's satellite map has a much more updated version of the site. Not saying Apple is perfect, but no one has a perfect mapping solution.

Which public school? We can all give it a comparison that way.

[twigman08]

Hell to the yes!

It is absolutely beautiful. Only problem I have is that it is lagging pretty bad on my iPhone 4 and I am getting a lot of "can't connect to server" messages. Took me a while to even sign in. Though servers may not be fully up. On my way to class tomorrow I'll test it out to see how it does.

[i.mac]

Originally Posted by iChrist

What does this mean?

Originally Posted by k995

You mean people should thank apple for something a lot of companies were doing at the time?

Did you actually try other products at that time or are you just repeating what others say?

i was about to purchase a motorola phone at the time to upgrade from my free nokia crap phone with horrible ui. so yes, at the time the iphone came out, it was one of the kind, and a lot of folks derided the iphone, probably you included.

any way, go back and do some homework so you can answer your own question if you care. i certainly don't.

[petsounds]

Originally Posted by rorschach

Netflix, Amazon (Kindle), mail apps, camera apps...and tons of maps and navigation apps have been available in the App Store for years. Why would Google (which already has a ton of apps available) be any different?

Because they aren't direct competitors. They are small, niche players or have implementations on iOS which cannot compete with Apple's core apps. Google, OTOH, is Apple's biggest competitive threat. The only reason they'd let them on the store is because they weighed the consequences of keeping Google Maps out of the app store as being worse than letting it in.

[Michael Scrip]

Originally Posted by BWhaler

It's remarkably rare that an app makes it to my home page.

Rarer still that an app makes it to my home page and not buried in a folder.

But Google Maps, from a company I do not trust nor like, is now in the top row of my home page. Apple maps is buried in a folder I never open.

And the kicker is I haven't even used the Google Maps app yet. It's simply that mapping function is key to the mobile experience and there is no way Google's app is worse than Apple maps.

iOS 6 should be a wake-up call to Tim. Rampant quality and usability issues, sure, but the lack of innovation should scare the hell out of him. The battle is far from over, and offerings like Google Now, Google apps, Google Maps are getting better and better and better.

I agree with everything you say!

But the biggest benefit of Google Maps on iOS to me is... syncing with my desktop searches.

I do tons of mapping on my computer. Now I can pick up where I left off on my phone.

To me... that is HUGE.

[j4zb4]

How can I make it the default app...? Because when someone sends me a location on whatsapp and I tap "get directions" it opens the apple maps... And in my country apple maps doesn't give directions yet... So it gets really annoying...

[entropys]

Originally Posted by BuckusToothnuts

This Google Maps app ALONE is worth the price of admission of the iPhone 5.

Apple should really be kicking back some of the profits they make off iOS now back to Google.

If Google acted like Apple, they would have kept Google Maps exclusive to Android. Instead, they allowed iOS users have it for FREE.

Google supports customer choice whereas Apple believes in creating a monopoly.

Google believes in offering the best user experience despite jeopardizing potential revenues whereas Apple believes in protecting potential revenues despite jeopardizing the user experience.

Bravo Google! Thanks for making our iPhones complete again.

Umm, you do realise that from Google's perspective, the customer is the advertising companies. Their product is you, or more correctly, data about you. Thus, it makes total sense for Google to be on the iPhone if it can. The greater the diversity of product (ie phone users) for Google to sell to advertisers the better. This is even more so, if as stats seem to support, the greater part of mobile advertising revenue still comes from iOS devices (clearly given market share a lot of android smartphones mustn't be used as smartphones and thus don't generate revenue for Google at the same rate as iPhone users do).

Apple on the other hand, sells a user experience. This experience includes limiting how much information third parties can obtain about you. Which was the underlying motivation for producing its own maps app, even more so if the third party would also use the info collected to compete with Apple.

Ultimately though, it's own effort wasn't ready to compete, and was actually degrading the user experience, so it had to allow google in the apps store to preserve the user experience, a higher order need than preventing data being fed to the competition.

[i.mac]

Originally Posted by Michael Scrip

Or Apple is worried that people will jump to Android the next time around. But by allowing Google Maps... it keeps people happy and keeps them using an Apple phone.

Remember... Apple is in the business of selling $600 phones...

Apple gets ZERO dollars if someone buys an Android phone instead...

smart answer!

[BuckusToothnuts]

Originally Posted by petsounds

I don't think you really understand Google's business model. Google actually doesn't make much money from Android directly. Google is mainly an advertising company. The more people they have using their products, the more they can monetize their products and monetize YOU.

To wit, did you notice that they encourage you to "sign in" to your Google account in Maps? That's not really for your benefit, it's for theirs. By signing in, they can track EVERY PLACE YOU GO and sync that up with your online profile where they know EVERY PLACE YOU GO. This is what Google is after. Having their apps on the most devices possible is their priority.

So what? I have the option to NOT register or sign in to a Google account AND to turn off Google Maps location sharing. DONE.

Do I have the option to NOT use Apple Maps within iOS 6? Sadly not. Being the default mapping app, any address link in Safari or another app like Yelp is going to send me me to Apple Maps. And does Apple data mine me when using their Maps app? Of course they do!

So what's your point again?

Also, if you REALLY want to know how Google uses the info it collects on you, go to: www.google.com/ads/preferences

They even allow you to CHANGE your own profile or REMOVE anything you don't want there. Quite sinister, isn't it?

[jeff032177]

Originally Posted by ChazUK

Which public school? We can all give it a comparison that way.

carlton oaks school in santee, california. it finds another school in the district carlton hills. they are about a mile apart. it only lists carlton oaks as a "public elementary school.

[Uncle David]

Show of hands...

Who thinks that Google would have provided voice turn-by-turn navigation for the iOS if Apple hadn't replaced them with Apple Maps in iOS6?

[haruhiko]

Originally Posted by Uncle David

Show of hands...

Who thinks that Google would have provided voice turn-by-turn navigation for the iOS if Apple hadn't replaced them with Apple Maps in iOS6?

Exactly. Now Apple pays nothing and there's Google Maps with Turn by Turn navigation for iOS.

But the bad press has costed Apple MUCH MORE than the alleged crazy licensing fees.

[rorschach]

Originally Posted by petsounds

Because they aren't direct competitors. They are small, niche players or have implementations on iOS which cannot compete with Apple's core apps. Google, OTOH, is Apple's biggest competitive threat. The only reason they'd let them on the store is because they weighed the consequences of keeping Google Maps out of the app store as being worse than letting it in.

Maps and navigation apps have been available for years, before and since iOS 6. Approving Google Maps is par for the course; nothing extraordinary about it.

[iBeard]

Originally Posted by alksion

I honestly don't care. I live in So Cal and not once, have I ever had an issues with Apple Maps.

I'm not saying it's perfect. I'm just saying it's perfect for me.

I live in LA and have never had an issue

[robeddie]

Originally Posted by Michael Scrip

Or Apple is worried that people will jump to Android the next time around. But by allowing Google Maps... it keeps people happy and keeps them using an Apple phone.

Remember... Apple is in the business of selling $600 phones...

Apple gets ZERO dollars if someone buys an Android phone instead...

BINGO!

Apple cares far less about someone 'competing' with their maps app, if that competition keeps people from buying a non-iphone.

I myself was seriously considering a droid the next time around.

[Michael Scrip]

Originally Posted by jeff032177

carlton oaks school in santee, california. it finds another school in the district carlton hills. they are about a mile apart. it only lists carlton oaks as a "public elementary school.

Here's the thing... if you report the error... Google should fix it quickly.

How did Google Maps get so good in the first place? 10 years... and a lot of troops on the ground.

On the other hand... I'd love to help Apple improve their maps. But they don't have a desktop web page. I hate reporting things from my phone...

[xofruitcake]

Originally Posted by i.mac

be carefull, your statement is well written.

every one wants competition for apple, and when they get it, those folks shout 'embarrasing for apple'.

google was holding apple hostage with an archaic maps app that google refused to update. apple called their bluff, and google caughs up their trumping card. if any thing, apple forced google's hand, and apple products are now better. apple wins, the consumer wins, google lost their lofty place in the ios echosystem. who wins the most?

I beg to differ. IOS is the clear big winner here. IOS users did not have access to the Google turn by turn navigation before Apple kicked them out of IOS 6. Now IOS user has access to the feature. The price is 3 months of confusion and not having access to Google map. But at the end, they get a better product.

Apple is also a winner here too. Google map in IOS is at least as good as in Android now. And the price is a hit on corporate image and bruised ego for the Apple software development team. They will have a very hard time to live down the map problem and all the trash talking until Apple fix the map problem. In a year, customers won't remember much about this problem and Apple does not have to give in to Google demand of either branding in the map or Google latitude.

Google is at least even here. They won a PR battle against Apple, show off their advantage on the map apps, and maintain their map market share in IOS. But they give IOS users more features than they want before this battle with Apple begin.

The real battle just begin. The prize is the location base app like Passport. Without a solid map, none of the location based app will work. So both company has to push their respective map technology (not on the UI but the actual map data and user access pattern )

[macaddict23]

Okay, I was super excited to use Google Maps again after upgrading to iOS6 and using Apple Maps. But man, this new Google Map is not intuitive at all!

[nagromme]

I have no problem with Apple’s maps/directions so far, but am very glad to have Google Transit and Street View back! (And no longer rely on Google’s so-so site for those things.)

I know it has been an agonizing couple of months waiting for this obvious arrival, but now we have better maps than ever before, both from Apple and Google.

Apple does need to add Settings for default maps/mail/browser/etc.; I know they can’t count on all apps being able to serve every purpose that the built-in ones do, but at least for BASIC actions (show location, open web page, etc.), make it configurable.

[inscrewtable]

Pogue mentions that Google admits that a developer's brother said the the guy next door...

[wjdav2]

I actually think Apple maps look better than Google maps. Haven't tried Google's turn by turn yet, but tomorrow I'll go out and do a test of both Apps and their turn by turn voice directions. Oh wait. Apple chose not to allow my iPhone 4 to have access to turn by turn voice directions in the native maps app. Oh well, on to test two: accuracy.