In my city (medium-sized, US) Apple Maps has been significantly more accurate than Google maps, though neither is perfect. I do keep Google maps installed, and expected I would use it often because I believed the anti-Apple hype... but in practice I find I only use Google for transit. And even then I do my search in Apple Maps (since Google won't read my onboard address book), and then Apple automatically opens the route in the Google app when I hit Apple's transit icon. Works great!
The real sign of how well Apple Maps has worked for me: I've long consider Google's desktop maps site to be one the best things ever made, but lately I find myself dissatisfied by it and wishing I could have Apple's maps on the desktop too. (Thank you, Mavericks.)
I have no doubt that there are locations where the reverse is true and Google is better. But Apple's Maps problems are vastly exaggerated. For every bad anecdote about Apple Maps, you could create one about Google if you wanted.
People act like Google doesn't have errors--they do and always did. But without an Apple logo, those errors weren't worthy of bloggers efforts to stir up mobs!
And once we're TOLD Apple has errors, suddenly we notice them and care, when we used to just brush them off with Google. Confirmation bias: another gift of the Fabulous Human Brain.
EDIT: As for tracking--sure, no solution is 100% perfect for the paranoid. But privacy matters. Google makes their MONEY by tracking users, and by keeping carriers and advertisers happy. Apple makes their money by keeping users happy. That clearly affects the companies' decisions about what data to collect, how anonymous it is, how long to store it, and how easily you can opt out without giving up features.
The real sign of how well Apple Maps has worked for me: I've long consider Google's desktop maps site to be one the best things ever made, but lately I find myself dissatisfied by it and wishing I could have Apple's maps on the desktop too. (Thank you, Mavericks.)
I have no doubt that there are locations where the reverse is true and Google is better. But Apple's Maps problems are vastly exaggerated. For every bad anecdote about Apple Maps, you could create one about Google if you wanted.
People act like Google doesn't have errors--they do and always did. But without an Apple logo, those errors weren't worthy of bloggers efforts to stir up mobs!
And once we're TOLD Apple has errors, suddenly we notice them and care, when we used to just brush them off with Google. Confirmation bias: another gift of the Fabulous Human Brain.EDIT: As for tracking--sure, no solution is 100% perfect for the paranoid. But privacy matters. Google makes their MONEY by tracking users, and by keeping carriers and advertisers happy. Apple makes their money by keeping users happy. That clearly affects the companies' decisions about what data to collect, how anonymous it is, how long to store it, and how easily you can opt out without giving up features.
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