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Consumer Backlash Against Apple Maps Surprised Waze CEO

Localization

One problem for Apple maps is localization. For instance their London Map depicts Metro stations with the same sign that is used in New York and Paris.

This is bad, as when I search for a tube station I do think of a logo that is used in the city not something which is used in other countries!

This is one small yet important step in the right direction.
 
I've had both map apps since each inception and have used both extensively for driving, public transportation and walking directions. Almost invariably, I use both apps for each need to continually test each ones integrity in practice.

I really really want to like the native iOS map, but it just doesn't compare to the Google product in accuracy and ease of use. Thats the honest truth.

One of my biggest complaints with Apple's map app is that it has difficulty auto-completing or even listing as an option, the street or location I'm looking for. Whereas Google seems highly adroit at doing so. There is too much fumbling and one must type in the exact information making it quite time-consuming and less efficient to use. Google Maps seems to be much smarter at determining what you're actually looking for, even if you provide limited information.

Overall, Apple Maps seems slow, inaccurate and time-consuming, making it an undesirable Map app to use in lieu of Google. There is also a LOT of missing extraneous data from Apple maps (which IS present in Google Maps) that is helpful.

I will continue to toggle between the two apps, but I have begun to be more partial to Google.
 
Maps on iphone are just bad, Android and Windows Phone have much better maps and navigation
 
I live in Melbourne, Florida a small sized city. I use both google and apple maps, but find google maps to be way more accurate. One day I wanted directions to crane creek golf course and used Siri with apple maps. It took me to the golf course but not to its entrance. It took me around it but not to the entrance. I had to switch to good maps to find the entrance. Embarrassing.
 
sfrancis928 said:
At this point I prefer Apple's Maps to Google's on the iPhone. I didn't at first because Apple couldn't keep ahold of my position at all when I was driving. But that has been fixed and I prefer the look and the iOS integration.
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Can I borrow your crystal ball once you are finished with it?

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Yojimbo007 said:
It was the media bashing apple not the consumer !
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You're joking right?

Even on MacRumors there was a monstrous thread full of outraged consumers:

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1385928/
 
If he underestimated the backlash, then he does not read comments on other sites. People believe they can say anything about everything anonymously. They care nothing about the people they attack. It is not simply stating facts they find objectionable (to them), but they attack others on a personal level.
 
liavman said:
This dude's statement sounds quite self-serving to me. It looks like he is talking up the difficulty with maps thereby talking up Waze. That can be good for Waze so I do not blame him, he is doing his job. But saying he is the only competition out there to Google is just non sense.
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Yep, quite a typical case of self-promotion. He is right in a sense, though. The problem is not only Google´s money, it´s how hard you can work and put in a lot of effort into your applications. Google´s maps is a service that wasn´t great from one day to another, they have improved it constantly, though, which lead to where it is now. If Apple really wants to commit and give their costumers a rock-solid and useful maps app, they don´t need Waze, they need some people who have knowledge about the infrastructure of stuff you need to build a great app in the first place. A maps app is "only a GUI", the real magic happens somewhere else.
 
KillerTree said:
Waze already does many things better than Google Maps. (Like live reroutes when a traffic jam suddenly appears ahead of your route, and warning of police).
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I can't recommend Waze high enough. This is a great FREE app. If you are going to an unfamiliar place, need to find a place to eat, a gas station..., etc... Waze can do all that and more.
 
Waze...really?

I have used Waze for a long time off and on and the map accuracy is Beta at best. Yes the app has some nice features but side by side, Apple Maps kills Waze.

For a business that is all about navigation, Waze should have been a lot better by now. I am more embarrassed for Waze than I am for Apple after reading this story.
 
Sort of

I partially agree - if what is meant by "quality" means accuracy of information and usability.

Apple has a "quality" mapping app, with all kinds of whiz-bang technology, like the 'real time rendering' and the 'flyover' stuff... Who cares?

When I'm using a mapping app, I need it to be accurate - if it shows a certain road, it would be nice if the road actually exists. Conversely, if a road exists, but it's missing from the map, that doesn't do me a lot of good.

Like accuracy, usability is also key. Have you ever tried to use maps while driving? It's insane. Unlike a paper map, I've had to resort to pulling over to look at Apple maps. The zoom levels are all wrong, and the text rendering is impossibly small - unsafe to read while moving.

I like that Apple has a good focus on UI (unlike some other companies), but sometimes they focus on that so much, that important things are brushed aside. Apple still has trouble with the "it's good enough" lesson in the UI department, when it's not good enough in the usability department.
 
I'd love to know involved Steve was with maps. It seems like this is an area where Apple could have spent the time and money to get it a lot better than what they originally released.
 
Last weekend, Google Maps led me to a liquor store that Apple Maps didn't even show. It was a truck garage inside a park/campground. Yesterday, Apple Maps couldn't find my local US Post Office, but Google Maps did.

Neither service is 100% reliable.
 
Apple Maps Works for me

I too missed the Google maps from iOS 5. But I decided to give Apple the benefit of the doubt. I have a teenage daughter that I drive to friends houses that I'm given sometimes spotty addresses for and Apple Maps took me right to the door and in a direct route each time.

The POI database was poor and inaccurate in the beginning for my area but is improving everyday. Recently I had to go to the extreme northern area of the Twin Cities metro area which I hadn't driven to in a long time. I knew the route but I asked both Apple Maps and Google Maps for directions. It turns out that there is a section of a highway that is closed and there is a detour. Apple Maps showed the detour, Google showed the route as if the highway were open. I chose the Apple route because it showed the little construction icon on the map. Sure enough the highway was closed.

I'm sticking with Apple Maps. I think the Apple team is committed to making a premier mapping application. iOS 7 should bring some UI enhancements as well.
 
sfrancis928 said:
At this point I prefer Apple's Maps to Google's on the iPhone. I didn't at first because Apple couldn't keep ahold of my position at all when I was driving. But that has been fixed and I prefer the look and the iOS integration.
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i'll stick up for Maps too. I know, it depends on where you are. But the most embarrassing thing about it, the tendency for aerial,to have, uh, collapsed features and things, that's decreased a lot. I did have one occasion when going to a doctor's office on one side of the hospital., Maps was putting me at the front door of the hospital, but the office was a full block away on the other side. But I've run into problems with Google Maps, too. Maybe all GPS maps should communicate when they get lost. Siri says, "Hey, Google Maps, I'm lost! What do you have for that address? Oh, yeah? Well, Waze, what do you think? You agree with Google. Okay, Apple, check your map here. You've arrived at your destination, sir. It's on the right." Wouldn't we be better off if companies were required to share data? The basic maps should be agreed-upon, just the interfaces and the uses of the map are proprietary.
 
While Waze is a great idea for an app — crowd sourcing traffic info — in practice
I have not found it terribly useful. The interface/UI is terrible, and for some strange reason it wants to turn your trip into a game with points and chat and other useless features. And it suffers from the same problem that all crowd-sourced content does: it's wrong way too often. I've gotten tired of correcting it when it tells me that there's a car stopped on the side of the road where there isn't one, or police where they aren't, so I don't bother anymore.

I find that both Apple and Google maps steer me wrong sometimes but are generally accurate. I guess I don't find Street View as useful as others do. To me it feels almost as gimmicky as Apple's flyover. On those occasions when I resort to Street View for an unfamiliar location I often spin it around in vain to find the street number or store front I'm looking for. Keeping my eyes open when I get there works better.
 
BornAgainMac said:
I prefer Apple Maps. I use it more and more everyday and really like it.
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Yes. My big suggestion: when you chose a route from the maps it offers, you get to the first green map. You should just be able to flick the roadsigns to the left and follow your route turn-by-turn ahead of time. Then, when you can see it in your head as a sequence of roadsigns, then press "Start".
 
macFanDave said:
Last weekend, Google Maps led me to a liquor store that Apple Maps didn't even show. It was a truck garage inside a park/campground. Yesterday, Apple Maps couldn't find my local US Post Office, but Google Maps did.

Neither service is 100% reliable.
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People should be using Map services as a rough guide and should not put 100% faith in any application.

Some people also need to apply the use of common sense when navigating. The chances are that if the destination displayed is not where you expect it to be, then it's probably the wrong place!
 
I'm just back from a 1000 mile 5-day road trip across the UK, I frequently tried Apple Maps and it was useless. It couldn't find my destination, the maps server went down so it couldn't plot a route, it was slower and not as accurate as Google. I have persevered with Apple but Google Maps performed perfectly every time, I didn't even have to use my car Sat-Nav. Apple Maps has now been relegated from my front screen.
 
mytdave said:
When I'm using a mapping app, I need it to be accurate - if it shows a certain road, it would be nice if the road actually exists. Conversely, if a road exists, but it's missing from the map, that doesn't do me a lot of good.
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I agree. I'd like to give a few examples to those who think there isn't a problem because the maps are fit for purpose where they live.

I'm currently at work in Wordsley but Apple Maps thinks that Wordsley is 1.5 miles away in fields and woodland out in the countryside. :rolleyes:

1.5 miles to the south of me is the town of Stourbridge but Apple Maps doesn't show it. Nor Kingswinford, which is 1.5 miles to the north.

It does show Wordsley Hospital (the pink blob just to the north) but that was closed in 2005 and has since been demolished and redeveloped as a housing estate. If I zoom in until POIs are visible it gets even worse.

All of these errors were reported on day one (and many times since) but still haven't been fixed 7 months down the line. If I can spot that many errors in a 1.5 mile radius of my workplace how am I supposed to trust it when travelling to places I'm unfamiliar with?

Photo 16-04-2013 12 48 04.png
 
I said it when iOS 6 was dropped and I'll say it again. I prefer Apple Maps over google maps. Better integration and Google maps doesn't know when I'm sitting at a light. All I hear for the entire light is "Turn left." That sucks.
 
Fuzzy14 said:
I'm just back from a 1000 mile 5-day road trip across the UK, I frequently tried Apple Maps and it was useless. It couldn't find my destination, the maps server went down so it couldn't plot a route, it was slower and not as accurate as Google. I have persevered with Apple but Google Maps performed perfectly every time, I didn't even have to use my car Sat-Nav. Apple Maps has now been relegated from my front screen.
Click to expand...

It's slowly improving but it's still an absolutely useless app for most UK users and with the data available it's pretty insulting for Apple to think it was acceptable to release in the first place.

Google Maps is absolutely years ahead of Apple Maps. Some naive people might claim Apple will close the gap, but Google are not standing still are they! Google continues to develop and improve their Mapping services. The gap is getting wider by the week.
 
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