Apple Exec Explains Why You Should Use Apple Maps

[TarkinDale]

I use it often, but some issues cause me issues:
1.Lack of businesses and parks when searching for details.
2. Misses some spots where there are limits on turning.
3. Poor route choice under heavy traffic.

As well, like google maps it appears to have a bias for turning right onto a main road, while in Australia that can be a pain because of the side of the road we drive on.

 

[orthorim]

What is that feature?

I've been all in on Apple Maps for years now. It's been excellent at route planning and navigation, but it still lags behind Google when it comes to POIs (points of interest). I'm still hitting on too many occasions when I have to look for a restaurant or something on Google Maps and then use Apple Maps to navigate to it.

My other big wish list item is offline maps which can be super handy in areas of poor internet connectivity, or when travelling.

Still, I'm very impressed with the improvements to rendering and detail, and I use the Guides feature heavily to keep track of destinations of all kinds.

The problem is Apple maps is a toy project for Apple. It's strategic to have Maps. But - it's not their business. It makes no money - it costs a lot.

They need to buy some more Maps startups and find incentives for the people working there to make it amazing.

Apple Maps at the most basic level is a complete failure and literally does not work on my phone here in Indonesia, when navigating on my motorbike.

I don't know what super clever rules are built into it - but if I use Google maps as nav system, no drama, it gets me there.

I use Apple Maps in the same situation - the screen turns off after 5 minutes (hard to turn back on while riding a motorbike). And it doesn't move with the bike, it doesn't know what direction I am moving, doesn't show the direction ahead either.

In addition, here in Asia, it has no points of interest, basically, compared to Google.

In the end, Google figured out how to make maps a grade A app, how to scale it, how to make it useful in other countries.

Apple has added some fancy features, but has not figured out the basics of mapping, data management, and even some strange app behaviors that make it completely unusable in my use case. Bizarre.

 

[SilverWalker]

I found point 2 rather odd:

2. Privacy is central and Apple isn't tracking your location for data purposes when you use Apple Maps.

Read that again. Rather than say 'Apple isn't tracking your location' full stop; they say:
'Apple isn't tracking your location for data purposes' - in other words, Apple is tracking your location, just not for 'data purposes'. Odd.

 

[boss.king]

For those lucky enough to live in cities with regular map data updates, then Apple Maps can seriously be seen as better than Google Maps.

Until you leave your city?

 

[Apleeseed84]

I became a fan of waze after it legit took me on the country roads on during a recent trip and literally kept me on track on my ETA by avoiding a huge construction venue that had traffic stopped for an hour. You could tell who was using Waze that day because everyone was making the same u-turn Waze was telling us to do haha. Interestingly enough, I pulled up Apple Maps during the same route and it still wanted me to wait on the highway and added the extra hour to the ETA.

 

[nfl46]

Now, that I think about it, I can’t remember the last time I used Google Maps. I’d say its 90% Apple Maps and 10% Waze (I use this for road trips).

 

[boss.king]

I became a fan of waze after it legit took me on the country roads on during a recent trip and literally kept me on track on my ETA by avoiding a huge construction venue that had traffic stopped for an hour. You could tell who was using Waze that day because everyone was making the same u-turn Waze was telling us to do haha. Interestingly enough, I pulled up Apple Maps during the same route and it still wanted me to wait on the highway and added the extra hour to the ETA.

On a road trip earlier this year, I had Apple Maps try to get me to turn onto a highway that didn't exist. Luckily, I was just testing it out and was borrowing a proper GPS unit that was rock-solid for the whole trip. In major American cities, it seems mostly fine, but I just don't find it reliable enough of the time to warrant switching. I test it out every few months and there's always at least one thing it can't find or can't get me the fastest route to, so I still swear by Waze and Google Maps.

 

[Abazigal]

Ho to fix Apple Maps:

1. Pay Google $NBillion dollars/year for access to the Place database that backs Google Maps

That's it. It's fixed. Seriously, the amount of incorrect and missing information in Apple Maps in major US cities is completely inexcusable.

Are we forgetting the whole Google maps debacle that led to Apple developing their own maps app in the first place? Apple would be a fool to rely on Google for their infrastructure any more than they have to.

And once you go down that route, you lose all incentive to continue improving on Maps, and will only become even more dependent on Google in the future.

This is precisely why we need Apple to keep developing and maintaining privacy-focused alternatives to Google, however inferior they may be.

 

[Da_Hood]

Is point 1 verbatim from Apple?
Admitting you needed improving, requiring “serious investment”, looks bad.
Throwing money at something does not equal success. See every Maps iteration as proof.

 

[puckhead193]

I use Apple Maps when I'm driving in my BMW. I can't speak for other manufacturers but with Car Play it uses my Heads up display so well that it can't compare to google in that regards. I can see what lane to be in etc all from the HUD it makes it a lot easier. I do like the voice guidance, (at the next stop sign, at the light etc make a left/right.

 

[Sorig]

Blah blah, still a joke in my country so I’ll keep using Google Maps.

 

[abhibeckert]

I found point 2 rather odd:

2. Privacy is central and Apple isn't tracking your location for data purposes when you use Apple Maps.

Read that again. Rather than say 'Apple isn't tracking your location' full stop; they say:
'Apple isn't tracking your location for data purposes' - in other words, Apple is tracking your location, just not for 'data purposes'. Odd.

Of course Apple is tracking your location. For example if I walk away from my keys for a few minutes, I get an alert message on my phone warning me I left them behind. And if I tap on it I get a map showing where I am and where my keys are. Apple also knows where I parked my car last, and if I jump in the car it will make a pretty accurate guess as to where I'm going based on my habits - for example I go to the pool at 10:30am every Thursday and it knows that, even though I have never asked for directions because I know the way. It just automatically shows me the route and confirms there are no traffic issues each time I start my car on Thursday morning. I can say to siri, "remind me to call dad when I get home", and she will do that.

All of that and more only works because Apple devices absolutely do track user locations. They just don't use the data for anything "creepy". Depending on your definition of creepy.

 

[abhibeckert]

Is point 1 verbatim from Apple?
Admitting you needed improving, requiring “serious investment”, looks bad.
Throwing money at something does not equal success. See every Maps iteration as proof.

Roads are constantly evolving. For example the speed limit was halved at a high crash intersection near my office recently, and ever since I take a different route to work. On the other hand near home a bypass was built which avoids several busy intersections and saves about ten minutes.

Keeping track of stuff like that requires a lot of ongoing money. And somehow Apple knew about both of those changes apparently the day they happened. Because I started getting different directions on the map.

 

[oldmacs]

I love Apple maps but come on Apple.. why can't we do multiple destinations? In google maps I can put in destination a,b,c and find the best way of getting there. With Apple maps, I have to manually work this out and then pull over to find what address b and c are, especially if I'm picking up multiple people from their addresses. How hard could this possibly be to implement?

Waze also displays your speed and whether you're going over the limit.

 

[scotty321]

Apple Maps is still a complete P.O.S. to this very day. Get this — Apple Maps WON’T EVEN GIVE YOU VOICE DIRECTIONS if you have music or other audio playing on your iPhone! Um, Apple, this is totally unhelpful and a gigantic dealbreaker. I don’t want to take my eyes off the road to look down at Apple Maps every time an upcoming turn is coming up. Absolutely ridiculous. It’s like Apple doesn’t even test their own products for usability. But I suppose that’s what we get when a glorified UPS shipping clerk runs the company, instead of a man who is obsessed with details & high quality products. ?‍♂️

 

[Bustycat]

I’ll agree with it when Apple Maps gets renamed to Apple U.S. Maps.

 

[timeislove]

I am a fan of Apple Maps.

I tried hard to be a fan of apple map, but …

“

1. Maps is part of the Apple ecosystem and integrates well with other Apple devices and services.”

What dorn said for the third point is not true.

Clicking any non street address from Apple Native Contact App or Calendar App could take you to Apple Map to locate contact s addr or an event s destination!

 

[ignatius345]

I haven't used Apple Maps since I nearly missed my daughters graduation from University after it sent me to the wrong place. … That must be nearly 10 years ago now

LOL, you’re working on 10 year old information. It’s barely the same product it was back then.

 

[gene731]

Google Maps used to be a 100% lock for me but I must say Apple Maps has come a looong way — especially in iOS 15/macOS Monterey.

Absolutely. Now it took me time to get onto google maps as they had some growing problems but now Apple have gone through their growing pains as well there is no going back to google for me as I think it has matured enough to trust it. I know people like Google Maps and despise Apple Maps to this day and that is their choice.

 

[ignatius345]

Another core feature of Waze is its a social network so if a car breaks down another user can mark that immediately and then rest of Wazers can see that. Includes roadworks and temporary mobile police speed traps.

Apple Maps has had hazard reporting for a while now. It doesn’t have as many users, so probably not as many things get reported but the feature is there.

I’ve been using Apple Maps for navigation for quite a few years now and it’s very very rarely let me down. That includes many parts of the US and even in Europe. It gets me exactly where I'm going, and usually within a few minutes of how long it said it would take, offering to reroute around traffic where appropriate. Lane guidance is good and has been steadily improving for a while now. My only beef, really, is that it doesn't have as complete or as current of place data as Google has. But once I find what I need, I'm back to Apple Maps to navigate there.

 

[krspkbl]

i'm quite happy with Apple Maps. it doesn't have a street view at least where i live but whatever. i'm not a heavy map user. it's good enough to locate somewhere and when i use it in carplay it gets me from A to B.

it could use improvements and i'm happy to keep using Apple Maps. i refuse to go back to Google. i avoid them as much as possible. Last year when I got my iPhone i decided to try cut as much of Google out my life. Ditched Chrome, Gmail, Google Search, Google Maps, Drive, etc. Now i use Firefox on PC/Safari on iOS, Outlook/iCloud email, DuckDuckGo search, Apple Maps, iCloud drive. the only Google services i use still is YouTube.

 

[ignatius345]

I would use Apple maps in US. In Europe or E Europe - forget about it.

I drove all over Spain a couple years ago using only Apple Maps and it worked perfectly. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

 

[ImAppleDude]

Apple has still lots of things to improve in Maps. There are no current speed limit, incident reports, 3D maps and so on where I live. I will stick with Waze until those features are added.

 

[Ghost31]

Only took them a decade to get it into shape...

Did it? I’ve been using it for years as a delivery driver and it’s been solid for me. It’s not like last night it suddenly became worth a damn. People just didn’t get the memo that it’s not cool to bash Apple Maps anymore

 

[szw-mapple fan]

I tried. Can’t compete with google maps IMO.

Eh. In my area at least Google maps is quite a bit more inaccurate with older data. I usually use Apple Maps with google maps as backup as needed, but I don’t think I’ve opened google maps in almost a year.