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Apple Launches New App Store Feature Section for Alternative Maps
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Maybe I'm just fortunate to live in the SF/Bay Area, but Maps has worked nearly perfectly for me, even during the dev builds. It even found things fine in Napa, Sonoma and the Pacific Coast Highway north of SF for me this week. It even got me "un-lost" at one point. From my perspective, having Apple Maps connected to Siri, turn-by-turn, 3D flyover and "evolving" data is much better than having the Google driven iOS map app with none of those things. Wish they'd hurry up and get public transit directions, but beyond that I'm happy. Just sayin'
I think this piece by the BBC shows how much work Apple has to do to "catch-up" :
http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-19536269
Simply put, Google has put in place a lot of processes and people to make sure its mapping is update to date and accurate. They have stopped relying on 3rd parties and do a lot of the work internally. Heck, people saying that "Google Maps" haven't been updated for years need to simply look at this chart :
Google is a moving target. It has made a lot of the mistakes and learned from them. Apple will need to go through all of those mistakes and learn those solutions again unfortunately. Not to mention Google has access to a lot of more users through its web interface and availability on multiple platforms. As it stands, Apple only has iOS users to crowd-source.
Thanks, very interesting find.
It's also interesting to note that Google still uses 3rd party data for most of the world, which means that theoretically Apple Maps could use that data for their own maps, which they aren't and have instead decided to go with some sub-par maps.
Crucial difference: Apple released a brand new product line, iOS, that never supported, or promised to support Flash. There were all sorts of good arguments for not supporting Flash (not least that many existing Flash applets just plain wouldn't work on a touchscreen), many of which are now vindicated, given that Flash on Android is effectively dead.
The problem here is that they've suddenly pulled long-standing functionality as part of a routine update to what should, by now, be a mature, stable system.
No, I think the correlation you'll find is with people who live outside the USA (UK and Japan seem to have been screwed over the worst), who used the old Maps for browsing maps and planning journeys in advance and aren't too concerned about turn-by-turn.
Vis:
Newsflash: the turn-by-turn navigation in the new Maps is 100% better than the old Maps... which didn't have any. But is it better than NavFree or Waze?
...which, once you've used it more than twice, is probably where you'll start to see the deficiencies in the new Maps, especially if you stray out of big US cities. "Knowing where you are going" was one thing that Street View was great for. Flyover only tells you that you appear to be going to a Salvador Dali theme party.
Releasing maps worst than anything released in the last 15 years is embarrassing and shows weakness.
Apologizing for one of Apple's worst ***** up in years doesn't.
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Hope you didn't bet too much because you'd be out a large sum of money.
Apple replaced the accurate, functioning Maps app that was on all iPhone models since 2007 with terrible maps and a loss in functionality (inaccurate maps mean that the app becomes useless as well).
Flash was never available on the iPhone, and the few users who thought they needed it at the time didn't buy an iPhone and got an Android instead (now that Flash is no longer supported in newer Android phones I wonder what they'll do though).
I've had a play now for a few weeks.
The turn by turn I've actually found to be pretty good. I an my 5 and 4 alongside each other with the 4 running tomtom and 5 Apple maps. Apple maps did the job pretty good..enough for me to consider uninstalling tomtom.
However....
Slight problem on two occasions...navigated to a place with no phone signal, then when I went to go back it wouldn't let me navigate home due to no signal? Ended up just running tomtom on both occasions and using that instead.
The app itself (disregarding turn by turn) is as bad as people make out. Hopefully though with enough people reporting issues it should work itself out eventually
The turn by turn I've actually found to be pretty good. I an my 5 and 4 alongside each other with the 4 running tomtom and 5 Apple maps. Apple maps did the job pretty good..enough for me to consider uninstalling tomtom.
However....
Slight problem on two occasions...navigated to a place with no phone signal, then when I went to go back it wouldn't let me navigate home due to no signal? Ended up just running tomtom on both occasions and using that instead.
The app itself (disregarding turn by turn) is as bad as people make out. Hopefully though with enough people reporting issues it should work itself out eventually
So far soo good for me. Definitely glad it was released when it was, it's nice to not have to look at the phone when I'm in the car for directions and just be able to hear what to do next. Also, I like the way the road is displayed because there were a couple of times when I was using google (i didn't read the actual map directions) I wasn't sure which exit I needed to take since there were a couple of them pretty close together.
Anyways, I can definitely understand the frustration that other users are having and I'm glad that there is such a public outcry, it will only make them work that much harder. Also, I was getting a lot of new advertising things popping up with each search and in the iPhone 4s you have to really zoom in quite a bit to avoid hitting the advertisement instead of the place you were trying to get to. Hopefully, for those using the google maps app, they don't overfill it with ads in the future.
Anyways, I can definitely understand the frustration that other users are having and I'm glad that there is such a public outcry, it will only make them work that much harder. Also, I was getting a lot of new advertising things popping up with each search and in the iPhone 4s you have to really zoom in quite a bit to avoid hitting the advertisement instead of the place you were trying to get to. Hopefully, for those using the google maps app, they don't overfill it with ads in the future.
Ads in the Google Maps app? I've never seen one in almost 5 years of use. Is this an area specific thing or are you talking about the web version?
On a £500 - £700 ... nope
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Have you of 'dropping your big headed competition in the poop'
Plus why should they? They had an update ready for the iPhone app, Apple made an executive decision and now has to live with it... tough
The point of the link that you posted was that there were supposedly a large number of "cities" that were missing from Ontario in iOS 6 Maps. Unfortunately, a significant number of those names are not actually "cities" at all, but merely community names. A lot of them do have markers within Google Maps, but if you look at the satellite view they're usually just rural areas with farm houses scattered about or a small collection of roadside buildings on a highway.
I don't consider rural farming communities or small roadside communities to qualify as "cities", do you? That's what is misleading about it. Saying that "cities" are missing sounds much more dramatic than saying "farming communities" are missing.
Some POI placement and results are actually disguised ads for Google partners. They are usually highly relevant to your searches, hence why it doesn't look like ads. This is Google's strength after all.
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If Google finds it, there's nothing misleading about it, sorry. You're just dancing around the issue at this point. Even Tim Cook admits that Apple map is lacking, you're not convincing anybody with your futile discrediting of people that are finding faults in Maps.
This is the route they are taking to finished maps.
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Another theory is that Google has exclusive agreements with the third-party data providers, in order to prevent a competitor like Apple from doing that.
Just my "theory", really a hypothesis, like yours, since a scientific theory requires a lot more evidence to back it up.
If you say that "cities" are missing in Ontario and then provide a link that says "cities" are missing in Ontario...then they do actually need to be cities, not community names within a township or rural farming areas.
When in doubt, SPLIT SOME HAIRS!
They might not be "cities", but they sure as hell are "locations". Which Google Maps can currently find, but Apple Maps can't.
Hell, I think I responded to you with one of these "not cities" you claimed Google couldn't find with a link showing it found it on the first try.
Splitting hairs? Do a Google search for cities in Ontario and then take that list and compare it to the link that was posted. Hint: there aren't really hundreds of "cities" in Ontario.
And I wasn't disputing that Google had markers for many of the names. I'm pointing out that they're not "cities" at all, which is why the list is so incredibly long.
Yes, you're splitting hairs. The list comes from Ontario Ministry of Transport. It can't get much more official than that.
Again. Tim Cook admits it. You should to. He has much higher stakes in this than you do and even he can admit that maps aren't up to par.
Someone has made that same test on iOS 5. Even though this is a quite limited test in that the area is small, the result is interesting.
http://vore.cc/post/32503374905/old-maps-vs-new-maps
There is a traffic light in Deposit on I-86 and nothing else.
Hopefully Apple Maps doesn't show it as I-86 in Deposit though.
See the thread in the iOS 6 forum. Basically, a lot of those "hits" are false positives (the searches he says Google Maps doesn't find or doesn't place properly are just not all true, many posters found errors in his data) and still he says Google Maps comes on top.
That article was linked to by Gruber, take it for what it is. Daringfireball is the last place to look at for objectiveness in these debates.