When Google first came to prominence they marketed themselves as anti-microsoft & anti-establishment! Fast forward a few years and Apple gave them a huge advertising leg-up by putting their maps on the first iPhones, but they bit the hand that fed them when Android came to the fore and have been force feeding patrons with targeted advertising, selling data to 3rd parties, limiting displayed search results, rolling over to the authorities' every whimsical request for personal data ever since! They can no longer be trusted as the keeper of personal information.
Also, does anyone claiming Apple should have stuck with Google Maps not see the potential of selling accurate mapping data in a few years? Maps came on long way since it was launched, and with the rate at which it's being developed it'll soon be more detailed than Google's and it'll only need a browser version to make it globally available. The purchase of 3D arial mapping companies. plus "iLevel view" cars, demonstrate to me that Apple has long term plans for mapping that we may not yet be privy to ...Imaging being able to zoom out from street level 3D navigation to a 1000ft overview of surrounding areas showing alternative, traffic free, routes on-the-fly?
anywhoo ...it works great in the UK as is, and as far as navigating across country goes; it only lacks speed trap warnings - if it ever gets those, I won't have any need for alternatives.
