Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Apple Maps don't suck! (merged)

Photogdave said:
Ok guys, just download a maps app until this thing is better.
I remember when Google maps SUCKED too.
It wont be long.
I for one am happy with it.
Its awesome so far for me using it.
Its more accurate for my home than Google maps, Bing map, Garmin.
I like the integration it provides.
I like how I dont need to set my screen to NEVER turn off just to keep map open like in Google Maps
I like with screen off, you still get turn by turn and when the turn is approaching, the screen powers up in lock screen displaying map briefly until you turn then powers off again.
I like the banner it displays in the top giving directions if you've left the app to do other things.

Theres pluses guys, its not all bad. Google maps still to this day doesn't have that kind of integration.
Tap the brakes a little. Give it time, it'll get better.
Boy, times are real good these days when we expect everything perfect....right now, no waiting.

Hell, Google built Android how many years ago and still to this damn day, even on Android devices, Google Maps wont do turn by turn and it has no integration like new Maps.
Click to expand...

First of all every Android device I have owned or seen has turn by turn baked into Google Maps. Secondly it's going to take years for Apple maps to get better, or more accurately, to the point where people can trust it. Make no mistake, trust is the most crucial aspect. Once I saw a couple mistakes locally I immediately lost trust in Apple maps. There's no way I'll let my wife or kids use Apple maps for turn by turn if I can't be 100% certain that the destination is the correct one and in the correct place.

I've tried turn by turn locally but I knew where I was going to begin with. For the most part it was correct but how can I know for sure when I'm looking for directions to somewhere I've never been? The answer is, I can't be sure. That's a problem and it makes the entire app useless. From experience Google maps has never led me astray or into a dead end. Navigon and TomTom have been right on the money every time I've used them. Since I trust these apps I will continue using them but its unfortunate that I can't make any other map app be the default on my iPhone 5. And since I can't, it makes other apps I have that rely on Apple maps integration also useless.

I do however disagree with people who say that fly over is useless. I use it to get a sense of distance and scale when I'm in an area I don't know well. I also use it to find landmarks that I'll be able to identify along a route. Fly over can be useful in a large city you've never been to. For example, lets say I'm at the Civic Center in San Francisco and I decide to check out the Golden Gate Bridge. I would use fly over to get a sense of how far it is from where I am and the general direction I would have to travel.
 
Brazuca said:
You should read the links.
Click to expand...

I know and I did - and them doing the comparison knowing that this is two different methods seems a little like grasping at straws. Of course there's a difference when they switched method, there's no need to debate it unless you (not You personally) want to turn attention away from Maps not being very good.

Brazuca said:
But it is a powerful argument for Apple having to do its own maps (if you accept that google wouldn't license this data to Apple on mutually agreed terms).
Click to expand...

In my view it's was Steven Jobs going thermonuclear that blew up their relationship - but that's just my opinion... fact is they did build their own.

Brazuca said:
On your comment about caching: The Guardian:
Click to expand...


We agree vector doesn't take up much space and that Apple Maps caches quite a bit - but the article really have some ******** claims. Feel free to test this on Your own phone - put it in airplane mode.

Apple Maps seems to cache a good distance around you, in my case it's something like 750 km in diameter. It also seems to be just the first couple of layers, tried something around 75 km away and after a couple of zooms it just got blurry, with no street level detail. The route I took the other day (a 300 km distance) have complete street level detail, so it obviously caches that while you are driving - but that's WITH a dataconnection, not (as claimed in the article) without. You can also move the map around some more before going into airplane mode, i've cached a good deal of northern Europe this way, but again only a couple of levels down - no street level detail. Jumped to New York and "surfed" around, this is also cached when without a dataconnection - even the traffic data. But I don't think this is a smart mechanism build into Apple Maps but just a function of the maps not being that memory intensive and their garbage collector having a high trigger mark.
 
Last edited:
dv8r said:
I saw the two apologists extraordinaire giving this some headway yesterday - I would like to see a comparison based on the vector based stuff in Google Maps instead, right now it's Apples and Oranges. If there's a comparison to recent Android based navigation and Apple Maps, then I'll bite. And about that - You can select an area of the recent Google Maps and have it saved offline. Apple Maps also saves stuff offline, mainly where you've been lately, but it's not something you can control.
Click to expand...

Compared both on Apple as I usually don't carry two smartphones. Android may be great for navigating, no idea, but this is the Maps don't suck thread.
 
dv8r said:
I know and I did - and them doing the comparison knowing that this is two different methods seems a little like grasping at straws. Of course there's a difference when they switched method, there's no need to debate it unless you (not You personally) want to turn attention away from Maps not being very good.
Click to expand...

I just wanted to point out that the comparison was with old versus new maps in iOS. Not with iOS versus Android. The context was the article about how little maps are being used because some company is seeing a huge drop in data use related to maps. Maybe it's because maps just doesn't use much data at all, and a lot of it stays cached. I wonder how long this cache survives, and which layers. I don't think that they need to reload the street grid, but probably POIs and definitely traffic.

So, if you stay mostly in your city, you would use almost no map data over a period of time. It is mostly cached locally, with the occasional update of traffic, etc.

Again, not comparing to Android, just explaining why there is so little data use in new maps.
 
Kukulcan said:
Compared both on Apple as I usually don't carry two smartphones. Android may be great for navigating, no idea, but this is the Maps don't suck thread.
Click to expand...

There there, it's ok... Tim also agrees - time to step into the light.

More seriously: if people really want to show that Apple Maps have the upper hand in certain areas, the best way to do this is fair and square. Android have plenty of weird quirks, so it really shouldn't be a problem.
 
Used it 2 times and both time the POI are the wrong address. lol. #FAIL, will stick with Waze for a little while. I have faith apple will eventually get this right.
 
Apple maps are accurate! It's the world that needs to change.

1. Create a map. 2. Create the world using the map as a blueprint.

Google had it wrong when they were driving these funny looking cars around the world, trying to create the maps...
 
If you live in a large Metropolitan area, for now Maps is broken.

If you live in the Somewhat Remote Suburbs as I do. It is fine.

Nothing of value is ever easy. Remember OS 7.2.1. We all survived, right? ;)
 
Glideslope said:
If you live in a large Metropolitan area, for now Maps is broken.

If you live in the Somewhat Remote Suburbs as I do. It is fine.

Nothing of value is ever easy. Remember OS 7.2.1. We all survived, right? ;)
Click to expand...


NYC the maps seem just fine
 
NewAnger said:
I also beg to differ...

Image
Click to expand...

photouy.png


That's a parking lot at a bodyshop, right? Nothing wrong there... or is that in Tokyo where they park all the cars that Godzilla done smashed up?
 
I think Apple Maps is better in my area too. My apartment complex was built in 2009. Apple has the streets and the satellite imagery. Google Maps doesn't even have the streets on the map or the satellite imagery and says my address doesn't exist....
 

Attachments

  • photo 1.PNG
    photo 1.PNG
    422.6 KB · Views: 122
  • photo 2.PNG
    photo 2.PNG
    297.9 KB · Views: 111
  • photo 3.PNG
    photo 3.PNG
    352.7 KB · Views: 115
  • photo 4.PNG
    photo 4.PNG
    87 KB · Views: 122
bjett92 said:
I think Apple Maps is better in my area too. My apartment complex was built in 2009. Apple has the streets and the satellite imagery. Google Maps doesn't even have the streets on the map or the satellite imagery and says my address doesn't exist....
Click to expand...

dv8r said:
They seem to have it on the lower level photos:
http://maps.google.dk/maps?q=s+renw...11.25&hq=s+renwick+blvd&radius=15000&t=h&z=18

Funny that they (Google) say the satellite photos are from 2012.
Click to expand...

Well, that's interesting. I wonder if bjett92 had really NEVER looke up his address before and was completely unaware that Gmaps had his streets already done, or if he intentionally picked the zoom level that made it look like Gmap data was incomplete. everyone seems so intent on pushing an agenda that you never know anymore
 
Last edited:
Apple maps do not provide even directions for my area. Where the google maps used to work pretty sharp. All I can do with Apple Maps is to watch satellite images of the area when I'm bored.

----------
TheRealPorkchop said:
Image

That's a parking lot at a bodyshop, right? Nothing wrong there... or is that in Tokyo where they park all the cars that Godzilla done smashed up?
Click to expand...

poster4765.jpg
 
MacMan988 said:
Apple maps do not provide even directions for my area. Where the google maps used to work pretty sharp. All I can do with Apple Maps is to watch satellite images of the area when I'm bored.

----------



Image
Click to expand...

Godzilla can travel... he probably has iPhone 5 with Passport and racks up frequent flyer miles... Tokyo or Japan... he still messed up them cars.
 
appswipe said:
Well, that's interesting. I wonder if bjett92 had really NEVER looke up his address before and was completely unaware that Gmaps had his streets already done, or if he intentionally picked the zoom level that made it look like Gmap data was incomplete. everyone seems so intent on pushing an agenda that you never know anymore
Click to expand...

This still doesn't address the fact that the streets are not shown in map view even though the apartment complex is clearly shown in satellite view (but only at the highest zoom levels).

There are apparently as many Google apologists present on this thread as there are Apple apologists.
 
PrometheusGeek said:
If they suck for you, fine. People for whom it doesn't suck (the majority of users) don't care.
Click to expand...

That's funny since it's those same people who will be complaining the most when they leave their familiar neighborhood and find themselves completely lost when the maps don't work as well as they thought.
 
PrometheusGeek said:
If they suck for you, fine. People for whom it doesn't suck (the majority of users) don't care.
Click to expand...
Do you have a source for your claim that the 'majority of users' are satisfied? That contradicts the recent widely publicized statistic that on iOS5, 25% of owners used the Maps app every day, whereas on iOS6 it is at 4%, and still falling. That implies that 84% of previous Maps users are not satisfied enough to even bother using the app anymore.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back