Apple Maps to Get Native Ratings System and Photo Uploads for Places of Interest

[JohnApples]

Oh wow, this is kind of a big deal. Now all the Yelp haters can pipe down.

I personally always found Yelp ratings to be far and away the most reliable, but someone made that mediocre documentary about them starring a bunch of bitter owners of underwhelming restaurants and everyone lost their minds. Kind of a big loss for me, but the internet seems to disagree. At least you won't have to open the yelp app to see photos now.

Maybe Apple will come up with an actually good rating system, but Google definitely hasn't so I'm not holding my breath. And a simple thumbs up or thumbs down with no opportunity to type anything is already a really bad sign.

I hate to jump on the “Yelp bad” bandwagon but I’ve found, at least in my area, Yelp reviews to be unhelpful.

Just about every non-chain business is sitting at 3.5 stars. Going through the app right now, I genuinely can’t find one that’s above 3.5. As for chains, they’re typically at 2 stars or under.

Going off of Yelp alone, one would assume that every business in my area is just average at best. This is certainly not true, and Google reviews (and to an extent Trip Advisor) are typically far more accurate about the actual quality of the businesses.

Obviously people with negative experiences are more likely to leave a review, but it almost seems as if Yelp became a place for solely negative reviews which skews the ratings.

I personally can’t speak for the “Yelp removes bad reviews if you pay them off” claim, because I’m actually facing somewhat of an opposite problem.

 

[McKodiak]

I wonder if this could allow business owners to interact with the customers who ranked them. Maybe business owners can offer coupons directly to consumers to try their venue again.

 

[jclardy]

Finally. I enjoy using Apple Maps from an aesthetic perspective, and the directions around this area are often times better than google maps. The one thing that annoys me more than anything though is tapping on a picture from a restaurant and my phone opening the yelp app. If this can finally get them to dissolve that relationship I am all for it.

 

[mdridwan47]

Apple Maps needs a free, public browser interface.

Naaahh. What Apple really needs is to lock down their Maps into their own hardware so that they can continue to remain irrelevant in a world with Google Maps. It's the Apple way.

 

[GtrDude]

It's about time. That was about 5 years behind the competition. Soooo lame.

 

[Jeaz]

Really hope to see multi-step navigation some day...

 

[ersan191]

I hate to jump on the “Yelp bad” bandwagon but I’ve found, at least in my area, Yelp reviews to be unhelpful.

Just about every non-chain business is sitting at 3.5 stars. Going through the app right now, I genuinely can’t find one that’s above 3.5. As for chains, they’re typically at 2 stars or under.

Going off of Yelp alone, one would assume that every business in my area is just average at best. This is certainly not true, and Google reviews (and to an extent Trip Advisor) are typically far more accurate about the actual quality of the businesses.

Obviously people with negative experiences are more likely to leave a review, but it almost seems as if Yelp became a place for solely negative reviews which skews the ratings.

I personally can’t speak for the “Yelp removes bad reviews if you pay them off” claim, because I’m actually facing somewhat of an opposite problem.

Maybe they really are just average, honestly. TripAdvisor reviews are beyond a joke - literally not worth mentioning in any capacity.

People like to think things they like should be 5 stars when they really aren't - that's why everyone likes feel-good Google reviews so much.

Basically for Google reviews if you take the number after the 4 decimal you'll get their actual rating out of 10. 4.2 stars = 2/10, 4.7 stars = 7/10

 

[riverfreak]

I'm glad they aren't relying on Tripadvisor and Yelp anymore. These apps are not nice to use and Tripadvisor's rating are not trustworthy in my personal experience. It'll be hard to reach the level of trust and information density of Google Maps, though.

Totally agree! As a weirdo that has almost no third party apps on my iDevices, the “read more” link on Map reviews pointing to the yelp app on the App store is obnoxious.

 

[riverfreak]

somewhat related: CarPlay needs to let you interact with locations on your route. Eg, if you are driving and a food place shows, you should be able to click the location right on the screen and navigate there.

i don’t believe Maps supports intermediate locations in routing, does it?

 

[JohnApples]

Maybe they really are just average, honestly. TripAdvisor reviews are beyond a joke - literally not worth mentioning in any capacity.

People like to think things they like should be 5 stars when they really aren't - that's why everyone likes feel-good Google reviews so much.

Basically for Google reviews if you take the number after the 4 decimal you'll get their actual rating out of 10. 4.2 stars = 2/10, 4.7 stars = 7/10

Theyre not though. I’m talking about renowned Small businesses that are staples in my community. Some of which are winners of our “best of” local awards. Yelp ratings do not do them justice- I know because I live here.

I think the problem with Yelp reviews here is that people tend to rate things on an “overall” scale where everything is under the same blanket expectations. For example, the small, cheap diner near me is rated 3stars and several reviews state that the place has a small menu and “average” food.

Well sure, if you compare the diner to the higher end breakfast place down the street, it’s going to have an overall lower quality. But that’s why it’s cheaper- you need context. When it comes to small diners with your typical budget food, you can’t do better than this place. But looking solely at the Yelp reviews you wouldn’t know that.

Anyway, I’m getting off my initial point. I’ve found that *in my experience, in my area*, Yelp sucks. Everyone’s mileage will vary.

 

[szw-mapple fan]

This may well be the most reliable rating system, as it only permits 1 vote per iPhone and only if that iPhone physically visited the location of the business. That’s pretty amazing. Makes it almost impossible to buy fake up-votes, or ruin a business with fake down-votes.
In aggregate, up or down is just as good as 5 star voting system, if you think about it.

5 star rating systems rarely make any sense. Everyone has a different idea of what each number of stars represent and sometimes arbitrarily assigns a number of stars. Upvote or downvote is much simpler and clearer for the rater and people viewing ratings.

 

[bchery21]

Yes yes yes. It was super annoying when trying to look at pictures of a restaurant and being routing to Yelp.

 

[Vasilioskn]

They need to allow typed reviews as well or it’s pointless.

 

[bennyf]

If Apple Maps would even have just linked to the web version of Yelp, I'd have been ok with it. I don't want the Yelp app, so I'd have to go to Safari, navigate to yelp, search for the business I just found in Apple Maps and then be able to see more than 3 pictures or read more than a snippet of reviews. (And even then it will prompt install of the app.)

I don't mind Yelp and find their reviews helpful but I just don't want to use their app.

Yelp forces its app worse than reddit, even though Yelp's website works perfectly fine on mobile.

 

[SDJim]

Well it's about time!

 

[cipher29]

YESSSSS!!! Been wanting this feature forever... Love the direction Apple has been going as of late by actually listening to their customers!

 

[compwiz1202]

Oh wow, this is kind of a big deal. Now all the Yelp haters can pipe down.

I personally always found Yelp ratings to be far and away the most reliable, but someone made that mediocre documentary about them starring a bunch of bitter owners of underwhelming restaurants and everyone lost their minds. Kind of a big loss for me, but the internet seems to disagree. At least you won't have to open the yelp app to see photos now.

Maybe Apple will come up with an actually good rating system, but Google definitely hasn't so I'm not holding my breath. And a simple thumbs up or thumbs down with no opportunity to type anything is already a really bad sign.

Exactly I want reviews too. Some place we went to the other weekend had 2.5 on Yelp, but reviews sounded weak, and the place was great. Nowhere close to what I would give 2.5. One thing I wish is if reviews would ask for what time you were there. Places open late can have much better service during the day than later.

 

[timborama]

I hope I can turn off all that crap. I just want maps... PERIOD!

 

[compwiz1202]

I agree with this. It boils down to you either had a good or bad experience and recommend the place or you don’t. The ability to provide a brief explanation would be good though.

Yea and where's the cutoff. Is it somewhere within mediocre where you would change to up or down. At least have stars if no reviews; although, I always prefer reviews.

 

[compwiz1202]

somewhat related: CarPlay needs to let you interact with locations on your route. Eg, if you are driving and a food place shows, you should be able to click the location right on the screen and navigate there.

And when can we finally build routes with multiple POI like Waze? Maybe we want to eat, get gas, etc.. before our destination, and just be able to set it all in advance.

 

[compwiz1202]

I hate to jump on the “Yelp bad” bandwagon but I’ve found, at least in my area, Yelp reviews to be unhelpful.

Just about every non-chain business is sitting at 3.5 stars. Going through the app right now, I genuinely can’t find one that’s above 3.5. As for chains, they’re typically at 2 stars or under.

Going off of Yelp alone, one would assume that every business in my area is just average at best. This is certainly not true, and Google reviews (and to an extent Trip Advisor) are typically far more accurate about the actual quality of the businesses.

Obviously people with negative experiences are more likely to leave a review, but it almost seems as if Yelp became a place for solely negative reviews which skews the ratings.

I personally can’t speak for the “Yelp removes bad reviews if you pay them off” claim, because I’m actually facing somewhat of an opposite problem.

Yea we went to a diner with 2.5, but the reviews sounded weak, and it was great. That's the biggest issue is that people won't usually review neutral or above, but if it was bad enough, people are going to every review sire known to man giving the minimum. That's why I like reviews. I will weight a poor review with a well thought out body than just saying they sucked with no other content.

 

[compwiz1202]

5 star rating systems rarely make any sense. Everyone has a different idea of what each number of stars represent and sometimes arbitrarily assigns a number of stars. Upvote or downvote is much simpler and clearer for the rater and people viewing ratings.

But at least stars have a degree to them, and made even better with reviews. Thumbs down could be anything from semi slow service to the server being very rude, or the food was bland to bugs in it. Up and down don't tell me how good or bad.

 

[mattopotamus]

And when can we finally build routes with multiple POI like Waze? Maybe we want to eat, get gas, etc.. before our destination, and just be able to set it all in advance.

You can actually do this. I think you have to search while on your current route and it lets you add a stop.

 

[kesennnnn]

Oh my god, yes please! Yelp is such a shady company, between charging an exuberant amount for running ads and the force redirects to download the app to see full reviews- Gurl it gotta go.

 

[compwiz1202]

You can actually do this. I think you have to search while on your current route and it lets you add a stop.

Will have to try again. The only thing I found were the buttons for certain types of POI like gas and restaurants. I will try searching again.