Apple Maps Vehicles to Begin Surveying Final U.S. States

[macduke]

Am I the only one who feels like this is going to launch and be missing like half the country? They need to get faster. The states they first scanned three years ago are already out of date. This needs to be a yearly thing to be useful.

 

[dominiongamma]

Not bull, many agree and switched solely to Apple Maps, Google Maps has more mistakes than Apple Maps nowadays, you're living in the past as some others do, as I said before, the joke is getting old.

So people getting lost due to maps is a joke now? That’s pretty sad because when I trust a company to get me to my location and they don’t, it hurts the brand and trust with the customers. I can’t trust Apple after the hot mess Maps roll out was because it was clear Apple was way over their heads thinking they could tackle the task.

 

[meaning-matters]

Still find light-yellow buildings with white streets, a usability blunder.

 

[Joe Rossignol]

It’s going to be a shame once they wrap things up; we won’t get to see those amazing data-collection cars in an article every month or so.

no more terrible Photoshops either

edit: mine 🙂

 

[monokakata]

I'm sure the maps are just fine in many places, but here on the Big Island, they've got some work to do.

Not long ago I had an address pop up on a website, and for whatever reason, when I clicked on it Apple Maps came up (I wasn't using Safari). The location didn't look right to me . . . and google maps showed that it was about .5 mile away from the true location.

Last year I had a friend who foolishly asked Siri to guide him from the Kona Airport to my house . . . he was taken all the way downtown (about 4 miles beyond where anybody else, including Google, would have turned him, and then 3 miles back up to my house.

I realize this may seem like just another one of those "but it doesn't work for me..." postings, and I'm sorry about that. Really, though, -- on this island, in my experience, Apple Maps is not reliable. This is especially true in the rural areas.

 

[AngerDanger]

no more terrible Photoshops either

Hey, I'm not that bad at Photoshopping… 😳

😉

 

[Sasparilla]

Nice to hear Apple is continuing to push forward on this...we'll finally get to see these changes here in the states. I have to mention I was taken to the wrong location for different addresses twice over the last couple of years with Google/Waze, but Apple Maps delivered me to the correct location both times.

I use Apple Maps (here in the U.S. Midwest) most of the time now - it accuracy is good for me now and the privacy aspect puts it over the top. Seems outside of the continental U.S., based on comments above, its still rough.

....Which company would be selling data or has dubious privacy standards?

Well, the top ones, since you are asking would be Facebook, Google and Microsoft...but I believe Google is who the author you're replying to was referencing - they've seemed to have gone downhill with their newer leadership (since the Alphabet change), their current CEO doesn't seem to veer away from the profit choice (respect users privacy or increased profits) like the old leadership at least occasionally would do - its sad to see.

https://www.theverge.com/2019/1/30/18204064/apple-google-monitoring-phone-usage-screenwise-meter

 

[69Mustang]

Not Apple, Google tracks you, they know if you're near to a certain place, they can then serve you adds or whatever data.

Can you spot the difference between your original assertion and your reply to my question?😀 A question you still haven't answered btw.😉
[doublepost=1550594269][/doublepost]

Well, the top ones, since you are asking would be Facebook, Google and Microsoft...but I believe Google is who the author you're replying to was referencing - they've seemed to have gone downhill with their newer leadership (since the Alphabet change), their current CEO doesn't seem to veer away from the profit choice (respect users privacy or increased profits) like the old leadership at least occasionally would do.

https://www.theverge.com/2019/1/30/18204064/apple-google-monitoring-phone-usage-screenwise-meter

Yes, I knew @justperry was implying Google. I also know he knows that Google isn't selling customer's data. Which might be why he crafted his response the way he did.

As to your claim, maybe you should go back and read the article. It doesn't support what you think it does. It definitely doesn't support anything contrary to my comment about selling data and privacy standards. Read it top to bottom, front to back. Nothing in it will support an accusation of selling data. Read it inside and out, and between the lines. Nothing in it will support an accusation of privacy issues. The participants opted-in to be monitored so you really can't claim an issue there. Gimme $20 or gimme a gift card to view my data is not privacy issue.

You can say that Google and Facebook did some shady crap with their enterprise cert to skirt Apple's guidelines. I'd agree with you 100%. That is between Apple and Google. That is not what we're discussing here.

 

[macfacts]

I've gotten to prefer Apple Maps over Google Maps.

In fact, I recently deleted Google Maps due to privacy concerns.

What privacy concern? Is Google maps taking camera pics of you naked?

Or are you paranoid about Google maps keeping a record of the locations you search? The same thing apple does.

 

[twolf2919]

That’s bull, Apple maps has lead to to roads that haven’t existed since 2008 and lead me to wrong locations. Apple will never catch up to Google since Google got years head start

You already indicated you didn't even know Apple was still in the maps business, so you can't have current knowledge of how well Apple Maps actually works now. So how can you call "bull" on something you haven't used for a long time?

I do agree that in some rare cases, Google Maps is still more up-to-date than Apple Maps. But it's no longer a matter of getting to completely wrong places - usually, the inaccuracy is a matter of being a few feet off from where an actual address is located (business addresses and apartment buildings is where I typically find these inaccuracies).

But Apple Maps' navigation screens & GUI for navigation is way better than Google's. And the app sucks way less energy than Google Maps during navigation. We're talking about a night-day difference there.

 

[5105973]

Apple maps did a great job of mapping out my region including some crazy rural back roads. And I love how it taps my Apple Watch to cue me to get ready to change lanes to get to an exit on time.

But it does use some odd stilted language for instructions that can be very confusing especially when you're lost and nervous. There's one spot on my commute where it insists I will need to make a U Turn. In reality a left turn is required to turn in to the parking lot of the school. Trying to get into that parking lot via a u turn would add several minutes of navigation through horrible traffic and is completely unnecessary and confusing. Google maps gets me straight in every time. What's worse is it starts warning you of that u turn miles ahead of where you'd be instructed to actually make it. This caused me confusion the first time I ever took the trip and caused me to question whether I was even on the right road. I almost double backed to try and take another route that was longer. I ended up calling my husband to confirm I was on the right road. I knew there wasn't supposed to be any u turn and that off bit of instruction was very confusing.

There are other examples of strange wording that would imply or prompt a turn or lane change that's not called for, but I can't remember them at the moment. They need to make Siri smarter in word choice. Siri on Apple Maps talks like I write posts. 🙄

 

[Scottsoapbox]

Good to learn Apple considers my State the least important. Another reason to consider alternatives for my unimportant electronics spending.

 

[guzhogi]

Am I the only one who feels like this is going to launch and be missing like half the country? They need to get faster. The states they first scanned three years ago are already out of date. This needs to be a yearly thing to be useful.

I know, right? My community just built a new middle school (some might call it a junior high school), and demolished the old one. I just checked Apple Maps on my Mac. In regular mode, it shows the old school. In 3D, it shows the same, but shows the beginning clearing of the land for the new school. Classes have been held in the new school since the beginning of January.

 

[macfacts]

Agreed, the joke is getting old, Maps came a long way and surpassed Google Maps in many ways, and in the meantime won't sell that data or have dubious privacy standards.
....

Please show me the form from google and tell me the cost so I can buy my neighbor s data.

 

[ChazSch]

I say Apple goes live WITHOUT the 2 remaining deplorables states
[doublepost=1550596525][/doublepost]I also hope that they make more contrast between roads and countryside. Its hard to see sometimes (eyes getting older)

 

[Baymowe335]

What privacy concern? Is Google maps taking camera pics of you naked?

Or are you paranoid about Google maps keeping a record of the locations you search? The same thing apple does.

I'm paranoid with everything Google does with my information.

 

[diamond3]

I actually have been using Apple Maps more. I find it interesting that in my area, their satellite images are more current and google maps doesn't provide accurate directions to my house (for others finding my home).

 

[bliggs]

I've gotten to prefer Apple Maps over Google Maps.

In fact, I recently deleted Google Maps due to privacy concerns.

I did the same thing about a year ago. Apple Maps has finally improved to the point to where I no longer need any other map application.

 

[one more]

This is nice, of course, but not fast enough for the rest of the world. We also need to factor in that any given Apple surveyed place might change its appearance quite significantly in a space of several months, so they need to come up with a system to either regularly run their vehicles through “key locations” or, where allowed, to use drones, or, better still, Apple vehicles, drones and Apple employees with those camera backpacks. Otherwise it is just way too slow... It is not like Google and its owned Waze are sitting doing nothing, so to catch up with these two Apple really need to speed up their efforts.

 

[mi7chy]

Still no universal browser access and off-line caching not on par with Google Maps which has saved my butt in dead cell spots. Google Maps still king.

 

[QuarterSwede]

What privacy concern? Is Google maps taking camera pics of you naked?

Or are you paranoid about Google maps keeping a record of the locations you search? The same thing apple does.

The difference is that Apple doesn’t sell your location data to anyone.

 

[4487549]

Too bad search functionality is useless in Apple Maps.

Every so often, I'll delete Google Maps because of the obvious privacy concerns but I can't make it through the day without Apple maps failing to find a single business that Google Maps will list all of them in my area, replete with business hours, busiest times of day, user reviews and so on...

The mere fact that Apple still relies on TomTom and Yelp... are we in the 90's?

 

[macfacts]

The difference is that Apple doesn’t sell your location data to anyone.

So where from google can I buy the location data of my neighbor? Where can I order this info from?

Why are the paparazzi/media not buying this private info of celebrities from google?

 

[jimac]

I just spent two weeks driving around New England using only Apple Maps, with my iPhone 6 in my coat pocket while Siri was shouting out the driving instructions. Apple Maps worked perfectly, and Siri was very patient with me the few times I missed my turns due to traffic, and it rerouted me very efficiently. Apple Maps was excellent in the serpentine streets of Boston where it gently nudged me from lane to lane to be sure that I was in the proper lane for exits. It was as though a tour guide was sitting next to me giving directions! Excellent. Apple maps even took into consideration street construction and suggested quicker routes. It even seemed to avoid snowy and iced-over roads. And deliberately taking scenic routes by avoiding Toll Roads and Highways was very nice, if I wasn't in a hurry.

I have been using Apple Maps since it first came out, and despite the oddities in early versions (like the flat and disjointed Vincent Thomas Bridge going to Terminal Island in Long Beach, California -- it looks beautiful in Maps now), Maps has worked very well for me. All those artifacts in early versions of Maps are now long gone, and it is extremely accurate. The only time I look at a Google map nowadays is when I want to look at a contrasting street view.

I recently used Apple Maps to drive to Texas and the only problem I had was finding that a couple remote gas stations in the wide open spaces of Arizona and New Mexico had been closed for some time. There should be a mechanism in Apple Maps to report problems like that, or at least for users to provide comments or complaints to Apple's Maps team. Maybe the Maps team could periodically attempt to call all of the service providers in Maps to coordinate their status, hours open etc., and checking with critical services like gas stations much more frequently. Maybe having a problem-reporting button in Maps will suffice -- many users would take the time to help Apple out. Otherwise, Apple Maps is excellent in providing directions. And it's getting better all the time.

 

[twolf2919]

Yes, the joke is getting old but it's entirely Apple's fault for the joke's existence. Probably shouldn't have overhyped a product that was clearly not ready for prime time. Curious about the rest of your comment though. Which company would be selling data or has dubious privacy standards?

Define "overhyped" and "not ready for prime time"? While it was clear, at the time, that Apple Maps wasn't anywhere near as good as Google Maps at the time that it came out, it was a perfectly good 1.0 product - better, actually, than most company's 1.0 products. It's only failure, really, was in not being as good as Google Maps right off the bat.

And Apple didn't exactly have much choice but to create its own mapping application: Google decided to withhold navigation from the iOS version of its app (yes, Google was actually the developer of the app that came bundled with iOS) giving its Android OS a feature advantage. I forget the details, but I think Google also tried to have its name be on the Maps app more prominently displayed. Anyway, Google was starting to show favoritism towards its own Android platform, which Apple could, of course, not let happen.

With regards to privacy: I agree that Google does not literally sell users' data - it mines a user's data and then delivers that user on a silver platter [via tracking cookies] to advertisers looking for a specific type of user. One could say that users strike that devils' bargain - free stuff in exchange for being tracked - but users aren't really made fully aware of the extent of that data mining & tracking. That's where the privacy violations lie.

Just my $.02,
tom
[doublepost=1550600673][/doublepost]

...There should be a mechanism in Apple Maps to report problems like that, or at least for users to provide comments or complaints to Apple's Maps team....

You've used Apple Maps for years and didn't know you could report issues right there in the application? Just last month I reported two problems (both times, the destination flag was off by several hundred feet). And they've actually gotten pretty good at getting back to you. In the initial Apple Maps version, you didn't really even get any feedback (never mind a thank you) when reporting an issue - now, a dialog box thanks you for submitting the issue and you get an email confirming it. And, if your complaint is valid, they usually send you an email once they've made the changes. On one of my recent submissions, there was even an email thread back and forth to identify precisely where I thought the flag should go.