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Apple's New iOS 6 Maps App Drawing Significant Criticism

hcho3 said:
What in the world is apple doing with 100 billion dollars in Cash?

Do some investing for a sake....

Invest more and recruit some google employees.

Leaving public transportation to 3rd party developers? That's just insane.
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I hate posts that say 'This' after another, but... this. Apple has the resources to improve upon Google Maps, and instead it comes up with a lame knock-off.

You have to hand it to Google, when they want to do something, and there isn't an quick, easy, or cheap way, they actually get out there like with a fleet of streetview cars and get mapping, by themselves. A monumental task for a small start-up, but nothing to a billions-hording corporation like Apple.

Invest some money, create some jobs, and make a decent product.
 
The question for me isn't "Are there mistakes?"

It's "How easy is it to fix those mistakes?"

My TomTom has the speed limit on a local stretch of highway wrong. I've not found the way to report and fix that yet.

Google Maps have gotten many addresses wrong. The fix route is a pain in the ass, but at least I know how to do it now.

Apple needs to have a simple, quick way that people can report errors, and a method for fixing them effectively.
 
The problem is that even if (or when) google releases their own maps for ios, which will certainly quell some criticisms, other apps like strava, endomondo, nike running etc will inevitably be piggybacked on the apple maps app.

I've been using the beta all along and found the maps terrible. it is okay if you're just looking around for street names, but the search results and navigation are useless. and of course no street view. needless to say it needs years of improvement to match google... kinda ironic when they decided to hold back the NFC and went ahead with the maps.
 
Glitches in the 3D maps are not that big a deal, but inaccurate/incomplete street maps, a weak POI database and lack of transit are all bad.

We don't know what the sticking points between Apple and Google were when negotiating the new maps license, but I sure do wish they had worked it out.

It's not a deal breaker though, since I can use the web to access google maps. The old maps app didn't have useful navigation capabilities anyway, so the web interface has about the same utility.

I just hope the new maps app is an upgrade over Navigon for turn-by-turn (it's what I currently use in the CT/NY area).
 
They need to collect data. Let them gather what they need

They use the same app, so I doubt they would let it languish for long...
 
gmanist1000 said:
Apple has over 100 billion dollars. Why don't they just buy Google Maps and overlay their UI on top of it? Why buy mapping data that is years old?
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Doesn't anyone remember the keynote?

Where some smuck, stood on stage and told the world that Apple has done all their own cartography?

I said at the time that is complete crap and was slated for it. So it turns out I was correct. They have bought data that is probably 2 or 3 years old, not checked anything and just shoved their own skin on it.

Got to love an honest Apple.
 
FSMBP said:
Apple's thermonuclear war on Google seems to be affecting Apple's own customers more than Google unfortunately...
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Well it was a thermonuclear war on Android, not Google - and you don't know that switching from Google's maps was entirely Apple's idea. It probably wasn't.
 
It took Google how long? This will take time, I am talking years here (hopefully one or two only) but Apple will get there.
 
The 3D perspective is awesome to me. But people seem to expect all those cities to be rendered as if they were going in to Modern Warfare. It is simply an image-tiling program, which needs to limit its number of tiles to be manageable for data. Of course things like bridges that are comprised of thousands of latticed support members are going to look different than they do if you were flying by in a helo. As do buildings that are wrapped in scaffolding or other complex structures. It is not meant as a substitute to visiting the city in person. I think New York looks amazing, and the app gives an excellent sense of scale and dimension. And the Map App it replaced did not do this, and we heard no complaints about that.
 
Nathan20 said:
Wow. Everyone is criticising an app they didn't use much before iOS 6...
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Out of all the apps on my phone, that is the one most used after email (which is also a shortcut to the Gmail website app, not the native app). The traffic reporting is terrible, way less detail than Google and harder to see. I live near Washington DC, and I check the traffic on my phone before I go anywhere. I also use it all the time to find points of interest. I tested in in the Old Town neighborhood of Alexandria, VA and using the Yelp database is terrible. It only shows a fraction of the shops and restaurants in an area where there are hundreds. I have had problems using Yelp before with finding a place to eat dinner. It didn't show half the restaurants where we were standing in DC and it showed several that were no longer open.

Overall, I can't use this app. I will be using the maps.google.com website in Safari until Google released a Maps app through the App Store.
 
Smartphone maps is turning into the new Windows vs Mac or Democrat vs Republican or Religion vs Aethiest or iPhone vs Android argument.

It's a ****ing map, people. Holy crap, if you can't look it up online and remember how to get there, then get a real GPS. Stop the whining.
 
I'm going to give Apple's new maps an honest shot, but I am really glad I paid the $10 yearly fee for MotionX. It hasn't led me astray yet.

I tended to never use Google Maps while driving because it didn't read turn by turn out loud to me. I had to look at the screen or have my wife hold the phone and look read the directions to me. People act like the Google maps app was the optimal way to get driving directions, and it really wasn't. I used MapQuest's free app for a long time, and then moved to MotionX after realizing how much better it was, even though you have to pay to fully use it.
 
Why can't Apple enter some cross licensing deal with Google and in exchange for some Apple iOS parents, they can share map data?
 
Its painfully clear to me after looking through the iOS6 change list that Apple considers my iPad 2 to be obsolete after owning it for a year and a half.

Gets rid of google maps for a worse service
Gets rid of the YouTube app (although the Google one is much better but only an iPhone version at the moment)
No Siri support
No Passbook
Facebook integration? Please
From what i've heard the store redesigns arent that great either.

I'm not going to downgrade my iPad2 to iOS6 and I find it sad that Apple is only really supporting their latest generation of devices now and leaving the older devices essentially in the dust. Similar to android actually. One major draw of the iOS ecosystem was that you were supported with easy access to new OS features for years but now Apple is gating these features more and more to new hardware.
 
Apple should've just upgraded the existing maps app with the new stuff on top of google's data... sure the flyover stuff is amazing but their maps are atrocious
 
Previously on the Fringe

apple_3d_brooklyn_bridge.jpg


I think I saw this on Fringe.
 
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Captainobvvious said:
This wasn't ready for prime time and never should have been pushed out.

They should have stuck with Google maps for another year or however long it would take. There was no pressing need to boot them except for competition and to say they have their own maps.
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Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but Apple's license on Google Maps was up. They had to do something, so it's not like Apple just decided to slap something together because they felt like it.

Now, whether or not Apple could have negotiated a re-licensing agreement, I don't know... but given that Maps hadn't changed (and was nowhere NEARLY as advanced as the Android Maps app) I suspect Google was holding out on Apple... and Apple got tired of it.

Maps 2.0 seems to be working beautifully for me and my area but I feel bad for you guys with the goofy stuff shown in the OP. Best of luck to you.
 
G4DP said:
Doesn't anyone remember the keynote?

Where some smuck, stood on stage and told the world that Apple has done all their own cartography?

I said at the time that is complete crap and was slated for it. So it turns out I was correct. They have bought data that is probably 2 or 3 years old, not checked anything and just shoved their own skin on it.

Got to love an honest Apple.
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I don't think all the data is 2 or 3 years old. There is a freeway that was just recently finished that shows up fine on Apple maps in my area. Google Maps is correct too, however the satellite image is actually older and shows it under construction still.

I think the big issue here is the inconsistancy of the map data globally. Some areas are crisp and fresh (like my area), while others appear to be using really old data.
 
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