Consumer Backlash Against Apple Maps Surprised Waze CEO

[Michael Scrip]

Apple thinks there are two Walmarts in my town. But we only have one. I've reported it many times.

I don't even know how Apple got that mysterious 2nd address. Nowhere in history was there ever a Walmart at that address. It used to be an old factory... now it's an indoor go-kart track.

Where does Apple get their POI data? That's my biggest hangup with Apple Maps.

Otherwise... typing an address into Apple Maps is perfect.

Apple even found a log cabin up a dirt road deep in the mountains of North Carolina!

In short... Apple's address database is fine... but sometimes their POI listings are subpar.

 

[attila]

No, two years ago Google still had a hundred times more data!

Apple Maps is a really good maps application, but it has no value with limited data and lack of Street View.

 

[osaga]

I was familiar with using google maps until google changed their app. I never bothered to become familiar with the new version and started using apple maps. Only thing is google knows where more businesses are. Apple should partner with 4 square. Siri wanted me to drive 15 miles to find a doughnut shop one time, true story.

 

[Lancer]

I held off updating my 3Gs until last month but I can't see why I waited so long, the new stand alone Google maps works just fine and now I have more than one option for finding places. Besides when in my car I have a Garmin GPS so use that most of the time finding new addresses anyway.

 

[abz1981]

I actually prefer apple maps and its working fine for me. Used the apple voice navigation the other day while driving and was amazed at the experience.

 

[kirky29]

The two things that stop me using Apple maps are the impressively long list of incorrect POIs and no street view.

I know small incorrect store locations in my tiny irrelevant town aren't that important to Apple, but they certainly stop me using their map app.

Apple maps seems to find old stores that have closed down 10+ years ago and somehow manages to put them in the wrong location! Nothing I've reported has been fixed since day 1.

 

[ipedro]

I consider Apple Maps to be superior to Google Maps in many ways. The app is a lot smoother and I vastly prefer the 3D controls in it to Google's street view. Being able to get a birds eye view is much more useful than a street level view - if I wanted one of those I could use my eyeballs and look around myself when I'm on the street.

Having said that, I downloaded Google Maps just because they have bus, subway, and other public transit routes that Apple Maps lacks so far. Hopefully we'll see them add that in soon.

Agreed. While Flyover is not quite there yet, it will eventually be better than Streetview for several reasons.

1 - Seamless integration into the Maps UI rather than a separate "mode" that StreetView uses.
2 - Easier navigation.
3 - More frequently updated. It takes several hours in a day to do a Flyover scan of a city, but months of StreetView cars to do the same.

The advantage that StreetView has right now is resolution. Photographs from street level are of course more detailed than ones from a plane. But that will change because the military grade technology used in Flyover has already demonstrated it. You'll be able to move seamlessly from an overview of the city, zooming in to the part of the city you want to see, then zooming in in detail to a particular address and seeing clear details of a store front.

I don't think this is lost on Google. They're likely working on replacing StreetView with that very same concept.

A more immediate improvement for Maps, and one that we'll probably see in iOS 7 is transit directions. Once Apple gets a grip on data quality improvements, adding built in transit schedules and increasing the resolution of the next generation of Flyover, we'll have not only a product as good as Google's but in many ways much better.

 

[barbarino]

I definitely use both Apple and Google maps on trips. One nice feature I just discovered while driving through Greece about apple maps is the turn-by-turn works outside of my home country (Spain) without having to change my region settings and such. While the turn-by-turn in Google maps gets automatically disabled for some reason while in the exterior for some reason. On the other hand a cool feature Google maps has side-by-side English translations of the road names from the original Greek. In apple maps you only see the Greek on the road names in the map. In know we were in Greece, but having phonetic translation is nice when you need to ask someone about a street name. The other advantage I saw with the Google maps was the translated search, for example I could put something like "Saint Demetrius" in the search and it would find the location "Aghios Dimitrios" which the phonetic translation. While in Apple maps I'd have to put "Aghios Dimitrios" in order to find the location. One feature I wish Apple would add is the "Avoid Tolls" routing, that was definitely useful also the star bookmarking of locations, where you don't have to search you bookmarks again to find it.

 

[SoAnyway]

I think Apple Maps is pretty good for most of my directional needs. The only thing I wish Apple would do to improve Maps is with transit directions and a quicker way to access it like the pre-iOS6 days.

 

[Gigaman]

I'm a lucky one too! Apple maps works amazingly here in the LBC. Heck, google maps once told me a Subway restaurant was in the middle of a park........

Ps. I prefer flyover over streetview too.

 

[roadbloc]

Regretfully, Apple have yet to update my area. The mystery bank down my road has yet to be found and several streets are totally missing.

They should have got it right first. After all, they are the ones to tout that their products 'just work.'

 

[rwagoner]

I've been very happy with MotionX GPS Drive, but I don't know if it is the same type of app.

 

[wingsabre]

Apple maps still sucks for me. It's gotten a little bit better, but not much. Plus, I've yet to hear reports of people almost dieing because of missed directions from Google Maps. I've used the street view feature a whole lot more on Google's map than the areal view. It's kind of a gimmick because there's essentially no real pragmatic use for it. I have Google Earth, but it's not really used that often.

I'm honestly really waiting for iOS7 because iOS6 seems like a huge flop. Between multiple security updates, maps, battery drains, and even the apps store new UI, it just feels like the software is messing up the amazing hardware.

 

[Oletros]

I don't think this is lost on Google. They're likely working on replacing StreetView with that very same concept.

Why replacing something that it is different and has advantages?

Call me when flyover/3D google maps can show me street in urban canyons, narrow streets or through trees

 

[macs4nw]

.....consumers are rapidly acquiring certain expectations when it comes to services such as maps, expectations that are not necessarily easily met.....
.....with the quality bar continually being raised, companies will have to pour more and more money into mapping to match the quality consumers desire. Article Link: Consumer Backlash Against Apple Maps Surprised Waze CEO

APPLE's Maps was judged against the gold standard, GOOGLE Maps, and as such, was not yet ready for primetime.

The problem facing APPLE and others, now that we've been spoiled with awesome tech, and not just with Maps, but in general, is that we sometimes have unrealistic expectations, and when those aren't immediately met, we're quick to judge companies to have 'lost' their magic.

Most changes in technology are incremental. Real innovation from APPLE or anyone else, doesn't come monthly.

 

[nutjob]

Apple is a company obsessed with control and under pressure the deliver ever increasing profits. As a result you'll see more and more subpar and mediocre components on the iPhone as alternatives with open ecosystems roll right over them. Apple just keeps repeating the same mistakes.

Wouldn't be so bad is the iPhone wasn't sold and priced as a premium product.

 

[mazz0]

"Two years ago, Apple's Maps app on iOS 6 would've been a fine product."

Well he was wrong about that - everything being in the wrong place wasn't acceptable in a Maps app two years ago, and we already had the useful Streetview in Maps back then, as opposed to the sexy but useless Flyover we have now.

 

[Winni]

Two years ago, Google Maps already had way better POIs, more accurate maps and better satellite imagery.

Two years ago, Google Maps already had the entire world covered - and not just Cupertino and San Francisco...

 

[1member1]

Well Waze is just amazing software. when the government decided to open a new road in my country waze needed few hours to update it on their software but for google it took one month.

Navigation software needs a big feedback community behind it and not few people that manage it behind. if apple will go the way waze does they can win it.

 

[OllyW]

I'm still seeing glaring errors which should have been fixed by now on Apple Maps, most of the smaller towns around me are still not being shown and almost all of the local POIs are inaccurate.

There have been some improvements since it was launched but they've still got a long way to go before I can start to trust it's results.

 

[mrxak]

I still really don't know what all the fuss was about. I have never had any problems with Apple Maps, and I believe a silent majority had the exact same positive experience. But, Apple being such a big and successful company, the media loves a good negative story, real or imagined.

 

[tevion5]

Once an app starts out bad, it gets branded as such, and it's nearly impossible to convince people it's no longer bad through small background updates.

Internet Explorer, Bing and Surface call to mind!

 

[richman555]

I just used Apple Maps the other day. I had to take a drive to a friends new house and I needed turn by turn directions. To my surprise, it worked flawlessly.

I think many of the issues with Apple Maps have been way overblown.

It probably takes a few years for this kind of software product to knock out all the kinks. I am sure all mapping software, even Google faced this early on.

 

[iPadPublisher]

I used the "Report" feature on Apple Maps the week it launched to point out about a dozen major issues in the Las Vegas area, and ALL of those issues still exist today, including missing streets, improperly labeled Interstate and State highways, incorrect locations of parks, mislabeled roads, and more.

So while they may in fact be improving it, I don't know at what speed, or with what accuracy they're doing it.

 

[tevion5]

With 11 year outdated info? POIs up to 1 km (about half a mile, whatever) inaccurate? Ridiculous satellite imagery quality?

No. It wouldn't.

I have a TomTom satnav from about three years ago and it still insists there are only 2 McDonald's restraunts in Ireland...