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Google Maps for iOS Gains Restaurant Filters, Weather Info and More
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The best thing that has happened to Google Maps is being kicked out as the default map app in iOS. Google refused to do anything with Maps until they got the boot. Sure Apple's map app is nowhere close at this point, but it is because of Apple's map app that we have a really good google app on iOS. If apple ever lets me switch the default map then I may switch back to Google.
Bottom line, thank you Apple for getting Google to give us such a good app!
HobeSoundDarryl
macrumors G5
Oh brother. Google Maps worked very well before it got kicked out. Google chose not to do ONE thing Apple wanted them to do, instead reserving that ONE thing for their own competing product vs. Apple. So Apple kicked them out and launched what (other than general perceptions here) is still an inferior replacement (even though Apple has had years to catch up now). What happened when Google Maps returned as a stand-alone app in the app store? Can you say #1? That's Apple people going to the trouble of loading & storing a direct competitors app when Apple offers one stock that is supposed to do the same thing.
Trying to give Apple credit for someone else making continuous improvements to their app is the RDF in full effect. Apple is great and all but give credit where credit is due. If Apple wanted to do something great for us consumers, it would give us all a setting to choose the default Maps app we want to use. IMO, trying to somewhat force an inferior, internal solution onto one's own customers is much worse than a competitor choosing to bring it's latest & greatest to it's own offerings before enriching someone else's offerings. How up to date is Safari or Quicktime, etc on Windows?
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I have both on my phone & try to use Google Maps about 5-10% of the time, just to see if I am missing anything or should switch...
I did like the new "material design", but honestly couldn't tell the difference other than that.
I use my GPS probably 10 times/week, as I moved recently from Oregon to Florida. I don't know, guys. I'm REALLY confused at this point. Lol, I don't know if I'm crazy, if you guys are... or if it's just because I don't live in one of the five cities in the world with a subway system, or what... but I can NOT really tell the difference from a usability standpoint. I use the one that is most convenient because it is built in to Siri, etc.
All this "miles better", "worlds apart" talk is bizarre to me. I feel like I certainly MUST be missing something. I mean... I primarily use my maps applications to get voice directions while driving. It seems to me like this is the primary function of the apps. I don't see how they can drift off parity that much if they BOTH do this with aplomb. I mean, one would have to give completely incorrect directions 50% of the time, while the other gave 100% accurate direction all the time for one to be even considered "twice as good", right?
Nothing like this is going on! They both give accurate directions. I don't see how little things like one having flyover view, or the other having open table integration can be considered a substantial difference. Honestly, they almost feel like half useful features & half gimmicks at this point to try to create distinction in apps that are fundamentally identical.
The only VERY minor difference, but UI element I prefer with Apple is that when I search for a location on Google Maps, the options of routes are written in boxes stating the distance & time for each... whereas, on Apple they are drawn lines on a bird's eye view map, which to me is more useful to choose a route. However, both apps show multiple routes... and the same info about them. I'd be hard pressed to consider one more than 1-2% better than the other. I think it comes down to choice..... two EXCELLENT & equal choices.
The one thing I'm annoyed with is both companies forcing integration in weird ways. For example... I should be able to use Google Maps from Siri or on Find my Friends, in a perfect world. And why does Google Maps force open from links in the Safari browser if they are in Google search results? Not cool for either of you, bullies!
HobeSoundDarryl
macrumors G5
I appreciate the point but that makes all destinations equal. The other night, we trusted Apple Maps to get us to an away game gym where our kid was playing. It took us to the wrong place. Opened Google Maps and it knew where the gym was. By the time we got there, we had missed a chunk of the game. Our kid had apparently made some fantastic plays that we'll never see. Apple Maps can be right the next 20 or 50 times but that 1 miss weighs more (to me anyway).
I was recently traveling out of state. Punched in an airport to get to. Apple Maps didn't map the right airport. Fortunately I happened to know Apple Maps was wrong. Had I just trusted it though, I would have gone about an hour almost opposite where I needed to go. Another hour to correct the mistake and I would have missed the flight. Minimally, that's going to deliver the aggravation of being delayed. Sometimes that's an overnight delay. Does that weigh equal to- say- it correctly finding a Starbucks the next 20 or 50 times?
Imagine the meeting where the big deal is to be closed or lost. If you get the wrong directions and blow the big deal is that equal to it finding the right lunch place the next 20 or 50 times?
I'm also in Florida. Try "Reagan Airport" (one of the big three in DC). I'm flying there soon. When I punch that into Maps, it locates "Marlin Airport" near Waco Texas. Proof: https://www.dropbox.com/s/qefrdxglf5zvwbn/reaganyieldsmarlin.jpg?dl=0 Now again, I know the airport I expect to see is not in Texas so I have the knowledge to know better. But try the same in Google Maps and it will guess it right. Apparently, both can see I want to locate an airport (and do) but one then uses the other word to identify the right airport while the other seems to just pick an airport out of the air (or maybe one with the same number of letters?). Welcome to Florida! If you like to fish, fishing for "Reagan" is popular here.
All that said, Apple Maps is pretty good. But Google Maps is generally better IMO. I've learned that when getting to a point is crucial and I don't happen to know better, it's best to at least check Google to verify Apples pin. For me anyway, there are still too many Marlins instead of Reagans in regular use.
And it's not that the app itself is bad (I agree that Apple's seems a bit more intuitive to use), it's mostly the data underpinning the app and some of the searching algorithms. Google appears to have better data and is probably fundamentally better at processing search entries. I wish there was another Maps App that would plot both, highlighting when the Google & Apple pins differ by more than a modest distance, then letting me choose which one I'd like to use in those cases. If someone is a good app coder and will make this app, it's one I would buy.
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Out of all the operating systems out there, chrome is probably the last one I'd use.
It seems you have to search a city name rather than a street for example.
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I appreciate the point but that makes all destinations equal. The other night, we trusted Apple Maps to get us to an away game gym where our kid was playing. It took us to the wrong place. Opened Google Maps and it knew where the gym was. By the time we got there, we had missed a chunk of the game. Our kid had apparently made some fantastic plays that we'll never see. Apple Maps can be right the next 20 or 50 times but that 1 miss weighs more (to me anyway).
I was recently traveling out of state. Punched in an airport to get to. Apple Maps didn't map the right airport. Fortunately I happened to know Apple Maps was wrong. Had I just trusted it though, I would have gone about an hour almost opposite where I needed to go. Another hour to correct the mistake and I would have missed the flight. Minimally, that's going to deliver the aggravation of being delayed. Sometimes that's an overnight delay. Does that weigh equal to- say- it correctly finding a Starbucks the next 20 or 50 times?
Imagine the meeting where the big deal is to be closed or lost. If you get the wrong directions and blow the big deal is that equal to it finding the right lunch place the next 20 or 50 times?
I'm also in Florida. Try "Reagan Airport" (one of the big three in DC). I'm flying there soon. When I punch that into Maps, it locates "Marlin Airport" near Waco Texas. Proof: https://www.dropbox.com/s/qefrdxglf5zvwbn/reaganyieldsmarlin.jpg?dl=0 Now again, I know the airport I expect to see is not in Texas so I have the knowledge to know better. But try the same in Google Maps and it will guess it right. Apparently, both can see I want to locate an airport (and do) but one then uses the other word to identify the right airport while the other seems to just pick an airport out of the air (or maybe one with the same number of letters?). Welcome to Florida! If you like to fish, fishing for "Reagan" is popular here.
All that said, Apple Maps is pretty good. But Google Maps is generally better IMO. I've learned that when getting to a point is crucial and I don't happen to know better, it's best to at least check Google to verify Apples pin. For me anyway, there are still too many Marlins instead of Reagans in regular use.
And it's not that the app itself is bad (I agree that Apple's seems a bit more intuitive to use), it's mostly the data underpinning the app and some of the searching algorithms. Google appears to have better data and is probably fundamentally better at processing search entries. I wish there was another Maps App that would plot both, highlighting when the Google & Apple pins differ by more than a modest distance, then letting me choose which one I'd like to use in those cases. If someone is a good app coder and will make this app, it's one I would buy.
Try Track Kit Pro - GPS Tracker with offline maps, Compass, Speedometer, Rangefinder and Theodolite by Natalia Gavrylova
https://appsto.re/au/JYm7Z.i
It doesn't plot or overlay them both at the same time. But it makes it easy to switch between the two (and others)
It's a minimal implementation. In the menu to left, click "explore nearby" and it will tell you the temperature. Kind of ... useless
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Welcome to Florida! If you like to fish, fishing for "Reagan" is popular here.
I wish there was another Maps App that would plot both, highlighting when the Google & Apple pins differ by more than a modest distance, then letting me choose which one I'd like to use in those cases. If someone is a good app coder and will make this app, it's one I would buy.
=)
A hearty lol at the Reagan reference... I had always thought he was from California! But, damn we have enough roads & businesses named after him.
I agree with the aggregate idea... something like dogpile, but for maps. That would be fantastic.
After searching and trying to see how to do this for about half an hour I can only guess that it is impossible. Can we have some info please?
Very true! In my opinion Apple is primarily a 'device' company whereas Google is an 'information' company. I tried to like Apple maps but Google has now jumped so far ahead that it seems pointless for Apple to stay in the hunt.
I still use both but Google's turn-by-turn instructions whereby it also tells me which lane I should be in at each intersection is the main reason I like it more than Apple Maps. Also, the green visual background on the top section is easier on the eyes than Apple's white on white (TomTom) style interface. BTW, Google Maps understands my spoken words more accurately than Siri does on Apple Maps.
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Apple needs to just give up. I had an iphone when maps was launched. After 2 years with a Note II because I couldn't see the apple screen, I'm back on a 6 plus.
The apple maps app is still terrible. If only I could find a way for Siri to launch Google maps when I ask for directions this phone would be damn near perfect.
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Having just come back to iPhone after 2 years, I'm confused.
Does Apple maps not have a night mode?
Does Google maps in iOS have night mode?
I've never understood why navigation apps on phones (Apple Maps, Google Maps, Navigon, etc) do not incorporate weather data on long trips. When I drive from Ohio to Missouri, I think it would be really helpful to see that I am going to be encountering rain or snow and at what point. Would allow me to gas up and check windshield washer fluid levels before I need them. Just seems like a no-brainer to put that feature in the navigation app rather than having to switch between two apps.
Navigon does have live weather, but only in European countries. They offered weather in their navigation apps starting in mid-2010.
When traveling in the US and CA I use Weather Underground's web portal before I leave and set notifications for potential problem spots on the WU iOS app - the WU app also ties directly into weather radio stations and can stream them in the backround. This time of year, 511 is my friend.
I'm not challenging you or arguing, but here is my take on it.
I choose to place equal trust in all tech companies until my research proves otherwise. They all have equal incentive to snoop and sell or trade that data, but here's why I'm neither paranoid or overly concerned. Both Apple & Google have their detractors.
Google gets more hate because they've not done the stellar marketing and image promotion Apple does. Yet it's really the insurance companies that feed info to the massive industry known as "Big Data" that are the true perpetrators. At the end of the day the key is safe computing practices and acceptance that like it or not we're exposed. No one celebrates that.
There is always at least one of you in any Google related thread. Get over it already.
Wrong, Google and Apple didn't agree. Apple wanted something for the Maps app and Google wanted something for doing that.
Please prove me wrong. Not trying to be argumentative or fan boyish, but simply operating in the information made available.
Like NSA linking to googles data centers.
Moving user information without encryption
Tracking for advertising purposes
Heck, even the founder of Wiki leaks thinks that Google isn't what they seem to be
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HobeSoundDarryl
macrumors G5
I didn't say they agreed. And if it was the other way: Google wanting something from Apple for their Android platform, would you imply Apple was so wrong for asking something for it?
Google has a competing platform. They wanted to roll out their best innovations for their own platform first. Sound familiar? Again, I'll point you to Safari for Windows. Is that as up-to-date as Safari for Mac? Well why not?