Google Maps to Gain Impressive New 'Immersive View' Later This Year

[ja']

wow, this looks amazing! hopefully Apple is working on this too!

 

[AppleFan735]

Better? Our neighborhood doesn’t even exist on Apple Maps yet and it’s also awful at getting construction site updates (at least for Berlin)

Also no offline Downloads for Maps and cycling routes unless you live in one of those „Silicon Valley“ capitals

Same. My neighborhood doesn’t exist in Netherlands on Apple Maps while Google Maps not only has even the most obscure cycling paths and canals but even floor-level plans for buildings. I can literally see the building layout with apartment numbers (probably pretty convenient for a delivery guys).

I have a lot more faith in Google being able to scale a feature like this out worldwide than I would ever have in Apple. Apple loves creating a fancy looking feature for a product demo, release it in Bay Area and maybe a couple other metropolitan areas and then forget about it hoping everyone else forgets about it as well.

 

[FyrStrike]

I see these maps like Apple Maps and Google Maps as very infant versions of the metaverse where reality is augmented in the maps themselves. Imagine in a few years you’ll be able to drive on these roads as a game and interact with real traffic, walk in the parks of other cities to get a sense of the locations or even virtually walk into stores to purchase a product.

 

[Yrmmont]

I wonder if this will be an update to my Tesla as it uses Google Maps. Hope so!

 

[sideshowuniqueuser]

That old trope. I bet you don't even know exactly what data they collect and what they do with it, other than saying something very generic like;
They track you.
They sell your data.

Yeah, and also oblivious and ignorant of Apple's tracking. Sheesh, these morons make me shake my head.

 

[macduke]

I have to hand it to Google, that's fairly impressive.

Meanwhile Apple STILL doesn't have basic things like 3D Maps for Kansas City, MO, which is the largest city in the state and has a metro area of 2.2 million people. I don't understand how this is still a thing after so many years. What are they doing?

 

[tongxinshe]

Offline maps. Enough said!

 

[steve09090]

Looks: Apple smashes it out of the (Apple) Park over Google.
Search: Google wins but it’s getting (slightly) closer.
Directions: Google and a Apple are pretty close in Australia. Both do weird things.

 

[DaveN]

Better? Our neighborhood doesn’t even exist on Apple Maps yet and it’s also awful at getting construction site updates (at least for Berlin)

Also no offline Downloads for Maps and cycling routes unless you live in one of those „Silicon Valley“ capitals

Well my neighborhood isn't on Google street view yet and my neighborhood has been around since the 1950s.

 

[me22]

I’m going to ask it. What do we need all this for? Sure it’s amazing, but what purpose does it serve?

How many people you and I know would use this feature?

Do people really use this Google Maps feature to have an immersive experience or find a local hidden gem?

Are you suggesting that they should not update the experience? That they should not take advantage of new hardware? That in 2022 we should be looking at the same graphics and features we had in Google Earth for much of the last two decades?

 

[Unami]

Deleted Google Maps from my iPhone 3 years ago. How much better has it gotten? I deleted because it would not do turn by turn from Applewatch. Has that changed?

it has gotten turn by turn navigation again (if you enter the address in your phone).

I’ve had occasions where Apple maps displayed the right location of an address while google didn’t. But in most cases, google works better, especially when navigating to a certain street number, finding names for locations (e.g. parks, mountains,…) or doing a voice search.

One thing I find especially annoying is that apple doesn’t parse adresses right in my country (Austria) (althought I ‘ve been sending them the occasional feedback kn this every other year). Typically, over here it’s “Streetnam HouseNumber / Flat Nr” - but if you click on an adress that says e.g. “Hauptstraße 132 / 3” it guides you to Hauptstraße 3. Pretty useless and sometimes you only realize the mistake after driving in the wrong direction for 10 minutes.

Adding insult to injury, if you start to enter a street name and then click the quick suggestion of that street name, it then directly jumps to that search without giving you the opportunity to add a house number - so you almost always have to spell out the whole address, while the quick suggestion looms beyond the search bar, mocking you.

Search can also get pretty bad results, e.g. sometimes when entering a street name, it shows you a street with the same name in a neighbouring country or hundrets of kilometers away instead of the city or country you’re in. You then have to add the correct zip code to the search to redirect it. Also, afaik you can’t

I tend to use it more than ten years ago, but it’s like using duckduckgo for search - when it works it’s nicer, but when it’s about accuracy or

 

[svish]

Would like to see this in many more cities and countries. Only few cities initially!

 

[TheVowelO]

Im okay with Apple Maps. I enjoy going the wrong way on one way streets. makes for a fun drive.

 

[steve09090]

Im okay with Apple Maps. I enjoy going the wrong way on one way streets. makes for a fun drive.

First time ever in Edinburgh Scotland and Google took me the wrong way down a one way street. They are as bad or as good as each other.

 

[jwolf6589]

it has gotten turn by turn navigation again (if you enter the address in your phone).

I’ve had occasions where Apple maps displayed the right location of an address while google didn’t. But in most cases, google works better, especially when navigating to a certain street number, finding names for locations (e.g. parks, mountains,…) or doing a voice search.

One thing I find especially annoying is that apple doesn’t parse adresses right in my country (Austria) (althought I ‘ve been sending them the occasional feedback kn this every other year). Typically, over here it’s “Streetnam HouseNumber / Flat Nr” - but if you click on an adress that says e.g. “Hauptstraße 132 / 3” it guides you to Hauptstraße 3. Pretty useless and sometimes you only realize the mistake after driving in the wrong direction for 10 minutes.

Adding insult to injury, if you start to enter a street name and then click the quick suggestion of that street name, it then directly jumps to that search without giving you the opportunity to add a house number - so you almost always have to spell out the whole address, while the quick suggestion looms beyond the search bar, mocking you.

Search can also get pretty bad results, e.g. sometimes when entering a street name, it shows you a street with the same name in a neighbouring country or hundrets of kilometers away instead of the city or country you’re in. You then have to add the correct zip code to the search to redirect it. Also, afaik you can’t

I tend to use it more than ten years ago, but it’s like using duckduckgo for search - when it works it’s nicer, but when it’s about accuracy or

Thanks for the fair reply. I prefer Applemaps and also to note the Mac has no native google Maps app like an Apple Maps app.

 

[steve09090]

Are you suggesting that they should not update the experience? That they should not take advantage of new hardware? That in 2022 we should be looking at the same graphics and features we had in Google Earth for much of the last two decades?

That doesn’t answer his question at all. Pointless.

I’m going to ask it. What do we need all this for? Sure it’s amazing, but what purpose does it serve?

How many people you and I know would use this feature?

Do people really use this Google Maps feature to have an immersive experience or find a local hidden gem?

Purpose? Looks pretty. And probably a way to entice people to use Google (Track people more)
Use? It's great for planning holiday trips. Although…. Who needs to go on holiday when the next step is probably 3D AI interactions.

Yeah, and also oblivious and ignorant of Apple's tracking. Sheesh, these morons make me shake my head.

Can you give examples, or is this just BS? Hmmmmm.

 

[SBlue1]

In all that time did you not realize that you can submit a change to apple maps yourself? It’s right in the app. You can add an item or report an issue. I reported a business changed and submitted the report with the new business and their hours of operation. It was updated in less than 2 weeks.

I reported the wrong street name a dozen times within two years.

 

[SBlue1]

Regarding Maps, Google literally owns a “former” spy satellite company. So they are a primary source for data. Apple has to buy data sets or rent time on other companies satellites.

Its not the photos. Why does to take years to change a wrong street name? How many people are in the German Apple Maps team? One part time worker checking the thousands of reports?

 

[steve09090]

I reported the wrong street name a dozen times within two years.

I believe Apple/Google need verification from the local council/shire before they will make a change. "The bottle neck is not always the store front"

 

[sidewinder3000]

Apple Maps will never catch up with Google maps. In Germany Apple Maps is way behind Google. It took Apple 4 years to correct the name of my street.

I am stunned why Apple services are such a hit or miss. Some like iCloud, Home, Apple TV+, Siri or Apple Maps are trash outside of the US and seem to be run by a handful of people working in part time from home and wo never used those things by themselves. Some service on the other hand like Apple Music, Fitness + or Apple Pay are great and way above the competition.

Every once in a while I find something on Apple Maps that isn’t accurate, so I file a report. It’s easy to do, within the app, and I typically get a response within a few days saying that my change was accepted. so the next time you find that your street name is wrong, know that it’s easy for you to do something about it.

 

[sidewinder3000]

I know… what am I missing here? This article doesn’t mention Apple Maps’ flyover tours which were introduced years ago.

We all love MacRumors, but sometimes there’s a weird lack of context in a story like this that would be easy to include, and would help the reader understand the landscape in which the feature is appearing in. I have no idea why some MacRumors articles are so great about adding that type of contacts, and other ones seem like slightly rewritten press releases.

 

[SBlue1]

Every once in a while I find something on Apple Maps that isn’t accurate, so I file a report. It’s easy to do, within the app, and I typically get a response within a few days saying that my change was accepted. so the next time you find that your street name is wrong, know that it’s easy for you to do something about it.

I reported the wrong street name a dozen times. Its easy to report. But there seems to be just one person for whole Germany correcting the errors. It takes forever.

 

[sidewinder3000]

I reported the wrong street name a dozen times. Its easy to report. But there seems to be just one person for whole Germany correcting the errors. It takes forever.

That's a bummer. You might consider writing to Tim Cook and Craig Federeghi, as well as leaving feedback on the Apple feedback site. They should be more responsive.

I did see that Germany is getting the new upgraded Maps in September, so maybe that points to more resources coming your way?

🤞