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Google Moving Closer to Submitting Maps App for iOS as Eddy Cue Works to Improve Apple's Maps
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I'm now glad that this has happened. The only affect it's had on me is an inability to upgrade (I rely on Transit too much), which with the iOS6 Exchange bug turned out to be just as well.
Assuming Apple give this app the OK (can't see any reason why they won't, barring spite), then it looks like we may end up with three decent free maps apps (Apple, when they get their act together, Nokia and Google), not forgetting all the premium apps (Navigon, Copilot etc.) we've had for years.
Win, win.
Assuming Apple give this app the OK (can't see any reason why they won't, barring spite), then it looks like we may end up with three decent free maps apps (Apple, when they get their act together, Nokia and Google), not forgetting all the premium apps (Navigon, Copilot etc.) we've had for years.
Win, win.
Except where it gets passed to Yelp and Tom Tom in a desperate effort to fix Maps.
Or iAds.
Indeed, it would be amazing to be a fly on the wall when the great ideas and inventions were first conceived. Unless of course it was fly spray ...
Pah, I won't be downloading it. Apple maps have been really good for me
Just a warning, make sure you check your results against another map if you ever plan a visit to the Midlands. Apple Maps is a bit sketchy round here.
Crowdsourcing is one of the reasons the data quality is so poor in the first place. Spelling mistakes are not unusual.
Anyone know HOW MANY times I have to report a pin in the wrong position before anything is done about it? Apple seems to think it knows where I live better than I do!!!
I doubt it'd make a difference if you reported it a million times (save probably getting your access banned). One person should only ever count as one vote, otherwise anyone could just repeatedly submit a fake report and get it added. Corroboration from more than one source is key here to avoid more errors (deliberate or otherwise).
Just a warning, make sure you check your results against another map if you ever plan a visit to the Midlands. Apple Maps is a bit sketchy round here.
haha. I'll make a note of it.
Maps
I think not letting Apple use turn by turn with Google maps (and probably knowing that Apples maps are not ready yet) was the smartest move Google ever made. All that bad press Apple got can be seen as an Android-advertisement as well.
Apple should have established it's own map service incl. turn by turn, but also just have left Gmaps on the iPhone for another year, as the contract with Google is running one more year anyway.
Problem is: i don't want to be a guinea pig.
I think not letting Apple use turn by turn with Google maps (and probably knowing that Apples maps are not ready yet) was the smartest move Google ever made. All that bad press Apple got can be seen as an Android-advertisement as well.
Apple should have established it's own map service incl. turn by turn, but also just have left Gmaps on the iPhone for another year, as the contract with Google is running one more year anyway.
Problem is: i don't want to be a guinea pig.
I don't really care if Google include turn by turn or not. It's pretty weak, just like Apple's, compared to proper paid navigation apps. But then, you get what you pay for. Maybe it's better than nothing, but there was no reason to have nothing before, if it was important. There's an app for that. Lots actually.
This is fantastic news. If only there were a way to tell all the other apps that use maps to use Google not Apple. Then the whole issue would go away.
I live in London (just East of zone 1).
I've looked up a few local restaurants and bars on yelp; and _within the yelp application_ their addresses are correct AND yelp displays their location pins correctly on the map.
When I look at the same places in Apple Maps; they are in the wrong location.
Bars, restaurants and offices in London bridge area seem very out of date. Large parts of Aldwych, Embankment and the west end are missing fairly well known establishments.
This is unacceptable. Even if Apple is going to launch something in the UK that needs improvement; AND forget about the rest of the UK; you would imagine that at least their bias would be toward the UK's capital; and certainly the fancy parts of it, so they can show that, yes there's work to be done but they have these areas for premium customers etc. sorted out.
But it's not the case.
Also - with Google Maps I could do a nice easy fuzzy search of 'bars' or 'italian restaurants' and it would give me a load of pins to choose from. This was perfect for nights out. Likewise with anywhere I needed to walk to; be it a clients office, a friend's house, google's search would accept anything and provide good results.
Apple Maps seems a long way off for this.
I'm looking forward to Google Maps coming back to iOS. As a small business owner, I rely on good quality mapping to get between meetings quickly. I'm sure I'm not the only one.
I would use Apple Maps if it was any good, but it's far from usable for me. Currently my solution is lookup a location on the google maps web app; see roughly where it is, and then use Apple Maps to get there, because the native vector app experience is better than watching tiles load.
I've looked up a few local restaurants and bars on yelp; and _within the yelp application_ their addresses are correct AND yelp displays their location pins correctly on the map.
When I look at the same places in Apple Maps; they are in the wrong location.
Bars, restaurants and offices in London bridge area seem very out of date. Large parts of Aldwych, Embankment and the west end are missing fairly well known establishments.
This is unacceptable. Even if Apple is going to launch something in the UK that needs improvement; AND forget about the rest of the UK; you would imagine that at least their bias would be toward the UK's capital; and certainly the fancy parts of it, so they can show that, yes there's work to be done but they have these areas for premium customers etc. sorted out.
But it's not the case.
Also - with Google Maps I could do a nice easy fuzzy search of 'bars' or 'italian restaurants' and it would give me a load of pins to choose from. This was perfect for nights out. Likewise with anywhere I needed to walk to; be it a clients office, a friend's house, google's search would accept anything and provide good results.
Apple Maps seems a long way off for this.
I'm looking forward to Google Maps coming back to iOS. As a small business owner, I rely on good quality mapping to get between meetings quickly. I'm sure I'm not the only one.
I would use Apple Maps if it was any good, but it's far from usable for me. Currently my solution is lookup a location on the google maps web app; see roughly where it is, and then use Apple Maps to get there, because the native vector app experience is better than watching tiles load.
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It does but after a certain time.
It amazes me how quickly the people were accusing me for moderating the comment (and that would have been very childish thing for me if i did) while the person i quoted didn't have the guts to admit that it was he who changed his, and the initial comment was read by many others before he change it.
Oh well, guess i can't loose my sleep over it.
Finally got to test drive turn by turn via Maps today, I'm in Australia.
Found my destination perfectly, animation is sexy and smooth, the perspective is great - love it.
Siri is loud even with the radio and air on, it's much better than what I was using, Metroview ($29.95 - which you could barely hear).
Being able to push a button and say 'take me to X' - plus, get all the nice Apple graphics and magic that comes with it - The experience was A+, much better than anything I ever relied on Google Maps for.
It's disappointing that users are having issues with incorrect directions, towns, streets - it's perfect here on the Gold Coast. Hopefully they clean their map data asap so people can enjoy it.
Found my destination perfectly, animation is sexy and smooth, the perspective is great - love it.
Siri is loud even with the radio and air on, it's much better than what I was using, Metroview ($29.95 - which you could barely hear).
Being able to push a button and say 'take me to X' - plus, get all the nice Apple graphics and magic that comes with it - The experience was A+, much better than anything I ever relied on Google Maps for.
It's disappointing that users are having issues with incorrect directions, towns, streets - it's perfect here on the Gold Coast. Hopefully they clean their map data asap so people can enjoy it.
Turn by turn is getting a bit advanced, the basics is where is fails.... the MAP. You can have the worlds best turn by turn navigation, without the map data its useless.
As several other people have already pointed out to deaf ears, the old Maps app was written by Apple (using Google's data), not Google. I don't recall any features ever being "removed". Yes, Google refused to license the turn-by-turn data but if you read beyond the headline you'll see that was largely because Apple refused to allow them in-app branding and 'Latitude' social networking (hint: Google doesn't make money by just giving away free maps).
In any case - there has long been a selection of free & paid turn-by-turn Apps in the store. Apple could have linked to those from Maps (an approach which it's had to take to provide Transit directions in their new Maps). While an integrated solution would be better it wasn't worth sacrificing other features such as Street View, transit directions and the maturity of Google's database.
It's a particularly poor trade for those of us with WiFi only iPads: turn-by-turn is useless without GPS.
Also, for serious turn-by-turn use I'd still go for a paid solution with offline maps. Yes, Google Maps caches/downloads maps along the route - but in my experience (I've used it on Android) that's only good for bridging small dead-spots along the way: without a data connection the app is crippled, and rerouting, changing destination or finding POIs is difficult to impossible.
All the people complaining are living in the wrong places. Just don't heave your home town.
Some areas of the UK previously had terrible satellite images - black & white, obscured by clouds and/or very low resolution. These have recently been improved beyond recognition.
That would be a breathtakingly stupid move. Since there are already competing mapping/navigation apps in the store (and Tim Cook has already recommended some of them!) it would be hard to disguise as anything but an anti-competetive move against Google, which would generate huge amounts of bad publicity and re-ignite the whole Maps fiasco.
Pah, I won't be downloading it. Apple maps have been really good for me
Will probably download but not use often:
- TBT - Apple Maps is perfect here (germany)
- POIs - I personally never search for POIs
- Streetmap - OK, but don't use it much
- Transit info - completely useless because no trams/buses here
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And why should they do it anyway? They will keep those who think about changing to Android because of Google maps and might even get some Android users who just bought android because Maps was superior there.
They probably forbid Google to send user/traffic data though.
Google does not sells your data to advertisers, this is a very common and widespread misconception.
What the hell is your problem? Why are you seriously stalking me and commenting every post I make?!
Good -but it won't make me install it. I am just plain happy with Maps. I use Apple's 'Maps' extensively because of the job I do. I travel all the time throughout Ontario and Maps works very well.
The thing that I appreciate the most is how more bandwidth friendly Maps is over Google Maps -80% better to be specific (http://blog.onavo.com/2012/10/apple-maps-data-usage/). That matters a lot if you are on a 1 GB plan ...
The thing that I appreciate the most is how more bandwidth friendly Maps is over Google Maps -80% better to be specific (http://blog.onavo.com/2012/10/apple-maps-data-usage/). That matters a lot if you are on a 1 GB plan ...
Really dying to get this on my iPad2. Apple Map is crappy to be polite in India. Plus it does not even give navigation ( forget turn by turn voice navigation ) in India , make me feel like killing Scott Forstall . Ohhh wait he has been kicked out by Apple. Innit ?