How To Report a Problem With iOS 6 Maps Data

[Dudical]

The map data is 100% correct. The issues are with the real world, not the map data. To correct the real world, stop going to restaurants which aren't on the map. This will eventually put them out of business and bring the incorrect real world into alignment with the 100% correct Apple Maps world. Is your house showing up across town and in the middle of a river? Well guess what, you built your house in the wrong spot! This is an easy to correct problem. Simply move your belongings to the correct location in Apple Maps.

The fact that people are complaining about user error is simply mind boggling to me.

 

[Silmarien]

You bought a droid with Google Maps on it....not free.

https://maps.google.com

OMG its a miracle! You now have it too. Even without "a droid". For FREE

 

[lwapps]

You can always fire up Safari and go to http://maps.google.com and add it to your home page... Works nicely.

So does http://m.maps.nokia.com (which is actually the web interface to NavTeq which Nokia owns).

Or you can use http://maps.bing.com .

There are also a hundred other apps you can download. Like Waze. Or you can buy an app like Navagon.

Man if only we had an alternative to Apple maps...

Or you can help make Apple maps better by reporting problems which help them get to the point Google is today, the same way Google got there...

Oh come on, let's not pretend that any web based solution comes close to the original native application. Google Maps has been the preferred app for many people and is certainly one of the most well refined.

When you upgrade you don't have the choice to revert to google maps. Many inexperienced users upgrade without thinking of this consequence.

To a person who has purchased an iPhone 5 or upgraded their software, they don't care how google got there. They just want the maps application that could get them from A to B back!

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Good grief, like Google never steers you wrong? Google Maps have gotten me lost before. They're not perfect. iOS maps will improve.

There are plenty of non-Google alternatives in the meantime.

Apple's mistake was not dumping Google years ago. Continuing to rely on Google for search is another mistake.



Good point.

Apparently Google is "best" because they're "open" (based on all the endless pro-Google anti-Apple noise on the Web) - except of course for when they're not.

And Apple is "worst" because they're "not open" - except of course for when they are.

Just trying to understand the Google fan mentality.

Apple's argument used to be that they don't do their own maps or search because it isn't what they are good at. Relying on another company is better than switching to a solution which decreases the value and effectiveness of the product.

 

[citi]

https://maps.google.com

OMG its a miracle! You now have it too. Even without "a droid". For FREE

You missed my point. I wasn't arguing that there weren't acceptable alternative Google options, I was just stating that people think the phone prices and the maps are 1 to 1 which they are not. Maps are just one piece, a very subjective big piece of the overall pie. I for one have no problems with Maps

It sucks that everyone else does. But Google Maps sent me to many incorrect places when I use to use that so it's not the end all be all

 

[huerix]

Great Leader, You can do no Wrong!

Apple messed it up and underestimated it- why is that so hard to accept for people? They put users last and sqabbling with competitors first.

The true calling of fanboy-ism is defending a clearly bad decision. Apple, the most valuable company in the USA is in a corporate battle while both Google and them laugh on the way to the bank. More and more often, the users are paying the price.

I can't blame them for going this route... I can blame them for releasing it too soon. I can blame them for blocking plenty of apps that duplicate iOS functionality.

To say getting basic info right relies on crowd-sourcing is not really true, Google hires people to incorporate data from their 1300 data sources.

Even if Apple gets 1,000,000 incorrect submissions, someone still needs to check it out, verify, and incorporate it. If they don't and it is a true wiki style, that is even worse. Either way, its going to take too long for users to wait it out.

Apple clearly screwed this up- and with the locked down nature of iOS, we'll have to wait for THEM to rectify it so this will be interesting. How can Tom Tom be an option when it uses the same incorrect data?

Before you call me a hater, I have an iphone, (and android, unlike you) and still use my 2005 imac all the time- I even have apps on itunes. Can't we all just get along and stop drinkin' the koolaid? As long as Apple fans accept bad decisions like this maps disaster or like not being able to change your MMS app, Apple will keep marginalizing them.

Google maps has gotten me everywhere, never had to enter a wrong location. Crowd sourcing improves it- Google maps was NEVER this bad. "Thermonuclear war" is bad for all of us.

 

[poppy10]

You can also visit http://openstreetmaps.org/ and fix the maps yourselves. The Open Street Maps project is what TomTom, Garmin, Mapquest, Bing, and many other services, including Apple use for their mapping data.

Apple isn't using a live (or even a recent) capture of OpenStreetMap data. They seem to be using a mix of several-year-old OSM data as well as very out of date data from other mapping providers. Hence for example the Crescent City Connection bridge showing up as the "Greater New Orleans Bridge", despite the name having been changed in 1989 (the bridge is correctly named on OpenStreetMaps.org).

Also, your list of other providers which use OSM data is incorrect. TomTom use TeleAtlas (which they now own), Garmin use Navteq and Bing use DigitalGlobe. Only Mapquest uses OSM data.

 

[wingsabre]

If the stories are correct, Google would not do 'turn by turn' on the iphone and Apple wanted them to. Something about licensing the api's. In my book, Apple had no choice but to do their own map app. Plus mapping/search is the next big area that companies will be going after. It really is a huge dataset. What will be interesting is when google does submit a mapping app, will they violate or rewrite the license and have turn by turn or just leave that out.

I wonder if anyone is on Google's message boards yelling at them for not having an app ready since they knew Apple was doing their own?

I would have been fine without turn by turn. It's not the end of the world if that was the case, and Apple could have spent this time to develop an alternative for iOS 7 or iOS 8. Google Maps was essentially unchanged from iPhone 3 to iPhone 4. When iOS 5 came out, it had a big jump in the addition of different routs. Garmin nuvi had a turn by turn app for iOS. They could have easily licensed that app as an alternative instead of trying to go through it alone or rely on Yelp, which isn't even a mapping service.

 

[JRoDDz]

How can you expect people to correct the problems, when they are either ..

1. Under a massive grey cloud and non-visible.
2. In amoungst the haze of green and grey splodges which cannot be understood.
3. In the completely wrong location.

Even when you hit "report the problem" and place the pin in the position you think is "correct", it still jumps to a location you don't want. Apple are going to need to source some more accurate map data, and give up with the finger painting of the UK.

I am believing more and more that Apple hired Redditor "******_watercolour" to design their maps.

 

[charlesdayton]

The problem here is not the app (it works fine) but the data it is using. The maps data is provided by TomTom, not Apple.

Apple just needs to switch to more reliable data source or updatedTomTom data.

 

[oliversl]

I've been placing a pin, reporting a problem, and using the incorrect information option. That, or use Yelp. Yelp listings aren't automatically placed on the map, but they do show in local search results.

Thanks, will try it. BTW, Yelp is very very limited outside USA and Europe, I would say, non existent.
http://www.yelp.com/locations/states

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Thanks, I tested it and I think its better to use "Wrong Information" link because that way you can add more detailed info.

1 - Drop a pin
2 - View the info on the pin
3 - Report a Problem
4 - Place does not exist

I agree it should be more obvious. Apple needs as many people as possible to be adding missing locations. However, Yelp will probably be the source for adding new businesses, not directly in Maps.

 

[MonkeySee....]

The map data is 100% correct. The issues are with the real world, not the map data. To correct the real world, stop going to restaurants which aren't on the map. This will eventually put them out of business and bring the incorrect real world into alignment with the 100% correct Apple Maps world. Is your house showing up across town and in the middle of a river? Well guess what, you built your house in the wrong spot! This is an easy to correct problem. Simply move your belongings to the correct location in Apple Maps.

The fact that people are complaining about user error is simply mind boggling to me.

best post in the thread.

 

[iGrip]

So I need to fix something I paid $800 for?

Of course. But only if it is a Google product. Apple products Just Work. Apple never releases half-baked crap - they wait until it is perfected, even if it takes years, like cut and paste.

That is the difference between Apple and all the other crap that every other half-baked crapmaker produces.

There is nothing to be fixed in Apple Maps. It always Just Works for me. Google is crap. Thank goodness Apple got rid of Google everywhere on thier products. It's about time!

 

[ck2875]

There are many more 'Report an Error' Options today. You can now correct street names, improper search results, poor directions, and report bad satellite images.

 

[pure3d2]

Image

LOL

This made me laugh so hard my stomach is hurting.

 

[sik08amg]

Has anyone submitted a error and noticed if it was fixed? I have submitted a few and I keep checking to see if they have been corrected but so far nothing.. come on

 

[neilhunt]

Google still winning

For what it's worth, I've reported three or four errors to Apple (a route proposal that should have been a straight shot down 85, that detoured via the Apple campus in Cupertino, a residential street that doesn't connect through as drawn - Matts Ct to Nash Road in Los Altos (because there's a house in the way), 100 Winchester Circle, Los Gatos has a label of "America" (yes, really) instead of "Netflix") and a street with the wrong name), and never heard a response, all are still problems months later.

By contrast, I've reported half a dozen errors to Google maps (a private road flagged as a bike route (Old Mill Road, Santa Cruz Mountains), a misspelling (Andesite Ride Road in Big Sky MT spelled as Andisite), street numbers offset by a block, and in each case, I get a response within a day or two, and the problem is fixed on the public maps within a week or two.