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How will Maps be improved with iOS 12

G

GC251114

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Jul 28, 2015
452
243
Good afternoon.

Just used maps for 1st time in a very long time. Took me exactly where I needed to be with no problem. I’m in UK & along route it showed me on the map some POI , however seemed rather sporadic & with no real pattern. I’m sure I saw a Starbucks & a P icon , however I passed a few Car Parks yet didn’t show them all. Anyway , no worries there as it got me to my destination spot on.

It got me thinking. I guess Apple Maps has improved over the years however what are we realistically hoping for in ios12 to further improve & maybe bring it in line with other 3rd party navigation apps. Maybe Apple maps is already better than others & I have to say I just love how it integrates with the Apple Watch. Little vibrations on the wrist & a quick glance with a discreet turn of the wrist is great.

Anyway , what we hoping will be added ?

I would’ve posted this in the iOS 12 forum , but we don’t appear to have one yet.

Cheers
 
I am wondering about this too. In my experience (Eastern France), right now Apple Maps excels in two things: the looks and a smarter routing, avoiding smaller roads, especially compared to Waze. The rest is hit & miss. Just today Apple Maps failed to know about the exit closure on a big roundabout, so needed to switch back to Waze, again.

It would be great if they could implement some sort of a live user feedback on the road conditions and, while at it, maybe also update their core maps with the same frequency as Google & Waze. Let’s see what Monday brings!
 
Since CarPlay is such a specific application that requires the phone app to be modified, I wonder if Apple is able to extract more data from the third party apps to help Apple Maps as part of any agreement to add them? Or is it just an attempt to help make CarPlay the standard for new vehicles thereby letting more people access to utilize Apple Maps as standard?

Either way, I think Maps doesn't require a major iOS announcement...and Apple would be wise to avoid any such announcement unless there is a significant UI change.

What people care about is the data...the POI's...the quick updates for traffic, closed roads, etc....until they get that up to a level close to Waze or Google, there will be no more major Maps announcements IMHO.

With all of the Apple Maps cars driving around getting street view data (even in my tiny neighborhood), they can't be far off from utilizing their own mapping data as well as a seamless transfer from flyover to street view to even "inside" views for certain buildings/areas. I'm guessing that won't be ready for at least another year and would deserve an announcement as part of iOS13. And I can't wait...I'm a Waze user since I travel so much, but LOVE the Apple Maps interface and integration with Car Play (as of today).
 
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MozMan68 said:
With all of the Apple Maps cars driving around getting street view data (even in my tiny neighborhood), they can't be far off from utilizing their own mapping data as well as a seamless transfer from flyover to street view to even "inside" views for certain buildings/areas. I'm guessing that won't be ready for at least another year and would deserve an announcement as part of iOS13. And I can't wait...I'm a Waze user since I travel so much, but LOVE the Apple Maps interface and integration with Car Play (as of today).
Click to expand...

They haven't even covered 1/4 of Europe, good luck with that.
 
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silvetti said:
They haven't even covered 1/4 of Europe, good luck with that.
Click to expand...

Please...same old argument...everyone knows they will focus on the USA.

The other thought is that with their own mapping data, they will finally be able to include some sort of user input or at least make map modifications within a reasonable amount of time (not years!).

As much money and resources Apple has, they seem to be very conservative and take the "short term" hits knowing that when they go all in on something (like the forthcoming Maps platform), their dedicated user base will do the work for them and it will shorten the time needed to catch up to Google/Waze.

They are obviously focused on the tech and controlling their own destiny on this one versus relying on other companies for the data moving forward. Yes, they should have seen how important this was years ago, but they will catch up.
 
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MozMan68 said:
...their dedicated user base will do the work for them and it will shorten the time needed to catch up to Google/Waze.
Click to expand...

You are clearly overstating the willingness of Apple to use crowd sourcing for their maps data. They don't have a great track record on that.

FYI, I use Apple Maps daily (even though Google Maps has better accuracy in my country) in order to try to improve Apple data, I have submitted hundreds of reports and although it's getting better (time between submission and it being accepted) it still is painfully slow. My street is flagged as a 1 one way for 5 months, I have reported it in Apple Maps, in TomTom MapShare, still no change.

I think Apple screwed up on letting Google buy Waze instead of them, if I was in their shoes I would have bought both Waze and Foursquare, both great crowd sourced platforms. But again, Apple passed on that so I wouldn't hold my breath for any crowd sourced system from Apple beyond the Report in Maps.
 
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silvetti said:
You are clearly overstating the willingness of Apple to use crowd sourcing for their maps data. They don't have a great track record on that.

FYI, I use Apple Maps daily (even though Google Maps has better accuracy in my country) in order to try to improve Apple data, I have submitted hundreds of reports and although it's getting better (time between submission and it being accepted) it still is painfully slow. My street is flagged as a 1 one way for 5 months, I have reported it in Apple Maps, in TomTom MapShare, still no change.

I think Apple screwed up on letting Google buy Waze instead of them, if I was in their shoes I would have bought both Waze and Foursquare, both great crowd sourced platforms. But again, Apple passed on that so I wouldn't hold my breath for any crowd sourced system from Apple beyond the Report in Maps.
Click to expand...

Oh...you misunderstand...I apologize.

I meant to say that they will be able to take the user input (a la Google Maps) and quickly make changes to the data. Apple will do that, not the user.

As much as I would love Apple Maps to be more like Waze with instantaneous changes, I realize that Apple will never let that happen. It is obvious that the reliance on TomTom for street data has prevented them from making even the most basic updates to street data in a timely fashion. The utilization of their own data will definitely change that.

It's so frustrating when there is a MAJOR change to a road (new entrance ramp, road is moved, etc.) and it takes Apple Maps a year or more to change. Waze is instantaneous and Google Maps is typically less than a week or so behind that.
 
MozMan68 said:
It's so frustrating when there is a MAJOR change to a road (new entrance ramp, road is moved, etc.) and it takes Apple Maps a year or more to change. Waze is instantaneous and Google Maps is typically less than a week or so behind that.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I was hoping when I saw Apple Maps was using some OpenStreetMap data that they would shift from garbage TomTom to something with a faster pace of change. But for now, nothing :(
 
silvetti said:
Yeah, I was hoping when I saw Apple Maps was using some OpenStreetMap data that they would shift from garbage TomTom to something with a faster pace of change. But for now, nothing :(
Click to expand...

I've been trying to use Apple Maps more and more as well to help with the data...and I do prefer it more than any other app from a UI perspective.

It will start with the USA, but I do believe that when they take the data they are collecting through their own Apple Maps vehicles, they will take somewhat of a step beyond both Google and Waze with their ability to combine flyover and streetview into a seamless experience.

Everything, including street data and POI's will be able to be updated at the same speed that Google has...and it will utilize true images/data.

My prediction...iOS13 for the next major Maps update...at the earliest.
 
GC251114 said:
Good afternoon.

Just used maps for 1st time in a very long time. Took me exactly where I needed to be with no problem. I’m in UK & along route it showed me on the map some POI , however seemed rather sporadic & with no real pattern. I’m sure I saw a Starbucks & a P icon , however I passed a few Car Parks yet didn’t show them all. Anyway , no worries there as it got me to my destination spot on.

It got me thinking. I guess Apple Maps has improved over the years however what are we realistically hoping for in ios12 to further improve & maybe bring it in line with other 3rd party navigation apps. Maybe Apple maps is already better than others & I have to say I just love how it integrates with the Apple Watch. Little vibrations on the wrist & a quick glance with a discreet turn of the wrist is great.

Anyway , what we hoping will be added ?

I would’ve posted this in the iOS 12 forum , but we don’t appear to have one yet.

Cheers
Click to expand...
The feature that I would like is that I personally like to have the maps up when driving but I want it to include the speed limits of roads without me having to enter in a destination
 
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I know it has only been a couple of days, but anyone notice any differences in Maps?

I'm waiting for the public beta and will check then, but I'm guessing there are no changes?
 
MozMan68 said:
I know it has only been a couple of days, but anyone notice any differences in Maps?

I'm waiting for the public beta and will check then, but I'm guessing there are no changes?
Click to expand...
I'm not seeing any changes personally.
 
Not that it is going to make the kind of difference people want but I've seen an Apple Map vehicle a couple of times in the Portland, ME area over the last couple of days. Wonder how many trucks they have running around the country and other countries
 
CTHarrryH said:
Not that it is going to make the kind of difference people want but I've seen an Apple Map vehicle a couple of times in the Portland, ME area over the last couple of days. Wonder how many trucks they have running around the country and other countries
Click to expand...

I think it will actually make quite a difference...see my post and others above about this.

And there was an article on here about them a few weeks ago as well.
 
Who cares? Certainly not me. Apple Maps is still a worthless piece of junk where I live, and I don't expect any magic from Apple these days. They need to give us the option to select the apps that we want (yeah right).
 
danny_w said:
Who cares? Certainly not me. Apple Maps is still a worthless piece of junk where I live, and I don't expect any magic from Apple these days. They need to give us the option to select the apps that we want (yeah right).
Click to expand...

Ummm...isn't that exactly what they are giving you??
 
For me the biggest problem with Apple Maps is updated info on businesses and the ability to actually find what I'm looking for with search. Most changes like this will happen on the fly and not in an iOS update.
 
CTHarrryH said:
Not that it is going to make the kind of difference people want but I've seen an Apple Map vehicle a couple of times in the Portland, ME area over the last couple of days. Wonder how many trucks they have running around the country and other countries
Click to expand...
Actually had one on our neighborhood street last summer. We are in an exurban area about 65 miles northeast of NYC in NW Connecticut. Doesn't get much more rural than that (check out a night time satellite shot of NW CT - about as dark as North Korea).
 
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I've never really had a problem with maps (other than occasionally telling me they found a faster route in the middle of me driving) until the last month or two. They keep making take these obscure routes to destinations that are not even faster. I spent like 15 minutes on Monday driving through one of the rich neighborhoods where the roads are really windy with thin lanes.
 
MozMan68 said:
I know it has only been a couple of days, but anyone notice any differences in Maps?

I'm waiting for the public beta and will check then, but I'm guessing there are no changes?
Click to expand...
Not sure about that but finally there is a god damn arrow indicating where I face when before, there was not one. Unfortunately, there is still not an arrow in apps that are using Apple Maps.
 
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