I have been using iOS6 since WWDC due to being in the Developer program, so I decided to use the new Maps app while on vacation earlier this month. To me, the turn-by-turn directions were far superior to Google's implementation, for a few reasons:
1. Whether you keep the Maps app running full-screen or drop back to the home screen, you still get what looks like a highway sign giving you distance and directions on the route you have selected.
2. The accuracy was very impressive. The most the app was ever off by was about five feet, and that was in downtown Atlanta around Peachtree Center (where cell service was crappy to say the least).
3. Unlike my past experiences with similar apps, the new Maps app gives you enough advance notice to get into the right lane. Fir example, as soon as I would reach the off ramp from the interstate, the app would say "at Bobby Brown Boulevard, turn left". This meant I had plenty of time to get into the correct lane, saving myself time and hassle from turning the wrong direction.
4. In cases when I intentionally veered off the preplanned route, the app was able to update on the fly and adjust to my real location versus where I should have been originally.
5. Using Siri for the voice directions works well, because it provides a voice that many iPhone 4S/new iPad users are already familiar with. Furthermore, it was very easy to understand, even with radio and environmental noise at the same time.
I do have some gripes with other aspects of the new Maps app, but the turn-by-turn directions are a big improvement over anything else I have used in the past. I also used the feature in Chattanooga and Knoxville, and it worked just as well there as it did in Atlanta (so it's not just tuned for major cities).
If you're planning to take a trip and are driving, I'd recommend trying it for yourself. Your experiences might differ from mine, but it would be interesting to see what others think of this feature.
1. Whether you keep the Maps app running full-screen or drop back to the home screen, you still get what looks like a highway sign giving you distance and directions on the route you have selected.
2. The accuracy was very impressive. The most the app was ever off by was about five feet, and that was in downtown Atlanta around Peachtree Center (where cell service was crappy to say the least).
3. Unlike my past experiences with similar apps, the new Maps app gives you enough advance notice to get into the right lane. Fir example, as soon as I would reach the off ramp from the interstate, the app would say "at Bobby Brown Boulevard, turn left". This meant I had plenty of time to get into the correct lane, saving myself time and hassle from turning the wrong direction.
4. In cases when I intentionally veered off the preplanned route, the app was able to update on the fly and adjust to my real location versus where I should have been originally.
5. Using Siri for the voice directions works well, because it provides a voice that many iPhone 4S/new iPad users are already familiar with. Furthermore, it was very easy to understand, even with radio and environmental noise at the same time.
I do have some gripes with other aspects of the new Maps app, but the turn-by-turn directions are a big improvement over anything else I have used in the past. I also used the feature in Chattanooga and Knoxville, and it worked just as well there as it did in Atlanta (so it's not just tuned for major cities).
If you're planning to take a trip and are driving, I'd recommend trying it for yourself. Your experiences might differ from mine, but it would be interesting to see what others think of this feature.
