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Nokia Launches Free Mapping Alternative for iOS: 'HERE Maps'

WhySoSerious said:
Y'all can moan and whine about maps, but I actually think Apple maps are BETTER than Nokia AND Google.
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Its frustrating because if Apple Maps had:

1. Decent POI data, and
2. Correctly coloured road classifications

It would be fantastic.

(Others may want to add to that list, but they're the two real deal breakers for me.)
 
beebler said:
It's so bad, makes Apple's maps look like Google's. It has virtually no information in Japan. Few streets, no shops. It's basically blank! Someone's getting fired.
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Wow, the details in Japan really are horrible. Finland looks very nice though.
 
Wow...I didn't think you could get much worse than Apple maps!

The Apple maps actually has the best updated photo though.
The Nokia map is very dark and outdated and insanely poor quality when you zoom in a little further!
Google maps definitely has the best quality but is a little out of date.
 

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Really awful. It's showing me POIs in my neighborhood that have been closed for 10 years and not showing ones that should be there. Maps are blurry, the interface is very sluggish

Apple and Google Maps are both far better.
 
PDFierro said:
I'm actually moving to LA soon and will rely on public transit.
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This is a major mistake. Don't do this to yourself.

People love to hate Los Angeles, but its actually a really great city if you live within 5 miles from work and own transportation. Living close changes your life - the 405 becomes a non-issue - and you will be dramatically happier as a result. Owning your own transportation allows you to take advantage of all the great things this city has to offer on the weekends.

No app is going to fix the disfunctional public transportation system here.
 
This is actually the only usable mapping solution in my country so far. Neither Apple Maps nor Google Maps have any support for navigation in Iceland, but this Nokia apps does. Nice! I will give this a try tonight on my drive home.
 
jawatkin said:
Leaving out which Subway lines run through which stations in NYC is such a glaring omission, I was certain that the info would be added before iOS6 was officially launched...
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Somewhere, deep in a lab in Cupertino, developers are right now cooking all this stuff up ready for iOS 7 :)
 
ateslik said:
This is a major mistake. Don't do this to yourself.

People love to hate Los Angeles, but its actually a really great city if you live within 5 miles from work and own transportation. Living close changes your life - the 405 becomes a non-issue - and you will be dramatically happier as a result. Owning your own transportation allows you to take advantage of all the great things this city has to offer on the weekends.

No app is going to fix the disfunctional public transportation system here.
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I completely disagree. And while I don't want to run a debate here in this thread, people overstate the need for a car in LA. And before you ask, yes I've been to LA. And getting a car at this point and time is entirely not an option for me.
 
Just been doing a test of it, checking where things are etc.
Apple have more correct locations around me than Nokia, however Apple don't have my own home address whereas Nokia do, yet the maps themselves I think look awful.
Highly disappointed, been looking forward to this for a while now, several of my friends have Lumia's and they say their maps are awesome. Letdown I think.
 
walnuts said:
I am from the NYC region, and I tested the transit function. It was not good in two ways. First of all, I tried to go to an address along Broadway in Manhattan. I typed in [XXX] Broadway NYC. It suggested several places in the boros, but not Manhattan. Even after including the zip code, it did not have the Manhattan address. It was not until I typed the full address with the word "Manhattan" that it found the correct Manhattan address. Google likely would have assumed Manhattan off the bat from NYC, or at least offered it as the most likely choice (but certainly not found it).

Secondly, once putting in the address, it correctly amalgamated railroad and subway directions, but gave no time information whatsoever. It directed me to a LIRR train, but nowhere did it say what time the train departed. Furthermore, there were no additional time options or the ability to select a departure time (planning your trip for later).

That being said, Apple maps couldn't find a Bally's Fitness down the block when I was in Manhattan. The google web app found it correctly.

Its unfortunate, but it seems as though we let google create a monopoly. Everybody can complain about the apps as much as they want, but it isn't a matter of software engineering- its years worth of raw data entry and reduction of massive data sets into a single, compatible format. Apple could and did create a great interface for a lacking data set. It looks like Nokia's data set isn't so good either. Will it take years to gather the data Google did? (It took Google years...) Sigh, whenever the Google app comes out, I'll have to get it.
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I'm also in NYC and I think the key point is that it does do mass transit. It actually suggested a different way home from work for me today (using a bus that I don't normally take). Which I may try at some point. It has some potential and when used on blazing fast wifi at work, it loads quickly. It won't compare to Apple Maps on speed when I'm out and about, so I don't know how often I would use this. But I may use the live traffic as a comparison to Apple's traffic when I'm in a hurry.

Nice to have another free option.
 
It looks dreadful. This is the satellite view for where I live and the text is oddly blurry on a retina device.

It shocks me this is worse than Apples. I thought Nokia had good data?
 

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Google Maps does a far better job. The map qulity seems very low res on my iphone 4.

I am glad I am still using iOS 5. I am not going to upgrade until a Google Maps app is in the app store!
 
My thoughts:
  • Maps are blurry.
  • Zooming in is slow and buggy (hard to describe what happens).
  • It is not vector based (never got this).
  • The satellite imagery is not that great.
  • Very slow (bad frame rate).
all in all, it's pretty bad, way worse than Apple Maps, in my opinion.
 
It's got more POI/businesses listed accurately than Apple Maps but it feels slow and unappealing. Not much different to a web app really.

C'mon Google.
 
Reason077 said:
Tube stations are there in Apple's Maps - you just have to zoom in really close for them to appear. Which makes it a bit pointless.
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Just about. Though they all have the wrong logos, and several of them were missing for until a few weeks ago.

They even managed to reopen Aldwych station, which closed in 1994, and move it a mile away from it's previous location!
 
I gave it two stars.

Waze was not very impressive at its debut. Now it is a pure joy to use. Here Maps is also not a pure joy to use at its debut. Maybe it will get better. But the initial impression is poor. Usability is poor. Initial search results were not good. The routing interface is confusing. The buttons are too small to be useful while driving.

Nokia may have great cartographic data, but this is not currently a good implementation. I'd sooner use Waze or Apple.
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UmbraDiaboli said:
At first glance looks a billion times better than Apple Maps...

(Still can't get over the Apple Maps disaster)...
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You're not alone, I've been a very loyal Apple customer since 1991. I am simply shocked at the stupid decision Apple has made. Shocked, but not surprised.

If there's one thing this proves (again), is that Apple thinks so highly of themselves, they honestly believe they can do anything and everything better than any other company on the planet.

The _World_ uses Google Maps... why reinvent the wheel?

What a total waste of time & resources. All in the name of vanity & ego.
 
This is hillarious!:

Google earth (still not IP5 optimised tut tut):
8202596327_6918a0f722.jpg


Apple maps:
8202595731_ff51d2c39a.jpg


Nokia maps:
8202596049_7f2feeecee.jpg


As usual anything Apple related gets ridiculous levels of scrutiny, this Nokia Maps app however will fade in the minds of everyone before tomorrow with a whimper and a fart.
 
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This app, which is slow and not useable, shows off a major flaw of Apple Maps, and even the great Google Maps: NO +/- KEY!

I need TWO hands to zoom out, instead of a simple click on the Minus sign as on the excellent MotionX GPS and Waze - both with single handed operation. Google web maps does this but of course super slow.....

Google, when you do come back, please give us a MINUS key!
 
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