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Roundup of Features in Google Maps for iOS: Better Design than Android Version, iPad Version Coming
- Thread starter MacRumors
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I don't think Apple planned on making a **** app. My point is that Google's Android app was miles better than the iOS one. Apple asked Google to add features to their maps app and Google wouldn't. So Apple threw them out and now Google release an app with (surprise) the features Apple asked for.
I'm not a fanboy that I'm going to blindly follow Apple till kingdom come but Google was partly at fault for not developing their apps on iOS to the same standard as Android.
The current YouTube and Google Maps apps are MUCH better than they were in iOS 5. That would have never been the case if Apple kept them as first party software.
So I download Google Maps on my iPhone this morning and start a route to my train station 2 minutes away. It's first instruction? Make an illegal left turn onto a major road that would probably result in an accident.
Tried it in Apple Maps and it correctly took my around to a place where I can legally make a left turn.
Irony.
Tried it in Apple Maps and it correctly took my around to a place where I can legally make a left turn.
Irony.
polterbyte
macrumors 6502
The best "feature" of Apple Maps is that it prodded Google to give in and release a decent Maps App for iOS.
Would Google have made such a great app available for iOS if Apple hadn't created its map app? No, definitely.
In my book Apple Maps achieved its purpose: to make an awesome app available for iOS, even if it doesn't come from Apple.
Would Google have made such a great app available for iOS if Apple hadn't created its map app? No, definitely.
In my book Apple Maps achieved its purpose: to make an awesome app available for iOS, even if it doesn't come from Apple.
Funny thing is the first street I pulled up with Google Maps had a closed location and a location located on the wrong side of the street! LOL
Having said that, it did have a ton more locations...the one shortcoming I have experienced with Apple Maps.
Competition is a good thing.
Having said that, it did have a ton more locations...the one shortcoming I have experienced with Apple Maps.
Competition is a good thing.
But Google would, if they got better branding and the ability to integrate their other services better.
And now everyone will switch to this app, and Google still get those things. Google have everything they wanted.
All Apple have gained is a PR black eye, less control and poor integration compared to Android when that sort of cleverness is supposed to be their home turf. It's a lose-lose for Apple.
KnightWRX
macrumors Pentium
Glad I have readable maps back. Sure it's "uglier" than Apple's rendering, but I can read it at a glance with the big clashing colors and large lines used for roads/streets. Aside from streets that had gone missing (Apple's actual mapping data, streets, was far more incomplete for my area than Google's), the data wasn't really an issue for me.
But this news about the SDK is the best I've heard. Hopefully, Apple allows 3rd party apps that forgoe MapKit to use this instead in the App Store and some of my favorite Map enabled apps move to it.
As an aside, I wonder why they went with the old style bitmap/mip-map tiles instead of their vector version from 2010. Guess they didn't want it to be that much better than Android's version.
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Google Maps isn't perfect. The difference is in the magnitude of errors. Google Maps has far less and they seem to be improving at quite a rapid pace.
hithere
macrumors member
Thank you Google and thank you Apple for letting this happen. Yet this would have been great news in 2010.
Today we have so many alternatives that the Google newcomer will be a nice addition but nothing more. The market for free maps and navigation apps is expanding fast and differentiation is becoming the driving tendency.
Nokia maps allows partial downloading for offline use, Waze is great for sharing of info and the navigator is very nice, openmaps come with different layers (cycling, railways...), Apple maps are fast in loading and rendering, Google has street view and nicely integrates maps with driving...
There is less and less meaning in asking which is the "best" app overall. The "best" is the one that does best what I need to do now.
Today we have so many alternatives that the Google newcomer will be a nice addition but nothing more. The market for free maps and navigation apps is expanding fast and differentiation is becoming the driving tendency.
Nokia maps allows partial downloading for offline use, Waze is great for sharing of info and the navigator is very nice, openmaps come with different layers (cycling, railways...), Apple maps are fast in loading and rendering, Google has street view and nicely integrates maps with driving...
There is less and less meaning in asking which is the "best" app overall. The "best" is the one that does best what I need to do now.
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Not sure if everyone will switch to this app. Apple Maps being the default map for iOS is huge. Slowly they will become better and have more control and more ways to integrate it into other services.
To be honest, the Maps debacle has been a lose-lose for everyone until now. It was a PR nightmare for Apple, Google lost a huge base for ad revenue, and the consumers lost a good mapping option on their smartphone.
Now, we have 2 options to choose from in terms of which mapping we want to use. Personally I will probably use both.
Michael Scrip
macrumors G3
I wonder if this app and its acceptance is a result of the execs at both companies reaching an agreement because of the joint bid on Kodak 's patents
And the Apple answer was to give us maps that get me lost indefinitely in nearby little mountain towns.
Great mapping application. Nevertheless, it lacks iOS integration and therefor, makes it a bit inconvenient to map addresses in contacts where I have to copy and paste address information.
I wished apple would allow choosing default applications in settings, wait! That would never happen.
Fix your map data apple, the next time I need a new phone I might actually try the new nexus.
I get the feeling that Apple and Google have realized that attacking each other in public is probably bad for both of them.
However, Samsung hasn't realized that. Although I kind of enjoy their potshots at Apple.
Everyone will switch to this? How do you figure that? I'm guessing at least 95% of the users will stick to apples maps. Even though apples maps get a lot of criticism on places like this, most casual users don't care and are fine using apples offering.
lordofthereef
macrumors G5
I think it's pretty fair for Google to have wanted branding. As to some of the other things that may or may not have been "demanded", that is questionable.
My 2 cents on Google Maps for iPhone: Good Clean Design. Apple maps still looks better especially during Driving mode. Google Maps has Street View and In App Public Transit Which is really really Nice. At the very least Apple should add built in Public Transportation. As far as Points of Interest Google has more since its a more mature product but Apple will catch up. At the end of the day Im sticking with Apple Maps as my main Mapping App and will use GMaps for Streetview and Public Transport.
Nah, sorry. Casual users do care. This is such a big deal it's making front page news in the UK newspaper websites.
I expect well over 80% of users to switch.
Heck, more than 5% of iOS users Jailbreak.