So... Are Apple Maps improving yet?

[davidinva]

Take Google Maps from browser question

Dumb question: Is there a way on the iPad to take Google Maps page from the screen of Safari and put an icon on the iPad desktop like you can on your computer?

 

[PrometheusGeek]

Dumb question: Is there a way on the iPad to take Google Maps page from the screen of Safari and put an icon on the iPad desktop like you can on your computer?

Yep, If I'm understanding what you're asking. Not a dumb question at all. You can navigate to maps.google.com in Safari in the iPad, and then add an icon to your screen by tapping the little curvy arrow button at the top, on the Safari nav bar. That will bring up a pane of options, one of which is "Add to Home Screen".

 

[numble]

No matter how much they improve the maps they will always be worthless cause you can't send a link to a friend, family, etc and let them view it on a website.

BTW, Disney world is ****ed up. I've submitted tons of location corrects, and TomTom has been showing River Country as still open. It has been closed for like 10 years or something. All reported.

Yes, you can. They open up in Google Maps if you're not on iOS.

Here's an example:
http://maps.apple.com/?lsp=9902&auid=18190324919385225508&sll=34.083218,-118.326304&q=Mario

 

[henchman]

So, you only see traffic when there's... traffic. And only where there's traffic. If it doesn't show traffic, because there is no traffic, you'd still like to be seeing traffic?

I know that in Google Maps, Green means "no traffic". But is it really fair to say that because in Apple Maps, where "no traffic" is indicated by no traffic marks, the App is horrible?

I dunno. I figured out pretty quick that no marks meant no traffic, and moved on.

In google, green means free flowing traffic, orange means a little congestion, red means avoid it like the plague.
Also, I'll repeat, Apple Maps hardly shows any kind o ftraffic on surface streets.


What is so hard to grasp about this concept?

If I had used Apple Maps to get downtown tonight, I would have ended up in a nice big traffic jam. But I looked at Google maps first, saw where the congestion was, that Apple Maps DIDN'T show, and took an alternate route.

 

[GoSh4rks]

So, you only see traffic when there's... traffic. And only where there's traffic. If it doesn't show traffic, because there is no traffic, you'd still like to be seeing traffic?

I know that in Google Maps, Green means "no traffic". But is it really fair to say that because in Apple Maps, where "no traffic" is indicated by no traffic marks, the App is horrible?

I dunno. I figured out pretty quick that no marks meant no traffic, and moved on.

How do I differentiate between "no traffic" and "no traffic data available?" That is a major problem with the current Apple Maps app.

 

[el3ktro]

If I had used Apple Maps to get downtown tonight, I would have ended up in a nice big traffic jam. But I looked at Google maps first, saw where the congestion was, that Apple Maps DIDN'T show, and took an alternate route.

Well, I was driving from Lake Constance to Cologne (Germany) a few days ago. A few kilometers before Stuttgart, there was a bad accident and police had to close the entire highway. Several MINUTES later Apple Maps had marked the road as "closed" and also showed me the huge traffic jam that had piled up. Google Maps also pretty quickly showed me that there is a traffic jam, but it didn't mark the road as "closed" so there was no way for me to know that you can't go anywhere on this road. Had I relied on Google Maps I would probably have stayed on the road to get through the traffic jam slowly, not knowing that the road is actually closed.

 

[MozMan68]

I have found also that Apple maps shows more relevant traffic info in a more timely manner.

I'm also one of this who never understood the color coding system.

Yes, I understand that there is dead stop traffic and traffic that just moves slowly...but traffic is traffic and I determine the "intensity" of it by the length of the red line or the fact that as stated above, Apple actually puts an icon there if there is a serious issue or construction.

 

[el3ktro]

Just as an example that Google Maps isn't perfect either:

In Google Maps, the lower body of water flowing around the "Museum Island" in Berlin is completely missing, in Apple Maps it's there.

 

[MozMan68]

That's so interesting since it is so clear on the satellite view...it's not like it is some temporary basin that only has water some of the time.

Also, notice the traffic info on the bridge at the top of the map...red lines in both directions and symbols showing it is closed. Maps traffic FTW!

 

[matttye]

Just as an example that Google Maps isn't perfect either:

In Google Maps, the lower body of water flowing around the "Museum Island" in Berlin is completely missing, in Apple Maps it's there.

Yeah they both have errors, it's just that Apples are a lot more numerous

Google has thousands of extra POIs in my local area too.

 

[rogerram]

OK, sell the standalone and buy the app. You won't regret it.

I've used the TomTom app for years here in the UK & in France & it works fine (apart from motorhome-related problems & narrow lanes!).

My huge however with Apple Maps is I can't use it as a sat-nav since within a few minutes it says 'reloading' or 'server not responding'. I'm not technical so maybe I'm pressing the wrong buttons?
I'm not on 4G (like everyone in UK until the end of the month) & only have intermittent 3G & I know the maps are not on my iPhone 5 like the TomTom ones...maybe the phone's knackered or Apple never intended that Maps turn-by-turn navigation should work as a sat-nav outside a network area?

Apologies if this is a daft question...?

 

[urkel]

Just as an example that Google Maps isn't perfect either:

In Google Maps, the lower body of water flowing around the "Museum Island" in Berlin is completely missing, in Apple Maps it's there.

It's interesting tht you notice the missing color for the water in Google but not the missing building names and various data in Apple Maps.

I guess everyone has different priorities in mapping info. Some people go to Museum Island for the places to visit and some come to pee in the river.

 

[hasanahmad]

No matter how much they improve the maps they will always be worthless cause you can't send a link to a friend, family, etc and let them view it on a website.

BTW, Disney world is ****ed up. I've submitted tons of location corrects, and TomTom has been showing River Country as still open. It has been closed for like 10 years or something. All reported.

What the hell are you taking about ? You can share it by message email twitter or Facebook

 

[urkel]

What the hell are you taking about ? You can share it by message email twitter or Facebook

I'm not the one who said that, but how exactly do you share an Apple map? And what happens when a non iOS 6 user (PC, Mac, iOS5) gets the link?

 

[el3ktro]

It's interesting tht you notice the missing color for the water in Google but not the missing building names and various data in Apple Maps.

This data is not missing, it's just displayed at different zoom levels. I agree that there should be more information visible at lower zoom levels (i.e. when you are farther zoomed out of the map). When you zoom in, you see a lot more info. Compare these two screenshots of Berlin. You just have to zoom in to see all the info.

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I'm not the one who said that, but how exactly do you share an Apple map? And what happens when a non iOS 6 user (PC, Mac, iOS5) gets the link?

You drop a pin somewhere or click on an existing location and then click on "Send location". You then have the option to send my mail or message or post on Twitter or Facebook.

When a non-Apple user opens this link, he's being redirected to Google Maps.

 

[Huntn]

I'm visiting my son in Albuquerque. Yesterday I used the map on my iphone twice, navigating through the city to a point about 10 miles away and both times it performed flawlessly. I don't have enough experience with it and for long trips I prefer a dedicated GPS, but so far, I've no problems.

 

[el3ktro]

The photos were missing for some reason.

 

[MozMan68]

The photos were missing for some reason.

I'm sure he's referring to Google naming every single building.

Honestly, I find Google's inclusion of such minute details annoying...at least at the levels it is shown. I would only want to see some of that stuff at the most zoomed in level...and even then, most of it isn't needed.

 

[urkel]

You drop a pin somewhere or click on an existing location and then click on "Send location". You then have the option to send my mail or message or post on Twitter or Facebook.

When a non-Apple user opens this link, he's being redirected to Google Maps.

No, it's missing actual data even when you zoom in. but I don't care. I like Apple Maps. it's just funny to nitpick about missing inconsequential info yet forgive missing actual location info.

What I do care about is sending directions because when I tried sending directions it only lets me send the address. How do you send directions? My house is hard to get to so I usually map it out for guests and highlight the best route off the expressway.

 

[herteltm]

Running a search engine is key to a successful map appliction

One of the key reasons that google maps are so good is perhaps because they have 16 years of experience with helping people find stuff. Apparently this also helps to understand where people want to go when they look for locations in map apps.

On top of that google has sent its street view cars to take pictures along 8 million km of streets.

Apple is a long, long, long way from being able to compete with this. The loss of google maps and youtube from ios are a major turnoff.

 

[Edslunch]

There are some peculiarities with POIs. As noted above, many appear only at zoom, but some disappear upon further zoom and some never appear at all. My local Starbucks never shows up yet I can search for it and it gets a pin in the right location.

It would nice if there was an option or a search term to show all POIs in the selected area. Then we could see what maps really does or doesn't know

 

[el3ktro]

I'm sure he's referring to Google naming every single building.

Google isn't naming every single building ...

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No, it's missing actual data even when you zoom in. but I don't care. I like Apple Maps. it's just funny to nitpick about missing inconsequential info yet forgive missing actual location info.

Missing a river is surely not "inconsequential". But that's not the point. When I zoom into the same location in Google Maps and Apple Maps both share a dataset of info, and Google has data that Apple doesn't have and vice versa. At least four of the POIs in Apple Maps in my screenshot above are NOT in Google Maps, yet Google Maps has some other POIs which are not in Apple Maps.

 

[Edslunch]

One of the key reasons that google maps are so good is perhaps because they have 16 years of experience with helping people find stuff. Apparently this also helps to understand where people want to go when they look for locations in map apps.

On top of that google has sent its street view cars to take pictures along 8 million km of streets.

Apple is a long, long, long way from being able to compete with this. The loss of google maps and youtube from ios are a major turnoff.

Google was truly audacious taking on the StreetView project and it's hard to imagine anyone ever catching up. 3D mapping like in maps is not a complete substitute but is also in its infancy. Even now there's a surprising amount of street level detail in the 3D images. If they were able to take that up a notch or two it might be a passable alternative to street view.

I wonder how long it would take to do the aerial mapping to the same extent as street view

 

[Saladinos]

The main problem I have with Apple Maps is that its search isn't as powerful or intelligent as Google's.

For example, if I search 'Arts xentre' it returns no results because it can't detect the obvious typo. We expect typo detection now. If I correct my typo and search again, it takes me to Arts Centre in Canberra, Australia. Bear in mind I live in the UK and performed my search zoomed into my current location. Ok, so the arts centre in my city officially has the city name in its title, and including that returns the result, but no one expects to have to be that precise these days.

Unless they address this, it doesn't matter how correct and plentiful their data is.

You're talking about the geocoder. Yeah, Apple's geocoder sucks right now. That would probably be a bigger thing than the data itself, because the bad geocoder affects many more people than the just the few areas without data. Is also probably more easily fixable, too.

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Google was truly audacious taking on the StreetView project and it's hard to imagine anyone ever catching up. 3D mapping like in maps is not a complete substitute but is also in its infancy. Even now there's a surprising amount of street level detail in the 3D images. If they were able to take that up a notch or two it might be a passable alternative to street view.

I wonder how long it would take to do the aerial mapping to the same extent as street view

It has indeed. Most companies wouldn't have pushed it as far as Google did; especially with all the privacy reaction.

 

[MozMan68]

The main problem with street view though is that they will never be able to keep up with the physical changes that occur.