Turn By Turn Navigation vs Street View: Which is More Important in a Map Application?

[newagemac]

Which is more important? Turn by Turn Navigation or Street View? Just wondering because some people here keep making a big deal about Street View saying the new Maps app will be a downgrade when most people I know didn't even know Street View existed on the iPhone.

I know I hardly ever use Street View (like almost never) but I certainly use turn by turn navigation all the time with Navigon and Waze and would use it even more if it was built into the native Maps application.

So which is more important to have? Does turn by turn navigation make the new maps app an upgrade?

 

[virginblue4]

Which is more important? Turn by Turn Navigation or Street View? Just wondering because some people here keep making a big deal about Street View saying the new Maps app will be a downgrade when most people I know didn't even know Street View existed on the iPhone.

I know I hardly ever use Street View (like almost never) but I certainly use turn by turn navigation all the time with Navigon and Waze and would use it even more if it was built into the native Maps application.

So which is more important to have? Does turn by turn navigation make the new maps app an upgrade?

I hardly ever use street view, so to me, flyover and turn by turn navigation make maps in iOS 6 an upgrade!

 

[newagemac]

I hardly ever use street view, so to me, flyover and turn by turn navigation make maps in iOS 6 an upgrade!

Looks like you voted on the wrong one by mistake then!

 

[Roofy.]

How is this even a poll? Who would give up turn by turn for street view?

 

[mattopotamus]

i think everyone will agree that turn by turn is easily more imporant...espcially when DRIVING! I don't want to have to look down at the screen haha

 

[paulcdb]

some people here keep making a big deal about Street View

how many actually knew street view was even there? it was a pita to use and so i'd much rather turn by turn!

Street view will probably return at some stage but for now i doubt its top of Apples priorities!

Besides, its peoples nature to whine about stuff because its different to what they're used to.

 

[seajay96]

Turn by turn is only an effective feature if you can cache a route for offline use...otherwise, I'll stick with my TomTom app. But, it's still more important than street view.

 

[mactmaster]

Turn-by-turn and street view are not comparable. We already had turn-by-turn step directions but iOS 6 adds voice and gps (directions move along with you) guided directions.

The right poll for this should be 3D flyover vs Street View and with that question I think street-view is more useful. 3D flyover is only in certain areas whereas street view is virtually everywhere.

Street view is really useful when going to a new place and helps figure out parking and entrances etc.

3D flyover is really neat but it doesn't seem all too useful. It does have more data since it goes vertical and gives you a layout of the area but the detail is not there.

 

[iPhoneApple]

Turn by turn. What good is street view if you have no idea how to get to that area

 

[Ljohnson72]

Street view + Turn by turn > Flyover

how many actually knew street view was even there? it was a pita to use and so i'd much rather turn by turn!

Street view will probably return at some stage but for now i doubt its top of Apples priorities!

Besides, its peoples nature to whine about stuff because its different to what they're used to.

Anyone that actually knows how to use their phone?

 

[teejer]

The only time I have ever used street view (other than being bored and being nosy) has been when I was moving cross-country and wanted to look at neighborhoods where I was considering homes.

Turn-by-turn is what I am looking for. And since I am old, fat, and decidedly ungreen, I don't generally use public transit and really don't care about that, either.

 

[nfl46]

Tbt

 

[sakau2007]

turn by turn navigation.

but again, apple "revolutionizes" something and they are still leaps and bounds behind google.

why can't i have both?

why can't i have public transit info on maps? more landmarks? maps that are as accurate as google's?

it's not that people are that bummed about street view and not excited about turn by turn... it's the entire maps app viewed at as a whole. it's pretty obvious to see that apple is taking a step backward (maybe before two steps forward, but nevertheless, we end-users will either be changing platforms, or taking a step back at least temporarily).

 

[newagemac]

For all those asking why this poll is comparing Turn by Turn to Street View, I explained it in my original post. There are doomsayers (probably just Apple-hating trolls) on the forums saying the iOS6 maps app is a "downgrade" because it won't have Street View. Well that is only true if Street View is more important than what was added to Maps... namely turn by turn directions.

This poll just serves to make the reality of the situation a bit more clear. I believe people will be happier with the new Maps application and that Apple is going in the right direction by adding turn by turn directions in the new Maps despite it not having the much less important Street View (in my opinion).

 

[rorschach]

For me, personally, Street View is more useful since I live in New York and don't drive.

But I'm willing to bet more people in general will use Turn by Turn than used Street View. I bet most people using iOS devices don't even know about Street View.

 

[Ljohnson72]

For all those asking why this poll is comparing Turn by Turn to Street View, I explained it in my original post. There are doomsayers (probably just Apple-hating trolls) on the forums saying the iOS6 maps app is a "downgrade" because it won't have Street View. Well that is only true if Street View is more important than what was added to Maps... namely turn by turn directions.

This poll just serves to make the reality of the situation a bit more clear. I believe people will be happier with the new Maps application and that Apple is going in the right direction by adding turn by turn directions in the new Maps despite it not having the much less important Street View (in my opinion).

Not only do the new maps NOT have Street View, it also lacks in POIs. I've searched for a few different stores and restaurants on both my iPhone running iOS 5, and my iPad running iOS 6 Beta, and 40% of the time I was unable to find the place I was looking for using iOS 6 maps.

I'm sorry but Apple's maps have a ton of catching up to do. And I'm far from an Apple hating troll.

 

[sakau2007]

For all those asking why this poll is comparing Turn by Turn to Street View, I explained it in my original post. There are doomsayers (probably just Apple-hating trolls) on the forums saying the iOS6 maps app is a "downgrade" because it won't have Street View. Well that is only true if Street View is more important than what was added to Maps... namely turn by turn directions.

This poll just serves to make the reality of the situation a bit more clear. I believe people will be happier with the new Maps application and that Apple is going in the right direction by adding turn by turn directions in the new Maps despite it not having the much less important Street View (in my opinion).

no, most of the people saying it is a downgrade is because the cartography and detail in the normal maps view is way, way, way better with Google than Apple right now.

For me... living in a city that won't have flyover, can you name one thing in Apple's revolutionary iOS 6 maps that I couldn't already do, and better, on a Google Android device last week? Because I can name a few things that Google already has that Apple won't for some time.

Nevermind the cartography quality differences, which, really, is the most important aspect of a map.

 

[newagemac]

no, most of the people saying it is a downgrade is because the cartography and detail in the normal maps view is way, way, way better with Google than Apple right now.

For me... living in a city that won't have flyover, can you name one thing in Apple's revolutionary iOS 6 maps that I couldn't already do, and better, on a Google Android device last week? Because I can name a few things that Google already has that Apple won't for some time.

Nevermind the cartography quality differences, which, really, is the most important aspect of a map.

There are several things it does better even not considering flyover. For one, the turn by turn navigation feature has some things that I believe are better like:

1. the way it handles rerouting is better
2. the way navigation alerts are shown when the device is locked is better
3. the fact that it uses Waze for crowd sourced traffic information (this beats whoever Google is getting their data from)
4. the navigation banners are easier to read from your dashboard
5. there is less clutter in the maps by default so you can see your route easier at a glance and if you need more detail you can just zoom in.
6. the Siri integration is very good and intuitive which Android can't match
7. you can rotate the maps on the fly with your fingers (very useful when docked on the dash)
8. the quick routing feature (far less taps to route than Android)

The local public transit apps are also better than Google's in my city but I wouldn't count that as it depends on your location and we don't yet know how the integration will work in iOS6.

You asked for one thing, was that enough? And that was just mostly comparing the Turn by Turn nav features.

 

[Ljohnson72]

There are several things it does better even not considering flyover. For one, the turn by turn navigation feature has some things that I believe are better like:

1. the way it handles rerouting is better
2. the way navigation alerts are shown when the device is locked is better
3. the fact that it uses Waze for crowd sourced traffic information (this beats whoever Google is getting their data from)
4. the navigation banners are easier to read from your dashboard
5. there is less clutter in the maps by default so you can see your route easier at a glance and if you need more detail you can just zoom in.
6. the Siri integration is very good and intuitive which Android can't match
7. you can rotate the maps on the fly with your fingers (very useful when docked on the dash)

The local public transit apps are also better than Google's in my city but I wouldn't count that as it depends on your location and we don't yet know how the integration will work in iOS6.

You asked for one thing, was that enough? And that was just mostly comparing the Turn by Turn directions.

I like how you totally skipped over how the POI system is an absolute joke now. Not to mention that Google Maps on Android has had traffic rerouting for over a year and also receives crowd-sourced GPS data.

 

[sakau2007]

There are several things it does better even not considering flyover. For one, the turn by turn navigation feature has some things that I believe are better like:

1. the way it handles rerouting is better
2. the way navigation alerts are shown when the device is locked is better
3. the fact that it uses Waze for crowd sourced traffic information (this beats whoever Google is getting their data from)
4. the navigation banners are easier to read from your dashboard
5. there is less clutter in the maps by default so you can see your route easier at a glance and if you need more detail you can just zoom in.
6. the Siri integration is very good and intuitive which Android can't match
7. you can rotate the maps on the fly with your fingers (very useful when docked on the dash)

The local public transit apps are also better than Google's in my city but I wouldn't count that as it depends on your location and we don't yet know how the integration will work in iOS6.

You asked for one thing, was that enough? And that was just mostly comparing the Turn by Turn directions.

Most of that is what I would consider personal preference. I haven't seen the rerouting in action, but every navigation system I've ever used has taken a few seconds, recalculated a new route, and displayed/told me where to go. How exactly is Apple's better than this?

You say Waze traffic data is superior to where Google is getting their data from? Really? I was looking at Apple's and looking at Google's traffic and Google had way, way, WAY more complete traffic data.

The Siri integration may be good, but what happens if I'm in a spot with poor reception or slow internet speeds? Does it become worthless? Voice activated navigation is nothing new. Apple's just requires me to have good service. This is an obvious disadvantage, but I will admit that if and when Siri is working, it could be seamless and spiffy.

Less clutter? Really? I'd much, much rather have all that "clutter" and be able to hide some or all of it than it just be completely absent.

Rotating maps on the fly could be useful. If you can't already do that on Android devices, I imagine it will be added long before Apple's cartography gets a whiff of what Google's got.

As for the local transit apps... almost comical. They look to be completely absent in Apple's natively while they are embedded within Google maps. But if using a 3rd party app while you are already in maps and then it potentially launching a separate app to get public transit info is what you call an advantage, then okay.

 

[burnside]

5. there is less clutter in the maps by default so you can see your route easier at a glance and if you need more detail you can just zoom in.

OK, so now I have to zoom in to see detail when I didn't have to before? Yes, definite improvement.

With the current maps, I don't even have to touch my phone and I can easily distinguish my route from "the clutter" because there is this highlighted blue line on the map showing me where to go. Never have I thought "I wish they would get rid of these useless street names because they're in my way." Instead I think "oh, I don't know those 2 streets, but I do recognize this third one."

 

[newagemac]

Most of that is what I would consider personal preference. I haven't seen the rerouting in action, but every navigation system I've ever used has taken a few seconds, recalculated a new route, and displayed/told me where to go. How exactly is Apple's better than this?

You say Waze traffic data is superior to where Google is getting their data from? Really? I was looking at Apple's and looking at Google's traffic and Google had way, way, WAY more complete traffic data.

The Siri integration may be good, but what happens if I'm in a spot with poor reception or slow internet speeds? Does it become worthless? Voice activated navigation is nothing new. Apple's just requires me to have good service. This is an obvious disadvantage, but I will admit that if and when Siri is working, it could be seamless and spiffy.

Less clutter? Really? I'd much, much rather have all that "clutter" and be able to hide some or all of it than it just be completely absent.

Rotating maps on the fly could be useful. If you can't already do that on Android devices, I imagine it will be added long before Apple's cartography gets a whiff of what Google's got.

As for the local transit apps... almost comical. They look to be completely absent in Apple's natively while they are embedded within Google maps. But if using a 3rd party app while you are already in maps and then it potentially launching a separate app to get public transit info is what you call an advantage, then okay.

So you just posted in a different thread that you wish Apple was using Waze for traffic data. But now that I pointed out that they are using Waze, now you want to refute the quality of Waze's data?

And again, you are comparing a Beta to a final release. Anything related to data showing in the app doesn't make sense to compare until the final release. That's why almost all the things I pointed out are actually functionality. You know... how the application actually works, its design, and usability.

The fact that the navigation works in the lock screen, the quick rerouting feature, Siri integration, and others I mentioned are part of the functionality that makes it better. We have no idea about the data itself since as a Beta 1 it isn't necessary for them to make that available since it is all handled server side and can be updated at any time. For example we know they are using TomTom, Waze, and C3 but there is definitely already data we know those companies have that we don't see in the Beta yet.

And again, you only asked me for one example.

 

[sakau2007]

So you just posted in a different thread that you wish Apple was using Waze for traffic data. But now that I pointed out that they are using Waze, now you want to refute the quality of Waze's data?

there's about 50 waze users online in my metro area at any given time. if it was built into apple's maps natively and you were basically always passively reporting and there were 50,000 users online, it'd be a lot more useful. google's getting data from a lot more than 50 people at a time in my town. if apple uses waze but doesn't integrate it in extremely well, and they are only getting data from 50 people, it's going to be worthless.

basically i'm saying waze is a great idea, but like many other social apps, without a userbase it's worthless.

 

[Zcott]

In the minority here. Turn by turn is great but my TomTom offers that. Only Maps offers Streetview, which I find really useful for seeing exactly where something is.

 

[Calidude]

Street view is for people who aren't confident enough to use a map.