Users Noticing Significant Improvements in Apple Maps Data with Quick Corrections

[Futhark]

At first apple maps was very poor for my area but it was the same as google maps to be honest, The housing estate where i live has been built now for about 8-9 years but on both Apple & Google Maps the houses weren't even there it was still the old farmers field with the roads inaccurately mapped around the area and you couldn't get turn by turn navigation to my house as it wasn't mapped properly. It would take you to the main road outside the housing estate and that was it, It sent corrections to both Apple & Google and Apple has done an awesome job and still nothing changes on Google Maps as you will see from my two pictures below:

Google Maps

Apple Maps

 

[Narcaz]

What about Europe minor countries? For example like Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania? There aren't any POI at all.....even searching address is pain in the a**

Apple Maps isn't even working right in bigger countries like France, Germany and Italy. Missing routes, a lot of incorrect POI, public transport stations are not tagged, unable to search or showing weird search results ... Especially Berlin is a disaster. Apple should make a deal with Microsoft or switch back to Google. Right now Apple Maps is completely useless in this region.

 

[robjulo]

The UI is still my biggest issue with Apple maps. No ability to scroll to see where it is taking you or to quickly find an alternate route if you see an unexpected issue like a road closure. Instead you have to zoom out in overview which forces you through a slow animation and then zoom back in.

The only thing it lets you do is some bizarre, pointless rotation.

Google has the UI right.

 

[SactoGuy18]

In the end, Google will stay ahead of Apple, especially now with their acquisition of Skybox Imaging, which will allow Google to update their Maps program a lot more often. I wouldn't be surprised that within the next year or so we see much-update satellite images of most of the world's metropolitan areas.

 

[gnasher729]

What's really annoying

What's really, really annoying is that I have to read on a site like MacRumors to find out whether Apple Maps will act on corrections that I enter or not. What _should_ happen is that Apple Maps either displays "we don't accept corrections at the moment, don't bother" if they don't accept corrections, or if they don't display such a not and let users enter corrections then they should be acted on.

 

[sk1wbw]

What kills me about these maps and the lack POIs is that don’t you people know where you’re going? Do people who live in the same town for years have to have a gps unit each and every time they get in the car?

 

[msingewald]

Even now, try a search like "Walmart Lake Worth, Florida" and then switch it to Satt mode. Zoom in. The Maps pin is pointing in an alligator-infested canal- dead center. If you went right to where that pin is located, you'd drown or be eaten. There is a Walmart not far from there but Google puts it's pin right in the store. Maybe Apple has something against Walmarts?

Using the map that Walmart provides on their site (Bing) for the store locator, you get the same location shown as Apple.

But looking further, I think the Apple map is correct (the pin is in the back of the lot near the canal though). The sat image is before the Walmart was constructed. Google and Apple both show the store being directly across from Rudolph Rd. It's just that the sat image predates the construction of the store.

In fact, if you look at Google street view, it also predates the store. So I would say that in this case, Apple Map is actually right.

 

[terryblyth]

Any mapping app that doesn't have realtime traffic updates and re-routing isn't worth anything to me unfortunately.

Did this ever get sorted with Apple Maps in the USA? I'm sure I heard it was coming, but the last time I checked it definitely hasn't made it to the UK.

 

[scheming]

Finally, 2 years after initially reporting a problem (and multiple additional reports), Apple acknowledges my street address in Maps app. And this happened on a Friday. I woke up to my address being recognized and later the street was added to the map.

 

[duaneu]

Still a lot of problems with it. I was using it yesterday and it wanted me to take an obviously illegal left turn. I switched to Google maps for the remainder of the trip.

 

[Taz Mangus]

Like showing up to a time-pressured lunch one hour late because Apple Maps sent you six miles off your destination in heavy traffic.

Or like showing up 45 minutes late to a time pressure business meeting because Google maps had the business address on the wrong side of the city.

 

[skycorgan]

The number one issue I still have with Apple Maps is search. If I search for a local POI by name only in Google Maps or Bing Maps, it will display possible results. Apple will just say "No Results Found".

For example, if I type in "Starbucks" or "Chik-Fil-A" into the search box in Apple Maps, it doesn't think "closest to you", it just kicks out and forces you to enter a city/state in order to really complete the search.

 

[Lepton]

The problem for me has never been with the maps - it is with the points of interest. Many, many businesses are not on Apple maps. With Google, almost all places are listed. The Apple search system also needs work. When I search, it often picks up matches for places hundreds or thousands of miles away. If I'm on Long Island NY and I search for Winter Street, what are the odds I want the one in Glasgow Scotland or the three in England? No, it should be showing the local one a couple of miles away up top. Also, Winter St lists the local one, while Winter Street does not. Google has zero problems like this.

The maps seem fine. POI data and search enhancements will yield the most improvement.

 

[Morgenland]

Maps in Europe are still almost a mess

Apple Maps isn't even working right in bigger countries like France, Germany and Italy. Missing routes, a lot of incorrect POI, public transport stations are not tagged, unable to search or showing weird search results ... Especially Berlin is a disaster. Apple should make a deal with Microsoft or switch back to Google. Right now Apple Maps is completely useless in this region.

Apple uses Traffic Infos from TomTom, the worst company trying that in europe

 

[Grimlok]

Waze

Still shaking my head as to why Apple didn't buy Waze. Seemed like a no brainer to me.

 

[madsci954]

The number one issue I still have with Apple Maps is search. If I search for a local POI by name only in Google Maps or Bing Maps, it will display possible results. Apple will just say "No Results Found".

For example, if I type in "Starbucks" or "Chik-Fil-A" into the search box in Apple Maps, it doesn't think "closest to you", it just kicks out and forces you to enter a city/state in order to really complete the search.

Not seeing that here. I enter "Starbucks" or "chik-fil-a" in the serach and it jumps right to the closest one to me.

 

[rdlink]

the problem with a service like Apple Maps is trust. Once you get burned by it, you are going to stop using it and it takes a lot to get that trust back.

arn

And I would add that Google was a fully formed product that, while having had it's issues in the past, had a 10 year head start on Apple. When Apple switched from Google data to their own it was a shock to users. Had Apple started back in 2007, when Google Maps were still overcoming their own growing pains the contrast would not have been as stark.

 

[iksolver]

Useless in my town

According to Apple I live in a desert

 

[Surreal]

Correct me if I am wrong (I'm wrong a lot, ask my wife), but you seem to be removing all culpability from Apple. The bad reputation that Maps experiences is all on Apple. Fans and consumers shouldn't have to guess if Apple is just "blowing smoke up their butts" or if they actually mean what they say. No one is allowed to be modest in marketing is sort of an apologist excuse imo. Basically you seem to be saying its okay for Apple to make up stuff because they aren't allowed to tell the truth. Uh... no.

Nope. I am saying that complaining about a service not working as expected is fine and good. Apple maps has problems. I admitted that.

My point is that quite a few people complain that Apple said Apple Maps was as good as Google Maps from day one. They *had* to make this claim. There was no getting around it. They simply COULD NOT say "this will be as good as Google Maps eventually". If that is apologist then… ok I guess. Acknowledging the reality of their situation is apologist.

I remember how long it took google maps to get to where it is and I am aware of the sheer sheer number of hours of work that Google has thrown at it. I remember google maps sending people off bridges and all sorts of foolery in its early years. They all still have their hiccups.

My point is that we should be frustrated that it has issues but not that they haven't completely 'caught up' to Google I expect that they shouldn't take as much time as google overall but two years is pretty short considering.

 

[Constable Odo]

Even if users are dissatisfied with Apple Map, Apple should just keep plugging away at it, making acquisitions when necessary. They certainly shouldn't just give up and let Google have free reign. Apple got a late start but they should continue to put in more effort.

 

[ATC]

Dark Mode

This is a bit off-topic but I see the image in this article shows two iOS Maps screeshots, one is dark. I hadn't realized until now that Apple introduced a Dark Mode for maps in iOS7, in part due to me never seeing it actually activate on my iPhone 5.

Both my wife and I are running the latest iOS 7.1.1 and have Auto-brightness enabled. Last night, I tried to force it to activate Night Mode with no luck. I started a turn-by-turn directions on a random search and it was after sunset in total darkness and our phones remained in day mode the entire time.

Is this feature broken or somehow our two iPhone 5 units here are defective?

 

[Nicksd84]

Yesss. Many of the requests I made for the St. Louis area have been implemented. Hope it keeps improving. I definitely like the UI of apple maps better and of course being tied to the lock screen kind of forces it if all else is equal. The question is when changes are made in the physical world who will take longer to update. Google or apple?

 

[PsykX]

The UI is still my biggest issue with Apple maps. No ability to scroll to see where it is taking you or to quickly find an alternate route if you see an unexpected issue like a road closure. Instead you have to zoom out in overview which forces you through a slow animation and then zoom back in.

The only thing it lets you do is some bizarre, pointless rotation.

Google has the UI right.

Not to mention that the graphical part of the UI was much, MUCH better in iOS 6. In iOS 7 they took down the only thing good about this application.

1. The directions in iOS 6 would appear on signs that were personalized for each country/state. Just this alone was a nice touch.
2. The text was actually readable, thanks to the contrast of the UI elements in place.
3. Same for the symbols.
4. The map shown was actually bigger in some way than in iOS7, because it was underneath the directions, now they cut it. You could almost see the sky. It didn't seem like it was cut awkwardly.

Just take a look :

 

[ct2k7]

As soon as Apple maps was released, Google FINALLY magically was offering turn by turn on the iPhone. That move alone made Apple maps worth it for me. With that said, I've never had any problems with Apple maps either when I've used it, but I'm glad they are continuously improving it. I still use Google though.

How is it magical?

How do you know that Apple didn't prevent Google from including Turn By Turn capabilities, or if indeed Apple themselves built the Maps app?

 

[PsykX]

How is it magical?

How do you know that Apple didn't prevent Google from including Turn By Turn capabilities, or if indeed Apple themselves built the Maps app?

It can also be this scenario :

Apple themselves built the app, using APIs provided by Google, but Google never told them about turn-by-turn navigation APIs, just for the sake of having the exclusivity on Android.

This is something we'll never know.