Toggle sidebar Toggle sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Wow. Apple Maps is a disaster.

Apple is conservative when it comes to showing off unfinished products. My feeling is that the Maps app is functional to the point of being useful to developers but is far from what it will be in the final release. They understand this is a very important feature in iOS. I think we'll see a "but wait, there's more....streets/details" in the finished product.

We shall see in a few months.
 
Scarrus said:
Because in 2-3 months the whole world will be added...



... no further comment.
Click to expand...

They are probably not using the final imagery server yet. Of course this is speculation, but with maps being a huge feature of iOS6, you can bet your ass they will do everything to get it right
 
The release notes say that hi-def satellite imagery isn't in the maps application yet. So take the satellite views as being somewhat placeholder for now.
 
I love these threads where people who don't understand that "beta" means "not ready for the public" instead of "secret leet kids club who get it early" make it abundantly clear that they shouldn't be using it.
 
I would expect that Maps will get the Siri treatment until iOS 7, i.e. will be in "beta" even after release. It's unfortunate that Apple has taken this course of late, but both Siri and Maps are enormous undertakings.
 
Seriously, Apple is apparently teaming up with heaps of non-google mappers to get the data from such as Tom Tom, Microsoft etc. i say the final outcome of the Maps will be just as good as google, but give it time because it just went on a Public Beta (Developers) This week......
 
I've played around with Apple's Maps and I see massive potential for it. The high quality maps are amazing, and the low quality maps are tolerable until they update them with high quality maps.
 
WordMasterRice said:
Why another one of those posts. Most of the issues raised in this thread are not bugs, nobody in here is talking about crashing or debugging. Those are bugs, this is just poor standards.
Click to expand...
Report the poor standards then! You can still raise an enhancement request. If your location which had high quality maps in iOS5 app now has pixelated fuzz, then that’s a problem that needs to be raised and fixed!
If the then Indian Ocean’s location is wrong, then that needs to be reported!
 
MattInOz said:
I personally like were they seem to be going with Maps, finally dropping that paper map hold over of showing streets wider to fit labels. To me having the true urban grain gives a better sense of place, which was traded to get a map on fixed paper.
Click to expand...

I'm surprised you prefer that. I like a map to show the streets wider. I seldom care about the proportional distance between streets, but it's really important to be able to see the streets easily to know where to turn!

----------
Calidude said:
Considering this is Macrumors, is anybody here annoyed that Apple is using imagery from Microsoft?
Click to expand...

I'm more annoyed that they're not even using the best imagery from Microsoft! I compared the satellite view of the University of Warwick between Apple, Bing and Google maps, and Apple was way worse than the other two. (Apple had a more recent image, but it was poor quality and very low resolution.)
 
nickn said:
Wow.... I will make sure to tell iOS users I know not to update to iOS 6. Maybe it is good we aren't getting iOS 6 on the iPad 1, as at least this app is a horrendous downgrade. Downgrading seems to be the trend with Apple lately though, such as with Final Cut Pro 9 to 10, iPhoto 9 to year 11, iMovie 06 HD to iMovie 08, and OS X 10.6 to 10.7.
Click to expand...

OS X 10.7 is better than 10.6, but I agree with the rest.

Will Google Maps still be available for iOS 6?
 
Some important things to note for the not so bright:

* Its in Beta
* The release notes state that HQ satellite imagery is not in place yet
* Apple owners now have very good turn-by-turn navigation
* Google will release Google maps on the app store so we can have both
* As far as I am aware the Android marketplace will not be getting Apple Maps

So with all that in mind Im struggling to see the problem 😕
 
I'm really cautious of the new Maps. Hopefully they will fix and polish it come October. I don't think I will update to iOS 6 until November or even 2013 since I rely on Gmaps so much. Can't really let go of the detail they have, and has never let me down in navigating me to where I need. Gmaps is the gold standard for mapping, and I'm really hoping Apple knows what they're doing with their new Maps.
 
Granted, this is a beta, but I don't see Apple addressing all of the major issues in the next 3 or so months. Sure, they can fix a lot, but I think the OP has some valid concerns.

Also:

  1. Keep in mind that Apple could block a Google maps app, under the usual reason that it's too similar to an Apple app. There's no guarantee that Apple will allow a Google maps app.
  2. Even if Apple allows the app, Google probably has to write a new maps app from scratch, as the existing app source code is probably owned by Apple (I'd love to be wrong, though). Writing a new, high-quality maps app from scratch is probably not something that's easily done in several months. Because of this, my guess is that an initial Google Maps app, if allowed, might be missing a lot of features/functionality, just like Apple's map app.
  3. Given how other google apps like gmail and google voice are rather minimally-featured, it wouldn't surprise me if a Google maps app wasn't all that good.
On the other hand, Google would score a ton of brownie points by coming out with a high-quality maps app, and so there's a lot of incentive there. But, that gives Apple all the more reason to ban it.
 
TLewis said:
On the other hand, Google would score a ton of brownie points by coming out with a high-quality maps app, and so there's a lot of incentive there. But, that gives Apple all the more reason to ban it.
Click to expand...

And I wonder what Google might charge for the app. They may decide to 'punish' iPhone users by charging £20+ for the app.
 
TLewis said:
Granted, this is a beta, but I don't see Apple addressing all of the major issues in the next 3 or so months. Sure, they can fix a lot, but I think the OP has some valid concerns.

Also:

  1. Keep in mind that Apple could block a Google maps app, under the usual reason that it's too similar to an Apple app. There's no guarantee that Apple will allow a Google maps app.
  2. Even if Apple allows the app, Google probably has to write a new maps app from scratch, as the existing app source code is probably owned by Apple (I'd love to be wrong, though). Writing a new, high-quality maps app from scratch is probably not something that's easily done in several months. Because of this, my guess is that an initial Google Maps app, if allowed, might be missing a lot of features/functionality, just like Apple's map app.
  3. Given how other google apps like gmail and google voice are rather minimally-featured, it wouldn't surprise me if a Google maps app wasn't all that good.
On the other hand, Google would score a ton of brownie points by coming out with a high-quality maps app, and so there's a lot of incentive there. But, that gives Apple all the more reason to ban it.
Click to expand...

I don't think Apple could block it if Google adds turn by turn navigation and possibly the ability to cache map areas. It could be submitted as just another navigation app, of which there are many in the app store. I also don't think writing the app would delay things too much. Google have known this day was coming for years like the rest of us. If they are actually intending a release, they probably have something at an advanced stage of development already. It might be iOS6 only since there may be contractual issues about not competing with Apple's use of Google's map data in iOS5 and earlier, so it's unlikely we will know anything until after iOS6 comes out.
 
tekno said:
And I wonder what Google might charge for the app. They may decide to 'punish' iPhone users by charging £20+ for the app.
Click to expand...
No, if it's allowed, it'll almost certainly be free. As much as google wants to deny it, losing the maps app means losing access to a significant chunk of personal information. Producing a free replacement is the only real way of getting some of it back.

----------
steve-p said:
I don't think Apple could block it if Google adds turn by turn navigation and possibly the ability to cache map areas. It could be submitted as just another navigation app, of which there are many in the app store.
Click to expand...
No, if it gets banned, it's not the differences (like caching) that'll cause it to get banned, but the similarities (and turn-by-turn nav is now a similarity).

At this point, I think google's best hope is to take the google earth app and add much better mapping features to it.
 
TLewis said:
No, if it gets banned, it's not the differences (like caching) that'll cause it to get banned, but the similarities (and turn-by-turn nav is now a similarity).

At this point, I think google's best hope is to take the google earth app and add much better mapping features to it.
Click to expand...

How could turn by turn cause it to be banned? Are you saying they will also now block TomTom, Navigon, Garmin apps too? That's not going to happen.
 
tekno said:
I'm afraid I don't. Perhaps you could explain.
Click to expand...

Their mission is to "organize the world's information and make it more accessible". They then find ways of monetizing this - i.e. via advertisements. Their entire Android effort is built around this principle. For maps, this means tying in with local search.

Of course, they might decide to keep maps Android exclusive or decide its not worth diverting resources towards building an iOS app (or Apple might signal to them they wouldn't allow it), but I'm not sure if that would fit their mission.
 
If you read the release notes, it does say that high res satellite images have not been enabled in the beta, or words to that effect...

As per previous betas, there's things that are not fully functional as yet, wait until official release before moaning about maps....
 
JuliusPap said:
Seriously, Apple is apparently teaming up with heaps of non-google mappers to get the data from such as Tom Tom, Microsoft etc. i say the final outcome of the Maps will be just as good as google, but give it time because it just went on a Public Beta (Developers) This week......
Click to expand...

I really hope you're correct, but I gotta say that there's no way the release version of maps will be as google's native (non-ios) version....

UNLESS, they add street view back. 😀
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back