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Wow. Apple Maps is a disaster.
- Thread starter b24pgg
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I use Google because it works on other platforms and have a consistent look across those platforms. I like the way it looks and their traffic information is spot on. So it works for me. I should not have to use 5-9 different apps when this is a core function (defined by something Apple put in there like mail, calendar and "phone") - good to know there are alternatives, and I use a couple because they sometimes are faster than firing up the maps app. But if choices in apps is the argument, Apple should allow me to make another app the default maps app - they don't... So there's no real competition and no real alternative and saying otherwise is misleading.
So since maybe Friday (last 2 days) you expected to hear back from them
Have You tried submitting to Google Maps? Sometimes it takes them under an hour to commit changes. The question as such is not if I wait 2 days but how Apple does this - do I need to debate the restaurant and (closed 4 years ago) pharmacy they placed in the middle of my kitchen with some hipster kid in Cupertino? Will I be able to submit changes in a better way then that half-baked interface?
But tell me - how long do You think is fair game? One month to commit changes? one year?
And, more importantly, do they actually have the capacity to handle 40 million users starting to submit data to this thing? My guess is not at all...
I tend to use a mix of these - look for a restaurant, read about it, find out how to go there - Google Maps does this in one app (apart from turn-by-turn and I never do that anyway), forcing me to go through 4-5 apps to get the same set of information is retarded.
They can - Apple already said so, you have to use outside apps because there were (amongst others) no transit information. Still it's no excuse for a feature regression.
Yeah Apple always plays nice
Oversimplifying the issue doesn't help. I spend half my time in other countries/cities, sometimes they speak some of the languages I speak, so it's easy to ask people for directions and recommendations. If not I tend to rely on Google to find me a restaurant, a subway station or different venues - in this way it's an important tool for me and it's (it used to be) reliable.
So overall it's 20% of what I do on my phone - therefore my phone just lost 20% of the functionality I used to have, it's that simple. Making this a black and white issue serves no purpose imho.
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Well if Google really did submit the Google Maps app to Apple, then no one would be screwed. Especially since the app will be free.
So why is Apple holding the app in Limbo? To foce you to use Apple Maps to make it better. Then after all that bad press dies down, I suspect they'll publish Google's Map app, hoping they've already burned their Maps version into the minds of its zombies (us).
Your call on the number of apps you'll need. IMO and for me, I could care less what the app is or if it's a third party one or a core app. I use the best for me app period. Using your reasoning, the old maps was about useless for me so one for you, one for me. Again, millions will each have their opinion too.
I agree it would be nice to have the ability to specify and app to use. However, that's not the Apple way for I'm sure a number of reasons likely including some self serving ones but also likely some technical ones. Motion X allows me to integrate and select from a contact and I have a message out to them on when it will integrate with MS Outlooks Calender app. I'd love to just click on location there and have it launch the app routing me there. AT&T does is with their app so I'm sure it's do-able.
Nope. Never really used Google Maps. Hours is great but you and others said it, they have over 7k people working on maps alone and you realize Apple doesn't so is 2 weekend days a reasonable expectation given what you know? Have no opinion on how long I would consider reasonable. Never had any direct contact with Apple support, let alone on a new product like this.
Personally, I don't submit things like this via email with much of an expectation of a note back. If I don't hear back on priority topics though, in what I deem a reasonable time, I call. They might best be able to set your expectations via a call to them don't you think? Otherwise, mine is just a guess based on no experiences or facts having worked with them. I'd simply be applying my own expectations to their reality of which neither would likely match. You said it and know it, Apple isn't Google, so while you might wish for a similarity in response, that's not likely the most realistic expectation to have is it? I mean I'd love to be treated like I'm at Nordstrom's when I'm at Macy's but that's not likely for a number of reasons. If I want that treatment, I shop at Nordstrom's
You're likely correct that they couldn't handle every one. My pure guess is they would prioritize them based on some type of system such as the most calls coming from heavily populated areas. ie....1000 notes from NYC is likely > 10 calls from Fort Dodge, Iowa. Don't know. Again, they might be able to answer that.
I think Apple is making a fair attempt to use map data from one company, pulled together with information from yelp and turn by turn from ?? don't recall who they use...but in the end, of course it's not going to equal google as they aren't google. I really don't think you need 4-5 apps either. Pick a good Map App or use the Google web interface, it works fine on my iP4s, and move on. If you don't like that it's not integrated, I get that, but then you have two apps, Siri/OS6 Maps and then your google interface. Not much different than what I had to deal with and still do to some extent.
Siri may pull up a location of a restaurant for me as the wife and I are out shopping but then I might just use Motion X to get us there. No big deal.
You call it an excuse but no one yet has brought up the honest question which is why they made the move. If anything of all this, I'm surprised they didn't address the why question at the keynote. That would likely set the stage for a change better than anything don't you think?
I travel all over too including the middle east and Europe and I've made due. In the UK, TomTom kicks butt over a lot so I use it there. Here Motion X. In Southern Japan, I used Google a bit but honestly downloaded a public transportation app while I was there and used it the most. Again, best tool for the location and need. Google is still there for you if you like it. Just not native. Let's see if Google launches a push for a separate app to be downloaded like YouTube.
I wouldn't say you lost it's functionality, perhaps changed how you use it 20% of the time, but that's not a complete loss of functionality unless you refuse to change how you use your phone and make it such. You have options. One also includes voting with your wallet next time and moving to Droid. I'm not being a smart a$$ when I say that either.
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It's been debunked - it's more likely Google is waiting a bit before submitting the app. Let Apple get some bad press and hope some of the most pissed-off users jump ship...
In the end they will submit it - they rely on feedback and usage, cutting millions users degrades their data and experience also. The interesting thing at that point would be how many people jump from the maps app - it will slow the pace of the POI's getting up to speed.
I've just been looking over my town seeing if I can spot any more flaws. Literally didn't have to try, heres a few,
That big blue building is actually a church, is apple going to hell now?
Apparently librarians live in trees now. Also, the library isn't even near this spot.
The next two pictures are of the same exact area, the marina and canal.
Of course, the canal must be a road...
That big blue building is actually a church, is apple going to hell now?
Apparently librarians live in trees now. Also, the library isn't even near this spot.
The next two pictures are of the same exact area, the marina and canal.
Of course, the canal must be a road...
You'd be kidding yourself if you don't think Google is under pressure too. Apple is not the only company moving away from the Google API. If I were bill Gates, I might just throw a few bucks more at Bing and court the defectors.
Apparently librarians live in trees now. Also, the library isn't even near this spot.
yep, they apparently have it located at 78 West High Street. btw....you guys have an awful lot of pubs in your town
I wonder if there's a correlation to the data being slightly off yep, they apparently have it located at 78 West High Street. btw....you guys have an awful lot of pubs in your town
It is Scotland after all, but seriously just by scrolling over the town and surrounding areas I notice so many flaws, I'm certain the number of correctly placed pins is a tiny minority.. unless there are secret restaurants and libraries in the trees.
I believe you. Checked several areas here in the states where I have family and no issues. CA, OH, OR, FL, TX, WY, IA and all were good. Gotta be a mix up somewhere and I would lay odds that it will be found soon.
I haven't upgraded so i'm still one of the lucky ones. I don't want to drop my jailbreak. The wife, not so lucky.
I didn't say 7K and I think the number is a bit over the top. Google Maps is heavily crowd-sourced and they have local "admins" to get things going - if they count them in the 7K thing then maybe.
My point here is that POI's takes some local knowledge - it's unclear how Apple thought this would play out. A San Francisco native couldn't possibly determine if the shops in my street in Denmark are swapped (like today) or not, they can't really trust my input either - they need someone local to validate... in maps, it's still unclear how this takes place (or if this takes place at all).
In Apple Maps you submit it through the maps app itself - i would expect a "response" would be that the change is made in the app. They don't have to be in contact with me to do this. The thing is - nobody knows, Apple said nothing about it, you can find the information anywhere on their site or in the app... in short - there's only guess-work and the normal Apple approach of total scilence doesn't help if crowd participation is what they are aiming for - they look like incompetent idiots right now.
This - they need to start informing people on what to expect, i will then adjust my demands accordingly. Apart from the app being useless this is what's pissing me off the most about the "experience".
Apple's trying to do what Google do - but they lack the expertise Google have in crowd sourcing and it clearly shows. No I should not expect the same at Nordstroms and Macy's, but Apple just spend 6 months since WWDC
telling me that i could have that perfect experience in their brand new app - and people lampoon Samsung for lying...
I really hope they would be able to answer that - so far they haven't been able to.
TomTom...
But if they aren't able to equal Google why are we going through this exercise? Why not throw the app (as with YouTube) and let a (any) third party get in on the action?
This really sounds like something that came out of Scott Forstall's a** right after that Mexican meal - hey let's make our own maps app, it's easy...
Totally agree - they could have played the "just getting started and we had to" card and their users wouldn't have been this pissed off. But the Final Cut X debacle made my belief in Apple's ability to learn from past mistakes vanish.
I have made this point before - and we agree... it's fair game to actively evaluate if switching platform is the way to go.
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Like I said in the second sentence?
Does anyone actually believe apple will approve a google maps app before it takes a crack at righting their own? It's like admitting failure, a big one at that! They rather the user suffers then face that humiliation.
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Here in Tokyo it very well could. Last year after the earthquake everything was shutdown. The only thing I was able to use for assistance was my iPhone for navigation and contactin loved ones. Hate to try and find a loved one in trouble with this junk... melodramatic? yes, but when they build it up as* and I quote:
"The new Maps app gives you a better way to find your way."
"Need directions from Point A to Point B? Maps not only shows you how to get there, it tells you out loud, turn by turn. "
then they have to expect this reaction when it clearly isn't what they say it is. At least remove the BS from the website.
They do have a note saying not all countries, would have been better to say USA only...
Still no official response from Apple? it only gets worse the longer they leave it. Set an expectation at least on how long before we get incremental changes. I submitted problems against the new maps the first day I installed, i.e. West Exit of the busiest train station in the world is wrong(it's marked on the south east side), yet no change...
Talk to us Apple...
What kind of crack are you smoking? Apple Maps does have street view. Except its a 3D rendering. Not a 2D scroller like Google Maps. It's got lot of polishing to go through, but I suspect it will be much better than Google maps by 2014 - iPhone 6. And perhaps the bad press will push apple to deliver results faster. And they certainly have the bank roll to fetch the best engineers and data.
What Apple did must be done in a business environment.
hahaha...
"What kind of crack are you smoking? Apple Maps does have street view."
Japanese crack... show me the Japan street view please...
Keep in mind that google maps had 10 years to be implemented and polished.
Apple maps is less than 1 week old.
In the next 10 years apple maps will be a big deal for apple.
Dope-out.
Google is under a very different type of pressure. Holding google maps from ios could be done as a negotiating tactic, or as a strategic reason for all we know. At the same time, I doubt they want people to find a new capable maps product so I'm sure it will end up on ios at some point.
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But a San Francisco native could use Google maps to validate users input.
Could not be stated better ! Thank you. These are business decisions and this was not something they had the luxury of waiting on in their own best interests. I would guess it will not be so long before a polished ,competitive maps product is offered.
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