Wow. Apple Maps is a disaster.

[KnightWRX]

At least SIRI worked and wasn't replacing a BETTER voice-control product. That you can forgive. There was no free SIRI on the 4S, so it was welcome.

You could also disable SIRI and go back to the old Voice Commands interface/feature.

 

[Brazuca]

I can understand about street view but having a lay with flyover gives you a pretty good view of where a building is in relation to your surroundings.

I just typed in a building in manhester and had a look round the streets and it was very obvious where the building was in relation to the center......although I will concede the pin is in the wrong building 🙂 the actual building is next door!!! But as far as detail go's theres not a massive amount between street view and flyover for locating buildings. I will say it was far easier to manipulate the flyover view than it was to faff with the streetview going forwards and backwards though.

When I used Flyover this was my exact impression. Streetview is clunky and the images are weird. It's too close up to give any meaningful context and you have to "walk" back and forth (with that weird warp speed effect) to try to really understand what the block looks like. And then, sometimes there is just missing data (you warp to the other side of the street).

Flyover, on the other hand, shows the context in a great way. If you don't care what the awning of the building looks like up close, you can use it to really find out where the place is: "aha! there is that tall red building on the opposite corner, and a parking lot next door. And It is two blocks from that statue".

Streetview sounds like a wonderful tool for google to keeps its maps updated, but as a user, never had any good use for it.

 

[theautopilot]

I can understand about street view but having a lay with flyover gives you a pretty good view of where a building is in relation to your surroundings.

I just typed in a building in manhester and had a look round the streets and it was very obvious where the building was in relation to the center......although I will concede the pin is in the wrong building 🙂 the actual building is next door!!! But as far as detail go's theres not a massive amount between street view and flyover for locating buildings. I will say it was far easier to manipulate the flyover view than it was to faff with the streetview going forwards and backwards though.

In major cities, yes it's ok-ish. Anywhere else the sat imagery so low res its absolutly useless. Many parts of the uk you just see clouds!

 

[kas23]

Many parts of the uk you just see clouds!

Isn't that how it always is though? 😉

 

[SLC Flyfishing]

Is anyone here actually happy with Apple Maps?

I ask because I've heard that an awful lot of people aren't pleased. At the launch, people were talking in line about how things looked distorted etc.

I'm sure that's annoying, but unless things were different on the 4s (I upgraded from a 4) there was no 3D mode or anything with google maps to begin with. I did notice on a trip to Lake Powell once, that the nearby bridges over the Colorado, and even Pat Tillman bridge near Las Vegas for that matter, looked like they sagged down into their respective canyons. I'm pleased to report that despite this appearance, all bridges were level in real life 😛

I have to say, I prefer Apple maps to google maps for one reason, and I think it's the essence of what a mapping app should be. It gives me the quickest, shortest route as an option every-time.

I just moved to a new city. I work in an isolated portion of town that's a ways off from my home. I've found a shortcut that uses a well maintained road, and gets me to and from work in literally 1/4 the time. The road was on google maps, inspection of the google map was actually how I discovered the route, but for the life of me, google maps wouldn't ever suggest that route as an option, preferring instead to keep me on the crowded highways that are a much longer distance to begin with.

I've noticed this with other excursions I've taken as well. It heavily preferred freeways in my previous city as well, often having me tack 4 or 5 extra miles to a trip just to maximize time on the freeway.

Well Apple maps is different, right away it's suggesting shorter routes, and my shortcut that I've been taking to work is the principle suggestion when I requested a route.

So for me, despite the quirks and kinks on the visual display, Apple maps is a welcome improvement because it performs (at least initially) better at what I use it for; you know, finding the quickest way from point A to point B!

 

[b24pgg]

Well this isn't exactly a surprise

Apple hiring ex-Google Maps employees to fix gimped iOS Maps app

 

[mattkowalski]

Isn't that how it always is though? 😉

You're forgetting that one day of the year, where sunlight hits the ground here. On this day, we require maps.

 

[zhandri]

i like it BUT it still is in beta phase. so i guess (hope) we will be seeing some major updates soon.

 

[dave420]

I am happy with it. No problems for me personally, and I like the new functionality.
Now the new Music app is a disaster for me. I can barely get it to play a song on my 4S.

 

[leenak]

I used Apple Maps this weekend and it worked well. The reroutes were quick and it gave accurate directions. Sure there may be many glitches but I've had lots of issues with Google maps in the past.

 

[google]

I used it for a 2 hr trip and it worked perfectly for the directions.

My cousins house does not even show up on google maps but it did on the new one.

The downside was the battery drained 60% even after my screen was turned off.

 

[Buckeyestar]

I haven't had any complaints . Sure, some buildings look distorted in flyover but that's more of a gimmick than a practical use anyway.

 

[The Phazer]

So for me, despite the quirks and kinks on the visual display, Apple maps is a welcome improvement because it performs (at least initially) better at what I use it for; you know, finding the quickest way from point A to point B!

As you say, glitches with the 3D display are very minor.

But your experience of finding the quickest way from point A to point B is atypical, simply because for most people it would not correctly find point A or point B. Certainly in the UK, the underlying data is just wrong, the vast majority of the time.

As I've said before, Apple Maps claims 20 points of interest near me. They're *all* wrong (I'd previously been kind by suggesting one that is at least on the wrong place in the right street is close enough).

About half are in the wrong street. Another half are locations that haven't existed for years, and those aren't in the right place either.

On top of that, I'd say there was 25 local places of interest that should be in the same area that are entirely absent - it picks out a corner store while skipping the huge supermarket etc etc. I tried to plan a journey to a friend's house last night and it claimed that they lived in the middle of a railway line.

 

[jester0723]

It's ok. The turn by turn navigation is very convenient, but then again, the other day when I went to Chipotle, the actual restaurant was a quarter mile down the road on the other side🙄

 

[HowardSmith]

Their Satellite maps are WAY out of date. I zoom in on my house and my lawn is like from two years ago. Google's images are NOW in comparison.

 

[darngooddesign]

Well they need to redo the Isle of Man, because currently its covered in clouds.

 

[alent1234]

Their Satellite maps are WAY out of date. I zoom in on my house and my lawn is like from two years ago. Google's images are NOW in comparison.

depends

NYC there was a big building demolished in the last year or two and apple maps has it being as an empty lot.

overall the biggest problem seems to be parsing addresses properly and a crappy POI database. unless something is in Yelp it doesn't seem to exist in apple maps

 

[gmanist1000]

I used it for a 2 hr trip and it worked perfectly for the directions.

My cousins house does not even show up on google maps but it did on the new one.

The downside was the battery drained 60% even after my screen was turned off.

2 hour trip? How much data did that use?

 

[nburwell]

I tested it out this weekend when my fiance and I went into the city for dinner. I knew where the restaurant was, but I wanted to see if the directions would take me the same way - it didn't. I ended up just exiting out of the app halfway through the drive there.

 

[s15119]

I like it.

 

[Italianblend]

The problem is that apple releases things while in Beta...as if it was a finished product.

Siri was definitely in Beta when 4S launched and it was rather mediocre in terms of what she can do for you. This was 4S' major marketing ploy...and was by no means perfect.

Now, they totally get rid of a good app and replace it with something in Beta. If they would've said "We're going to keep google maps on ios until Say January, and in the meantime, we will be launching and updating our map database as a beta product and have a true launch when it's ready" then as a customer, I would've appreciated the honesty and openness of that statement, and hell, I may have even decided to use the apple app when possible to help them update it.

 

[gopnick]

I'm very happy with the app.

In my area, satellite images are a bit out of date; for that reason, I'll keep Google Earth on my iPhone 5.

That said, the turn-by-turn directions are phenomenal. I've used them three times already, and they've worked great each time.

 

[eternlgladiator]

I'm on an ip4 til October 15 but I've had no problems with it. I'll probably download the google maps app as a back up if/when it get's released but I don't see any reason to stop using apple's until it fails me.

 

[yegon]

Useless in the uk. Doesn't even acknowledge where I live, Stalybridge, 8 or so miles from Manchester. Lived here most of my life,uni aside, yet it insists its actually in Ashton Under Lyne, the next town along lol.

 

[ewils19]

I'm happy with it because it works well in the area I live in. My office's building is only a couple years old but its on the map. The images overall seem pretty up to date where I am.
I do sympathize with those who live in areas where the app is not good. Hopefully either Google will release their maps app soon so you will have an alternative or Apple will work hard and fast to update and improve their app.