Comments on: Apple to Maps manager Williamson: Get lost

By: Rob

Rob — Wed, 17 Apr 2013 23:51:17 +0000

If they had consulted users, they would have come to a very simple conclusion. Keep the old Google Maps and add Apple Maps (beta). It comes out of Beta when they have public transit – which gives time to fix the mapping bugs.

By: Randall

Randall — Thu, 29 Nov 2012 13:28:20 +0000

Surprised nobody mentions TRAFFIC. Google scores way higher here in Seattle and I suspect everywhere. Arterial level not just main freeways. Night and day difference and tremendous advantage for google. I’ve stayed on iOS 5 on my iPhone for that reason.

By: Mr. Peabody

Mr. Peabody — Thu, 29 Nov 2012 05:33:25 +0000

I’m thinking the two firings over the Maps debacle isn’t simply because of failure, it’s also because of arrogance and an unwillingness to see it as a failure, take responsibility for it, and spearhead trying to make up for it.

By: NotNamedAfterATesticle

NotNamedAfterATesticle — Wed, 28 Nov 2012 21:10:15 +0000

No, what is shit is idiots like you posting stupid post after stupid post about nothing whatsoever.

By: LordRobin

LordRobin — Wed, 28 Nov 2012 19:59:15 +0000

Funny you should bring up politics, because in the world of political blogs, we call folks like you “concern trolls”. Always “OH NOEZ, THE SKY IS FALLING.”

No one’s denying that Apple’s made mistakes. Most of us just keep a sense of proportion about the severity of those mistakes and have confidence in Apple’s ability to fix them.

I’m sorry, but I just can’t be concerned about a Maps application that is working just fine for me.

——RM

By: Agent Provocateur

Agent Provocateur — Wed, 28 Nov 2012 19:33:46 +0000

Apple is in decline and out of control. It’s not about hating Apple- I’m a long time customer and shareholder- it’s about being truthful.

Apple is getting run over and the fanbois in the bubble are like Romney supporters right up until the election in the bag wasn’t.

By: LordRobin

LordRobin — Wed, 28 Nov 2012 18:17:44 +0000

This sucks, that sucks, everything sucks. Whatever. I base my opinions of a thing on my actual experience using the thing, and so far, my Apple Maps experience has been overwhelmingly positive.

——RM

By: omalansky

omalansky — Wed, 28 Nov 2012 17:45:06 +0000

Where did that come from?! San Francisco is one of the coolest and most beautiful cities in the world.

By: ploth

ploth — Wed, 28 Nov 2012 13:06:36 +0000

In country Western Australia I have had better success than EVERY other map provider.

Recently I was looking for a quarry and tried Bing, Yahoo, Google and Tom Tom. Searched for hours never even thought about Apple maps. But you guessed it, when I plugged in the road (even with wrong spelling) there it was…

It’s just missing speed and time of arrival info and ability to plan routes with a number of stops and you’ve got a killer app! I still use the $80 Tom Tom app for these features but Maps is an amazing tool

By: Nick

Nick — Wed, 28 Nov 2012 12:36:51 +0000

You would say that. I wouldn’t.

By: Nick

Nick — Wed, 28 Nov 2012 12:33:29 +0000

The Aussie mapping database was updated with the release of turn by turn and is very usable.

By: Ballmer's left nut

Ballmer's left nut — Wed, 28 Nov 2012 12:08:37 +0000

Apple maps are just shit. There’s no other word for it. Complete & utter failure. It’s as if a rank amateur took over the cartographic duties and decided to produce a monochromatic uninformative mess.

By: Greg L

Greg L — Wed, 28 Nov 2012 11:16:09 +0000

MDN’s Sept. 28th comment was spot on.

By: just some guy

just some guy — Wed, 28 Nov 2012 06:55:00 +0000

I wonder why you apparently can’t read. MDN didn’t defend this. They called for the head of whomever was responsible.

By: twilightmoon

twilightmoon — Wed, 28 Nov 2012 06:41:46 +0000

No mapping solution is flawless everywhere on Earth and none are likely to exist in the near term future. That said Apple maps is a vast improvement in iOS 6 over the previous Googke solution in many areas. For those areas where Google was better, there is a web page that will work until Apple maps covers your area.

Or there are many 3rd party mapping Apps.

By: botvinnik

botvinnik — Wed, 28 Nov 2012 03:26:17 +0000

“Windows users take it laying down.”

correction: Windows users take it bending over.

By: petey

petey — Wed, 28 Nov 2012 02:18:35 +0000

So you’re an Android user.

If you think it is so god damn easy to create something new and distribute it to a global market then prove it and do it.

ONLY then can you moan how crap things are.

No go away little boy and play with your toys in your pram.

By: Apple Fanboy

Apple Fanboy — Wed, 28 Nov 2012 01:43:57 +0000

Zero issues from Virginia all the way through New York with heavy usage.

(Just talking about Maps as in getting me turn by turn to destination. ) not flyover views or the extra stuff that is wow but not necessary.

Maps is excellent.

By: MobileMe

MobileMe — Wed, 28 Nov 2012 01:28:26 +0000

NJ, California. Give us a break! That’s about .05% of the earth’s surface, if that. Apple positions itself as a global business and makes a significant proportion of it’s sales and profits outside the good ‘ol US of A. Just because it happens to work in a few US states doesn’t mean it works well elsewhere.

By: MobileMe

MobileMe — Wed, 28 Nov 2012 01:21:58 +0000

Apple maps just sucks. Poorly presented maps, inadequate labelling of streets and towns, inaccurate information, no street view. Bring on the launch of Google Maps in the App Store.

By: Grifterus

Grifterus — Tue, 27 Nov 2012 23:57:01 +0000

Works great for me in California. I don’t know what the issue must be, but for sure, I did not find any.

Of course, I might be mistaken…

By: Kent

Kent — Tue, 27 Nov 2012 23:23:47 +0000

Some San Francisco neighborhoods are better not being findable.

By: omalansky

omalansky — Tue, 27 Nov 2012 23:16:34 +0000

Part of the blame has to go to whoever chose to rely on TomTom data for Apple Maps. Some San Francisco neighborhoods are labeled with names that no San Francisco resident has ever heard of. Garbage in, garbage out, as they say.

By: Weekend

Weekend — Tue, 27 Nov 2012 22:47:18 +0000

Well spoken. I wonder why MDN defends such a screw up? Can you imagine if Microsoft had done something this bad? Fanboys would still be laughing. Sure this asshole should have been fired weeks ago but what about the people above him? He isn’t the CEO. This wasn’t some minor release either, this was huge. I mean they dumped Google maps! Yeah, that’s not minor that’s major! So people above this knucklehead had to have been aware of its quality and competence. I guess you can’t get the guys in the executive washroom? Oh wait, there was Scott……….

By: Finelinebob

Finelinebob — Tue, 27 Nov 2012 22:41:43 +0000

Whiners? Like people who depend on public transportation? Apple’s Maps will, if you touch the Bus button, open the Apps Store and refer you to commercial solutions and third-party apps to provide what information you need. Is that the sort of quality and level of service we should expect from an Apple product?

By: clyde2801

clyde2801 — Tue, 27 Nov 2012 22:33:51 +0000

So, it took them two months to figure out the guys in charge of the debacle were responsible for it?

By: The Other Steve

The Other Steve — Tue, 27 Nov 2012 22:29:03 +0000

If Apple had placed a “Beta” tag on the Maps app (and yes, I still believe they should have) then Apple would not have been able dump the Apple/Google map.

That may be why Scott Forstall did it.

By: Snoop Dog

Snoop Dog — Tue, 27 Nov 2012 22:27:39 +0000

I find the apple ios6 troublesome, they are inaccurate and no where near as good as google maps. At least apple takes responsibility when it screws up, scott forstall and now this person got fired. And apple maps will get better in the future. Unlike apple, microsoft dont hold thier incompetent managers responsible, the fact that steve ballmer is CEO is proof of that.

By: MacDaddyMaster

MacDaddyMaster — Tue, 27 Nov 2012 22:19:31 +0000

It works great here in Southern California as well…
I remember how Google Maps and Yahoo Maps had similar struggling issues at the beginning of their game.

By: Agent Provocateur

Agent Provocateur — Tue, 27 Nov 2012 22:18:15 +0000

“Apple Maps are crap” is already baked into the public consciousness- and deservedly so.

Apple positions itself as a premium product that ‘just works’. Well Apple’s Map app sucks as does the podcast app, the iTunes app, the iTunes U app on iOS 6.

Also, the Bluetooth audio on the iPhone 5 sounds more brittle, siblant and distorted than on my iPhone 4. Maybe it’s HW, maybe SW- it’s still a step backward.

In the Mac sense, both Lion and Mountain Lion were downgrades from Snow Leopard. The new Pro apps are not ready for Prime Time and the HW is fashion over function.

By: mossman

mossman — Tue, 27 Nov 2012 22:05:06 +0000

Yep, the meme is everywhere. Anytime someone’s late? Couldn’t find something (even if other GPS have issues elsewhere)? Must’ve been using Apple maps.

By: LordRobin

LordRobin — Tue, 27 Nov 2012 21:57:09 +0000

Apple’s problem is that the meme “Apple Maps are crap” is getting baked into the public consciousness. They risk the same thing that happened with the Newton: it became a laughingstock because of its poor handwriting recognition, and when that feature was fixed, no one noticed.

I have been using Apple Maps regularly to find my way from point A to point B, and to find simple things like gas stations and restaurants. I have had zero issues. I know there are problems, but my guess is that, by now, they don’t affect the vast majority of users. But none of that matters if “Apple Maps are crap” is just something the public accepts as common knowledge.

If I was in charge at Apple, I’d make a few minor improvements to the Maps app, and then make a big deal of announcing “Maps 2.0!!” It would force the public to take a second look at this “new” Maps application and recognize that most problems are gone.

“Wow,” they would say. “Version 2.0 is so much more problem-free!”, not realizing the problems had been ironed out long ago and they just weren’t paying attention.

——RM

By: Jersey_Trader

Jersey_Trader — Tue, 27 Nov 2012 21:52:05 +0000

No, “a ‘beta’ tag on Maps” was not going to work. Apple needed to dump Google prior to the iOS 6 release. (It should have happened much sooner.)

It needed to be done and should have had a clear and encouraged “User Edit Period” where anyone could add or correct an address or location. If caught screwing around, all prior and future edits would be blocked for that user. If this were to be done, all the addresses and locations would be fixed in one week. This would have been viewed by all as the world’s biggest mapping project and everyone would have had fun helping “Map Their World”!

Still could do this. Opportunities are often overlooked and sometimes easily corrected!

By: davylow

davylow — Tue, 27 Nov 2012 21:42:45 +0000

Uh, correction: Scott Forstall was not “pushed out of the company”, technically speaking.

By: mossman

mossman — Tue, 27 Nov 2012 21:27:42 +0000

Then you haven’t been using it beyond a very limited scope. There *are* issues, some but not all of them are overblown.

“Whiners”? Please. Try “demanding quality” and “having high standards”–that’s defined the majority of Apple users for years. Windows users take it laying down.

By: critic2

critic2 — Tue, 27 Nov 2012 21:27:31 +0000

Works great for me here in NJ also. Love how quick the maps load and zoom with the vector graphics. They do lag Google maps on points of interest

Also, highly annoying, for some reason the maps don’t show exit numbers on major highways.

By: OnCue

OnCue — Tue, 27 Nov 2012 21:20:38 +0000

I have full confidence that Eddy Cue will make sure everything that needs fixing will be fixed.

By: Kent

Kent — Tue, 27 Nov 2012 21:19:05 +0000

I started using the new IOS Maps recently. I live in Ohio. My experience has been totally positive. The Maps are far superior to Google Maps. Excellent graphics. SIRI support is excellent. I have heard other less good results out of the states but my experience has been exactly what Daniel Eean Dilger lead me to expect – pure satisfaction. No shitstorm here.

By: MEES

MEES — Tue, 27 Nov 2012 21:17:31 +0000

MDN’s take is right. I bet if SJ was to respond, he would acknowledge it as a successful launch and tour the great features of Maps rather than apologize.

Personally, I think it is one of my favorite apps to use on the iPhone. I can’t wait until it is available on OS-X.

By: trondude

trondude — Tue, 27 Nov 2012 21:15:34 +0000

It’s not too late to put the Beta tag there….whiners will always find something to complain about…I have had zero issues with maps…