“Maybe I’m a bit too excited, but I toggle between Apple’s Maps application and Google Maps multiple times a day, seven days a week. So, I notice even small changes,” Rocco Pendola writes for TheStreet.
MacDailyNews Take: ‘Tis not surprising that Rocco’s frequently lost.
“When Apple Maps came out, it was horrible. Tim Cook should have never released it in its original condition. Steve Jobs would have been furious,” Pendola writes. “At least slap a ‘beta’ next to its name, like Apple did with Siri.”
MacDailyNews Take: “Beta.” As we wrote a year ago.
“But, today, and presumably after the iOS 7 update, Apple Maps has come into its own,” Pendola writes. “Despite the lingering absence of transit directions (at last check, Apple still suggests Google Maps and other ‘routing’ apps), I now prefer to Apple over Google… When using a cellular connection, Google Maps has been placing me a block — sometimes more — from where I actually am. Apple Maps continues to get more precise, which matters when you’re not dealing with a perfect grid-like network of streets and avenues.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Amazingly, Rocco wrote something that’s not only true, but only knocks Tim Cook for not being Steve Jobs as an aside rather than as the main theme of the article. Miracles do happen!
Still not ready for prime time.
Not sure about your area, but here in the Northeast US, it’s working quite well. About the only complaint I have with it is that it doesn’t pipe audio through the bluetooth in my car as Google Maps does.
Turn by turn updates immediately in Apple maps. It is very well done in Boston area. Your mileage may vary.
Check your settings or bluetooth transmitter. Apple Maps was able to pipe music through my car speakers from the very (beta) beginning.
There are two Bluetooth audio profiles:
HFP (hands free protocol) which is mono, and
A2DP (which is used for stereo music playback).
Many cars (mine included) only support the HFP protocol. There are no settings to adjust or software updates available to add A2DP to the car.
Google maps supports both HFP and A2DP. But Apple maps will only play directions over A2DP. Therefore there are many vehicles which are incompatible with apple maps.
Eh, how about you guys ask for directions to Birmingham International Airport and see where it puts you, right in the middle of the runway using a closed street that doesnt exist anymore.
NOT READY FOR PRIME TIME!
Not much luck with airports – http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-24246646
WAY WAY faster than google and much better in many other ways…
Do you even own an iPhone?
I like the turn by turn direction on Apple maps better so I try Apple maps first wherever I go (I travel all over the USA for work). Only once have I been able to use Apple maps and get where I needed to go. Just this week it could not find my hotel by name or address. From the hotel to a restaurant it sent me to the wrong place, almost middle of nowhere. For me this is consistent wherever I go.
And you’re now on iOS 7? Have you found an improvement?
iOS 7, maps is now completely messed up for me. A drop pin on my house gives me a street address that in the city 12 miles north. If I get directions to this address it take me to my house ……. So does my address.
I don’t believe you.
Using iOS7 since the day it was released.
Put hotel reservation confirmation straight from email into calendar. Opened calendar and clicked on address (iOS7 made address a direct link to open Apple map. Plug in what I have and see what Apple maps give you. Then copy and paste into Google maps. Guess which one I used this week?
69300 E Nee Rd
Quapaw, OK 74363
That’s because the road is actually named Casino Way. It has just been changed. Anything else?
And Google maps finds it both ways. With Google maps I did not have to find every iteration of a road name to get where I am going. I would rather user Apple maps because their turn by turn directions is superior but in my experience I cannot get the proper location (if any location at all) so I am forced to use Google maps. This was my agreement with the original post that it is not ready for prime time. You did not believe my statement that Apple maps did not find what I was looking for and I made my case. I am not going to go back through my travel logs an cite every location I cannot find.
It is also in Joplin Missouri not Oklahoma. Got anymore bull poop?
Actually, it is not. The hotel is in Oklahoma and the parking lot is in Kansas, neither are in Missouri. Get a new map if yours is telling you the hotel is in Joplin. Joplin is 8 miles away.
This is prime time?
http://www.foxnews.com/tech/2013/09/26/apple-maps-app-directs-drivers-to-runway/?intcmp=features
I also travel all over the US for work and have a variety of mapping apps. I found the new iOS7 version is nicer, when it works. The turn by turn is quicker and notifies you sooner..
But, that’s when it works. I will search for a business name, or even an address and get a response “No Location Found”. I can be sitting at the location and it won’t find it..
I’ll try the same search over and over and then suddenly, sometimes it will work and find the location. I tend to think it’s a server issue.
iOS6 used to find stuff all the time, it’s just that it was wrong and would dump me off into a corn field and tell me the location is on my right..
So far, everything that it’s found, it’s found correctly.. Just two states so far.. California and then DC/Maryland area.
Idiotic statement, of course it’s ready for prime time. I’ve used Apple and Google Maps occasionally, along with my preferred CoPilot Live, and Apple is the only application that will give clear cross-country routes avoiding trunk routes and motorways, where I know the first part of the route, but not the latter half. The big issue I have with both Google and Apple maps is the need for a network connection to get map data, a massive problem where there is no network available in large parts of the countryside.
Looks like Apple’s Maps app is in the spotlight again, as it is directing folks directly across a taxiway where airplanes take off in Fairbanks, Alaska. The Alaska Dispatch reports that at least two out-of-town drivers relying on Apple’s navigation system for turn-by-turn directions to the Fairbanks International Airport (FAI) were directed across the runway to the airport ramp side of the passenger terminal.
Read more at http://www.cultofmac.com/247224/apples-maps-steers-people-wrong-across-fairbanks-airport-taxiway/#mIapb2eYrAtpC7sK.99
Frankly, I don’t believe this story. In this day of TSA, with concerns of airport security, for ANYONE to be able to drive onto a major international airport unchallenged, without fences or gates, is unbelievable. The timing is truly FUD worthy. I note that for these “drivers” to have wound up where they did, they had to ignore numerous warning signs, no trespassing signs, etc., according to the article in the business section of the Sacramento Bee. . . which went more skeptically into it. For me, it just doesn’t pass the smell test. Apple Maps has worked flawlessly for me, except for one mis-direction the first week it was out having to do with an error resulting from an east/west mixup. On the other hand Google Map’s direction’s resulted in over $1200 damage to my new car when it directed me off a main route onto a dirt road that was rough between the boulders, which had potholes big enough to swallow my front end that were very hard to see at the angle of late sunlight coming from the rear of my car. Apple Maps has NEVER made such an expensive error as that!
In fact, in the airport incident, the Apple Map directions ended a MILE away from where the drivers claimed they wound up on the runway! They just kept driving. Now to blame Apple Maps for that idiocy is stupid.
From the article: . . . “To be fair, the drivers deserve some blame.”
The maps stop at the runway, but the drivers continued about a mile through a gate, past warning lights, numerous signs and painted concrete markings saying not to proceed.”
“All of these things were disregarded because people simply trusted their device more than they trusted what they were seeing,” she said.”
Oh, incidentally, these events supposedly happened Several weeks ago. . . what made them NEW WORTHY now???? The Apple Maps version that may have caused this was replaced by an updated version since these events.. . and two new iPhones have been placed on sale that are threatening sales of Samsung’s and Google’s products. Can you say FUD???
My place still has black and white satellite maps, it doesn’t show any nearby places, Siri can’t search nearby places, it can’t do anything.
The only reason i use Apple Maps because it’s intuitive interface
Perfect here in Phoenix. Deleted google maps.
This story must be an attempt at irony, considering all the headlines around the world but the moment.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-24246646
Interesting that you can even get to an airport runway directly from the city streets. I would think that would also be a security concern for the TSA.
I have seen this many times on google maps and still do – it’s just part of the tech – googols get people lost all the time but they don’t report about it… I had a Starbucks in the middle of lake Tahoe once with google.
One story (repeated by numerous news outlets) does not mean that a post that is generally positive about the improvements in Maps needs to be an attempt at irony. Seriously. And talking of irony, “ALL” the headlines?? There are tens of thousands of headlines today, only one of which is about Maps and Fairbanks airport.
Google maps wanted me to drive through a fence and into a field full of bulls late one night. My built in Mercedes system had me doing endless right turns, going in circles, when one of those turns should have been a left.
But Apple is the one that gets the press so that the site reporting the story can get the clicks.
China does not want Google anything in China and Apple needed to walk away from Google a long time ago. Apple maps will continue to get better Google will just be a note in Apple’s history. Google was there and is no longer needed or wanted at Apple or in China.
It’s good to dream…
Same here really. OK my local train station is now on the map. But local landmarks still appear in the wrong place and I still have my local “Woolworths” (in the wrong location) as a landmark even though they closed down 6 years ago!
To be honest Google Maps to a while to mature. The first time I used it, the post code sent me to the wrong location.
It took me a while before started using it again.
Wife and I did a side by side test of Apple maps vs Google Maps traveling the Oregon coast this past summer. Apple maps won hands down. Google showed our cabin destination as 160 miles south of where it was. Navigating small streets was always more accurate with Apple maps. We have stopped using Google maps entirely.
This has been my experience as well
Internationally it is still lacking. Misses most supermarkets and bars in my area, but does list two brothels correctly. These “ground truth” experts need to get busy!
It kind of sounds like they are, but in the wrong way.
I was testing the new iMap app yesterday and it did not tell me I was home until I pulled into my garage.
Here, here. I was overjoyed yesterday driving in Southern California when Apple Maps decided to have me drive 40 miles out of my way to get to a freeway that was but a few miles away via a few other freeway connections. Big Fail. It works find in the Bay Area, but I never use it as my only source. Especially down in LA country, etc..
“Tim Cook should have never released it in its original condition”
Rosco, do you know any Google software that WAS NOT RELEASED IN BETA?
Actually, do you know any google software even out of beta that works all the time like a public release candidate?
Neither of your statements invalidates the part of the article you actually quoted.
MDN itself reminds us iOS6 Maps did NOT have a beta label on it, so it set expectations that it was ready for prime time.
Street View is still the essential ‘real thing’ for my map requirements. The newish app is nowhere near as good as the original.
Still crap no where as good as google maps . As a taxi driver use it everyday. This guy ain’t got a clue what he is on about a ppl maps still got a long way to go
Apple maps are no good in greater London UK, the shops are located in the wrong locations and letting apple know from my iPad about yhe erong shops in my ste has not been used to fix the error. Also no street vies which I use a lot, so google maps for me ATM
I wish it would pronounce street and city names correctly in foreign countries
As much as I would love for his conclusion to be true, it just is not.
After a year of using Apple maps, almost every time, I had to fall back on Google, for better accuracy and more complete coverage.
And in addition to the lack of public transit (as well as bike path) directions, what I find most serious is that entire country of Serbia is one massive black hole, with just a few major highways put in. Google of course has every single street in every single city, town, village, rural hamlet, every dirt and gravel road, as well as even the most insignificant landmarks.
Apple maps has a long road ahead for very many of its users.
Apple’s map data sucks, no getting around that. There’s been lots of promises by Apple to make improvements, lots of time to do so, yet very little in the way of results.
I’ve had good luck with the original maps app! Criticism was way overblown just like antennagate!
I have learned to not trust anyone map source. If I am going to rely on my navigation apps on my iPad I consult multiple ones before I start the trip, and decide for myself which one to take.
That said, when Apple introduced maps they indicated that there would be crowdsourcing to help make their maps more accurate. TruForm you can tap a report problems box when you highlight something on the map. Apple maps and reports a string of fast food outlets in my totally residential neighborhood. Curiously received out fast food outlet where the volunteer fire department is and curiously there is a Subway sandwich just down my street. I have done the crowdsourcing reporting multiple times since maps came out and as recently as a few weeks ago. WTF Apple?
As much as I hate the fact that it’s now owned by Google, I still like Waze better. Until redlight camera, police, stopped car warnings, etc. make their way into Apple maps, I don’t expect that to change.
I would love to agree that Apple’s map is better than Google but for me, here in Manchester UK, it still misdirects me and because Yelp isn’t particularly popular here it is virtually useless for businesses. My friend’s address in Birmingham still shows completely the wrong location even though I (and he) reported it a year ago.
I-40 across downtown Oklahoma City is STILL HOSED. 😎
–
The satellite photo is out of date but one can see the NOW COMPLETED new I-40 under construction.
Do I have to write an email to Tim Cook to get it fixed?
Oklahoma is still trying to figure out if maps should evolve or be created from the beginning. It make take a while.
I have always had bluetooth sound with Apple Maps – on my Jawbone in the car, or Sena on the bike. Never a problem.
I also agree Apple Maps is getting better and better. The more folks use it and send in corrections, the more accurate it has become.
I have this odd lag problem with Apple Maps turn-by-turn. I haven’t heard anyone else complain about it (but then I haven’t been searching), so maybe it’s just me. I hope not.
When I’m using Maps turn-by-turn directions, the little cursor will usually trail my exact position by about a second, maybe a little less. This is annoying because I have a habit of driving by the “keep-the-cursor-on-the-blue-line” method, when I really should just listen to the directions and do what Siri says.
Still, when driving through a city, I’ll often drive through an intersection before I realize it was the one I was supposed to turn onto. I have to remember to compensate for the lag and keep in mind that my actual position is a little bit in front of where the cursor says.
I have a 4S, so I figured, slow phone, right? Except that Google Maps doesn’t have this problem. (No, Google Maps just loses my position when I’m on freeway ramps, is all.)
——RM
I actually have the gps lag with all gps apps since iOS 7. Apple maps most of the time won’t find a location so I’ll use google or waze. I’ll start out and sometimes drive a whole block before the app realizes I’ve moved and catches up. Only then do I find out I need to turn around. I always had to start moving before for maps to orient, but they would usually orient before I got out of the parking lot. Now the lag is so sever that the dot or arrow doesn’t even show to be moving
Not upgrading my iPad to 7 anytime soon. Out of curiosity, can Maps now route multiple locations? That might make it worth upgrading for.
The feature I have wanted the most in the apple maps app is bike routes. Google added this to their iOS app a few months back. Apple needs to play catch up a little faster.
It still doesn’t list newly built up areas (for a couple years now) surrounding San Diego as the overhead photo’s also show. Do we have to wait for new photo remapping before we get directions and an acknowledgement that these new communities exist?