“Apple Maps is now used ‘three times as often’ as Google Maps on iPhones and iPads, according to a report Monday from the Associated Press,” Michael de Waal-Montgomery reports for VentureBeat. “In total, the mapping service is seeing ‘more than five billion map-related requests each week,’ it said.”
“Apple has been steadily improving its maps experience since it was introduced in 2012 to replace Google Maps as the standard mapping service on iOS devices. It has been gaining traction ever since, despite being widely slammed for many errors at launch,” de Waal-Montgomery reports. “The initial release of Apple Maps was so bad, in fact, that Apple executive Scott Forstall resigned after refusing to issue a public apology. Chief executive Tim Cook had to issue the apology instead.”
de Waal-Montgomery reports, “Three years on, though, and there appears to be a light at the end of the tunnel for Apple Maps.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Apple Maps today is certainly usable. We would however love to be able to modify routes along the way with moveable waypoints as with Google Maps.
SEE ALSO:
Apple Maps, once a laughingstock, now dominates iPhones – December 7, 2015
Good. I don’t have Goople junk on any of my stuff if I can avoid it.
And I don’t have Google stuff on my junk if I can avoid it!
@bubbles – are you saying you don’t load google stuff on your Android or PC junk too? I would agree – I don’t have google junk period on or in any of my stuff.
On your junk? Yikes!
Apple maps are much better. Use them all the time in the UK. I’ll use anything not to give any more information about myself to Alphabet.
YES
For many years after Apple Maps came out, navigating around Serbia was only possible with Google, as it was one big black hole in Apple Maps. Until Apple completed acquisition of some obscure mapping company. The light was turned on and the entire country showed up, down to the smallest alley in a most rural mountainous village.
Today, Apple Maps provide accurate directions in Serbia and knows addresses by the house number, which Google still doesn’t. After years of nothing, Apple leapfrogged Google in a single move.
Now, if only Apple could open an App Store in Serbia, so that people over there don’t have to pretend they live in Hungary or Bulgaria… After all, they already have carrier contracts that officially sell (and support) the iPhone.
I’m happy for you, Predrag. It’s been a long time coming…
YES!!!
email tim cook about the store!
No really
Sadly, Apple Maps is still pretty much unusable in South East Asia (except for Singapore). The search function has improved slightly but getting directions is still a laughing stock.
Google Maps is better… but still not great.
Waze is probably king outside of the developed countries where Apple holds dominance. It’s certainly the best in several countries in South East Asia that I’ve tried.
Maps still announces a turn to the south in eastern Missouri as being the road to Ft Smith, Arizona. Haven’t ever reported it because it’s a good chuckle every time we go through there.
I don’t know if reporting it would make any difference. I’ve reported several errors. Months later, some have been correct, but others have persisted for much longer. I wish Apple gave feedback when the corrected an error. For last minute corrections and temporary changes in traffic patters, I have found Waze, with it’s millions of map editors, to be the best.
For some reason, Apple Maps lags when I use the navigation function. The little cursor doesn’t show my precise position, but rather where I was about a second ago. This is a pain, because I can’t just “follow the line” when I drive, or else by the time the cursor tells me to turn, I’m already through the intersection. I thought upgrading from 4S to 6 would fix this issue, but it didn’t. Google Maps doesn’t have this problem, which is the biggest reason I use it (along with how Google tells you which lane to get into when you approach an intersection).
I find Apple Maps perfectly adequate, and I’m happy to use it when it launches automatically from another app, but given the choice, I still stick with Google Maps. It’s just a more polished product at this point.
——RM
I’ve noticed that too, since the very beginning. I thought it had been corrected. It least it seems better on my phone than it used to. But maybe it’s an illusion because I zoom out as far as possible on my maps. The persistence of that problem, which, as far as I can tell, ONLY exists in Apple Maps, makes you wonder if anyone who works on the Maps team actually uses the software.
As much as I want to love Apple Maps and use it exclusively, it fails miserably in two important areas (for me…ymmv):
1) Directions to some places, such as parks, that do not have an address. If I don’t know the address, neither does Apple. Google shines in this area, because of the search engine capabilities
2) Traffic impact on travel time. I have 3 different options that I can use to get home from my office, all of which take about the same amount of time given no traffic. Google will tell me the right one to take given the current conditions, saving me a significant amount of time. Apple tells me every day “traffic is normal” and instructs me to take the freeway.
This is nothing to brag about. Apple Maps is the default app preinstalled on every iOS device. It should be used 99% of the time over gMaps. Most people just use the defaults apps. I know some people who have never installed any apps. I know some people who don’t update the iOS or apps because they didn’t know they could.
Google trumps apple maps in Montreal by a longshot when it comes to details of the neighbourhoods, business names etc.
I would bet the reason it’s used more is due to Siri integration and the fact it’s the default maps app
Apple Maps still isn’t great compared to Google Maps. Street View is VERY useful. Apple’s weird ariel view would be useful if I was flying over the buildings. They need to add street view. Also, I can’t figure out how to search for something near something else. For example, if I’m planning to be somewhere and I want to find a grocery store near there, it’s not obvious to me how to do that. When they had Google Maps, you could search a location and tap on it and tell it to search near that location. That feature appears to be missing still.