“A recent torrent of complaints has prompted Apple CEO Tim Cook to issue a public apology for the company’s new maps app in the iPhone 5 and iOS 6, which previously relied on Google Maps,” Janet Vertesi writes for CNN. “Addresses are not showing up correctly, public transit directions aren’t available, and the satellite views make it look as if the Brooklyn Bridge is bending into the Hudson River.”
“Unlike the naysayers, I was delighted to see the change,” Vertesi writes. “That’s because six months ago, I broke up with Google.”
Vertesi writes, “It’s not a decision I made lightly. I was in an intimate relationship with the company for years. Google knew what I watched on YouTube and which trains I caught into New York City for a night out. It facilitated collaborations with my colleagues and helped me navigate foreign cities. We had some good times together, Google and I. But over time, our relationship changed. Ads started to show up based on keywords that I had typed into the search engine or in my e-mail. In Google search, things I was looking for were now buried beneath “helpful” suggestions of things I wasn’t interested in in the slightest.”
Read more in the full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Gk” for the heads up.]
“Give Apple maps a chance”
I have and I like it!
I have and love it!! Works great.
If you own a business, or work on the social media for a business, make sure your Yelp listing is up to date and accurate – this will ensure people fin you and your business card looks great in Apple Maps.
You can also encourage other businesses to do the same 🙂
Totally agree with that, the more I use it the better I like it despite my initial reservations. It needs development but then any software like this is going to have to adapt develop quickly. From what I have seen the satellite images have some glitches in places but are as good or better overall than Nokia maps from images I have seen. I criticised on the basis of the lack of detail yet again it is actually graphically better and easier on the eye than Nokia maps and the latter you have to fiddle with set up to include information displayed on Apple Maps apparent to prevent clutter. Anyone complained about that on Apple Maps?
I do totally agree with the Yelp information. They need a kick up the the backside as I know some businesses around me that are no longer operating yet still listed. Though to be honest that is probably pretty consistent with most search alternatives as Yelp seems to power most public Business search in the UK.
You don’t have to be a business owner to adjust Yelp info. You can do it as a user as well.
I agree, turn by turn is the best in the business
What do you mean by chance.
It is better then GOOGLE>
U shold say give few chances to GOOGLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I have yet to experience any of the problems widely reported by the media. OTOH, Maps loads so much faster, I use it more than I used to. 3D is great, and I really like turn by turn. Tell me again why Google didn’t include that feature in Google Maos for iOS.
To give Android an advantage.
Agree. Emailed my bros address to my icloud email. Clicked hyperlink. Asked me from where I wanted to navigate to the destination. Clicked current location. (Dallas) to Raleigh NC. Route was created almost instantaneously on my iPad and app was immediately giving directions. Much quicker than setting up my Tom Tom GPS. Further testing later this AM after I arrive Charlotte and drive to Raleigh. In the ed this app is going to blow the competition out of the water. iPad mini will give you a 7+ inch nav device for less than a dedicated Nav GPS device with all the extras.
Yep!!!!
Anyone know when Apple Maps will be available for OS X??? I have 6 map programs and so far Google maps is the best of what I have. Mapquest is #2.
Bing Maps birds-eye view 360 degree rotation Is interesting.
It’s definitely getting better already. In the last few days my searches have been accurate. When it debuted they had my house in the wrong place. Now it’s in the right place and can tell which room I’m in.
> Now it’s in the right place and can tell which room I’m in. <
That sounds a bit spooky!
Google, though, was moving toward a place where it would know not only where you were located, but also what you would think and do next, and had ads waiting for you. Google = Minority Report
The story reads like a TV Guide soap opera summary.
“She’d believed they had an intimate relationship, but when it was revealed for what it really was—an insidious trap—she rejected the cajoling and pleading, then stood there and emptied the revolver into the still-twitching body of the creature that had so cruelly betrayed her.”
Ahhhhh yeah, sure.
The new ads with the old Apple/Google maps app where starting to annoy me. Okay, they where annoying me a lot!
Today Maps helped me get from Birkenhead to Connah’s Quay and back here in Blighty, and it even warned me about the MoD firing range that we were heading towards.
Plus, I was on my bike, using National Cycle Routes as well as roads. Maybe Tim has prioritised cyclists? 🙂
In the UK, Apple has used the public information of the digitized Ordnance Maps, apparently some of the best, most complete digital map information in the world. Thank your government for such a foresighted use of tax money.
Directions are great, and have worked well for me, but there are indeed honest issues with Maps. Although I do like the new look, it’s much harder to make out roads when outdoors in sunlight. That is especially apparent if you use it when cycling.
The other surprising issue is that restaurants actually on University Ave in Palo Alto are showing up on University Ave in Los Altos, a residential section near downtown. Evidently they’re not giving any special treatment to towns where Steve Jobs most recently lived or grew up…
Ev’rybody’s talking about
Badism, Shitzism, Directionism, Mapism, 3-Dism, WrongAddressism
This-ism, that-ism, is-m, is-m, is-m.
All we are saying is give maps a chance
All we are saying is give maps a chance
Thank you, Oko.
It’s getting better all the time
Some said that maps didn’t rule (And they did complain)
The users who griped weren’t cool (Tim did try to explain)
They’re looking around (Oh), turning around (Oh)
Filling their tanks with their fuel.
I’ve got to admit it’s getting better (Better)
A little better all the time (It can’t get more worse)
I have to admit it’s getting better (Better)
It’s getting better since maps been mine
Getting so much better over time…
You’re welcome, and it’s Yoko : )
My mistake, I meant Yoko.
Ugh, I posted before your correction of Oko was posted. Sorry about that.
I wasn’t going to upgrade my iPad because I didn’t want to lose street view but now I can find it on Google’s web site. So I have upgraded and I find Apple’s map app works fine for me. Street view on Google’s site is the only thing I use Google for.
Apple Maps work fine for me. Today I used it on a 45 min drive along with my 5″ updated garmin 1490LTM and worked great. On the way home I searched garmin for a restaurant I knew was close and it couldn’t find it. I asked siri for directions to it and it picked it up and started the route. So I haven’t seen any problems with Apple maps yet, not sure what people are seeing. Probably all Android users just blowing smoke. I did hear Minneapolis was horrible from a coworker so that might be a place that needs work. I’m in western PA and works great for me so far.
Minneapolis is fine in Maps. No problems whatsoever. Your coworker must have an android.
I could be wrong on the city but almost positive he said Minneapolis he had issues in.
whether APPLE got a chance or not, it doesn’t matter much, Apple
can always improve. what matter most is to move away from those thieves
I never used Google maps in the first place. I love Apple’s maps. I’m in Baltimore, and it takes me right to the door of every customers house & business I have to go too.
I tried using Apple maps to find someone who could make me happy in life and perhaps be my life partner and it did not work so it must suck. Really people if your device is so obviously wrong – use yer senses… course I never said mine were particularly good though…
“use yer senses… course I never said mine were particularly good though…”
at reading maps or women?
Kidding… I’m kidding!
been using new maps app with zero problems… works WAY better than google here in chicagoland
Actually, I’d started using the apple map turn by turn navigation , and it worked well 🙂
Well I hope the maps do better than the stock today. It’s dropping like a rock overnight. Broke through the 50 day average of $650. Look out below. I sure hope those buy-and-hold AAPL investors took some profits so they have money on the sidelines to buy back in at these lower prices. Remember it’s only a profit on paper until you sell it. I sure hope you sold some. Because you’re about to get a fantastic buying opportunity to make a lot more money than if you held through this. Be patient, it’s going down for a while. Always take profit. It’s why you invest.
I have real problems with some of the so called ‘objective criticisms’ about the software. For example a so called comparison blog (conveniently sponsored by Nokia on Twitter however) claimed that the Maps application couldn’t locate Paddington Station in London and placed it supposedly in a public park. Now I may be one of the few people in the World who know that is fundamentally ball shit because I downloaded iOS on launch day and I happened to have Paddington Station as my then current base location as I had been doing various searches around there for reasons I wont go into. On opening Apple maps it had already automatically recognised and located that particular location accurately and as a station indeed spot on on platform 5. Then when I did a further search having reading the article, it also found the location perfectly. Clearly this could not be an update subsequent to their article as they would no doubt claim, which puts their whole objectivity in question. There are report after report that feed this sort of mis-information on, or behalf of competitors.
I work for a telecom company, and we are doing some cell site upgrades in the Atlanta Metro area. So my job takes me to places I didn’t even know existed here. What do I use to take me to the remote places these cell sites are located on? Apple Maps. It hasn’t gotten me lost at all in the weeks since the upgrade on my iPhone 4S. In fact, I had to help a coworker find a cell site last week that his Android phone couldn’t find. And he was the one giving me the address and the GPS coordinates to go to the site! LOL!
Updated iPhoen4 (VZW) to iOS6 this weekend. I live sort of out in the boonies. Maps seem to work OK, though traffic really didn’t (don’t worry about that much here). Couple of points vs. Google maps on my iPad:
1. Apple maps images are more up to date – by several YEARS! Google picture if my house is before I bought it. Apple’s is w/in last 2 years.
2. Apple image (Satellite) can be rotated! ! ! Google’s can’t. Provides good perspective on things (can’t wait to get iPhone5 update and flyover!).
3. Did this once, but unable to duplicated. While looking @ Satellite image – I walked around house, and the blue doe moved, and actually shows a “light” in the direction I was walking. . . Acting almost like a compass.
Yes, Apple maps a bit slower to located – but does improve over time. Turn-by-turn worked very good (no voice) –
For a “beta” this is pretty good. . . Definitely lays the ground work for something great in the future.
For #3, tap the GPS arrow button again. If not already, it’ll center the screen to where you are, the second tap ties it to your compass direction with the “searchlight”.
Maps was not marked as a beta like Siri was though–if it had been, the backlash would have been far less.
Seems great if you live in a larger city. I live in a medium sized city in the US and I can rarely find anything I’m looking for. It’s been very frustrating. I tried to find a high school about 20 miles from my house the other weekend for a marching band competition. Apple maps couldn’t find the school or even the right town. Even though I told it the exact name of the school, what town and state, it kept showing me places in another state. Seems really odd it couldn’t even find the town. Luckily my wife hadn’t upgraded yet so we found it with the old Google maps app. It really needs to get a lot better really soon.
I’ve said this before, and so far, no change.
The entire country of Serbia (population some 8 million) is one big black hole, with only major highways showing. Google’s map has every single tiniest street in every city, town and village.
I’ve used apple maps every so far and it works ok for me.
I really can’t see what the issues are.
I’m out in the sticks in Africa and it works great here. Definitely an improvement over the old Maps App.
It seems that whether Apple Maps works or has issues depends on where in the world you live. I’m in northeast Ohio, and I’m in the “works fine” camp. But it’s believable that people in rural areas or small, lesser known countries could have problems. I’ll bet anything that Google had the same issues when it launched its maps app.
What’s important is that Apple appears to be correcting the data, so these problem areas should shrink and disappear with time.
——RM