Speaking as a developer and as someone who spends a lot of time configuring and using iPhones, this is is not surprising and indicative of nothing. The native Apple apps on iPhones have access to resources we as third party developer's can't touch, and integration with each other that no third party developer can even come close to matching unless we reinvent half the OS. Add to it that the only way we're allowed to make, say, a navigation app is to offer a service that a native Apple app does not (we're not allowed to "duplicate functionality," per the developer agreement) and stories like this mean absolutely dick to me. Of course it dominates the iPhone platform, but stick Apple maps on any other platform and it would fall on it's face.<p>Better than something like Mapquest? Probably. And the integration tools are great too, as are notifications on departure time and whatnot, but the actual app, judged by it's capabilities is nothing compared to Google Maps.
The other day I used Apple Maps to turn up at a business meeting. I didn't notice it said "approximate location". Or, if I did, I probably thought since it was in a mall that the location was somewhere in the mall. Anyway, I turned up at the "approximate address". Guess how far off it was? Almost 5km. This was on a main street in my city that goes from one end of the city to the other.
I wonder if it's not just because it's integrated with other apps, and a top suggestion when you want maps. I still find that google maps is leaps and bounds ahead for navigation.
I use Gmaps in South Africa a lot. The traffic detector feature is super useful however it hass got me into some hairy situations. Just a few months back there were protesters burning tires and stoning cars on a road, so there were no cars on the road, so Google Maps took me straight through it. That was intense, no damage luckily.<p>Then not much after that an area in the Cape Town CBD became flooded due to heavy rains, and Gmaps directed me and a few other unsuspecting victims straight into it due to there being absolutely NO traffic.<p>Suppose the warnings take longer to filter through the system than the traffic updates.
When I was in NYC last month, Apple Maps walking directions were consistently better than Google Maps. It was shocking. Overall, it's still not nearly as good as Google but I'm much more likely to try both now and compare, than just assume Google is always better.
This doesn't surprise me at all. If something's installed by default, that's what most people use.<p>In fact, I've found that the very idea of using a mapping app to navigate is still foreign to a large percentage of people. If someone is wondering how long it will take to walk somewhere and I suggest they check using Google Maps, I still get a confused look about 50% of the time.
There's another way to look at it : the fact the apple maps is tightly integrated to iOS also means that it "contaminates" all the other services for the OS with its bad quality.<p>I would love to have siri use google services to guide me on a map. Or calendar show me locations on google maps. Yet, every time i use those great services, i have a bad experience because of Apple Maps.
What's good is that Apple Maps is slowly improving. They do seem to be fixing inaccuracies and problems. However, it's still crap. In my local streets, I can see countless mistakes (businesses in the wrong place, out-of-date entries, etc)<p>There's also now a problem with <i>too much</i> information, of the wrong kind. For instance, I opened up Maps the other day to discover that it listed a children's clothing shop just opposite my house. I live on a residential street, there's no shop there!<p>Intrigued, I clicked on the marker, visited their web page and found out that yes, the company does exist, but it's an online shop and the owner just happens to live near me. So Apple have scraped a database of companies and found lots of registered addresses, but putting this information on the map unfiltered is completely useless.<p>They've got a lot more improvements to make...
I still have a lingering distrust of Apple Maps, thanks to its disastrous launch. It's good to hear that it's getting better, because Google Maps - at least around London - seems to be getting worse. Some road names that used to be correct have been renamed incorrectly (e.g. Upper Richmond Road now shows up as South Circular Road) and others have changed to use a correct but uncommon name (the M25 - probably the busiest motorway in the whole of the UK! - shows up as "London Orbital Motorway", which is a name I don't think anyone has used for it since before Google even existed). I've reported all these of course, but as always there's no way of knowing if the bug report will ever be seen by a human. Maybe it's time to give Apple Maps a second chance.
Just yesterday, I made the mistake of asking Siri where the closest UPS store was. After a 15 minute drive, there was no UPS store at the destination. Had to use Google Maps instead, which took me to the correct location.
> But ultimately, Apple Maps doesn't need to be the best. It just needs to be good enough that its users won't look for something else.<p>Spot on. Being given the default spot will keep Apple Maps in the same position as Internet Explorer 6 was in the noughties and iTunes has been for the past six years: Since the app is the default and there is nothing to gain by improving it, with time any ambitious developers will migrate away and it will stay barely good enough not to be an embarrassment.
I had a go at showing an iPhone user where something was on Maps - I failed... (after i had just done it on my phone)<p>I use Android and Google Maps just works, has stars and is awesome. Finds everything when you search for it and just works. Plus browser to device or device to browser via stars is great. There are some annoying things, however the big things work well.<p>Apple Maps is a pile of junk :/
Slightly off-topic, but I can honestly say I've never once used Apple's Maps application that now comes with Mac OS X (not iOS). Does anyone use this? It probably ought to be faster or better integrated or <i>something</i> than opening Google Maps in a web browser, but, despite being in the dock, I just never, ever remember to use it...
This shouldn't be surprising. It has primary position on iOS and has tight integration with Siri, Apple Watch, Continuity, Contacts etc.<p>It has a terrible navigation backend (has no qualms about suggesting destinations in other countries) but you only notice it if you compare it say Google Maps.
I actually make an effort to regularly use Apple Maps in order to fix their bad data, and it still hasn't quite replaced Google Maps for me.<p>Google Maps is still way better by every metric (accuracy, design, user experience, navigation, etc) except NYC subway entrances.