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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 A

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. 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.

digital43 11y ago
Please stop confusing possessive "its" with "it's". It really makes it hard to read
tobad357 11y ago
My experience in Singapore is that Google Maps trumps Apple Maps on finding points of interest. However with driving directions Apple is a lot easier to follow. Apple tends to alert at better points before turn and also give more precise information about the turn. Example would be the number of the exit from the express way. So I've resorted to finding the address in Google and then using Apple for the directions.
- FussyZeus 11y ago
  I would agree with all those points, except that Apple Maps regularly gives straight up wrong directions in terms of the infrastructure. I know of one interchange near Chicago where it consistently presents as "you need to veer right to proceed on this highway" where it's actually the left lanes you need and they spur right afterward. I've never had a similar error out of another navigation app or service.
  - RealGeek 11y ago
    Apple Maps once lead me to a highway ramp on the wrong side.
wernercd 11y ago
Yeah... put Apple Maps on Android and see what people pick. Or put aMaps and gMaps on Windows... That's like bragging iTunes is king on the iPhone... of course it is... that doesn't mean it isn't a bloated mess.
pjc50 11y ago
Indeed. Anyone can dominate a platform if they've got the right to ban competing apps from it. I'm sure the EU will get round to this in 2025 or so.
- FussyZeus 11y ago
  Unlikely, Apple's always had a walled garden when it came to iOS and to be blunt that's why the iOS experience is as good as it is, I would still take an iPhone over an Android any day of the week simply because I'm at the point in my life where I have enough to keep working that I don't want to have to keep my phone working. I don't think it's necessarily a bad thing, I'm just saying then to turn around and claim how star spangled awesome your software must be by the metrics is more than a little dishonest.
- rimantas 11y ago
  Why whould EU do anything to makers ability to do whatever they want with their product? Don't like Apple, get Android or Windows Phone. Or will EU also do something about me not being able to run iOS apps on Android. You see, I prefer iOS versions, they are nicer.
  - lmm 11y ago
    Artificially coupling distinct products like that should be illegal, just like you can't make a car that runs on only Ford gas (you can make a car that runs on diesel, or gas, or only on high-octane, but it has to be some published standard). What the EU should require is that device makers offer a published API (and published review standards etc.) and use only the published APIs for any bundled apps, so that other app-makers can compete on a level playing field, and other device-makers can implement competitive devices for running the same apps.
    - FussyZeus 11y ago
      Why should Apple be required to make the iPhone a level playing field for anyone? This is like when blackberry wanted the government to force people to make apps for their platform, that's not how the market works. You're under no obligation to use an iPhone anymore than I'm under obligation to use a blackberry.
FussyZeus 11y ago
For the record: I do love the iPhone and it's capabilities and how everything really does "just work," but for Apple or anyone to turn that around and say "Wow Apple must just be killing it, their software does so well on the iPhone" is like saying your horse won a race after you went around the stalls and shot the other ones in the kneecaps. Yeah, of course you freaking won, no one is surprised and it doesn't mean shit.
bruceboughton 11y ago
Bollocks. Google Maps has just been in a continuous downward spiral on both desktop and iOS. The naysayers at the Apple Maps launch were extremely short sighted. It was always going to improve significantly over time. Mapping and especially navigation is a data problem and Apple didn't have the data to roll out an A* star service worldwide at launch.
- FussyZeus 11y ago
  I think the biggest problem was it was rushed a little toward the end, most of it seemed there and then parts of it felt like they got done in the last 48 hours. But that's pure speculation.
coldtea 11y ago
>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. Not really relevant as the exact same situation (plus having to install it manually) didn't stop Google Maps be used more than Apple's in the first years of the Apple Maps service. There's also this: somehow Google Maps keeps getting worse. Even on the Desktop version with the horrible redesign, but also the iOS app after they split it with Apple was horrible (it couldn't even zoom at the level you wanted reliably).
- FussyZeus 11y ago
  Well to it's credit, Apple Maps has gotten steadily better since it's somewhat premature release. It's not as if it was terrible when it came out and only gets where it is SOLELY on it's positioning. Do I think it would've done as well without that positioning though? No. Brings many advantages not had by most apps. As to Google Maps getting worse I honestly can't speak on it, I occasionally use it to find and verify addresses for shipping stuff I sell, that's about it and it always works fine for that task.
- mcintyre1994 11y ago
  I dumped Apple Maps when I noticed the data for my area was either never accurate or is at least 2 years out of date, and Google Maps seems fine to me on iOS. I don't have that zoom problem and since it's a Google app it actually has a one finger zoom gesture too. I got a notification yesterday too saying they've added public transport navigation in London. Whether they actually added it yesterday or just didn't notify me about it when I was in London on monday I'm not sure - but they have it nowhere else I've lived and Google have it everywhere else.
  - justin8 11y ago
    Google have had public transport maps everywhere I've been so far this year, Seattle, San Fran, Brisbane, Amsterdam and Birmingham. I'll admit though, the transport information in Amsterdam was pretty inaccurate at times, so I'll stick with 9292 whenever I'm over there. Brisbane's is fantastic, they use the APIs provided by the transit company there and it shows real-time delays and stuff too.

digital43 11y ago

Please stop confusing possessive "its" with "it's". It really makes it hard to read

tobad357 11y ago

My experience in Singapore is that Google Maps trumps Apple Maps on finding points of interest. However with driving directions Apple is a lot easier to follow. Apple tends to alert at better points before turn and also give more precise information about the turn. Example would be the number of the exit from the express way. So I've resorted to finding the address in Google and then using Apple for the directions.

FussyZeus 11y ago
I would agree with all those points, except that Apple Maps regularly gives straight up wrong directions in terms of the infrastructure. I know of one interchange near Chicago where it consistently presents as "you need to veer right to proceed on this highway" where it's actually the left lanes you need and they spur right afterward. I've never had a similar error out of another navigation app or service.
- RealGeek 11y ago
  Apple Maps once lead me to a highway ramp on the wrong side.

wernercd 11y ago

Yeah... put Apple Maps on Android and see what people pick. Or put aMaps and gMaps on Windows... That's like bragging iTunes is king on the iPhone... of course it is... that doesn't mean it isn't a bloated mess.

pjc50 11y ago

Indeed. Anyone can dominate a platform if they've got the right to ban competing apps from it. I'm sure the EU will get round to this in 2025 or so.

FussyZeus 11y ago
Unlikely, Apple's always had a walled garden when it came to iOS and to be blunt that's why the iOS experience is as good as it is, I would still take an iPhone over an Android any day of the week simply because I'm at the point in my life where I have enough to keep working that I don't want to have to keep my phone working. I don't think it's necessarily a bad thing, I'm just saying then to turn around and claim how star spangled awesome your software must be by the metrics is more than a little dishonest.
rimantas 11y ago
Why whould EU do anything to makers ability to do whatever they want with their product? Don't like Apple, get Android or Windows Phone. Or will EU also do something about me not being able to run iOS apps on Android. You see, I prefer iOS versions, they are nicer.
- lmm 11y ago
  Artificially coupling distinct products like that should be illegal, just like you can't make a car that runs on only Ford gas (you can make a car that runs on diesel, or gas, or only on high-octane, but it has to be some published standard). What the EU should require is that device makers offer a published API (and published review standards etc.) and use only the published APIs for any bundled apps, so that other app-makers can compete on a level playing field, and other device-makers can implement competitive devices for running the same apps.
  - FussyZeus 11y ago
    Why should Apple be required to make the iPhone a level playing field for anyone? This is like when blackberry wanted the government to force people to make apps for their platform, that's not how the market works. You're under no obligation to use an iPhone anymore than I'm under obligation to use a blackberry.

FussyZeus 11y ago

For the record: I do love the iPhone and it's capabilities and how everything really does "just work," but for Apple or anyone to turn that around and say "Wow Apple must just be killing it, their software does so well on the iPhone" is like saying your horse won a race after you went around the stalls and shot the other ones in the kneecaps. Yeah, of course you freaking won, no one is surprised and it doesn't mean shit.

bruceboughton 11y ago

Bollocks. Google Maps has just been in a continuous downward spiral on both desktop and iOS. The naysayers at the Apple Maps launch were extremely short sighted. It was always going to improve significantly over time. Mapping and especially navigation is a data problem and Apple didn't have the data to roll out an A* star service worldwide at launch.

FussyZeus 11y ago
I think the biggest problem was it was rushed a little toward the end, most of it seemed there and then parts of it felt like they got done in the last 48 hours. But that's pure speculation.

coldtea 11y ago

>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. Not really relevant as the exact same situation (plus having to install it manually) didn't stop Google Maps be used more than Apple's in the first years of the Apple Maps service. There's also this: somehow Google Maps keeps getting worse. Even on the Desktop version with the horrible redesign, but also the iOS app after they split it with Apple was horrible (it couldn't even zoom at the level you wanted reliably).

FussyZeus 11y ago
Well to it's credit, Apple Maps has gotten steadily better since it's somewhat premature release. It's not as if it was terrible when it came out and only gets where it is SOLELY on it's positioning. Do I think it would've done as well without that positioning though? No. Brings many advantages not had by most apps. As to Google Maps getting worse I honestly can't speak on it, I occasionally use it to find and verify addresses for shipping stuff I sell, that's about it and it always works fine for that task.
mcintyre1994 11y ago
I dumped Apple Maps when I noticed the data for my area was either never accurate or is at least 2 years out of date, and Google Maps seems fine to me on iOS. I don't have that zoom problem and since it's a Google app it actually has a one finger zoom gesture too. I got a notification yesterday too saying they've added public transport navigation in London. Whether they actually added it yesterday or just didn't notify me about it when I was in London on monday I'm not sure - but they have it nowhere else I've lived and Google have it everywhere else.
- justin8 11y ago
  Google have had public transport maps everywhere I've been so far this year, Seattle, San Fran, Brisbane, Amsterdam and Birmingham. I'll admit though, the transport information in Amsterdam was pretty inaccurate at times, so I'll stick with 9292 whenever I'm over there. Brisbane's is fantastic, they use the APIs provided by the transit company there and it shows real-time delays and stuff too.