4 ms·

Here is the best comparison I have seen with Apple maps and Google maps hands down. https://www.justinobeirne.com/google-maps-moat/ https://www.justinobeirne.c

Here is the best comparison I have seen with Apple maps and Google maps hands down. https://www.justinobeirne.com/google-maps-moat/ https://www.justinobeirne.com/google-maps-moat/ Google Maps's Moat - Justin O'Beirne

grzm 9y ago
Lengthy HN discussion (over 600 comments!): https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15965653 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15965653
SEJeff 9y ago
I came to the comments for this post literally to post that article, which articulates things nicely.
eridius 9y ago
That's a very detailed article, but it's all about the information present on the map, not about the accuracy of routing.
rconti 9y ago
I know this is a popular resource, and I can't argue with the author's conclusions on what he points out, but I am CONSTANTLY let down by Google Maps' choices of which buildings to visualize and label. Apple Maps does a WORSE job of showing every building but a vastly superior job of providing context and labels that make sense to me. I've looked at Google Maps views of areas I know quite well and been completely unable to 'place' myself there and understand what I'm looking at, because it's so detached from reality. I obviously am not good at putting this into words, but I encourage you to look at a local shopping district in the same level of zoom detail on each and compare. EDIT: Because I'll rightfully be criticized for not providing examples, I took a few screenshots of the movie theater complex in downtown Redwood City. In the first example, showing several blocks, Google shows 3 businesses by name, and one unlabeled restaurant. How on earth is this the gold standard? Apple Maps shows VASTLY more business names, far more detail on buildings, etc. For the second set of pictures, zoomed in to the theater complex itself (1 block), Google shows VASTLY more building detail about things I simply don't care about -- it's all one structure, there's no way to walk between building units, so why do I care which one is distinct? Google makes it look like there's an alleyway there, and there simply isn't. Sure, maybe it's an internal hallway for the parking garage, so congrats for having that detail, but it's not helpful as a pedestrian. Again, far fewer businesses are listed (though their locations are probably more precise/useful because you can tell how many units are between each, where apple's are sorta thrown around for no reason (no, Vitality Bowls is not actually on the sidewalk, it's in the building like the others). The Google map does get credit for making a more prominent display of the Redwood Downtown 20 and XD movie theater which is the bigger landmark, where Apple might leave you wondering "hey, what's this Sagamore Enterprises building all about?" Just an example, but this happens to me ALL the time. I am constantly finding that Google isn't giving me the most important information, and then sometimes goes into excessive detail on something that either doesn't matter or is totally misleading. https://imgur.com/a/9Mlbz https://imgur.com/a/9Mlbz

grzm 9y ago

Lengthy HN discussion (over 600 comments!): https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15965653 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15965653

SEJeff 9y ago

I came to the comments for this post literally to post that article, which articulates things nicely.

eridius 9y ago

That's a very detailed article, but it's all about the information present on the map, not about the accuracy of routing.

rconti 9y ago

I know this is a popular resource, and I can't argue with the author's conclusions on what he points out, but I am CONSTANTLY let down by Google Maps' choices of which buildings to visualize and label. Apple Maps does a WORSE job of showing every building but a vastly superior job of providing context and labels that make sense to me. I've looked at Google Maps views of areas I know quite well and been completely unable to 'place' myself there and understand what I'm looking at, because it's so detached from reality. I obviously am not good at putting this into words, but I encourage you to look at a local shopping district in the same level of zoom detail on each and compare. EDIT: Because I'll rightfully be criticized for not providing examples, I took a few screenshots of the movie theater complex in downtown Redwood City. In the first example, showing several blocks, Google shows 3 businesses by name, and one unlabeled restaurant. How on earth is this the gold standard? Apple Maps shows VASTLY more business names, far more detail on buildings, etc. For the second set of pictures, zoomed in to the theater complex itself (1 block), Google shows VASTLY more building detail about things I simply don't care about -- it's all one structure, there's no way to walk between building units, so why do I care which one is distinct? Google makes it look like there's an alleyway there, and there simply isn't. Sure, maybe it's an internal hallway for the parking garage, so congrats for having that detail, but it's not helpful as a pedestrian. Again, far fewer businesses are listed (though their locations are probably more precise/useful because you can tell how many units are between each, where apple's are sorta thrown around for no reason (no, Vitality Bowls is not actually on the sidewalk, it's in the building like the others). The Google map does get credit for making a more prominent display of the Redwood Downtown 20 and XD movie theater which is the bigger landmark, where Apple might leave you wondering "hey, what's this Sagamore Enterprises building all about?" Just an example, but this happens to me ALL the time. I am constantly finding that Google isn't giving me the most important information, and then sometimes goes into excessive detail on something that either doesn't matter or is totally misleading. https://imgur.com/a/9Mlbz https://imgur.com/a/9Mlbz