6 ms·

I think of Apple Maps the same way I think of North Korea's missile program: I know it exists and it has continent-level accuracy.

by cletus 7y ago

rimliu 7y ago
I don't use NK missiles, but I do use Apple Maps and they are fine.
- darkpuma 7y ago
  Check out a map and figure out which direction North Korea would need to launch a missile to test it's capabilities without the missile flying over another country. Then armed with that information, the next time they launch something look up the launch site and landing site. What you'll find is that they have two general options. From the west coast of North Korea almost straight south, threading the needle between the west coast of South Korea and the east coast of China. And from the west coast of North Korea to the north-east at the general direction of the Tsugaru Strait. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kwangmy%C5%8Fngs%C5%8Fng-4#/media/File:North_Korean_missile_launches_over_Japan.svg https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kwangmy%C5%8Fngs%C5%8Fng-4#/me... (Something else to consider is the apogee of the launch. Typically those Tsugaru Straight launches are almost straight up with apogees several thousand kilometers above earth (for reference, the ISS hangs out at around ~400km)) It sure seems to me these are indeed tests, not earnest attempts to nuke Tokyo or anything like that. If it were the later, they'd probably start off by actually aiming for Tokyo.
helix438745 7y ago
Oh my God, you're so hilarious! /s Dude, Apple Maps jokes are so 2012. Apple Maps has improved significantly in recent years. With iOS 13, it's going to annihilate Google Maps.
- dang 7y ago
  Can you please not create accounts to break the site guidelines with? It eventually gets your main account banned as well. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
willio58 7y ago
I choose to use Apple maps for navigating most places within a city. On iPhone, I think it has far superior ux design. In between cities I use google maps because I feel it is more up to date.
- inferiorhuman 7y ago
  I choose to use Apple maps for navigating most places within a city. On iPhone, I think it has far superior ux design. In between cities I use google maps because I feel it is more up to date. I suffer with Apple Maps because I find Google that unethical, but... the UX is atrocious. Navigation with Apple leaves the phone unresponsive (unlocking takes a few tries), but not with Google. This behavior has persisted for me across a few different phones. The biggest thing that leads to teeth gnashing for me is that after a while my location search will time out. Great if you've got network connectivity, not so great if you're trying to go somewhere more remote (or have your phone in airplane mode, etc, etc) and the location you just searched for disappears.
- chrisjc 7y ago
  My favourite google maps UX decision is asking me how good of a job google did getting me there before I arrive. It makes the last part of journeys really interesting especially as it results in me taking my eyes off of the road trying to reinitialize navigation...
  - ilikehurdles 7y ago
    Mine is how it now randomly suggestions turns based on what businesses are nearby. Example, "Turn right at the Chipotle". So now I have too look for signs of businesses in strip malls that may or may not be prominent in order to know where to go. What a miserable service.
iamtheworstdev 7y ago
That's a pretty funny comment, but I believe so far NK has actually failed to show continent level accuracy. They've only shown Pacific Ocean accuracy. XD
melling 7y ago
Last weekend I used Apple Maps to navigate to a movie theater from within the Trailers app. Not sure which one got it wrong. We ended up in some neighborhood two miles from the theater. I knew once we pulled off the main road and into that neighborhood that we were screwed.
- radicaldreamer 7y ago
  Apple Maps keeps confusing California St. and California Ave. in San Francisco. One is in downtown SF and the other is in Treasure Island, a part of the city surrounded on all sides by water only accessible via the Bay Bridge.
  - eridius 7y ago
    What do you mean by "confusing"? They have different names. If you select "California St" you get California St, and if you select "California Ave" you get California Ave.
    - pattpass 7y ago
      For me the issue is my own home address. I own an iphone and verified it. Typing out my direction: Address, City, State, Zip Code will direct you to an address in the neighboring city with a similar looking address(address number is wrong and Ave is Street). I give people a neighboring address close to me that I know works if they own an iphone. Apple Maps has also gotten me lost or stuck in terrible traffic. I really hate Apple Maps.
      - eridius 7y ago
        That's remarkably bizarre. Typing out a full structured address should always be parsed correctly. Have you reported this to Apple? The Apple Maps apps (iPhone and macOS) have a means by which you can report a variety of issues, including incorrect search results. In my experience Apple tends to be pretty good about handling these.
bredren 7y ago
Isn’t there an improved Apple Maps being rolled out city by city? What’s the status of that?
- dvtrn 7y ago
  I saw an Apple "street view" car in Chicago yesterday, looked to be one of the newest model Toyota Priuses. Honestly had no clue Apple was in the street level imaging space until I saw that car and started looking around the web to learn more. It turns out, and to answer your question more directly, 2019 is apparently a pilot year for a lot of initiatives with Apple Maps. It's got my curiosity, that's for sure. https://maps.apple.com/imagecollection https://maps.apple.com/imagecollection https://www.fastcompany.com/90373170/apple-maps-is-catching-up-to-google-maps-heres-how-it-can-beat-it https://www.fastcompany.com/90373170/apple-maps-is-catching-...
  - wlesieutre 7y ago
    Apple's new "look around" street view competitor looks really impressive. Rather than being a series of photo spheres and smearing between them as you move, the buildings and other objects are built out from 3D scans so that it can have accurate perspective as you move down the street. There's still fudging for small objects like overhead powerlines, lampposts, trees, and street signs which don't get picked up in detail by LIDAR, but it looks very good: https://imgur.com/a/rgHjWmS https://imgur.com/a/rgHjWmS In particular, watch how the cars, plants, and buildings slide by as you move from one spot to another. Having all this information will also help Apple with their address locations, knowing exactly where entrances are to buildings, etc. They'll need to work on keeping that updated in the case that the scan data goes stale, but having this in-house instead of needing to work through third party providers should allow them to close the gaps behind Google Maps significantly. In other ways (like the quality of the street imagery), they're jumping ahead. Don't have the new maps available near me yet but I'm looking forward to it.
    - dvtrn 7y ago
      Apple's new "look around" street view competitor looks really impressive. That's something that stood out immediately as it passed, their camera dome was actively spinning, at a pretty high RPM. Unsure if Google Maps cars are using similar technology, or if their imaging apparatus is still one pod with multiple cameras placed along laterally-I haven't seen one here recently.
rootusrootus 7y ago
I use it all the time. In Portland it is as good as GMaps is at navigating fastest route during heavy traffic. Which is to say, not perfect, but adequate. It has yet to take me to the wrong location.
- encoderer 7y ago
  Same, in SFBA.
- ilikehurdles 7y ago
  I also exclusively use it in Colorado. There are times when I'm on heavily-trafficked mountain routes where I've swapped to google maps expecting to get a better ETA estimate or detour suggestions, but I haven't seen it perform any better in those cases either. I feel like I trust GMaps more in the mountains but I haven't tested that trust lately. Privacy reasons aside, I just despise using GMaps for its clashing app styling on iOS and seemingly heavier battery usage. Apple Maps' design feels like it gets out of your way and focuses on the things that matter.
  - bogonic 7y ago
    I use Apple Maps almost exclusively (Seattle and New York), except when I'm on a bike. Google Maps remains the best I've found for navigation on a bike.
- inferiorhuman 7y ago
  Apple Maps is pretty awful in the Bay Area. My favorite recently was it's insistence that I make a left turn off of Van Ness. Left turns have largely been banned from Van Ness starting with the huge construction project, but the left turn Apple Maps was also demanding was also across a double yellow line where a left turn would've been illegal regardless of construction. Yesterday I was trying to remember if this deli was on Howard or Folsom (and I forgot the exact name). The search results for 'deli' were basically everywhere on North America except for where I was (including across town). Searching for businesses with Apple Maps is nearly impossible, and the insistence upon installing the Yelp app to get more info is just infuriating. Edit: Oh yeah and it can't find Grainger in Millbrae to save its life. Shit happens and business info is one of the hardest parts about mapping. Unfortunately Apple makes it damn near impossible to report problems to a real human. Edit edit: My all time favorite though was asking Siri for directions to some club that I usually take BART to. I kept getting directions to a not that nearby and not that similarly named bail bondsman.
ummonk 7y ago
Given that North Korea has been able to place satellites into sun synchronous orbit, its missile program has far better than continent-level accuracy.
- jamiek88 7y ago
  The hard bit is coming back down.
mcs_ 7y ago
one of the best comment this week

I think of Apple Maps the same way I think of North Korea's missile program: I know it exists and it has continent-level accuracy.

by cletus 7y ago

I think of Apple Maps the same way I think of North Korea's missile program: I know it exists and it has continent-level accuracy.

rimliu 7y ago

I don't use NK missiles, but I do use Apple Maps and they are fine.

darkpuma 7y ago
Check out a map and figure out which direction North Korea would need to launch a missile to test it's capabilities without the missile flying over another country. Then armed with that information, the next time they launch something look up the launch site and landing site. What you'll find is that they have two general options. From the west coast of North Korea almost straight south, threading the needle between the west coast of South Korea and the east coast of China. And from the west coast of North Korea to the north-east at the general direction of the Tsugaru Strait. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kwangmy%C5%8Fngs%C5%8Fng-4#/media/File:North_Korean_missile_launches_over_Japan.svg https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kwangmy%C5%8Fngs%C5%8Fng-4#/me... (Something else to consider is the apogee of the launch. Typically those Tsugaru Straight launches are almost straight up with apogees several thousand kilometers above earth (for reference, the ISS hangs out at around ~400km)) It sure seems to me these are indeed tests, not earnest attempts to nuke Tokyo or anything like that. If it were the later, they'd probably start off by actually aiming for Tokyo.

helix438745 7y ago

Oh my God, you're so hilarious! /s Dude, Apple Maps jokes are so 2012. Apple Maps has improved significantly in recent years. With iOS 13, it's going to annihilate Google Maps.

dang 7y ago
Can you please not create accounts to break the site guidelines with? It eventually gets your main account banned as well. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

willio58 7y ago

I choose to use Apple maps for navigating most places within a city. On iPhone, I think it has far superior ux design. In between cities I use google maps because I feel it is more up to date.

inferiorhuman 7y ago
I choose to use Apple maps for navigating most places within a city. On iPhone, I think it has far superior ux design. In between cities I use google maps because I feel it is more up to date. I suffer with Apple Maps because I find Google that unethical, but... the UX is atrocious. Navigation with Apple leaves the phone unresponsive (unlocking takes a few tries), but not with Google. This behavior has persisted for me across a few different phones. The biggest thing that leads to teeth gnashing for me is that after a while my location search will time out. Great if you've got network connectivity, not so great if you're trying to go somewhere more remote (or have your phone in airplane mode, etc, etc) and the location you just searched for disappears.
chrisjc 7y ago
My favourite google maps UX decision is asking me how good of a job google did getting me there before I arrive. It makes the last part of journeys really interesting especially as it results in me taking my eyes off of the road trying to reinitialize navigation...
- ilikehurdles 7y ago
  Mine is how it now randomly suggestions turns based on what businesses are nearby. Example, "Turn right at the Chipotle". So now I have too look for signs of businesses in strip malls that may or may not be prominent in order to know where to go. What a miserable service.

iamtheworstdev 7y ago

That's a pretty funny comment, but I believe so far NK has actually failed to show continent level accuracy. They've only shown Pacific Ocean accuracy. XD

melling 7y ago

Last weekend I used Apple Maps to navigate to a movie theater from within the Trailers app. Not sure which one got it wrong. We ended up in some neighborhood two miles from the theater. I knew once we pulled off the main road and into that neighborhood that we were screwed.

radicaldreamer 7y ago
Apple Maps keeps confusing California St. and California Ave. in San Francisco. One is in downtown SF and the other is in Treasure Island, a part of the city surrounded on all sides by water only accessible via the Bay Bridge.
- eridius 7y ago
  What do you mean by "confusing"? They have different names. If you select "California St" you get California St, and if you select "California Ave" you get California Ave.
  - pattpass 7y ago
    For me the issue is my own home address. I own an iphone and verified it. Typing out my direction: Address, City, State, Zip Code will direct you to an address in the neighboring city with a similar looking address(address number is wrong and Ave is Street). I give people a neighboring address close to me that I know works if they own an iphone. Apple Maps has also gotten me lost or stuck in terrible traffic. I really hate Apple Maps.
    - eridius 7y ago
      That's remarkably bizarre. Typing out a full structured address should always be parsed correctly. Have you reported this to Apple? The Apple Maps apps (iPhone and macOS) have a means by which you can report a variety of issues, including incorrect search results. In my experience Apple tends to be pretty good about handling these.

bredren 7y ago

Isn’t there an improved Apple Maps being rolled out city by city? What’s the status of that?

dvtrn 7y ago
I saw an Apple "street view" car in Chicago yesterday, looked to be one of the newest model Toyota Priuses. Honestly had no clue Apple was in the street level imaging space until I saw that car and started looking around the web to learn more. It turns out, and to answer your question more directly, 2019 is apparently a pilot year for a lot of initiatives with Apple Maps. It's got my curiosity, that's for sure. https://maps.apple.com/imagecollection https://maps.apple.com/imagecollection https://www.fastcompany.com/90373170/apple-maps-is-catching-up-to-google-maps-heres-how-it-can-beat-it https://www.fastcompany.com/90373170/apple-maps-is-catching-...
- wlesieutre 7y ago
  Apple's new "look around" street view competitor looks really impressive. Rather than being a series of photo spheres and smearing between them as you move, the buildings and other objects are built out from 3D scans so that it can have accurate perspective as you move down the street. There's still fudging for small objects like overhead powerlines, lampposts, trees, and street signs which don't get picked up in detail by LIDAR, but it looks very good: https://imgur.com/a/rgHjWmS https://imgur.com/a/rgHjWmS In particular, watch how the cars, plants, and buildings slide by as you move from one spot to another. Having all this information will also help Apple with their address locations, knowing exactly where entrances are to buildings, etc. They'll need to work on keeping that updated in the case that the scan data goes stale, but having this in-house instead of needing to work through third party providers should allow them to close the gaps behind Google Maps significantly. In other ways (like the quality of the street imagery), they're jumping ahead. Don't have the new maps available near me yet but I'm looking forward to it.
  - dvtrn 7y ago
    Apple's new "look around" street view competitor looks really impressive. That's something that stood out immediately as it passed, their camera dome was actively spinning, at a pretty high RPM. Unsure if Google Maps cars are using similar technology, or if their imaging apparatus is still one pod with multiple cameras placed along laterally-I haven't seen one here recently.

rootusrootus 7y ago

I use it all the time. In Portland it is as good as GMaps is at navigating fastest route during heavy traffic. Which is to say, not perfect, but adequate. It has yet to take me to the wrong location.

encoderer 7y ago
Same, in SFBA.
ilikehurdles 7y ago
I also exclusively use it in Colorado. There are times when I'm on heavily-trafficked mountain routes where I've swapped to google maps expecting to get a better ETA estimate or detour suggestions, but I haven't seen it perform any better in those cases either. I feel like I trust GMaps more in the mountains but I haven't tested that trust lately. Privacy reasons aside, I just despise using GMaps for its clashing app styling on iOS and seemingly heavier battery usage. Apple Maps' design feels like it gets out of your way and focuses on the things that matter.
- bogonic 7y ago
  I use Apple Maps almost exclusively (Seattle and New York), except when I'm on a bike. Google Maps remains the best I've found for navigation on a bike.
inferiorhuman 7y ago
Apple Maps is pretty awful in the Bay Area. My favorite recently was it's insistence that I make a left turn off of Van Ness. Left turns have largely been banned from Van Ness starting with the huge construction project, but the left turn Apple Maps was also demanding was also across a double yellow line where a left turn would've been illegal regardless of construction. Yesterday I was trying to remember if this deli was on Howard or Folsom (and I forgot the exact name). The search results for 'deli' were basically everywhere on North America except for where I was (including across town). Searching for businesses with Apple Maps is nearly impossible, and the insistence upon installing the Yelp app to get more info is just infuriating. Edit: Oh yeah and it can't find Grainger in Millbrae to save its life. Shit happens and business info is one of the hardest parts about mapping. Unfortunately Apple makes it damn near impossible to report problems to a real human. Edit edit: My all time favorite though was asking Siri for directions to some club that I usually take BART to. I kept getting directions to a not that nearby and not that similarly named bail bondsman.

ummonk 7y ago

Given that North Korea has been able to place satellites into sun synchronous orbit, its missile program has far better than continent-level accuracy.

jamiek88 7y ago
The hard bit is coming back down.

mcs_ 7y ago

one of the best comment this week