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I was a big defender of Apple Maps, largely because I almost never saw any problems with the data. Then I moved into an apartment complex in which Apple had the
by pwinnski 7y ago
I was a big defender of Apple Maps, largely because I almost never saw any problems with the data. Then I moved into an apartment complex in which Apple had the driveway in the wrong place.
I've moved since, so I'll spell it out: https://duckduckgo.com/?q=5940+Arapaho+Rd%2C+75248&t=osx&ia=maps&iaxm=maps https://duckduckgo.com/?q=5940+Arapaho+Rd%2C+75248&t=osx&ia=...
Apple Maps believes that the driveways are to the south and east, but in fact the front driveway--the main entrance--is to the north, and there is no direct passage from the east. So every set of directions to or from those apartments begins or ends incorrectly. When leaving, I just have to guess whether I should turn east on Arapaho to catch up to where Maps thinks I should have ended up on Preston to start out, or whether it will send me west on Arapaho once it realizes I'm already most of a block in that direction from Preston. It added a minute or two to every trip, and delivery people would fail to find my apartment unless I specifically said "don't use Apple Maps." So I started saying that to everyone, all the time.
Apple's commitment to privacy means that they deliberately don't track the beginning or ending of any trip, but that's precisely the bits they needed to track to see that their routing was completely and totally wrong. So the problem will apparently never be fixed, at least until an Apple employee happens to want to visit a friend who lives in the Enclave at Prestonwood and realizes they can't get there.
So I've switched to Google Maps, and I loathe the lack of privacy, but I love the sharing option, so I guess I'm staying, even though I live elsewhere now.
- nsilvestri 7y agoConvenience and privacy are on a spectrum. More of one means less of the other.
- pwinnski 7y agoI just checked OpenStreetMaps, and it gets the navigation right[0], so that issue is solely Apple's. That said, there's still a visual indication on OSM of a driveway to Preston Rd that does not exist in life. [0] To test, I navigated from 'Renner Frankford Library Branch, 6400, Frankford Road, Dallas, Collin County, Texas, 75252, USA' to '5940, Arapaho Road, Dallas, Dallas County, Texas, 75248, USA' at https://www.openstreetmap.org/directions https://www.openstreetmap.org/directions
- mda 7y agoI don't think there is much difference regarding privacy between apple maps and Google maps. What exactly do you loathe?
- saagarjha 7y ago> So the problem will apparently never be fixed, at least until an Apple employee happens to want to visit a friend who lives in the Enclave at Prestonwood and realizes they can't get there. Or you can report the issue yourself in-app?
- pwinnski 7y agoI haven't figured out how, but since I've gone to the trouble to complain in public, I should dig in and see if I can.