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I tried opening Apple Maps, and they are still way behind Google in almost everything where I live in (EU, Italy). For instance, Apple Maps correctly pins my pa

I tried opening Apple Maps, and they are still way behind Google in almost everything where I live in (EU, Italy). For instance, Apple Maps correctly pins my parent's house but they show it as being several hundred metres away from the street (it's not). Look around also isn't available in my area, and as far as I could see it's not even available in Milan (there's 3D available, though). The only areas I saw the binoculars icon turning on was while hovering over London and Dublin, which puts it firmly at least 10 years behind what Google's been offering in Europe, which has close to complete coverage of rural areas, including in certain parts even roads not fully paved. I think that outside the USA (and China, where Google maps isn't available) it will be a while before people will actually consider switching. The only thing I'm sure of is that I haven't seen any iPhone user using Apple Maps in my area since, I don't know, ever.

joseph_grobbles 6y ago
Maybe you lumped Canada in with the US, but Apple Maps is superb here, and I always default to it with few complaints [1]. It already was brilliant for navigation, but their recent detail update makes it much more usable for map porn. The fun thing about maps is that there is little lock-in. If I go to someplace where Apple Maps is poor, I'll open Google Maps. Heck, if a particular city or country had a superior option ("ItalyMapper" where the citizens and government of Italy put group effort into making an excellent product) I'd use that for the trip. There is absolutely nothing saying that it's all or nothing (you aren't saying this, but some other comments are arguing as if this is a holistic binary choice that we all have to make. But we don't). My son sends me Google Maps links when he's at friends and needs a pickup because that's what he uses. Whatever. I use GM for that trip, but revert back to AM when I am setting directions myself. [1] - I enjoy the app more, don't like Google tracking, and it's simply better at navigating. GM does a lot of weird stuff. On major city streets with two lanes in each direction, but with an extra left turning lane that appears near the intersection, it will say "stay right to continue straight" as I approach. It is confusing -- do I need to move to the right lane? (no) -- and when the actual instructions are just "keep going straight" it's needlessly intrusive because of course that is what I was going to do regardless. Weird little quirks like that abound.

joseph_grobbles 6y ago

Maybe you lumped Canada in with the US, but Apple Maps is superb here, and I always default to it with few complaints [1]. It already was brilliant for navigation, but their recent detail update makes it much more usable for map porn. The fun thing about maps is that there is little lock-in. If I go to someplace where Apple Maps is poor, I'll open Google Maps. Heck, if a particular city or country had a superior option ("ItalyMapper" where the citizens and government of Italy put group effort into making an excellent product) I'd use that for the trip. There is absolutely nothing saying that it's all or nothing (you aren't saying this, but some other comments are arguing as if this is a holistic binary choice that we all have to make. But we don't). My son sends me Google Maps links when he's at friends and needs a pickup because that's what he uses. Whatever. I use GM for that trip, but revert back to AM when I am setting directions myself. [1] - I enjoy the app more, don't like Google tracking, and it's simply better at navigating. GM does a lot of weird stuff. On major city streets with two lanes in each direction, but with an extra left turning lane that appears near the intersection, it will say "stay right to continue straight" as I approach. It is confusing -- do I need to move to the right lane? (no) -- and when the actual instructions are just "keep going straight" it's needlessly intrusive because of course that is what I was going to do regardless. Weird little quirks like that abound.