4 ms·

Apple maps is ... pretty bad though.

axolttl88 3y ago
It’s not, though. It might be uneven in different markets, but they’ve been working very hard at improving the content and UX and in a number of markets it’s a viable and very strong competitor to Google Maps. It will sometimes feel the lack of Google Business Listings, but the driving/walking/biking/transport/streetview experience is uniformly great where they’re released optimised versions of their maps — in my case Australia.
_hzw 3y ago
I live in Germany. After dual-using Google Maps and Apple Maps for a year, I've finally uninstalled Google Maps and now use only Apple Maps.
- guappa 3y ago
  Try osmand, it's based over the openstreetmaps data and you can download the map, so it works also with no internet. In germany it should be very good.
edgyquant 3y ago
Maybe, it’s better than Google maps though and that is what matters here
Modified3019 3y ago
It was certainly horrific for a while, I work in agriculture across a large area and we "banned" a coworker from using it because all of the pins they would send us would end up a mile away somehow, whereas they didn't have that problem with google maps. However it is very much improved these days, and workable enough. Definitely worth a re-evaluation. Incidentally, I encounter two intermittent bugs in google maps: - This past year there's a bug that mirrors the old apple maps problem of sending me somewhere way off from my destination in some rare and particular (barely inhabited) areas, like an AI is trying to snap the point to something normal people would recognize as a destination. But no, my destination really is the side of a field. I find I can get around this by doing a longer hold press when setting the location which seems to force the coordinates. It's always important to double check the destination didn't change on me. - Sometimes when clicking "Start", the app will get stuck presenting some kind of text only directions with no way to get away from that damned useless white screen until I kill the app and re-enter the destination.
dijit 3y ago
Apple maps was worse at launch than Google Maps was at the time. However I welcomed the change as it was Google which was preventing Siri from working outside of north america ("find restaurant near me"; didn't work in the UK until after Apple Maps) Today the landscape is different. Google Maps is positively littered with ads which makes it in some cases very annoying to use. Turn-by-turn navigation, if you have carplay is much superior with apple maps. They have comparably updated maps data. So, it's a marginally better usability in some cases and equivalent in most. Google has two advantages: Reviews and more accurate points of interest (if they are businesses).
- oblio 3y ago
  > Google has two advantages: Reviews and more accurate points of interest (if they are businesses). Unless someone can prove me wrong, Google probably has four advantages, and the last two are MAJOR ones. 3. Google Maps probably has MUCH better worldwide coverage. Which means that Apple Maps is useless in large parts of the world. 4. Google Maps can be used on any platform (Android, Windows).
  - guappa 3y ago
    Where I live, OSM is quite ok. It doesn't generally have the opening hours of the venues… but the opening hours in google are generally made up so that's ok. OSM has all the mountain trails and caves and hostels, where as gmaps just shows a huge green blob.
    - albert180 3y ago
      There is StreetComplete which makes it really easy to contribute such data. In Osmand it's a bit more work, but still not difficult
  - dijit 3y ago
    3. Apple has global coverage for its maps (or at least equal to Google). Apple maps is formerly Tomtom after all. Google Maps excels in providing comprehensive information on public transportation routes with much better coverage, but driving routes are equivalent. 4. Eh. We are talking about Apple products so hardly relevant. Apple successfully displaced Google on its platform with a product that is sometimes better and not particularly worse.
amerkhalid 3y ago
It used to be but these days there is no real difference. I prefer Apple Maps mostly because it has no ads and works better with Apple Watch.
cvhashim04 3y ago
It’s gotten really good, I prefer it to maps with directions
rdtsc 3y ago
It’s good enough for me to use it by default. It probably location dependent?
Aerbil313 3y ago
I find it pretty acceptable these days. And has some advantages over Google maps due to native integration, like showing directly navigation screen when you take your phone out of your pocket without a need to unlock your phone or touch the screen.
two_handfuls 3y ago
In my experience, it’s good now.
tristor 3y ago
> Apple maps is ... pretty bad though. I thought the same thing till I bought my new car recently and started using Maps due to Carplay. It has MASSIVELY improved since launch. In fact, my wife is an Android user and we will compare them regularly on trips and in many case Apple Maps will cover parts of the route that Google Maps will not. An example is gated communities, Google Maps usually ends at the gate, Apple Maps will route to the house. I think Google Maps has better traffic data (but that’s thanks to buying Waze), but Apple Maps has better routing. Google Maps has more up to date POI data, but Apple Maps is not far behind. Try it again and see, you still may be prefer Google Maps but it’s not the night and day difference between the two it once was.

It’s not, though. It might be uneven in different markets, but they’ve been working very hard at improving the content and UX and in a number of markets it’s a viable and very strong competitor to Google Maps. It will sometimes feel the lack of Google Business Listings, but the driving/walking/biking/transport/streetview experience is uniformly great where they’re released optimised versions of their maps — in my case Australia.

_hzw 3y ago

I live in Germany. After dual-using Google Maps and Apple Maps for a year, I've finally uninstalled Google Maps and now use only Apple Maps.

guappa 3y ago
Try osmand, it's based over the openstreetmaps data and you can download the map, so it works also with no internet. In germany it should be very good.

edgyquant 3y ago

Maybe, it’s better than Google maps though and that is what matters here

Modified3019 3y ago

It was certainly horrific for a while, I work in agriculture across a large area and we "banned" a coworker from using it because all of the pins they would send us would end up a mile away somehow, whereas they didn't have that problem with google maps. However it is very much improved these days, and workable enough. Definitely worth a re-evaluation. Incidentally, I encounter two intermittent bugs in google maps: - This past year there's a bug that mirrors the old apple maps problem of sending me somewhere way off from my destination in some rare and particular (barely inhabited) areas, like an AI is trying to snap the point to something normal people would recognize as a destination. But no, my destination really is the side of a field. I find I can get around this by doing a longer hold press when setting the location which seems to force the coordinates. It's always important to double check the destination didn't change on me. - Sometimes when clicking "Start", the app will get stuck presenting some kind of text only directions with no way to get away from that damned useless white screen until I kill the app and re-enter the destination.

dijit 3y ago

Apple maps was worse at launch than Google Maps was at the time. However I welcomed the change as it was Google which was preventing Siri from working outside of north america ("find restaurant near me"; didn't work in the UK until after Apple Maps) Today the landscape is different. Google Maps is positively littered with ads which makes it in some cases very annoying to use. Turn-by-turn navigation, if you have carplay is much superior with apple maps. They have comparably updated maps data. So, it's a marginally better usability in some cases and equivalent in most. Google has two advantages: Reviews and more accurate points of interest (if they are businesses).

oblio 3y ago
> Google has two advantages: Reviews and more accurate points of interest (if they are businesses). Unless someone can prove me wrong, Google probably has four advantages, and the last two are MAJOR ones. 3. Google Maps probably has MUCH better worldwide coverage. Which means that Apple Maps is useless in large parts of the world. 4. Google Maps can be used on any platform (Android, Windows).
- guappa 3y ago
  Where I live, OSM is quite ok. It doesn't generally have the opening hours of the venues… but the opening hours in google are generally made up so that's ok. OSM has all the mountain trails and caves and hostels, where as gmaps just shows a huge green blob.
  - albert180 3y ago
    There is StreetComplete which makes it really easy to contribute such data. In Osmand it's a bit more work, but still not difficult
- dijit 3y ago
  3. Apple has global coverage for its maps (or at least equal to Google). Apple maps is formerly Tomtom after all. Google Maps excels in providing comprehensive information on public transportation routes with much better coverage, but driving routes are equivalent. 4. Eh. We are talking about Apple products so hardly relevant. Apple successfully displaced Google on its platform with a product that is sometimes better and not particularly worse.

amerkhalid 3y ago

It used to be but these days there is no real difference. I prefer Apple Maps mostly because it has no ads and works better with Apple Watch.

cvhashim04 3y ago

It’s gotten really good, I prefer it to maps with directions

rdtsc 3y ago

It’s good enough for me to use it by default. It probably location dependent?

Aerbil313 3y ago

I find it pretty acceptable these days. And has some advantages over Google maps due to native integration, like showing directly navigation screen when you take your phone out of your pocket without a need to unlock your phone or touch the screen.

two_handfuls 3y ago

In my experience, it’s good now.

tristor 3y ago

> Apple maps is ... pretty bad though. I thought the same thing till I bought my new car recently and started using Maps due to Carplay. It has MASSIVELY improved since launch. In fact, my wife is an Android user and we will compare them regularly on trips and in many case Apple Maps will cover parts of the route that Google Maps will not. An example is gated communities, Google Maps usually ends at the gate, Apple Maps will route to the house. I think Google Maps has better traffic data (but that’s thanks to buying Waze), but Apple Maps has better routing. Google Maps has more up to date POI data, but Apple Maps is not far behind. Try it again and see, you still may be prefer Google Maps but it’s not the night and day difference between the two it once was.