8 ms·

Apple Maps wrongly lists restaurant permanently closed, costing owner thousands

59 points by resolutebat 3y ago

solardev 3y ago
Does Apple not have a business listing management system? On Google Maps anyone can submit a correction. Business owners can also sign up for an account, verify ownership with a mailed postcard, and then claim and protect their listing from rogue edits. How does it work on Apple?
- newsclues 3y ago
  https://support.apple.com/en-ca/guide/maps/mps0fb242419/mac https://support.apple.com/en-ca/guide/maps/mps0fb242419/mac
- vitorgrs 3y ago
  Ironically, they do, but it seems is irrelevant. And it happened the opposite here. A friend these days reported that a Starbucks closed¹. Apple ignored the report, said it needed additional info... He had to take a photo and send it, only them they approved... With Google Maps, there's level system, where people with higher level can fix these issues easier... Not sure if Apple do the same. [1] https://www.threads.net/@willianmax/post/C2P9nweren4 https://www.threads.net/@willianmax/post/C2P9nweren4
  - Larrikin 3y ago
    There should be an open database he could submit that data to, instead of working for Apple for free.
    - chris_wot 3y ago
      It's called Wikidata.
      - resolutebat 3y ago
        Wikidata is not meant for random restaurant listings. OpenStreetMap will happily accept them though.
      - solardev 3y ago
        It's not very useful to have that in a separate place compared to in Google Maps, which consolidates reviews, official business info (closures), traffic, transit, how busy it is, etc.
        Larrikin 3y ago
        I was making the point that it is a complete waste of time to contribute your free time to a corporation that will use your efforts for profit and give you nothing. One of the better things about the old internet was the collaborative effort to build up information, but we should not contribute to closed systems anymore. If Google or Apple wants that information they can figure out how to get it themselves or pay users. It's not our duty to help them scale
        solardev 3y ago
        On one hand, I understand the desire for that, from a sustainable open-data perspective. Any day, Google can decide to close off/enshittify Google Maps (as has already started to happen with location-based ads). However, until and unless that happens, I still find tremendous value in Google Maps, as do many people I know. > It's not our duty to help them scale No, but editing Google Maps also helps a ton of real users, even if Google also happens to profit from it. For the last two decades, Google Maps has been free and used by millions (billions?) of people around the world, myself and most of my friends and family included. More than any other similar service (OSM, TripAdvisor, Yelp, OrganicMaps, county/city GIS, Apple Maps, in-car GPS, standalone GPS, etc.), this has been my go-to mapping & location service, and IMHO it is Google's single best service. Simply put, they do a REALLY good job at it, and it provides unparalleled accuracy and ease of use. The crowdsourced corrections part of it is huge, and not that different from us contributing our opinions here on HN (also a for-profit corporation), or reviewing things on Yelp/Metacritic/whatever, or providing our Android traffic data, etc. Yes, corporations profit from all of that, but they still provide valuable community services. I've seen local businesses gain customers after I updated their listing, delivery drivers find their way after I corrected misplaced pins, etc. It affects and improves my local communities, even as Google profits. Editing OSM doesn't do that, because nobody I know uses it. For me this isn't about "duty" or purity of ethics, just about having a useful & good app to find places and get to them. Again, it's a network effect... it is useful to edit Google Maps because everyone else uses it, and edits it, and in so doing we have a accurate global POI database unmatched by any other effort. Nobody obliges you to use Google Maps. But I'm a very happy user of it, and would gladly pay for it if it weren't free (in fact I wish they offered a paid plan to skip the ads). Do I wish it were a FOSS product run by a nonprofit? Sure. But OSM hasn't caught up in two decades, and it probably won't in my lifetime... if anything the gap between it and Google keeps getting bigger, as Maps gets more and more features and OSM falls further and further behind =/
    - solardev 3y ago
      It's a network effect and most of the good data is on Google Maps. In every place I've lived, OSM has terrible POIs years out of date. Not sure about Apple. I edit OSM on occasion but it's just so bad it's not really usable for me day to day. On the other hand, it's super rare for a Google Maps listing to be totally wrong (vs the pin just being off by a bit), and their corrections UI is way way better than the OSM editor. It takes me like half an hour to edit a feature in OSM that would take about 1 min on Google Maps.
      - habi 3y ago
        > It takes me like half an hour to edit a feature in OSM that would take about 1 min on Google Maps. You could use one of those two apps, editing a POI with them does not take half an hour. - https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/StreetComplete https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/StreetComplete - https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Every_Door https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Every_Door
        solardev 3y ago
        OK, on your suggestion, I just tried both of these apps. StreetComplete seems to be gamified and only wants to show me "quests". I couldn't figure out how to edit a specific business that wasn't a current quest. I poked around for a few min and then gave up. Every Door didn't show me anything at all until I manually downloaded the data, then had a pretty bad UI for editing the operating hours, not even localized to my time locales (12hr time). The time picker is horrendous too. I don't think I can stand this UI, sorry. And when I tried to edit actual vector features on the web-based OSM editor (both of them, or whatever the difference is) it was a much more annoying experience than doing the same thing (like editing a road) on Google Maps. The GMap editor is just much more polished and doesn't require me to go out of my way to make a trivial edit -- as you'd expect from a company with nearly infinite resources. I'm sorry, I get that OSM is a great project, but it's just not something worth my time to try to fix. I've checked in on it (and contributed here and there, once in a great while) since its founding nearly 20 years ago, but I've never found it to have good enough data for day-to-day use, nor easy enough editing features to be worth the hassle. I'm happy it exists, but it's just not something I care enough to regularly contribute to... with limited time, it's just more useful for me to use Google Maps. Sorry, it's selfish, and not idealistic at all, but just being pragmatic. Nobody else I know uses it, either. Everyone I know uses Google Maps, so fixing it there has a cascading effect of usefulness for my entire social circle, like when we want to go to a shared location, I can make sure the pin is where it's supposed to be.
  - solardev 3y ago
    > With Google Maps, there's level system, where people with higher level can fix these issues easier... I'm level 6/10 in that system (several hundred contributions, a few million views) and it's totally hit or miss for me. Some edits go through instantly, others take a few minutes, some take a few weeks or months. Some are peer reviewed, others aren't. It's not a very transparent system and there's no way to track them once you submit it, you just eventually get an email (or not) if it goes through or is rejected.
  - stephenr 3y ago
    On an article about a business incorrectly marked as "closed" you're suggesting that expecting some basic confirmation about a change, is unreasonable?
    - vitorgrs 3y ago
      And it worked for the business? Doesn't seem so. In the end both had incorrect status.
      - stephenr 3y ago
        We don't know why the business was marked as closed. Maybe they had a sign up during the pandemic saying "closed until further notice".
        cudgy 3y ago
        Or a competitor used the handy correction feature to mark the business closed?
        stephenr 3y ago
        Sounds like exactly the sort of scenario you'd want them to confirm with something like a photo... the exact thing the original comment is complaining about happening.
- brundolf 3y ago
  I don't know about businesses, but individuals can definitely issue corrections: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39098692 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39098692
- hnburnsy 3y ago
  Apple Business Connect https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2023/01/introducing-apple-business-connect/ https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2023/01/introducing-apple-bus... >Apple today introduced Apple Business Connect, a free tool that allows businesses of all sizes to claim their location place cards and customize the way key information appears to more than a billion Apple users across Apple Maps, Messages, Wallet, Siri, and other apps. https://businessconnect.apple.com/ https://businessconnect.apple.com/
Animats 3y ago
So sue for defamation. Apple's terms and EULA don't matter, because the injured party is not an Apple customer.
- shepherdjerred 3y ago
  Absolutely ridiculous. I would hope that any such lawsuit would be thrown out, unless this is a particularly widespread issue, or Apple intended to harm this business. This seems like an honest mistake on Apple's part, perhaps because someone reported the business as closed. What do you want Apple to do? Personally verify every edit to every business on Maps?
  - deleted 3y ago
    [deleted]
  - striking 3y ago
    The business owner attempted to notify Apple and struggled to do so. The news organization notified them by way of asking for comment and Apple still got the location of the business wrong. How honest does an honest mistake have to be before you can sue for restitution, even if it only amounts to a small claim?
    - deleted 3y ago
      [deleted]
    - threeseed 3y ago
      So it is really easy to update the information. Anyone with an iPhone, Mac or web browser can do so and I've done it dozens of time because as everyone knows the POI quality is terrible. And it's really not hard to interact with Apple here in Australia. You can either call their support number which goes direct to a person or visit an Apple Store.
      - cozzyd 3y ago
        Can you submit corrections via a web browser without any sort of apple account? (I have no idea, I've never used apple maps or an iDevice...)
mustacheemperor 3y ago
It feels like you have to choose between Google Maps, with up to date information but an ad-riddled, not-useful interface, or Apple Maps, with a simpler map interface but worthlessly unreliable information. Looking for a place to eat in downtown SF always requires sifting through multiple listings for "permanently closed" restaurants that have indeed been closed, for a decade. Why do those still need to appear on the default view? On the other hand, a new record store just opened up in North Beach recently - already on Google Maps but, of course, still missing on Apple Maps this weekend.
- WheatMillington 3y ago
  I'll choose the map system that actually works... maybe I'm alone but I don't remember ever being served an ad in Google Maps.
  - cozzyd 3y ago
    I think businesses can pay to show up at lower zoom levels?
  - mustacheemperor 3y ago
    In my opinion the "Latest in the Area" screen using 30% of real estate by default when you launch the app is an ad, regardless of whether the businesses featured there actually pay Google or just show up there randomly.
- carlosjobim 3y ago
  You can have as many map apps on your phone as you like, then use the right app for what the right occasion. So Google Maps to find a restaurant, Apple Maps or Waze for driving, etc. No need to choose.
deleted 3y ago
[deleted]
shepherdjerred 3y ago
This is very unfortunate, and I hope the restaurant can recover. Apple could do better here to make it easier for restaurant owners to keep their information up-to-date. I imagine this situation would be particularly frustrating for anyone non-technical. I think that errors like these are inevitable, though. It's probably not possible to map the entire world's restaurants without making mistakes.
- threeseed 3y ago
  > Apple could do better here to make it easier for restaurant owners to keep their information up-to-date They have a portal at https://businessconnect.apple.com https://businessconnect.apple.com. I just updated a business and it took about 30s.
  - fortran77 3y ago
    I just tried it and was unable to do it. It asked for an "Apple ID"
    - wilg 3y ago
      yes there's a login involved
    - olliej 3y ago
      ... yes? just like you need a google account to use google's business services So you weren't unable to do it, you made a choice to rely on automated systems getting the right information through scraping or whatever they do. That's your choice, but you don't get to then act like it was not possible to do the task. That's like saying "I tried to rent a car from hertz but that's no actually possible. They asked for a 'license'".
      - fortran77 3y ago
        > That's like saying "I tried to rent a car from hertz but that's no actually possible. They asked for a 'license'". No, that's nothing like what it's like. It's like "I woke up this morning and there's a Hertz car parked in my front lawn, but when I call Hertz to tell them about the problem, they won't talk to me unless I sign a contract with them."
JKCalhoun 3y ago
Wondering when enshittification (dislike the term, but there you go) of maps will come and they start charging businesses if they want to be listed at all.
andreareina 3y ago
Apple Maps business listings are woefully unreliable. Much less likely to have data (hours, phone/website, existence...) and what data is there is often stale. Only reason I use it is to avoid installing Google apps and IME OSM[1] is even worse. If I actually depended on maps for anything important on a regular basis there's no question I'd be using Google. [1] OpenStreetMap
brundolf 3y ago
I make something of a hobby out of filing Apple Maps corrections. Partly for my own reference, partly to support businesses (especially ones I really love), and partly just because there are lots of opportunities to do so because it isn't google maps, and it's fun to see one accepted, like a little game To their credit, they're usually quick to turn around and update the info (or follow up for additional evidence that the correction is accurate)
- ceejayoz 3y ago
  I have an Apple Maps issue I can't figure out how to file a report of. I live at 123 My Street, and there's a nearby 123 East My Street about two miles north. If I say "Hey Siri, directions to Home", and I'm north of both of them, it'll direct me to the wrong place. If I'm south, it'll take me to the correct home. (The closest one, it'd seem.) Same thing even if I type the exact correct address into Apple Maps.
  - orik 3y ago
    Are these not in different cities? If they are in the same city you could ask the city to rename your street 123 My Street South or something?
    - ceejayoz 3y ago
      All in the same town. Unlike most street name splits (like West Main / East Main), they're not even connected. Very little chance they'd change street names over this.
    - kibibu 3y ago
      This is a new level of bending to Apple's inadequacies. How about Apple figure out that streets with different but similar names exist? Or store "home" as a coordinate instead of an address?
  - voisin 3y ago
    Could you label Home with your gps coordinates?
dsmmcken 3y ago
I have the reverse problem with a bank atm in my city on google maps. I've marked it permanently closed several times. It will get marked permanently closed, then months later appear open again. The first time that happened, I actually went back thinking maybe they re-opened it, but nope still just a vacant wall with a bunch of 1 star reviews.
bcrl 3y ago
Google Maps recently changed our street name... to something that doesn't match what's on the sign (the word that was at the end is now at the beginning). We've had multiple failed deliveries because there are multiple "nearest neighbour" matches while the correct match doesn't show up for most searches. Submitting a report hasn't resulted in a response. Argh. So much of tech seems to be a constant uphill battle wasting time these days.
r00fus 3y ago
I found this happens all the time on Yelp, Apple Maps and Google Maps. It's particularly bad in non-US countries (e.g. France) where you get sent to a residential house for a Decathlon. For years, my house was listed as being about a mile away - I have fought with Google and Apple to get these changed so delivery services don't mis-deliver.
skygazer 3y ago
I've found Apple extremely responsive when I report errors on the map. Fixes generally made in a few days. I've only used it for missing addresses, wrong street name, and bad directions, not business info, but I'd be surprised if it was different.
hysan 3y ago
I’ve had this happen on Google Maps multiple times. I don’t think this is unique to Apple.
tgsovlerkhgsel 3y ago
> there was still a major problem. "The pin drop on the map is wrong," Mr Pyatt said. So there's a good chance someone didn't locate the restaurant at the indicated location, then as a result, marked it closed. No idea how that happened of course, and the article does report that even people correctly using the business owner tools to try to fix it are unsuccessful, but it does show how keeping your maps entries up to date is both critical for small physical businesses, and hard for many of them. It's also important to keep your business hours up to date on any mapping platform commonly used in your area. Having out of date business hours not only loses customers or frustrates them, a customer standing in front of the business while it's supposed to be open according to the maps entry but is actually closed might press the button to mark it as "permanently closed" either because they confused it with the proper button, or out of spite because they're frustrated that they went there in vain. Sure, map providers should have a review process for it, but the graveyards are filled with people who had the right of way, and it will affect your business much more than theirs if you get hit by this.
bloob 3y ago
Apple listed my business as temporarily closed and removed my physical address from their map database without any consultation from me. I'm now living and working in a paddock, road gone! All other competitors services are showing accurately. I have no recourse other than to look into legal action and have been in touch with local media to try and rally against this. Apple have been unhelpful and don't grasp the concept that if I'm trying to claim my business to correct the map issue (their suggestion) that they can't keep rejecting this claim because they can't locate my business on their map went through several "levels" and none of them could understand the dilemma. Was advised there may be no favourable outcome. To anyone who thinks this is totally acceptable, politely get bent. They are 100% trying to force people into their services and what they require doesn't match the business laws of the country they are operating in.

59 points by resolutebat 3y ago

Does Apple not have a business listing management system? On Google Maps anyone can submit a correction. Business owners can also sign up for an account, verify ownership with a mailed postcard, and then claim and protect their listing from rogue edits. How does it work on Apple?

newsclues 3y ago
https://support.apple.com/en-ca/guide/maps/mps0fb242419/mac https://support.apple.com/en-ca/guide/maps/mps0fb242419/mac
vitorgrs 3y ago
Ironically, they do, but it seems is irrelevant. And it happened the opposite here. A friend these days reported that a Starbucks closed¹. Apple ignored the report, said it needed additional info... He had to take a photo and send it, only them they approved... With Google Maps, there's level system, where people with higher level can fix these issues easier... Not sure if Apple do the same. [1] https://www.threads.net/@willianmax/post/C2P9nweren4 https://www.threads.net/@willianmax/post/C2P9nweren4
- Larrikin 3y ago
  There should be an open database he could submit that data to, instead of working for Apple for free.
  - chris_wot 3y ago
    It's called Wikidata.
    - resolutebat 3y ago
      Wikidata is not meant for random restaurant listings. OpenStreetMap will happily accept them though.
    - solardev 3y ago
      It's not very useful to have that in a separate place compared to in Google Maps, which consolidates reviews, official business info (closures), traffic, transit, how busy it is, etc.
      - Larrikin 3y ago
        I was making the point that it is a complete waste of time to contribute your free time to a corporation that will use your efforts for profit and give you nothing. One of the better things about the old internet was the collaborative effort to build up information, but we should not contribute to closed systems anymore. If Google or Apple wants that information they can figure out how to get it themselves or pay users. It's not our duty to help them scale
        solardev 3y ago
        On one hand, I understand the desire for that, from a sustainable open-data perspective. Any day, Google can decide to close off/enshittify Google Maps (as has already started to happen with location-based ads). However, until and unless that happens, I still find tremendous value in Google Maps, as do many people I know. > It's not our duty to help them scale No, but editing Google Maps also helps a ton of real users, even if Google also happens to profit from it. For the last two decades, Google Maps has been free and used by millions (billions?) of people around the world, myself and most of my friends and family included. More than any other similar service (OSM, TripAdvisor, Yelp, OrganicMaps, county/city GIS, Apple Maps, in-car GPS, standalone GPS, etc.), this has been my go-to mapping & location service, and IMHO it is Google's single best service. Simply put, they do a REALLY good job at it, and it provides unparalleled accuracy and ease of use. The crowdsourced corrections part of it is huge, and not that different from us contributing our opinions here on HN (also a for-profit corporation), or reviewing things on Yelp/Metacritic/whatever, or providing our Android traffic data, etc. Yes, corporations profit from all of that, but they still provide valuable community services. I've seen local businesses gain customers after I updated their listing, delivery drivers find their way after I corrected misplaced pins, etc. It affects and improves my local communities, even as Google profits. Editing OSM doesn't do that, because nobody I know uses it. For me this isn't about "duty" or purity of ethics, just about having a useful & good app to find places and get to them. Again, it's a network effect... it is useful to edit Google Maps because everyone else uses it, and edits it, and in so doing we have a accurate global POI database unmatched by any other effort. Nobody obliges you to use Google Maps. But I'm a very happy user of it, and would gladly pay for it if it weren't free (in fact I wish they offered a paid plan to skip the ads). Do I wish it were a FOSS product run by a nonprofit? Sure. But OSM hasn't caught up in two decades, and it probably won't in my lifetime... if anything the gap between it and Google keeps getting bigger, as Maps gets more and more features and OSM falls further and further behind =/
  - solardev 3y ago
    It's a network effect and most of the good data is on Google Maps. In every place I've lived, OSM has terrible POIs years out of date. Not sure about Apple. I edit OSM on occasion but it's just so bad it's not really usable for me day to day. On the other hand, it's super rare for a Google Maps listing to be totally wrong (vs the pin just being off by a bit), and their corrections UI is way way better than the OSM editor. It takes me like half an hour to edit a feature in OSM that would take about 1 min on Google Maps.
    - habi 3y ago
      > It takes me like half an hour to edit a feature in OSM that would take about 1 min on Google Maps. You could use one of those two apps, editing a POI with them does not take half an hour. - https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/StreetComplete https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/StreetComplete - https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Every_Door https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Every_Door
      - solardev 3y ago
        OK, on your suggestion, I just tried both of these apps. StreetComplete seems to be gamified and only wants to show me "quests". I couldn't figure out how to edit a specific business that wasn't a current quest. I poked around for a few min and then gave up. Every Door didn't show me anything at all until I manually downloaded the data, then had a pretty bad UI for editing the operating hours, not even localized to my time locales (12hr time). The time picker is horrendous too. I don't think I can stand this UI, sorry. And when I tried to edit actual vector features on the web-based OSM editor (both of them, or whatever the difference is) it was a much more annoying experience than doing the same thing (like editing a road) on Google Maps. The GMap editor is just much more polished and doesn't require me to go out of my way to make a trivial edit -- as you'd expect from a company with nearly infinite resources. I'm sorry, I get that OSM is a great project, but it's just not something worth my time to try to fix. I've checked in on it (and contributed here and there, once in a great while) since its founding nearly 20 years ago, but I've never found it to have good enough data for day-to-day use, nor easy enough editing features to be worth the hassle. I'm happy it exists, but it's just not something I care enough to regularly contribute to... with limited time, it's just more useful for me to use Google Maps. Sorry, it's selfish, and not idealistic at all, but just being pragmatic. Nobody else I know uses it, either. Everyone I know uses Google Maps, so fixing it there has a cascading effect of usefulness for my entire social circle, like when we want to go to a shared location, I can make sure the pin is where it's supposed to be.
- solardev 3y ago
  > With Google Maps, there's level system, where people with higher level can fix these issues easier... I'm level 6/10 in that system (several hundred contributions, a few million views) and it's totally hit or miss for me. Some edits go through instantly, others take a few minutes, some take a few weeks or months. Some are peer reviewed, others aren't. It's not a very transparent system and there's no way to track them once you submit it, you just eventually get an email (or not) if it goes through or is rejected.
- stephenr 3y ago
  On an article about a business incorrectly marked as "closed" you're suggesting that expecting some basic confirmation about a change, is unreasonable?
  - vitorgrs 3y ago
    And it worked for the business? Doesn't seem so. In the end both had incorrect status.
    - stephenr 3y ago
      We don't know why the business was marked as closed. Maybe they had a sign up during the pandemic saying "closed until further notice".
      - cudgy 3y ago
        Or a competitor used the handy correction feature to mark the business closed?
        stephenr 3y ago
        Sounds like exactly the sort of scenario you'd want them to confirm with something like a photo... the exact thing the original comment is complaining about happening.
brundolf 3y ago
I don't know about businesses, but individuals can definitely issue corrections: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39098692 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39098692
hnburnsy 3y ago
Apple Business Connect https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2023/01/introducing-apple-business-connect/ https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2023/01/introducing-apple-bus... >Apple today introduced Apple Business Connect, a free tool that allows businesses of all sizes to claim their location place cards and customize the way key information appears to more than a billion Apple users across Apple Maps, Messages, Wallet, Siri, and other apps. https://businessconnect.apple.com/ https://businessconnect.apple.com/

Animats 3y ago

So sue for defamation. Apple's terms and EULA don't matter, because the injured party is not an Apple customer.

shepherdjerred 3y ago
Absolutely ridiculous. I would hope that any such lawsuit would be thrown out, unless this is a particularly widespread issue, or Apple intended to harm this business. This seems like an honest mistake on Apple's part, perhaps because someone reported the business as closed. What do you want Apple to do? Personally verify every edit to every business on Maps?
- deleted 3y ago
  [deleted]
- striking 3y ago
  The business owner attempted to notify Apple and struggled to do so. The news organization notified them by way of asking for comment and Apple still got the location of the business wrong. How honest does an honest mistake have to be before you can sue for restitution, even if it only amounts to a small claim?
  - deleted 3y ago
    [deleted]
  - threeseed 3y ago
    So it is really easy to update the information. Anyone with an iPhone, Mac or web browser can do so and I've done it dozens of time because as everyone knows the POI quality is terrible. And it's really not hard to interact with Apple here in Australia. You can either call their support number which goes direct to a person or visit an Apple Store.
    - cozzyd 3y ago
      Can you submit corrections via a web browser without any sort of apple account? (I have no idea, I've never used apple maps or an iDevice...)

mustacheemperor 3y ago

It feels like you have to choose between Google Maps, with up to date information but an ad-riddled, not-useful interface, or Apple Maps, with a simpler map interface but worthlessly unreliable information. Looking for a place to eat in downtown SF always requires sifting through multiple listings for "permanently closed" restaurants that have indeed been closed, for a decade. Why do those still need to appear on the default view? On the other hand, a new record store just opened up in North Beach recently - already on Google Maps but, of course, still missing on Apple Maps this weekend.

WheatMillington 3y ago
I'll choose the map system that actually works... maybe I'm alone but I don't remember ever being served an ad in Google Maps.
- cozzyd 3y ago
  I think businesses can pay to show up at lower zoom levels?
- mustacheemperor 3y ago
  In my opinion the "Latest in the Area" screen using 30% of real estate by default when you launch the app is an ad, regardless of whether the businesses featured there actually pay Google or just show up there randomly.
carlosjobim 3y ago
You can have as many map apps on your phone as you like, then use the right app for what the right occasion. So Google Maps to find a restaurant, Apple Maps or Waze for driving, etc. No need to choose.

deleted 3y ago

[deleted]

shepherdjerred 3y ago

This is very unfortunate, and I hope the restaurant can recover. Apple could do better here to make it easier for restaurant owners to keep their information up-to-date. I imagine this situation would be particularly frustrating for anyone non-technical. I think that errors like these are inevitable, though. It's probably not possible to map the entire world's restaurants without making mistakes.

threeseed 3y ago
> Apple could do better here to make it easier for restaurant owners to keep their information up-to-date They have a portal at https://businessconnect.apple.com https://businessconnect.apple.com. I just updated a business and it took about 30s.
- fortran77 3y ago
  I just tried it and was unable to do it. It asked for an "Apple ID"
  - wilg 3y ago
    yes there's a login involved
  - olliej 3y ago
    ... yes? just like you need a google account to use google's business services So you weren't unable to do it, you made a choice to rely on automated systems getting the right information through scraping or whatever they do. That's your choice, but you don't get to then act like it was not possible to do the task. That's like saying "I tried to rent a car from hertz but that's no actually possible. They asked for a 'license'".
    - fortran77 3y ago
      > That's like saying "I tried to rent a car from hertz but that's no actually possible. They asked for a 'license'". No, that's nothing like what it's like. It's like "I woke up this morning and there's a Hertz car parked in my front lawn, but when I call Hertz to tell them about the problem, they won't talk to me unless I sign a contract with them."

JKCalhoun 3y ago

Wondering when enshittification (dislike the term, but there you go) of maps will come and they start charging businesses if they want to be listed at all.

andreareina 3y ago

Apple Maps business listings are woefully unreliable. Much less likely to have data (hours, phone/website, existence...) and what data is there is often stale. Only reason I use it is to avoid installing Google apps and IME OSM[1] is even worse. If I actually depended on maps for anything important on a regular basis there's no question I'd be using Google. [1] OpenStreetMap

brundolf 3y ago

I make something of a hobby out of filing Apple Maps corrections. Partly for my own reference, partly to support businesses (especially ones I really love), and partly just because there are lots of opportunities to do so because it isn't google maps, and it's fun to see one accepted, like a little game To their credit, they're usually quick to turn around and update the info (or follow up for additional evidence that the correction is accurate)

ceejayoz 3y ago
I have an Apple Maps issue I can't figure out how to file a report of. I live at 123 My Street, and there's a nearby 123 East My Street about two miles north. If I say "Hey Siri, directions to Home", and I'm north of both of them, it'll direct me to the wrong place. If I'm south, it'll take me to the correct home. (The closest one, it'd seem.) Same thing even if I type the exact correct address into Apple Maps.
- orik 3y ago
  Are these not in different cities? If they are in the same city you could ask the city to rename your street 123 My Street South or something?
  - ceejayoz 3y ago
    All in the same town. Unlike most street name splits (like West Main / East Main), they're not even connected. Very little chance they'd change street names over this.
  - kibibu 3y ago
    This is a new level of bending to Apple's inadequacies. How about Apple figure out that streets with different but similar names exist? Or store "home" as a coordinate instead of an address?
- voisin 3y ago
  Could you label Home with your gps coordinates?

dsmmcken 3y ago

I have the reverse problem with a bank atm in my city on google maps. I've marked it permanently closed several times. It will get marked permanently closed, then months later appear open again. The first time that happened, I actually went back thinking maybe they re-opened it, but nope still just a vacant wall with a bunch of 1 star reviews.

bcrl 3y ago

Google Maps recently changed our street name... to something that doesn't match what's on the sign (the word that was at the end is now at the beginning). We've had multiple failed deliveries because there are multiple "nearest neighbour" matches while the correct match doesn't show up for most searches. Submitting a report hasn't resulted in a response. Argh. So much of tech seems to be a constant uphill battle wasting time these days.

r00fus 3y ago

I found this happens all the time on Yelp, Apple Maps and Google Maps. It's particularly bad in non-US countries (e.g. France) where you get sent to a residential house for a Decathlon. For years, my house was listed as being about a mile away - I have fought with Google and Apple to get these changed so delivery services don't mis-deliver.

skygazer 3y ago

I've found Apple extremely responsive when I report errors on the map. Fixes generally made in a few days. I've only used it for missing addresses, wrong street name, and bad directions, not business info, but I'd be surprised if it was different.

hysan 3y ago

I’ve had this happen on Google Maps multiple times. I don’t think this is unique to Apple.

tgsovlerkhgsel 3y ago

> there was still a major problem. "The pin drop on the map is wrong," Mr Pyatt said. So there's a good chance someone didn't locate the restaurant at the indicated location, then as a result, marked it closed. No idea how that happened of course, and the article does report that even people correctly using the business owner tools to try to fix it are unsuccessful, but it does show how keeping your maps entries up to date is both critical for small physical businesses, and hard for many of them. It's also important to keep your business hours up to date on any mapping platform commonly used in your area. Having out of date business hours not only loses customers or frustrates them, a customer standing in front of the business while it's supposed to be open according to the maps entry but is actually closed might press the button to mark it as "permanently closed" either because they confused it with the proper button, or out of spite because they're frustrated that they went there in vain. Sure, map providers should have a review process for it, but the graveyards are filled with people who had the right of way, and it will affect your business much more than theirs if you get hit by this.

bloob 3y ago

Apple listed my business as temporarily closed and removed my physical address from their map database without any consultation from me. I'm now living and working in a paddock, road gone! All other competitors services are showing accurately. I have no recourse other than to look into legal action and have been in touch with local media to try and rally against this. Apple have been unhelpful and don't grasp the concept that if I'm trying to claim my business to correct the map issue (their suggestion) that they can't keep rejecting this claim because they can't locate my business on their map went through several "levels" and none of them could understand the dilemma. Was advised there may be no favourable outcome. To anyone who thinks this is totally acceptable, politely get bent. They are 100% trying to force people into their services and what they require doesn't match the business laws of the country they are operating in.