5 ms·

1/3 the quality? Have you used the maps? I agree that they're not amazing, but in my experience the complaints about low quality seem overblown. It's a first g

by freyr 14y ago

1/3 the quality? Have you used the maps? I agree that they're not amazing, but in my experience the complaints about low quality seem overblown. It's a first generation product. By putting it out there and getting actual user feedback, this should accelerate the development.

eggbrain 14y ago
Maps become exponentially better the closer they get to accurate. Even if Apple has, let's say, 90% of the map data/information that Google does, the minute you are sent to the wrong location, or to a store that doesn't exist, or try to get transit directions and can't, or get routed via the most convoluted route possible to your destination, the Maps app has failed.
- wilfra 14y ago
  I've experienced every one of those scenarios in the last week. And I live a few miles from Apple headquarters! Turn by turn navigation is awesome though. Once they've worked out the kinks I'm sure this experience will be better overall.
  - guyzero 14y ago
    I keep hearing from iphone users that phrase almost verbatim: "Turn by turn navigation is awesome though". If it's so awesome, why didn't you buy a standalone GPS or an Android phone over the last few years? Because it's nifty but for most iPhone users this is not a must-have feature. Which is why Apple can get away with shipping a crap maps app.
    - fpgeek 14y ago
      Or, even easier, a navigation app from Apple's app store...
    - wilfra 14y ago
      Do any of those work with Siri? That's the big value for me. When the new Maps work it is pure magic (sorry for the iMeme but it really is). -Looking straight ahead, grab phone and hold down Home button. -Siri chirps -"I need directions to foo" -"Here are directions to foo" -"In X miles turn Y on N" The only time I touched the phone was to hold down the Home button. Never once looked away from the road. It's amazing.
      - Macha 14y ago
        A quick test on my Android phone (Desire HD running 4.1) shows that Google Now works the same way. Voice search always existed on Android, but it was certainly less polished around 2.2. Can't tell how it worked before as it never understood my accent, but then again, neither does Siri. Edit: Two presses if you want audio instructions. Google Now opens maps which doesn't do audio instructions apparently rather than navigation which does. There's a button for navigation in the maps app.
- r00fus 14y ago
  Maps is a smartphone killer app - I remember my friend being able to map (in a rudimentary displkay) nearby restaurants on a 2004 windows mobile phone and thinking how awesome that was. Just like I was amazed when the iPhone completely blew away the competition in 2007. However, is it a mission-critical app? What percentage of the userbase actually needs maps on a day to day basis? What did you do in 2005 when your GPS completely failed? You call the destination... it's not like you don't have a phone in your hand. Failing that, you ask a nearby stranger. I presume Apple went ahead because Maps is likely less important to their userbase than, say, the Music app and definitely less critical than the browser.
  - jarek 14y ago
    > However, is it a mission-critical app? What percentage of the userbase actually needs maps on a day to day basis? What did you do in 2005 when your GPS completely failed? It's not "mission-critical," but by that criterion neither is any part of iOS that's not talk and text and maaaybe basic web browsing. Mapping is surely one of the bigger raisons d'être for smartphones, otherwise people might as well buy an S40 Nokia.
betterth 14y ago
I know, right? They're about 80% as good as Google maps for me. They do all the same things, but admittedly I haven't done obscure turn by turn (then again, it didn't do turn by turn at all before...).
- jlgreco 14y ago
  I have not once heard people complaining about Apple Maps complain about the turn by turn.
mikeash 14y ago
From a user's perspective (which is what I am in this context, as are the rest of us) it's a sixth-generation product that's a substantial step backwards from the fifth generation.
- freyr 14y ago
  From a reality perspective, Apple Maps is a first-generation product. And while you may have considered it a "fifth generation product", Google Maps went virtually untouched between iOS 1.1.3 and iOS 5.1. Although its map data was very accurate, its feature set was sorely lacking when compared to Google's map app on Android. I sympathize with people who have encountered inaccuracies, but that hasn't been my experience so far. Hopefully, this will get worked out and we'll end up with a map app that is both accurate and has a competitive feature set.
vilya 14y ago
I'd say it's much worse than 1/3rd the quality. It's absolutely terrible! The data for London, where I live, is full of misspellings; at least one tube station is missing (Monument, in the heart of the financial district); and it fairly often seems to use an arbitrary street name as the name for an entire district. I wouldn't trust it to navigate me anywhere!
jonknee 14y ago
Easily 1/3 the quality. What good is a map if it is incorrect? An incorrect map isn't 1/3 worse than a correct one, it's just worthless. Actually worse than worthless since with no map you at least know when you're lost. Apple's maps are riddled with errors and inaccuracies and thus it's not usable (to me at least). I won't set off to a destination with a map I don't trust, so for me the difference between the two is a map I can use and a map I cannot use.
- freyr 14y ago
  I'm glad nobody told that to Google when they were getting started. Even in 2010, 5 years after they launched, they got the border between Nicaragua and Costa Rica wrong. This rendered Google Maps worthless. They should have just shelved the whole project right then. Don't even get me started on Waldseemüller. So much worse than worthless!
  - jonknee 14y ago
    If Google had started their mapping service by removing working maps for tens of millions of people it would have been a major disaster too.
Kylekramer 14y ago
When the CEO of the company writes a personal apology, I think we can stop saying complaints about low quality are overblown.
- deleted 14y ago
  [deleted]
- freyr 14y ago
  Sure, why assess the issue directly when we could infer things from a reaction to reactions to the issue?

by freyr 14y ago

eggbrain 14y ago

Maps become exponentially better the closer they get to accurate. Even if Apple has, let's say, 90% of the map data/information that Google does, the minute you are sent to the wrong location, or to a store that doesn't exist, or try to get transit directions and can't, or get routed via the most convoluted route possible to your destination, the Maps app has failed.

wilfra 14y ago
I've experienced every one of those scenarios in the last week. And I live a few miles from Apple headquarters! Turn by turn navigation is awesome though. Once they've worked out the kinks I'm sure this experience will be better overall.
- guyzero 14y ago
  I keep hearing from iphone users that phrase almost verbatim: "Turn by turn navigation is awesome though". If it's so awesome, why didn't you buy a standalone GPS or an Android phone over the last few years? Because it's nifty but for most iPhone users this is not a must-have feature. Which is why Apple can get away with shipping a crap maps app.
  - fpgeek 14y ago
    Or, even easier, a navigation app from Apple's app store...
  - wilfra 14y ago
    Do any of those work with Siri? That's the big value for me. When the new Maps work it is pure magic (sorry for the iMeme but it really is). -Looking straight ahead, grab phone and hold down Home button. -Siri chirps -"I need directions to foo" -"Here are directions to foo" -"In X miles turn Y on N" The only time I touched the phone was to hold down the Home button. Never once looked away from the road. It's amazing.
    - Macha 14y ago
      A quick test on my Android phone (Desire HD running 4.1) shows that Google Now works the same way. Voice search always existed on Android, but it was certainly less polished around 2.2. Can't tell how it worked before as it never understood my accent, but then again, neither does Siri. Edit: Two presses if you want audio instructions. Google Now opens maps which doesn't do audio instructions apparently rather than navigation which does. There's a button for navigation in the maps app.
r00fus 14y ago
Maps is a smartphone killer app - I remember my friend being able to map (in a rudimentary displkay) nearby restaurants on a 2004 windows mobile phone and thinking how awesome that was. Just like I was amazed when the iPhone completely blew away the competition in 2007. However, is it a mission-critical app? What percentage of the userbase actually needs maps on a day to day basis? What did you do in 2005 when your GPS completely failed? You call the destination... it's not like you don't have a phone in your hand. Failing that, you ask a nearby stranger. I presume Apple went ahead because Maps is likely less important to their userbase than, say, the Music app and definitely less critical than the browser.
- jarek 14y ago
  > However, is it a mission-critical app? What percentage of the userbase actually needs maps on a day to day basis? What did you do in 2005 when your GPS completely failed? It's not "mission-critical," but by that criterion neither is any part of iOS that's not talk and text and maaaybe basic web browsing. Mapping is surely one of the bigger raisons d'être for smartphones, otherwise people might as well buy an S40 Nokia.

betterth 14y ago

I know, right? They're about 80% as good as Google maps for me. They do all the same things, but admittedly I haven't done obscure turn by turn (then again, it didn't do turn by turn at all before...).

jlgreco 14y ago
I have not once heard people complaining about Apple Maps complain about the turn by turn.

mikeash 14y ago

From a user's perspective (which is what I am in this context, as are the rest of us) it's a sixth-generation product that's a substantial step backwards from the fifth generation.

freyr 14y ago
From a reality perspective, Apple Maps is a first-generation product. And while you may have considered it a "fifth generation product", Google Maps went virtually untouched between iOS 1.1.3 and iOS 5.1. Although its map data was very accurate, its feature set was sorely lacking when compared to Google's map app on Android. I sympathize with people who have encountered inaccuracies, but that hasn't been my experience so far. Hopefully, this will get worked out and we'll end up with a map app that is both accurate and has a competitive feature set.

vilya 14y ago

I'd say it's much worse than 1/3rd the quality. It's absolutely terrible! The data for London, where I live, is full of misspellings; at least one tube station is missing (Monument, in the heart of the financial district); and it fairly often seems to use an arbitrary street name as the name for an entire district. I wouldn't trust it to navigate me anywhere!

jonknee 14y ago

Easily 1/3 the quality. What good is a map if it is incorrect? An incorrect map isn't 1/3 worse than a correct one, it's just worthless. Actually worse than worthless since with no map you at least know when you're lost. Apple's maps are riddled with errors and inaccuracies and thus it's not usable (to me at least). I won't set off to a destination with a map I don't trust, so for me the difference between the two is a map I can use and a map I cannot use.

freyr 14y ago
I'm glad nobody told that to Google when they were getting started. Even in 2010, 5 years after they launched, they got the border between Nicaragua and Costa Rica wrong. This rendered Google Maps worthless. They should have just shelved the whole project right then. Don't even get me started on Waldseemüller. So much worse than worthless!
- jonknee 14y ago
  If Google had started their mapping service by removing working maps for tens of millions of people it would have been a major disaster too.

Kylekramer 14y ago

When the CEO of the company writes a personal apology, I think we can stop saying complaints about low quality are overblown.

deleted 14y ago
[deleted]
freyr 14y ago
Sure, why assess the issue directly when we could infer things from a reaction to reactions to the issue?