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Apple delivers a new redesigned Maps for users in the United States

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Re: Apple delivers a new redesigned Maps for users in the United States

#111

Post by MayeulC »

penagwin wrote: post #26
s3r3nity wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's a super tough problem. Even Google Maps messages you that it's a feature in progress (paraphrasing of course), and they've had years of a head start on this.

You know that got me thinking, biking rules vary far more than for cars. Depending on your location, pedestrian traffic, streets, street traffic, etc. It might be best for you to be on the sidewalk. Or maybe you should instead be on the road since the road is only 25mph and there's pedestrians on the sidewalk. Maybe there's a bike lane, maybe there isn't. Maybe a town has a law saying you HAVE to bike on the road. Ar…

Well, I'm quite happy with Openstreetmap's directions for biking (I mostly use OSMand, but there are other apps/routers).

They have elevation, private/public roads, road surface, bike lanes, etc, and routers can take it into account. Of course, that doesn't really take into account varying laws, but that might be reflected in the maps themselves (private/public places, bikes allowed/disallowed, etc).

See also https://www.opencyclemap.org

Re: Apple delivers a new redesigned Maps for users in the United States

#112

Post by judge2020 »

dkonofalski wrote: post #97
theboat wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As much as I agree with your general sentiment, Apple Maps, like many of Apple's mobile apps, gets a boost from Apple's anti-competitive practices. It's utterly ridiculous that we can remove default apps from iOS, including Maps and Safari, but we can't set new default apps to replace them. If we ever get serious about increasing competition in the tech sector, an easy place to start is letting users set default brow…

Isn't that kind of self-defeating, though? Like the ACA without the individual mandate? The only way this works is if people use the apps on the iPhone. There's nothing stopping you from using Google Maps on an iPhone but, in order for the tech to improve while remaining strong with privacy, is for Apple to utilize their existing technology. Also, I disagree that it's anti-competitive. Users are always allowed and ab…

It's extremely similar to the microsoft IE issue, users should be able to set a default web browser.

Re: Apple delivers a new redesigned Maps for users in the United States

#113

Post by kylemh »

theboat wrote: post #92
aresant wrote: post #44

In the midst of the world (rightly) turning on big tech's abuses, efforts like these make me optimistic about our industry on a whole and help me recover some of the enthusiasm that led me into tech in the first place. I love how this effort relies on & amplifies what were before relatively obscure specialties The mapping wars elevate cartographers, mapping specialists, GIS data nerds, mobile computing / compression…

As much as I agree with your general sentiment, Apple Maps, like many of Apple's mobile apps, gets a boost from Apple's anti-competitive practices. It's utterly ridiculous that we can remove default apps from iOS, including Maps and Safari, but we can't set new default apps to replace them. If we ever get serious about increasing competition in the tech sector, an easy place to start is letting users set default brow…

and then, even if we could set the default browser, having a webkit-Chrome is stupid also...

Re: Apple delivers a new redesigned Maps for users in the United States

#114

Post by dkonofalski »

pfarnsworth wrote: post #95
bhahn wrote: post #48

I just switched to an iPhone after being a long time Android user, and I've found Apple Maps directions not to be as good as Google Maps'. I live in central LA, and it regularly routes me through long and congested intersections. Does anyone else feel this as well? Is it just my small sample size? I would like to continue using Apple Maps over Google Maps because of the integration with Apple Watch, but it's getting…

Waze is by far the best routing. It's better than Tesla routing, which I thought used Google Maps, and it's better than Apple Maps. There's no point in experimenting with anything else because Waze is just so much better, it's effectively a waste of time to try anything else.

That's funny because I feel like I've read a few articles out there that did comparative testing of Google Maps vs. Apple Maps and, while Google's routing estimated a shorter ETA, the Apple Maps routing ended up being faster and more accurate to the estimate nearly every time. I don't really want to think I'm going to get somewhere fast. I actually want to get there faster and, more importantly, when the app tells me I'm going to get there.

Re: Apple delivers a new redesigned Maps for users in the United States

#115

Post by icebraining »

chipperyman573 wrote: post #108
zippergz wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is absolutely true, but it's not unique to Apple Maps. I've had an issue with the major road near my house in Google Maps for over three years, where it thinks a certain stretch is either absent or impassible. It shows it on the visual map, but it will go to astounding lengths to route you around that one-block stretch of (perfectly fine) road. I have reported it MANY times, and nothing has ever changed.

I report things on GMaps all the time and it usually updates the maps within minutes (I get an email) I'm also a local guide though so that might have something to do with it

Same here, though it's usually a few hours, not minutes. I'm not in the US, tough, it may be that there are different review teams for different areas.

Re: Apple delivers a new redesigned Maps for users in the United States

#116

Post by briandear »

itp wrote: post #61
mcbutterbunz wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This update may make me switch from Google Maps. The UI in Google Maps has always been confusing and cluttered. There's a search bar, then quick search buttons underneath, then the layers button, "Explore nearby", explore, commute, "For you", and then finally the hamburger menu. Apple Maps is a lot cleaner but the only thing missing was the quality of the actual maps. Hopefully that has changed now.

There's also the ability to collaborate with people who don't have an iOS device. If someone creates a Collection in Apple Maps I just don't get to participate. If someone creates a shared list in Google Maps I can see it on my phone, a web browser, someone with an iPhone...

And Google gets to see it too. And all their advertisers.

Re: Apple delivers a new redesigned Maps for users in the United States

#117

Post by protomyth »

lucb1e wrote: post #80
protomyth wrote: post #19

At this point, I absolutely hate when people use Apple Maps to find our community college. Apple just plain refuses to acknowledge the town we are located in exists. It also ignores all businesses on the reservation and points to the local Coca-Cola bottling location as the closest grocery store. I've filed bugs going back years and no changes. Privacy and UI cannot overcome really poor data.

There are so many issues like this. People complain about TomTom maps never being updated in navigation systems because it's licensed, Apple Maps being crappy (or in this case, wrong), even Google Maps is often slow in updating (e.g. the tunnel in Maastricht took some time after it opened, which was known and announced years ahead) and very incomplete in terms of footpaths and trails. The USA is probably the worst ex…

Wow, OpenStreetMaps is worse which makes a bit of sense. Is there a good (step-by-step) tutorial on submitting data to OSM. I get the feeling if I can get the land grants people to submit their data it might make things a bit better.

Re: Apple delivers a new redesigned Maps for users in the United States

#118

Post by m4rtink »

zippergz wrote: post #59
skrause wrote: post #37

What I hate most about Apple Maps is that reports about incorrect data never seem to go anywhere. Apple Maps thinks that the road that leads to my house is a one-way street. It's not. But because of this error Apple Maps always wants to send me on a 5 minutes detour if I try to use it to navigate home. I've reported the problem twice but never got an answer or a correction. In fact all problems I've ever reported in…

This is absolutely true, but it's not unique to Apple Maps. I've had an issue with the major road near my house in Google Maps for over three years, where it thinks a certain stretch is either absent or impassible. It shows it on the visual map, but it will go to astounding lengths to route you around that one-block stretch of (perfectly fine) road. I have reported it MANY times, and nothing has ever changed.

That's the nice thing with OpenStreetMap & mapping services using data from it.

You can just register to OSM and fix the data and that's it. The OSM interface will update almost instantly while services based on OSM data will get the fix once they do their next data update.

Re: Apple delivers a new redesigned Maps for users in the United States

#119

Post by Ididntdothis »

Nextgrid wrote: post #106
Ididntdothis wrote: post #58

If they only could provide offline maps like google maps. That feature is fantastic in the desert areas in the west where you have no connectivity. Even the search function works great when offline. Also search still works better in google maps. Apple Maps doesn’t find the Office Depot near me but one 100 miles away for example.

It’s sad that technology has actually regressed despite exponential increments in processing power and storage capacity. It used to be that you could buy a mapping software and install it on your PDA/Pocket PC and it would run fine despite a CPU speed in the mega hertz. Nowadays offline maps is some niche advanced feature despite even low-end devices have enough processing power to come preinstalled with an offline m…

OpenStreetMaps has some good apps with offline support but their search function is usually pretty bad. If they could crack search OpenStreetMaps would be a winner.

Re: Apple delivers a new redesigned Maps for users in the United States

#120

Post by criddell »

judge2020 wrote: post #112
dkonofalski wrote: post #97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Isn't that kind of self-defeating, though? Like the ACA without the individual mandate? The only way this works is if people use the apps on the iPhone. There's nothing stopping you from using Google Maps on an iPhone but, in order for the tech to improve while remaining strong with privacy, is for Apple to utilize their existing technology. Also, I disagree that it's anti-competitive. Users are always allowed and ab…

It's extremely similar to the microsoft IE issue, users should be able to set a default web browser.

The difference is that Microsoft dominated the market. Apple has a relatively small slice of the smartphone pie.

If Google restricted the user in the same way, that would arguably be closer to the Microsoft situation because their marketshare is 2x Apple's.

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