Live data from Hacker News

Apple Maps Gradually Winning over Google Maps Users, Report Suggests

macrumors.com

121–130 of 134 posts

Re: Apple Maps Gradually Winning over Google Maps Users, Report Suggests

#121
post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

United States, they highlight retailers or restaurants on the map that are paying for ads alongside other large landmarks.

Yep. This is increasingly pushing me away from Google Maps. Once offline mode comes to Apple, I'll move over completely ...just wish i could bring all my saved locations over.

I'm using the iOS 17 beta so not sure if it is only on 17 or works on 16 also, but you can download parts of the map on the Apple Maps app now

Re: Apple Maps Gradually Winning over Google Maps Users, Report Suggests

#122
post #8

In my experience, the following things are notably better in Apple Maps vs. Google Maps: * No dangerous shortcuts where I risk to damage my car * Routes make much more sense in general and are nearer to what someone who knows their way around locally would suggest * Voice instructions are clearer, easier to understand and timed better * Walking directions are easier to understand * The UI is less annoying. In Google…

Another set of things annoying about Google Maps: - Google shows pins for locations on the map. Often if I try to click one, it zooms in on a new pin on a random lat/lon next to it. This mostly happens when zoomed out with a wide view of the city. Obviously I was going for that random location, not the ad you were trying to show me. - It routinely shows me illegal routes, some of which I don't notice until I'm well o…

That is a good point that I missed in my list. In fact, I think in a recent update, they made the pins dots in an apparent attempt to declutter the map view. Now what you described got even worse, because the points have an even smaller hit box than the pins.

Re: Apple Maps Gradually Winning over Google Maps Users, Report Suggests

#124
post #8

In my experience, the following things are notably better in Apple Maps vs. Google Maps: * No dangerous shortcuts where I risk to damage my car * Routes make much more sense in general and are nearer to what someone who knows their way around locally would suggest * Voice instructions are clearer, easier to understand and timed better * Walking directions are easier to understand * The UI is less annoying. In Google…

There is an option to show the route without highways

Re: Apple Maps Gradually Winning over Google Maps Users, Report Suggests

#125

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Agreed. Is it so hard to render the street names most relevant to your route? It seems to always render the most important names last as you zoom in, when they should be first.

I wonder if its a cultural thing. In my area of Not-California, roads will often have a local municipal name, but also be a county highway. For a while, navigation was unaware of this and would tell you "turn on highway 48" while driving downtown. As a driver, you go "wtf is highway 48". YIou have to zoom all the way in on the map to see that its Bank Street. Now it usually says "Bank Street", but will only display t…

no, it will just not be labeled. So you need to scroll around along the street until you find a part with the label on it.

Re: Apple Maps Gradually Winning over Google Maps Users, Report Suggests

#126
I found HERE WeGo maps the best of the bunch when traveling in Albania and Greece. Particularly for offline maps. Apple Maps lacked enough detail to be usable and Google Maps frequently insisted on taking narrow alleyways designed for humans that the car could not fit in. I’ve become a big fan.

Re: Apple Maps Gradually Winning over Google Maps Users, Report Suggests

#127
As someone in the geocomputation space, the road and intersection detail in the map tiles is super impressive. I wonder how they did it. They’ve got seemingly perfect vector-graphics representation of all road features: lines, islands, medians, slip lanes… very impressive.

I exclusively use Apple Maps, but the location sharing feature is better in Waze. Waze also generally has more people reporting police locations.

Re: Apple Maps Gradually Winning over Google Maps Users, Report Suggests

#128
post #68
post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Two more things that annoy me about Google Maps - Related to the routes make more sense, Google seems to prefer side streets to save one minute but then you get dumped back on the main road not at the light and need to cross traffic and might lose your minute back just waiting for a chance to cross. I'd much prefer a main route with a light that guarantees a safe turn. - Google Maps advertisements on the map. No I do…

In which country do you see ads in Google Maps? My Swiss phone (a Samsung) doesn't show anything of sorts.

There are ads on Google Maps in Switzerland. Example:

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Pfister+Z%C3%BCrich+Letzip...

Scroll around Zürich and you should see several.

Re: Apple Maps Gradually Winning over Google Maps Users, Report Suggests

#129
post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Two more things that annoy me about Google Maps - Related to the routes make more sense, Google seems to prefer side streets to save one minute but then you get dumped back on the main road not at the light and need to cross traffic and might lose your minute back just waiting for a chance to cross. I'd much prefer a main route with a light that guarantees a safe turn. - Google Maps advertisements on the map. No I do…

My biggest gripe about GMaps is a minor one but when it happens it's crucial: Sometimes I'll see a road that looks like it may be a good shortcut or something, but it doesn't show the name. So I zoom in, and in, even to the point that the road itself is taking up my entire phone screen. Still no name! Very tedious and aggravating when it's on the fly.

This change happened around 2018. Super infuriating that Google made the map less useful for manual navigation.

Re: Apple Maps Gradually Winning over Google Maps Users, Report Suggests

#130

Everything about walking directions from Apple maps (directions on lock screen; Apple Watch integrations) is better, UX wise. The problem is, despite admittedly massive improvements, I still have issues with it containing stale location data, incorrect POI classification information (e.g. convenience store without gas pumps marked as a 'gas station'), and suggesting paths that don't exist or simply aren't tenable (no…

While I don't like the feeling of being exploited through unpaid/volunteer labor to improve the app, I do know that most or all of your issues can be resolved by reporting errors through the app. Business data can be changed by users pending a review by Apple, and routes can be reported with a thumbs down/up response upon resolution of the trip. The walk through a military facility is a little harder to report, thoug…

I always submit reports when something is wrong on Apple Maps, same as I do with Google Maps. I think the public service aspect of it outweighs the 'free labor' aspect.
Post reply on HN