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Apple's New Map

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Re: Apple's New Map

#71

Post by crazygringo »

stevenjohns wrote: post #55
imgabe wrote: post #47

You know what I really never use the map on my phone for? Figuring out how many trees there are. Do the directions work?

That's your use case. I've used maps a lot to try to find hidden or secluded parks -- often with great success. I'm talking postcard-perfect views around the Sydney harbor, small beaches around various bays, isolated parks near beautiful rivers and a whole lot of other places that are really beautiful and probably only known to the locals. Lots of these places were a brisk walk away from high-traffic areas too. This…

That's great... but wouldn't satellite view be better for that anyways?

Would you even trust an "interpreted" map with levels of green for what you're doing?

Re: Apple's New Map

#73

Post by crazygringo »

mulmen wrote: post #60

This is really neat but I don't really care about greenery when I'm using Apple Maps. Can they take a break from figuring out how to convert satellite images into green blobs and devise an algorithm to put street names on the screen ? Apple and Google maps are both worthless as maps without typing in an actual address and using navigation because they can't just show the main cross street names on the screen. It abso…

It's obviously an intentional choice to avoid too much screen clutter...

but I agree it's infuriating. I've spoken in the past with some people who work on Maps products and have heard "people say they want it but then they really don't..." and I honestly can't imagine what UX studies are telling them that.

All the time I see a destination and I'm trying to figure out what closest cross street I should stop at and by the time I've zoomed and panned enough to find whatever random faraway place manages to have a label (feels like an unwanted game of whack-a-mole, where will the label pop up??), I can't tell if I've zoomed over to a parallel street instead.

And the solution is so simple too: whenever you zoom in enough that there's enough room on a visible street to put a label, then put the label! I mean if I zoom in so far that only the one street is visible and there's no other text on it, but Maps still leaves it blank... it just feels inexcusable.

Re: Apple's New Map

#74

Post by edgarvaldes »

mulmen wrote: post #60

This is really neat but I don't really care about greenery when I'm using Apple Maps. Can they take a break from figuring out how to convert satellite images into green blobs and devise an algorithm to put street names on the screen ? Apple and Google maps are both worthless as maps without typing in an actual address and using navigation because they can't just show the main cross street names on the screen. It abso…

These maps are useful when someone or something else send or share you the specific coordinates to a destination, but useless when navigating and looking for a place you don't know. These maps are useless for the question _Where I am now?_

Re: Apple's New Map

#75

Post by godelski »

imgabe wrote: post #47

You know what I really never use the map on my phone for? Figuring out how many trees there are. Do the directions work?

I don't know if it has been updated since, but literally two months ago it could not get you from Custer State Park to Mount Rushmore. It frequently asked me to go in the complete wrong direction. I can't trust it when it can't connect two popular areas that are relatively nearby.

That said, it was fine for anything that was on major highways.

Re: Apple's New Map

#77

Post by panopticon »

stevenjohns wrote: post #55
imgabe wrote: post #47

You know what I really never use the map on my phone for? Figuring out how many trees there are. Do the directions work?

That's your use case. I've used maps a lot to try to find hidden or secluded parks -- often with great success. I'm talking postcard-perfect views around the Sydney harbor, small beaches around various bays, isolated parks near beautiful rivers and a whole lot of other places that are really beautiful and probably only known to the locals. Lots of these places were a brisk walk away from high-traffic areas too. This…

> I've used maps a lot to try to find hidden or secluded parks -- often with great success.

I generally use Google Earth to do this, and I'm extremely skeptical that Apple Map's foliage would work half as well.

Re: Apple's New Map

#78

Post by girzel »

mulmen wrote: post #60

This is really neat but I don't really care about greenery when I'm using Apple Maps. Can they take a break from figuring out how to convert satellite images into green blobs and devise an algorithm to put street names on the screen ? Apple and Google maps are both worthless as maps without typing in an actual address and using navigation because they can't just show the main cross street names on the screen. It abso…

FWIW, I have the same complaint about OsmAnd on Android. I can zoom right in to a street, so I there's essentially nothing else on the screen, and it will still only show me the name occasionally.

Re: Apple's New Map

#79

Post by dilap »

mulmen wrote: post #60

This is really neat but I don't really care about greenery when I'm using Apple Maps. Can they take a break from figuring out how to convert satellite images into green blobs and devise an algorithm to put street names on the screen ? Apple and Google maps are both worthless as maps without typing in an actual address and using navigation because they can't just show the main cross street names on the screen. It abso…

Yeah, Google maps way back in the day was a lot better at this. (Waaay back in the day, when the use-case was, "print out the directions to take with you in the car".)

I just don't think it's a priority anymore -- they want the map to "look pretty" and people to use turn-by-turn nav.

I agree it's a shame and extremely frustrating.

Re: Apple's New Map

#80

Post by bdamm »

mulmen wrote: post #60

This is really neat but I don't really care about greenery when I'm using Apple Maps. Can they take a break from figuring out how to convert satellite images into green blobs and devise an algorithm to put street names on the screen ? Apple and Google maps are both worthless as maps without typing in an actual address and using navigation because they can't just show the main cross street names on the screen. It abso…

Agreed; and, the greenery information is useless without also a way to determine ownership or transit privileges. Is it private, public (district, state, federal), military, or some other kind of ownership class?

I find it hard to believe that so much work could go into maps when actually using it doesn't seem to be the main goal. How am I going to use this greenery information?

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