So the new Apple map app really is that bad

In My Humble Opinion
1

I’m on vacation this week in Ireland. On most vacations, I like to sit at breakfast and browse my iPhone map to see where I am, or to locate places I want to visit.

The past three years, the map app has been excellent; accurate, easy to use.

The new Apple map really is as bad as all the press has said.

I’ve typed in quite a few points of interest, only for it to not recognize them.

I’m now trying to use the Google web based map, but that really is kind of clunky, and no where near as seamless as the old map app.

I think I may just purchase a paper map and go retro.

(Oh, and Apple’s new podcast app blows, too. )

2

Google’s supposed to be working on their own app.

Or you can get an Android phone, the free Google Maps w/ Navigation, and a whole new set of other problems.

3

You mean a whole new set of AWESOME! Go Team Android!

:slight_smile:

4

Apple is really screwing themselves with this one. The Apple afficionados are finally getting the taste of what a big corp without someone like Jobs at the wheel is like.

5

But it was Jobs who made the call that ios6 would drop Google maps even though there was one more year on the contract. He was pissed at Google in general but the specific reason for dropping their maps was because Google wasn’t giving Apple their best product, especially not having voice navigation. This caught Google by surprise which is why their stand alone app isn’t ready.

6

I’m finding that there are a few other issues with iOS6, such as just a general slow down in performance. I hope Apple isn’t on a trend here.

7

The two weeks I have been using the new app my experiences have not been as bad as the negative press had led me believe. My main beef is that the new rendering is much more car-centric than what I am used to from Google. (pedestrian-only streets and rail transit lines are shown much too faintly).

Also for some small businesses that I know of in the Tübingen/Stuttgart area of Germany the address is shown as e.g. a car dealer where it’s just the registered address of the business (i.e. the owner’s apartment) rather than public business premises.

8

I’ve used MapQuest and Pocket Casts for maps/navigation and podcasts for quite a while now, so this hasn’t affected me at all.

9

I HATE the new maps. I am carless in a big city, and I use public transportation directions every single day. I loved, loved, loved, loved having public transportation integration built in. I still use Google Maps from their website, but it’s not as convenient.

10

I recently visited a city where I had no clue where I was going, and the New Apple Maps seamlessly directed me everywhere without a hitch. Enough people are bitching about them, so I believe there’s some issues, but I sure haven’t found any problems yet.

11

I heard a rumor that Apple Store employees are being asked to help with improving the accuracy of the mapping function. And Tim Cook already apologized for how crappy the map app is, so I expect that it will be improved quickly.

12

I think my biggest issue is its seeming lack of places, that or it lacks Google’s ability to return results that match what you probably meant. For instance, if I type “crowne plaza Dublin Ireland” it gives me two choices, neither of which are a hotel. But Google can find it.

There are quite a few other examples like that. So basically, if it knows the location, then it works great. The fact that it is missing so many places is just screwy.

13

I’ve had a variety of map apps on my iPhone and my favorite is Waze. It’s free, offers turn by turn instructions, uses crowd-sourced traffic conditions, and is kinda cute.

That said, I also have Tom Tom because while it’s search capability sucks, the offline maps is a major bonus. Nothing worse than relying on the maps and not getting a cell signal.

14

I’m heading to NYC next month. Does the new app offer any public transit routes/times? That was a really sweet feature the last time I was there.

15

The new map is driving me crazy. This week I was looking for the address of a bar in downtown DC. I type in the name of the bar while the map is zoomed to the downtown DC area… and I am directed to a small town in Canada. Last week I was out of town and looking for the restaurant that I was meeting friends at: I know it was Felini’s something-or-other. I type in “Felinis”, no apostrophe. I am directed to Félines, France.

I have a feeling someday I will try to navigate from “Current Location” to “Work” and end up getting directions from “Blackcurrent Lodge, Malmö, Sweden” to “Microsoft Word Document, Redmond, Washington.”

16

If Jobs were still around he would have made sure their own app was excellent. That was his strength. He was one of the few CEOs who actually understood the product and would take the effort to make it right. The typical CEO is just concerned with pushing out a product and making their revenue numbers. The current Apple map is an example of that.

17

After a few tries at it, I have given up on Apple’s new maps technology until at least next March when I would be eligible for my upgrade to an iPhone 5. I would even strongly consider reverting back to iOS 5 if I could on my iPhone 4S, if I could find out how, because while I do find it overall a faster experience and appreciate the updating of already purchased apps without having to enter my AppleID password, this maps app catastrophe feels like a major crippling of my handset use.

Here’s a simple reason my first impression was that it was completely unusable to me: like most adults, the vast majority of my daily life is spent in one of two places, my home or my place of work. So either location is the starting or ending reference point for the majority of my map searches.

When I entered in my own home address in Queens, even the complete street address including the ZIP code, it dropped the pin about 2 miles away. I have no idea why. The street addresses in Queens are on a numbered grid, and I even live on a numbered street. A total head-scratcher.

Even worse: if I entered the address of the office building where I work in midtown Manhattan, sans ZIP code (“55 E 52nd St., NYC” or even the more annoyingly detailed “55 East 52nd St., New York, NY”), it dropped the pin in Brooklyn. Only after adding the ZIP code of 10055 did it place it in Manhattan… But then if I used the app to give me directions from this address to another place, even after entering the ZIP of 10055, it reset the directions to begin in Brooklyn.

Are. You. Serious? I was so floored I wanted to take a series of screenshots on my iPad to document it.

I did this test the weekend after iOS 6 came out. I just tried it again on my iPhone. I’m at my office now in midtown Manhattan. It now gives me a pop-up list of suggested “55 E 52nd St.” addresses, the first of which is still in Brooklyn, but the second of which is the right one, and if I select it and use it as a starting point for directions, they actually start from here. And my home address and other addresses near it come up correctly now too. So I guess they have “gotten better” in a matter of weeks.

But really, the results returned when I first started playing with the app - i.e., when they first released it - were so, so bad that I had not planned to use the app again for months except that I went to double check for purposes of venting in this post.

As for migrating to Android - Apple’s got me super invested in many, many paid apps shared among many Apple devices: my family has a total of 3 iPhones, 3 iPod Touches and 2 iPads. It’s too much to unwind. And frankly this is the first time I’ve ever had cause to regret “drinking the Apple Kool-Aid” even if it’s simply from a practical perspective than a “design fanboy” one.

18

I haven’t used it that much, but on a recent attempt I entered the name and street of a tire store I knew was nearby. Nothing found. Entered the name and full street address. Nothing found. Entered the name, street address, city, state, and zip. Nothing found. Entered JUST the name of the business, and it came up (with the exact business name, street address, city, state, and zip I had searched for).

Apple: Don’t Try So Hard.™

19

I don’t think I would be able to live without the fuzzy places integration, anymore. This weekend, our plan was to take a trip to another city, with a brief stop at the mall to drop off a ring to be resized - but the car had trouble starting and suddenly using it for a road trip seemed like a bad idea - disaster!

Nah, headed out to the mall and on the way used the Google Maps app to search for “garages near bower place mall.” Picked a Canadian Tire across the street from the mall and confirmed it was open. Back to the app for “Car rentals near Canadian Tire Gaetz,” and picked a car rental place on the same block. Called ahead to arrange a rental, stopped there to pick up the keys without stopping our ailing vehicle, dropped the car at the garage, went across the street to the mall to do our thing, and carried on with the rental car with hardly any delay.

Same deal for arrival - “Sushi near Matrix hotel,” etc.

I’ve come to feel very dependant on being able to do this reliably; I would be a sad camper if it stopped working.

20

Santry or Blanch? :slight_smile: