Revised Apple website no longer calls iOS 6 Maps most 'powerful'

Posted:
in iPhone edited January 2014
In the wake of criticism over its Maps application for iOS 6, Apple has revised its website to no longer refer to the software as the most "powerful mapping service ever."

The change, made to Apple's promotional website for iOS 6, was highlighted on Sunday by CNet. In its original form, the site told users that changes "may just make this app the most beautiful, powerful mapping service ever."

But the website has since been revised to state that new features such as interactive 3D views and Flyover imagery are "all in a beautiful vector-based interface that scales and zooms with ease."

Maps


The modified website comes as Apple Chief Executive apologized to customers on Friday with an open letter admitting that the new Maps application in iOS 6 isn't up to his company's standards. He vowed that Apple employees are "doing everything we can to make Maps better."

Upon its debut with iOS 6, Apple's new Maps application was met with widespread criticism from users who complained of incorrect positioning data, poor routing and Flyover rendering issues. Apple's new mapping solution is generally seen as inferior to the product it replaced, which was powered by Google Maps.

Cook also recommended a number of competing mapping applications that users could install or access on their iPhone or iPad. And Apple added a new featured section on its iOS App Store entitled "Find maps for your iPhone" that included a list of 13 alternative mapping applications available to download.

The change to the iOS 6 promotional page isn't the first time Apple has toned down language on its website in the wake of recent news. In June of this year, the company removed a claim that its OS X operating system "doesn't get PC viruses" following the spread of a botnet known as "Flashback." Since then, the website has told visitors that OS X is "built to be safe."
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 114
    First for my first.

    All vector based, incredible 3d visuals that can be rotated in any way seems to fit with most powerful in my books. Oh wait Google has 45 degree satellite now? I take it back.
  • Reply 2 of 114
    Absolutely unbelievable. This morning Maps routed me right into a lake. It had no idea the road had been closed over 10 years ago. I trusted my iPhone more than my own intuition, and followed it's every instruction. I'm on the side of the lake watching these guys pull my car out. I really hope Apple comes out with an update soon...because this will probably happen again.
  • Reply 3 of 114


    Originally Posted by NIZZARD View Post

    ...because this will probably happen again.


     


    Lost it. image

  • Reply 4 of 114
    This is being so overdone. I have had the old Google based maps show be businesses that were not there via dropped pins and even street view only to find them long gone when I actually go there. Maps on iOS 6 is very nice. I'm really liking the look and use of it. Only complaint by me is that the tilt gesture for perspective is too easy to trigger. I accidentally do it when zooming quite frequently.
  • Reply 5 of 114
    muppetrymuppetry Posts: 3,331member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by NIZZARD View Post



    Absolutely unbelievable. This morning Maps routed me right into a lake. It had no idea the road had been closed over 10 years ago. I trusted my iPhone more than my own intuition, and followed it's every instruction. I'm on the side of the lake watching these guys pull my car out. I really hope Apple comes out with an update soon...because this will probably happen again.


     


    On the positive side, you have obviously discovered a previously undocumented iPhone feature - that it's waterproof.

  • Reply 6 of 114


    Apple caved in to bullshit that would have been water under the bridge in about a months' time. And in the meantime they'd have been busy making the app better. 


     


    If you already have other navigation apps, like TomTom and Garmin, and some great free ones like MotionX Drive and Waze, then chances are, you would have hardly been affected by Apple yanking Google Maps in the first place. 


     


    It's surprising because it's Apple, and that's fair enough, but even the smallest misstep by Apple *must* be spun to hell and back by a lazy, unimaginative industry that is full of Apple competitors that don't have nearly the same mindshare, cachet and desirability as Apple. For the last few years it's been all about Apple, and given that that isn't going to change anytime soon, the disaffected, envious, and the plain flat-footed have to magnify everything. The competition sees the writing on the wall, meaning that the next few years belong to Apple. 


     


    I'm kind of enjoying it, actually. Because as usual, when the quarterly reports and consumer satisfaction numbers come around as they always do, all that spin will have accomplished nothing. 

  • Reply 7 of 114
    My first real use of the new maps app wasn't very impressive. I was looking for a Sports Authority and it found two locations, both of which were no longer in business, and it did not have the locations for the new ones (a friend that was with me found the correct locations on his Lumia.) I will probably be using google maps from now on, although the turn by turn directions will be nice when the data catches up. :\

    The features are irrelevant until the data is (something like) reliable.
  • Reply 8 of 114

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Phone-UI-Guy View Post



    This is being so overdone. I have had the old Google based maps show be businesses that were not there via dropped pins and even street view only to find them long gone when I actually go there. Maps on iOS 6 is very nice. I'm really liking the look and use of it. 


     


    I agree. However Apple set themselves up for this brohaha by over-promising and under-delivering. Had they not made such outrageous claims, people's expectations would have been tempered while being pleasantly surprised that Maps could be so good for version 1.0.

  • Reply 9 of 114
    lerxtlerxt Posts: 186member
    It's plain ignorant to suggest this map controversy is overdone. Foe most people maps is much less useful than google maps and is, practically, a significant downgrade. They need to bring google maps back ASAP and spend some time fixing apple maps or just dump it.
  • Reply 10 of 114
    This is being so overdone. I have had the old Google based maps show be businesses that were not there via dropped pins and even street view only to find them long gone when I actually go there. Maps on iOS 6 is very nice. I'm really liking the look and use of it. Only complaint by me is that the tilt gesture for perspective is too easy to trigger. I accidentally do it when zooming quite frequently.

    If misplaced businesses are the biggest of your concerns, then I give you a non-functioning search and search results giving me addresses kilometers away from their right place despite everything being correctly charted on the map. That's my experience with Apple's Maps, I wish misplaced businesses (something I can easily look on the web for an address and create a contact that Google Maps will correctly point out afterwards) was the worst of my problems. Fortunately, I have not upgraded yet.

    I don't trust ANY mapping service to inform me about local businesses, but I do trust Google Maps to give me directions to local addresses, even if in some cases it leads me to the wrong block, that beats leading me to places kilometers away or not even knowing where a street is by a huge margin.
  • Reply 11 of 114
    mac_128mac_128 Posts: 3,454member
    quadra 610 wrote: »
    Apple caved in to bullshit that would have been water under the bridge in about a months' time. And in the meantime they'd have been busy making the app better. 
    Absolutely agree. One more brick in the wall of apology for their work. Since when is the claim "most powerful" no longer applicable? It sure seems like the most powerful app to me, of all the ones available. Most powerful has nothing to do with the data (even if there is anything actually wrong with it, which I have yet to see any real evidence presented that it is any worse than Googl's -- just different problems at best, even Consumer Reports agrees), but it's what the app can do with the data. I'm well aware Apple can change its marketing strategy at any time it wishes, but lets face it, considering the timing, this is yet one more apology in a bucket of apologies that will be seen by Apple's competitors and detractors as continued admission that Maps is crap, and will be reported by the media to the average Joe with a negative spin, as they already have. And Apple just keeps feeding into it willingly. Sad.
  • Reply 12 of 114
    mac_128 wrote: »
    quadra 610 wrote: »
    Apple caved in to bullshit that would have been water under the bridge in about a months' time. And in the meantime they'd have been busy making the app better. 
    Absolutely agree. One more brick in the bucket of apology for their work. Since when is the claim "most powerful" no longer applicable? It sure seems like the most powerful app to me, of all the ones available. Most powerful has nothing to do with the data, its what the app can do with the data. I'm well aware Apple can change its marketing strategy at any time it wishes, but lets face it, considering the timing, this is yet one more apology in a bucket of apologies that will be seen by Apple's competitors and detractors as continued admission that Maps is crap, and will be reported by the media to the average Joe with a negative spin, as they already have. And Apple just keeps feeding into it willingly. Sad.

    The search doesn't even work properly, so what exactly can it do with the data? The app has trouble finding places correctly charted o the map, it doesn't even recognize that 'a' and 'â' represent the same letter, it can't even understand common abbreviations, so what exactly can it do better than others that has actual relevance?
  • Reply 13 of 114
    mac_128mac_128 Posts: 3,454member
    vaelian wrote: »
    The search doesn't even work properly, so what exactly can it do with the data? The app has trouble finding places correctly charted o the map, it doesn't even recognize that 'a' and 'â' represent the same letter, it can't even understand common abbreviations, so what exactly can it do better than others that has actual relevance?
    Seriously? That's your response? Google does this to me all the time. Unless I enter the full complete address sometimes, Google takes me everywhere but where I want to go. I've yet to see a map app behave otherwise, even on my friends Android phones. Consumer Reports already said as much (and they hate Apple). I suggest you read their article.
  • Reply 14 of 114
    mac_128 wrote: »
    vaelian wrote: »
    The search doesn't even work properly, so what exactly can it do with the data? The app has trouble finding places correctly charted o the map, it doesn't even recognize that 'a' and 'â' represent the same letter, it can't even understand common abbreviations, so what exactly can it do better than others that has actual relevance?
    Seriously? That's your response? Google does this to me all the time. Unless I enter the full complete address sometimes, Google takes me everywhere but where I want to go. I've yet to see a map app behave otherwise, even on my friends Android phones. Consumer Reports already said as much (and they hate Apple). I suggest you read their article.

    But Google at least sends you to addresses related to your search query; Apple maps sends you to completely random places (when it doesn't simply tell you that it couldn't find anything despite the fact that what you're looking for is perfectly charted on the map being displayed right on your screen).
  • Reply 15 of 114
    berpberp Posts: 136member
    nizzard wrote: »
    Absolutely unbelievable. This morning Maps routed me right into a lake. It had no idea the road had been closed over 10 years ago. I trusted my iPhone more than my own intuition, and followed it's every instruction. I'm on the side of the lake watching these guys pull my car out. I really hope Apple comes out with an update soon...because this will probably happen again.

    It picked the lake, ...you would've hung on to your car. For you, ...a no- brainer; for Apple Maps, it was a wash. 
  • Reply 16 of 114
    Apple made the same mistake on their Maps app as they did with Final Cut Pro. They pulled the plug on a popular application to replace it with a brand new 1.0 version application with great potential and scalability, but short on features and content.

    iOS Maps does fantastic on a technical level. Using vector graphics is the way the application should have always been coded. But Apple rushed it out to market, pumped up the expectations too high, and now are having to put out a lot of fires.

    They should have launched it on the app store as a free beta alternative before switching out the Google maps, and learned where their content issues lay.

    Also, there isn't really anything new in the iOS version. I would have been very impressed if they included a developer plugin API so that 3rd party devs could add their own content to maps, such as local weather, transportation, geographical statistics, points of interest. Now that would be something interesting, and Apple would move quicker to provide content for it. Oh well.
  • Reply 17 of 114
    cpsrocpsro Posts: 3,192member


    Did Apple stop using Google's search engine in Maps and start using its own before iOS 6? I seem to recall something about this being rumored or reported (and I'm not confusing this with the availability of alternate search engines in mobile Safari). Perhaps someone who truly knows the situation can confirm or deny this. If it is the case that Apple was already using its own Maps search engine pre-iOS 6, then comparing iOS 5 and 6 Maps isn't really comparing Googles-to-Apples, as far as search results are concerned. On the other hand, if Google's engine has been used all along until iOS 6, then I recall Google's engine occasionally providing some rather awful and often outdated results in recent history.

  • Reply 18 of 114
    mstonemstone Posts: 11,510member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by GoneNuts View Post



    Also, there isn't really anything new in the iOS version. I would have been very impressed if they included a developer plugin API so that 3rd party devs could add their own content to maps, such as local weather, transportation, geographical statistics, points of interest. Now that would be something interesting, and Apple would move quicker to provide content for it. Oh well.


    I think the way it works although I have not used it, is that MapKit allows you to display core maps in your own window and then you can add layers and annotations to display your data rather than the reverse where your data would show up on top of the regular Maps. It is a lot cleaner that way although not as well integrated. Because of the potential complexity of each app providers required menu and overlay system it is impractical to incorporate the developers data directly on top of the regular Maps app. With the current method there is a lot more flexibility to create whatever you want without the constraints of having to share the screen with the native Maps app UI elements.

  • Reply 19 of 114
    hill60hill60 Posts: 6,992member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by DeanSolecki View Post



    My first real use of the new maps app wasn't very impressive. I was looking for a Sports Authority and it found two locations, both of which were no longer in business, and it did not have the locations for the new ones (a friend that was with me found the correct locations on his Lumia.) I will probably be using google maps from now on, although the turn by turn directions will be nice when the data catches up. image

    The features are irrelevant until the data is (something like) reliable.


     


    maps.nokia.com


     


    There you go, you can now use the same maps as your "friend's Lumia".


     


    ???????????????????????????????????????????????????????

  • Reply 20 of 114
    I've been using iOS 6 Maps as my only GPS solution since the beginning of August. Initially, there were some odd instructions as the very first instruction, but since the first release version of iOS 6, those crazy instructions have disappeared. It has always taken me exactly to where I intended to go, never didn't find an address and it works properly with the information in Contacts (something Tom Tom NEVER did and I reported the issue to them numerous times).

    I've read reports that a certain address in NYC used by some of the media (315 E 15th St, I believe) was a park and that no such address actually existed... Apple's Maps did locate the address, but gave a different Street name (a couple of block of E 15th St had been renamed and Apple reflected that address).

    I've never received perfect results from Google Maps, especially when trying to find a business address (moves were not reflected long after the move occurred) and I'm not sure that is even the fault of the Map provider, I think businesses should report address changes, after all it is to their benefit that you're able to find their locations.

    I noticed a comment from someone saying that their friends Nokia Lumia found an address that Apple Maps couldn't find and then he stated he'd be using Google until Apple Maps got better (it is a data issue and it will get better)... The Lumia uses Windows Mobile (or whatever MS is calling it today) and does not use Google Maps (it uses Bing Maps)...

    Consumer Reports (and I never trust them to report favorably on any Apple product) even indicated that their testing of Apple Maps didn't reflect the numerous errors that people were reporting (they were actually sounding reasonable).

    As for the twisted bridges and other anomalies that I've seen reported in the fly over view... Is that even vital information? It's clever, but in my opinion, not necessary and it too will be corrected.

    I'm not suggesting that Apple Maps is perfect and it's missing some features (especially the continuous updating of the ETA that I miss), but it's design is much cleaner and easier to use for GPS than the TomTom app. The first version of any software product is rarely very good, especially in a situation where other competing products have been around for years. I believe Apple had to do this, I think they timed it pretty well and it's good for a 1.0 version (I live in the SF Bay Area, so maybe our maps are more accurate or more heavily tested before the release).

    It's not like Apple is FORCING you to upgrade to iOS 6 or buy a new iPhone 5. I expected complaints, but things seem to be distorted in comparison with my own usage results...

    If you get a bad result on Maps, use the "Report a Problem" button to report it.
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