Inaccurate Apple Maps directions causes 'life threatening issue' for travelers, says Australian... - Page 3

Never really used the built-in map apps, Google or Apple's, for anything more than a quick look at traffic or lay of the land.

Been using Magellan GPS app for as long as it has been sold and before that a stand alone GPS.

 

Do you?

 

Google ironed out the problems by putting it out there.

Apple will iron out the problems (we hope) by putting it out there

If they left the Google service on the phone, then the Apple service wouldn't get the workout it is seeing today.

 

Simple enough?

sure ...so you are defending that? Is that a good user experience? Why replace a great working product like Google Maps in the first place? Especially knowing it would take years to get it right? They replaced a working product with a inferior one so they could use all of their users as beta testers? You think that is the right thing to do? The users...all of us....did not get a choice of which product to use? Why would Apple publicly acknowledge that it was not working correctly then fire the product manager? You think they planned it that way? Do you think they relish the criticisms from all over the world? Do they like all the bad publicity just so Maps can get as you say "the workout it is seeing today." Funny Tim Cook has acknowledged that it is not working correctly...but what does he know....he just runs Apple.....He isn't defending Maps....just you.....

All this "google maps and other maps are just as bad"... is just so much teenager self-justification crap...

 

We are talking Apple Maps here -- and for some things, they just don't work... regardless of whether other map solutions succeed or fail.

 

 

 

But, if you really  want to double down on frustration -- try this:

 

"Siri: Where is Mildura Australia?"

You're simply missing the entire point.

The fact that lots of Australian press has criticized Apple's Maps is not evidence of anything. There is a long history of the press criticizing Apple for things that turn out not to be real problems. That's one of the big issues. Every time someone complains about Apple, it suddenly turns into a massive disastergate problem and there are 50,000 media articles about how incompetent Apple is - and then the problem simply fades away when people realize that the entire thing was someone making a mountain out of a molehill.

I'm still waiting for you to provide a side-by-side comparison that shows Apple's Maps to be inferior to the alternatives.


Exactly. And not a single one involved Apple's Maps.

Blindly following ANY directions without using common sense is foolish. I don't care if the directions come from Google, Apple, Mapquest, Garmin, or your best friend, when you're following directions and something looks wonky, you stop and check it out instead of blithely continuing.

Why?

No one in their right mind expects perfection from a mapping program. So how do you judge whether the program is any good? You compare it to the alternatives.

If Apple's mapping program is as good as Google and the other alternatives, then all the whining is misplaced. Instead of singling Apple out, the comments should be arguing for ALL mapping programs to be improved. If it turns out that Apple Maps IS inferior, then the complaints would be justified - but, so far, most of the comparisons show Apple's maps to be just as good as the competition, if not better.

Expecting Apple's Maps to be perfect while accepting flaws in every other mapping system is pure hypocrisy.

Off Topic.......I love your signature!

Does Maps in Australia say, "You will have to walkabout from here"

That wench took me into a neighborhood on the opposite side of a golf course entrance and told me I'd have to get out and walk.

I am not the kind of person that likes hiking or camping in the wilderness but even I imagine that relying on an electrical powered device for directions is not a good idea. Having a compass has worked for hundreds of years and a good map or two is standard gear when going off on an adventure. Besides were would you charge you phone in a forest or desert?

It wasn't great. No TBT. No vector graphics. Forced to allow customer data to feed back into the Google data mines like that scene in Temple of Doom where all the kids are working in that underground cavern.

It was a tough spot for Apple and another would have been better, but they didn't have another year. They made the best choice from a bad situation, but fear not because it's a temporary situation, just as Google Maps was worse than Map Quest at the start.

The only thing to fault Apple for is over promising and under delivering instead of acknowledging up front that there will be some growing pains but that Apple Maps will be the best maps in the world in a lot less time than it took Google to get its maps straightened out.

And, yet, you haven't provided any evidence that it's inferior. The few side-by-side comparisons that have been done show it to be at least comparable.

So where's all the evidence to back your claim that it's inferior?

That's not what Cook said. His apology said that he was sorry that Maps failed to meet users' expectations. That is not an admission that the product doesn't work. But feel free to point out anywhere that Cook said the application was defective. Specifically, he said:
Failing to make the "best experience possible" does not mean the product is defective. In fact, it's a completely meaningless phrase. Even if you take the best mapping system on the market and improve it by 300%, it would STILL not be the "best experience possible". This reads very much like the kind of apology you give your wife when she's complaining about something stupid "I'm sorry that you're upset."

 

I have been an Apple fan for over 34 years... longer than many here have been alive!

 

Apple's mapping is not as good as Google Maps for many things:  accuracy of data; areas covered; satellite images; POI data; street view; computer/web access...  to name a few.

 

No amount of "pick and choose" comparisons can change this!

 

I do believe that, in the long run, Apple Maps will be a superior solution!

 

But first, Apple needs to admit to themselves that action is needed -- then take that action.

 

I don't really care if other map solutions are as bad or worse in some situations!

 

I want to use Apple Maps, and develop dependable solutions (iOS and OSX) using Apple MAps.

 

Apple Maps just isn't good enough!

Apple being late to the game is their own fault, not anyone else's. It's wrong to shift the burden to the customers, stop being an apologetict.


If you can't guarantee the quality of your services, don't offer them, and especially don't prevent your customers from accessing concurrent services that actually work.


No, you got the question wrong. The question you should be asking is: have so many people gotten lost due to Google Maps' wrong directions that police departments had to issue specific warnings about its inaccuracies? I bet you know the answer for that...


Yes, it's a conspiracy! The entire world is conspiring against Apple! I heard they're even moving roads, rivers, cities, and oceans now just to make Apple's Maps inaccurate!


Do you have links to that? I'm really curious to see where the comparisons were done.


Last time I checked, Apple's Maps still had trouble understanding that 'a', 'ã', 'â', 'á', 'à', and 'ä' are all the same letter, but if you missed an accent, it would not find what you were looking for. Pretty basic stuff that shows it really wasn't properly tested, and this isn't even about data! Don't get me started with the places where the rendered map, the dropped pins, and the search results disagree with each other, something that should have never happened because all this data should have been indexed together.


Their own fault for going crowdsourcing in the first place. Google collects their own data, but I'm yet to see an Apple car drive down my street to collect map data.


Nope, I expect them to hire people and employ resources to collect that data themselves, especially since Google does it. It's not like they don't have the money...


Yes, it did. I'm still on iOS 5.1.1 jailbroken, I can publish a video with that if you wish.


It's too late for that. That kind of quality was acceptable in 2006, not in 2012. Technology evolves; if you want to be competitive, you have to adopt today's standards, especially if you are replacing a competitor's service in your own platform without giving your customers the option to go back.

Google? Can be 100% wrong. No one cares. Doesn't matter.

 

Google can drive you off a cliff. Everyone is fine with that.

 

Useless hypocrites.

Have you changed your position on Apple Maps, because I feel as if you had the opposite position back when I was concerned about Apple Maps being a potential issue waiting to explode back when the iOS 6 betas were out?

 

The point ought to be that there are plenty of errors in Google Maps, still, so, anyone pretending that it's perfect is denying reality. In some cases, Google Maps give more inaccurate results than Apple Maps, yet, no one is crucifying them for still not having it right.

 

In other words, 99% of the criticism of Apple Maps, at least in comparison to Google Maps, is hysteria fueled by Google's PR machine.

It didn't replace any existing services. Nobody would be complaining about Apple's Maps had they been optional, but since they were forced down everyone's throats with iOS 6, Apple's Maps are expected to be at least as good as Google's.

You say Apple shouldn't offer any Maps solution until every address and PoI that could possibly be searched is tested and verified as accurate as per your statement of "services that actually work" in this thread about some location data being inaccurate. How does that work since Apple can't make a great mapping solution until it can crowd source and resolve the most common issues. What you propose is a Catch-22, not a solution. Despite your statements Google acquires location data from users; probably more than other company on the planet.

Nope, that's not what I'm saying, but feel free to attack that straw man if you like, because even that straw man is more reasonable than you.

Still waiting for evidence that Apple's Maps are inferior to Google Maps.

10,000 monkeys furiously typing "Apple Maps sucks" doesn't make it true.

There have only been a few side-by-side comparisons and Apple Maps was at least as good as Google Maps in most of them. So where's the evidence to support your rant?

I'm assuming they were all attacked by drop bears?

Exactly!!!!

 

I'm not sure he has. I'll bet he still recognizes its preliminary quality and is now just concerned about the amount of time it has taken to update the errors, wherever they were.

 

Personally, my only concern is that Apple will think they can treat Maps like they treat updates and do nothing in between them.

 

I'm waiting for someone to tell me what Apple Maps "replaced".

This, of course, ignores the fact that you can still use Google Maps on iOS if you wish - so Apple Maps didn't replace it.

(Not to mention, of course, the fact that you STILL refuse to back up your claim that it's inferior).

I agree with those who suggest that with Apple's resources they should be able to correct these issues with a greater sense of urgency and purpose. Or not to be using "us" as guinea pigs to sort out their technology. Having said that you do have to be a "dumbass" to be making a trip in such a remote place as Australia and depending on one source for what could be your survival.

 Can you provide links to these comparisons, please?

 

I assume these comparisons were made by people who aren't APPL shareholders?

This, of course, ignores the fact that the Google Maps that you can use on iOS 6 depends on your network connection to update the current position (which makes it unusable for driving due to lag), can not save locations, does not rotate, and is not integrated with Contacts, Calendars, or Reminders.

did you not read the article this thread was started from? All of the users in Australia giving evidence that Maps did not work correctly? The gist of the my whole point was Maps does not work as well as the product it replaced........... That has been everyone's who point of emphasis. There has been enough data to back that up over the time Maps has been released.......wishing it weren't true won't make it so..... !0,000 monkeys furiously typing "Apple Maps is perfect" does not not make it so either........So show me the data that proves Maps is better that what it replaced. How long does it take for a map program to mature? Did Apple Maps have that time? Did it have the time compared to what it replaced? Did you replace a product with a lesser product and call it a great user experience?

Apple could have come out and just said they are releasing Apple Maps in beta and they need everyone's help to make it great. If they wouldn have taken that standpoint from the beginning they would have had all the Apple faithful behind them and had gotten millions of users participating in the beta test to make it great. Instead they replaced it without users having a choice and it did not meet expectations.......

 

It is if you're already in Google's ecosystem thereof.

This is your myopic argument. Your straw man. You made a generalized statement that no other option than for Apple's Maps to offer no location data and therefore not exist. Instead you ignored what I wrote and decided to attack me, as usual, instead of defending your comment (which makes sense as it's not defendable). Let's reexamine what you wrote.

So locations, as in the case of the article aren't guaranteed, right? So your solution — ONLY solution — is to not offer location data that is guaranteed. There is absolutely no way you can spin your own words to mean anything els. You then made a comment about blocking services that actually work, which is still available on the iPhone if you are suggesting Google Maps. But you can't be suggesting Google Maps because Google doesn't guarantee their Maps either.

Google even has ways to update their Maps so they can be better... something you claim is a fail for Apple.




Look, we all get it. Apple Maps isn't as accurate as Google Maps at this time, but everything you claim Apple shouldn't do is exactly what they need to do if they want to make Apple Maps better. All you've suggested is that they shouldn't walk until they run which isn't fair. Apple has proffered other solutions in their App Store, and there is still Google Maps in Safari.

 

Where have you been?  Just because you can waste your time to find a "Google bad" for every "Apple bad" doesn't mean that they are equally bad/good/

 

We have nothing that shows that the Microsoft Surface tablet is inferior to the iPad... except for empirical evidence and common sense. 

"Evidence" is not the plural of anecdote.

No one has ever denied the fact that there are some errors in Apple's Maps. That is not the same as evidence that Apple Maps is inferior to Google Maps.


Search for them online.

There was one done in the SF Bay area which showed Apple Maps to be superior. One in Canada was roughly a wash. And a couple in China showed Apple Maps to be better.

Besides, I'm not the one claiming that Apple Maps is inferior. I'm simply pointing out that no one has yet provided evidence to support that claim.

How far we have come.

Sorry, but there are two options:

1. Live your life believing every whinefest thrown at you by the media and accept all the whining as gospel truth. No need for evidence or facts, if the New York Times prints it, it must be true.

2. Choose to believe factual evidence when it is presented and remain skeptical of claims that are not supported by evidence.

I choose #2. You apparently chose #1.

 

+++ QFT

If you search for Mildura Australia, Apple Maps does indeed give you a location in the middle of a national park. But, it's pretty obvious that the location given is in the middle of a national park with no mapped roads leading in and out. That should probably give someone pause before heading out.

Also, if you put in an actual address in Mildura, rather than just the town's name, it gives the correct location.

Forced? Talk about sham arguments, you are the Scarecrow King. What was forced by Apple? Customers were forced to buy an iPhone 5? No! Customers were forced to install OS 6? No! These actions all require effort to achieve. **** your falsely impassioned hyperbole and try to make a balanced and reasoned argument for once.

Firing their iOS executives is looking like an even better decision now!

Indeed. Or how about planning for things like a tire blow out and you might have to walk for help so since its summer and the app says you are going into a park you have water in your car etc

 

If the iPhone 5 was required in order to run the new Apple Maps, then your snide comment would have made more sense.