Then you screwed up. If the application is critical to you and nothing else matters, you should have tested all of the options (Mapquest, maps.google.com, iOS 5, iOS 6, Android, etc) thoroughly before making a decision. Since Google has made Google Maps better on Android than on iOS, if Maps is the only thing that matters to you, you should have bought an Android phone.
Just stop pretending that everyone else is like you or that Apple should have changed their business model to satisfy your unusual requirements.
Can you please name a single retail store that will let me take several phones for a test drive and return them if I'm not satisfied with their quality? How would I test an Android device considering that I don't have access to them? I did test the iPhone because I had several people with access to it, and it did what I wanted; the extra features on Android don't matter to me, so even if an Android phone was available for me to test at the time I would have likely made the same choice.
Steve Jobs would be so pissed off right now! He would probably be yelling at some people if he was still here.
You don't know that. Steve might have been the one to say to take this path.
Given that we have zero information about what is going on from a real source, zero information about what decisions Steve did or did not make before dying and so on, it is out of line to presume to know what Steve would or would not do or what would or would not piss him off.
And frankly who gives a rats ass. It is not Steve's Apple anymore. He's gone. He apparently told them not to waste time trying to play WWSD but to go with their own minds on things. So if that's true he would have backed their right to make the play even if he didn't agree with it.
For the record, could you maybe do a single second of research before claiming something?
Street View has been available since iPhone OS 2.2 in 2008.
Regardless of that, Apple was pretty clear when they announced iOS 6 in June that it would not be present so after all the blog etc coverage not that many folks were likely shocked that it was missing, particularly considering how non intuitive it was to invoke compared to the computer web version. ken might not be the only one to think it was never there
what's the timing again?
other reports say "Apple had a year left when it decided to replace Google Maps"
that does NOT sound like 'a year left from iPhone 5 launch (now) ' . (a year before the contract expired... so when was the contract supposed to expire? )
anyways I will await clarification from those who know.
.
You won't get clarification from anything more than more tabloid sources.
But you are right that the interpretations could be way off. Perhaps it's not as folks are reading it that Apple dropped Google Maps a year before the contract was up. But rather that they knew a year ago they were going to not renew etc and perhaps purposefully said nothing to Google to catch thm off guard. Which is stupidity on Googles part as they should have anticipated this the moment Apple bought the first company, like three years ago
"During the company's conference call, Google's new chief executive Larry Page noted a "run rate" of $2.5 billion in annual mobile revenues (income derived from Android, iOS, and other platforms), growth of about 2.5 times the company's 2010 mobile revenues, but a tiny fraction of the revenues Apple is generating as a hardware maker." (1)
"While Google's chief executive Larry Page recently described an $2.5 billion annual run rate for the company's mobile revenues, the company has testified that it has earned less than $550 million from Android across four years from 2008 to 2011." (2)
“Mobile ads associated with maps or locations are estimated to account for about 25% of the roughly $2.5 billion spent on mobile ads in 2012, according to Opus Research, up from 10% in 2010. That is expected to grow as the number of location-aware software apps grows." (3)
TLDR:
Google produces USD $2.5 bn annually in mobile revenues
80% of Google mobile revenues are (were) generated through Apple products
25% of Google mobile revenues are (were) generated specifically through the Maps app on the Apple iOS platform
Google doesn't have access to the private APIs on iOS as they do on Android. Apple would be crazy to give Google access to the family jewels. Maps has always been an Apple-written app that used Google data. Apparently, Google would not allow Apple access to advanced data like TBT.
If Google releases a maps app for IOS 6 (or 5 or 4), likely, it will be kludgey and not well integrated into the user experience.
Again, what was Apple to do... And when is the best time to do it?
I take issue with the idea that Google couldn't produce a credible third-party app given three months time. Given that Apple's new Maps app was announced on 11 June 2012 and released to the general public on 19 September 2012, Google should have had sufficient time to develop and submit a version of Google Maps to the iTunes App Store. Furthermore, I suggest that Google Maps may not be as robust as some claim considering that they either couldn't or didn't submit a third-party Google Maps app to the iTunes App Store.
You ask "what was Apple to do... And when is the best time to do it?" I suspect you may have misunderstood my post.
2. Daniel Eran Dilger. Published 29 March 2012. Google earns 80% of its mobile revenue from iOS, just 20% from Android. Apple Insider. Retrieved 26 September 2012.
Crowdsourcing for corrections sounds like a good idea--if there weren't as many jerkwads in the world as there are. Unfortunately, the world is full of Fandroids, Googlesuckers and similar scum. What's to keep them from sending in "corrections" of streets and POIs that are completely wrong? I'll bet money that an organized campaign to do just that is starting up already.
You really think Apple is dumb enough to not verify reports before acting
What makes you think I made a decision at all? I'm still running iOS 5.1.1 everywhere! That, however, doesn't mean I shouldn't complain, because iOS 5.1.1 is no longer supported and there are known serious security holes in it (as well as in iOS 6) that will never be fixed. As a customer, that's all I care about. I don't give a flying shit about Apple's inner or outer struggles with the world; they have the money, they could have dealt with it in a way that didn't affect my experience or didn't force me to stick to a firmware that will never receive any updates.
You really are an irrational whiner, living in a delusional fantasy world. I don't really give a flying anything about your inner or outer struggles, or your irrational fears about software that you haven't even used. All this noise from you and you aren't even using the maps in question?
So, basically, you have absolutely no idea what you are talking about. You are simply in a panic, but have no facts or experience to justify it. Frankly, I don't think anyone wants you as a customer.
If you keep iOS 5 with the original Google Maps App will it stop working if Apple's not paying a licensing fee anymore ?
Also since when is an App part of an OS in the first place? Why wasn't this disclosed to the millions of users prior to installing that the old maps would be trashed and not merely an option?
If Google Maps was still there crowd sourcing wouldn't be nearly as effective; They had no choice. However they should've released it declaring it as a beta and informed everyone crowd sourcing would be needed for a while. If I was an exec I also would not have included Google Maps to ensure the quickest crowd sourcing possible. That's all regarding data only. With respect to the quality of the 3D maps etc that's a mystery I don't know anything about.
You really are an irrational whiner, living in a delusional fantasy world. I don't really give a flying anything about your inner or outer struggles, or your irrational fears about software that you haven't even used. All this noise from you and you aren't even using the maps in question?
If I'm the irrational party here, then how come you're the one making all the irrational assumptions? Who told you that I've never used iOS 6? I'm an iOS developer, I've used iOS 6 a lot longer than most people and downgraded back to 5.1.1 after 6 launched to the public because I don't need it on my devices anymore.
So, basically, you have absolutely no idea what you are talking about. You are simply in a panic, but have no facts or experience to justify it. Frankly, I don't think anyone wants you as a customer.
Right back at you! Stop speculating!
EDIT: Forgot to mention that iOS 6 Maps is also available in the Simulator, so even now I can still test it.
My citation is also known as common frigging sense. YOU are the product being sold. BUSINESSES are the customer.
Originally Posted by ThePixelDoc
I'm going state it again: I seriously think that Apple is getting ready to sue Google within the next 6 months.
I think they might do one more Android manufacturer lawsuit before going for the neck. They'll wait until the Samsung crap is completely settled, collect the money, and then see if anyone else is copying hardware as slavishly. If so, them first. If not, Google.
Originally Posted by Vaelian
It's The One Stinking Application that makes me use smartphones. Without it, the entire smartphone is useless to me.
Sounds like you have no business buying a smartphone, then. Sounds more like you need a standalone turn-by-turn GPS.
Thanks for clarifying your position here, though. It gives us some perspective in the future when you're complaining about one feature of a phone that has thousands.
Well this changes my opinion slightly, though not dramatically.
Maps on iPhone was certainly stagnant, and I am not sure who is responsible for that- Google or Apple (I blame Google), but it needed to move it forward. It is very hard to move forward as dramatically as they did without upsetting people, especially when it comes to moving from mature software to something almost entirely new.
That said, I assumed the contract with Google was up and Apple didn't want to sign anything else. I was 100% OK with that. Now it just seems weird. If Google was caught off guard (and I believe them because they had a YouTube app ready to go- it makes no sense to not have a maps alternative ready to go), it doesn't sound like there was much negotiation at all. That kind of bugs me. If Apple is going to start acting out of emotion, it makes me thankful that Google isn't involved in any other products on the iPhone. I hope Apple returns to a level headed thinking after all the bad press this is causing. I know they have a lot of hard feelings towards Google, Samsung, and others, but releasing something that isn't up to your standards because of those feelings disregards the reason people buy your products in the first place: quality. I hopped on the Apple bandwagon because of those high quality standards. Apple usually sticks to those standards even if it means leaving out a few bells and whistles, a quality I admire. This move does not appear to be consistent with that at all, and that is bothersome (though not earth shattering).
Keeping that all in mind- the bad press hasn't done much or anything to hurt sales. People will forgive you when they think its a fluke, and we have every reason to believe this is a fluke given Apple's history.
"Perhaps most troubling was the lack of features users had become accustomed to with Google Maps, such as Street View, highly-detailed map data and public transit routes."
For the record, Street View has NEVER been available on iOS devices... So how exactly did users 'become accustomed' to it?
This amazing piece of misinformation continues to be propogated by blogs, rumor sites and the mainstream media... Does anybody bother to check facts anymore?
you are wrong sir.... i have used street view on google maps. ( on ios 5 of course)
the "person" icon had to be in the info blob... for street view to work. (on my ipad 3).
(great memories of look around brisbane, australia using street view. and being puzzled by the fact that the. google headquarters "employee" photo had the faces blurred out... come on if they didn't want people to see google employees' faces why allow them to pose on the road in front of google for google street level ?)
but, i dont care any more. apple will get their sh|t together, and all will be well.
funny, if 25% of the ios user base has upgraded, google is most definitely seeing a big drop in the traffic to the google maps server ... run google run and get that map app written, cause it is going to take at least a season to get it approved (wonder how google is going to get around the "Duplicates existing functionality" caveat in the approval process...)
so. good luck google you are now writing the map app as apple sees fit, thus it WILL have all the features and more, so that can't be said to "Duplicates existing functionality" ... and so Apple will get the app that the topline andriod phones have... <strong> great chess move/game on Apples part...</strong>
As someone who works extensively in the GIS world, people pay big. If you're a small, independent store that just wants to show where a couple of locations are and your website doesn't get much traffic, that's free. If you require a lot of traffic, or your applications is outside to scope of what is available for free (legally), you will have to pay to use Google, Bing, or Yahoo Maps. We're a relatively small company, but even for our somewhat modest needs, we have to pay Bing/Microsoft. We'd have to pay Google as well.
One major reason for the expense is that GIS/Map data is astronomically expensive and goes up depending on number of users. The last company I worked for was a small company and it licensed GIS data directly. It was spending HUGE amounts of money to license that data even with a relatively small user base (we counted in hundreds - not even thousands). I know it was over $10,000. I want to say it was around $30,000, but I cannot say for sure. It could have been more, but it certainly wasn't less. Hard to remember as it was almost 8 years ago (so it is probably more expensive now).
So Apple was paying Google and is now paying Tom Tom, and I am sure in both cases they were/are paying through the nose, as Apple has MILLIONS of users.
Just as there is no evidence that it WAS a possibility.
So, once again, we have to decide who knows better how to run the company - you or Apple's management team.
I'll go with Cook and company.
Apple introduced a translucent menu bar in Leopard(?) - take it or leave it. Much protesting from users. Next update to OS X there was an option from Apple to not have a translucent menu bar. Easy and an acknowledgment from Apple as to what should have been there the first time.
On iOS3, the slide switch on the iPad was rotation lock. In iOS4 Apple made it a sound mute switch and moved rotation lock to a more complex sequence. Much protesting from users. A later update to iOS provided an option to allow the user to decide on the function of the slider switch - mute or rotation lock. Easy and an acknowledgment from Apple as to what should have been there the first time.
Clearly, in these cases, users were right and Apple were wrong and by making those changes, conceded users' valid grievances. Apple makes mistakes, despite those on here who seem to think they are infallible and never put a foot wrong. Most of the time they do the sensible, inspired and often surprising thing. Sometimes changes are hard to accept but then we either forget the old way and/or realise that the new way is better. In (Mountain) Lion for example, you can use the trackpad to scroll in the old way or the new 'natural' way - on that one Apple did it perfectly by giving users an option from the start to choose their preference. I'm sure in time that option will go and nobody will mind.
Thinking that contributors here can't criticise Apple's decisions because none of us are Apple's management team is rather like saying that the government can't be critiqued by the voters because none of us are politicians or political graduates. Politicians make mistakes, presidents get impeached and our governments and businesses lie too! Our arguments may need refining, we may lack all the right knowledge and sometimes we are wrong but we are perfectly entitled to offer our views of what we think is incorrect, unhelpful as well as on what really works too.
Am I the only one who things the media is over-dramatizing the whole maps thing? Just nit-picking and LOOKING to find serious fault in Apple for anything? They are making it sound as it Apple new maps is a "Disaster" as some have put it. are there mistakes? yes. Bugs? yes. but I see the majority of them are not that big a deal for a new product. 3D renderings of a hwy going through Hoover Dam, an airport icon over Airfield Ireland. That ONE street in your town that is mislabeled. Seems to me that for the most part, these errors are obvious and MANY of them should be common sense. I am sure that if the critics took as much time to look for errors in Google's own mapping system, they'd find some.
Apple maps aren't perfect by any means, and I hope none of those errors will cause anyone any harm, but it's pretty darn good in MOST areas (mine included... I live in a fairly large city in the US and so far, it's pretty damn accurate). Just use common sense, submit any errors you find and I'm sure in no time we'll have a GREAT product. Remember, the first iPhone wasn't great either (remember the no MMS, copy/paste and stuff?)
In the meantime, if you aren't certain of an area, or if it's something vital, use the google maps webapp for confirmation.
Comments
Can you please name a single retail store that will let me take several phones for a test drive and return them if I'm not satisfied with their quality? How would I test an Android device considering that I don't have access to them? I did test the iPhone because I had several people with access to it, and it did what I wanted; the extra features on Android don't matter to me, so even if an Android phone was available for me to test at the time I would have likely made the same choice.
You don't know that. Steve might have been the one to say to take this path.
Given that we have zero information about what is going on from a real source, zero information about what decisions Steve did or did not make before dying and so on, it is out of line to presume to know what Steve would or would not do or what would or would not piss him off.
And frankly who gives a rats ass. It is not Steve's Apple anymore. He's gone. He apparently told them not to waste time trying to play WWSD but to go with their own minds on things. So if that's true he would have backed their right to make the play even if he didn't agree with it.
Regardless of that, Apple was pretty clear when they announced iOS 6 in June that it would not be present so after all the blog etc coverage not that many folks were likely shocked that it was missing, particularly considering how non intuitive it was to invoke compared to the computer web version. ken might not be the only one to think it was never there
You won't get clarification from anything more than more tabloid sources.
But you are right that the interpretations could be way off. Perhaps it's not as folks are reading it that Apple dropped Google Maps a year before the contract was up. But rather that they knew a year ago they were going to not renew etc and perhaps purposefully said nothing to Google to catch thm off guard. Which is stupidity on Googles part as they should have anticipated this the moment Apple bought the first company, like three years ago
"During the company's conference call, Google's new chief executive Larry Page noted a "run rate" of $2.5 billion in annual mobile revenues (income derived from Android, iOS, and other platforms), growth of about 2.5 times the company's 2010 mobile revenues, but a tiny fraction of the revenues Apple is generating as a hardware maker." (1)
"While Google's chief executive Larry Page recently described an $2.5 billion annual run rate for the company's mobile revenues, the company has testified that it has earned less than $550 million from Android across four years from 2008 to 2011." (2)
“Mobile ads associated with maps or locations are estimated to account for about 25% of the roughly $2.5 billion spent on mobile ads in 2012, according to Opus Research, up from 10% in 2010. That is expected to grow as the number of location-aware software apps grows." (3)
TLDR:
Google produces USD $2.5 bn annually in mobile revenues
80% of Google mobile revenues are (were) generated through Apple products
25% of Google mobile revenues are (were) generated specifically through the Maps app on the Apple iOS platform
I take issue with the idea that Google couldn't produce a credible third-party app given three months time. Given that Apple's new Maps app was announced on 11 June 2012 and released to the general public on 19 September 2012, Google should have had sufficient time to develop and submit a version of Google Maps to the iTunes App Store. Furthermore, I suggest that Google Maps may not be as robust as some claim considering that they either couldn't or didn't submit a third-party Google Maps app to the iTunes App Store.
You ask "what was Apple to do... And when is the best time to do it?" I suspect you may have misunderstood my post.
1. Daniel Eran Dilger. Published 13 October 2011. Google announces nearly $10 billion in quarterly revenue, little mention of Android. Apple Insider. Retrieved 26 September 2012.
2. Daniel Eran Dilger. Published 29 March 2012. Google earns 80% of its mobile revenue from iOS, just 20% from Android. Apple Insider. Retrieved 26 September 2012.
3. Jessica E. Vascellaro and Amir Efrati. Published 4 June 2012. Apple and Google Expand Their Battle to Mobile Maps. The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 26 September 2012.
And even if it is, it wasn't when it came out like ten years ago.
You really think Apple is dumb enough to not verify reports before acting
Quote:
Originally Posted by Vaelian
What makes you think I made a decision at all? I'm still running iOS 5.1.1 everywhere! That, however, doesn't mean I shouldn't complain, because iOS 5.1.1 is no longer supported and there are known serious security holes in it (as well as in iOS 6) that will never be fixed. As a customer, that's all I care about. I don't give a flying shit about Apple's inner or outer struggles with the world; they have the money, they could have dealt with it in a way that didn't affect my experience or didn't force me to stick to a firmware that will never receive any updates.
You really are an irrational whiner, living in a delusional fantasy world. I don't really give a flying anything about your inner or outer struggles, or your irrational fears about software that you haven't even used. All this noise from you and you aren't even using the maps in question?
So, basically, you have absolutely no idea what you are talking about. You are simply in a panic, but have no facts or experience to justify it. Frankly, I don't think anyone wants you as a customer.
Neither does Tom Tom etc and they sorted something out
That's right. Sherlock wouldn't have solved the case using Google Maps, or Apple Maps.
If you keep iOS 5 with the original Google Maps App will it stop working if Apple's not paying a licensing fee anymore ?
Also since when is an App part of an OS in the first place?
Why wasn't this disclosed to the millions of users prior to installing that the old maps would be trashed and not merely an option?
If Google Maps was still there crowd sourcing wouldn't be nearly as effective; They had no choice. However they should've released it declaring it as a beta and informed everyone crowd sourcing would be needed for a while. If I was an exec I also would not have included Google Maps to ensure the quickest crowd sourcing possible. That's all regarding data only. With respect to the quality of the 3D maps etc that's a mystery I don't know anything about.
If I'm the irrational party here, then how come you're the one making all the irrational assumptions? Who told you that I've never used iOS 6? I'm an iOS developer, I've used iOS 6 a lot longer than most people and downgraded back to 5.1.1 after 6 launched to the public because I don't need it on my devices anymore.
Right back at you! Stop speculating!
EDIT: Forgot to mention that iOS 6 Maps is also available in the Simulator, so even now I can still test it.
Originally Posted by Vaelian
Citation?
So I guess you ignored me the first time I posted this:
https://developers.google.com/maps/licensing
My citation is also known as common frigging sense. YOU are the product being sold. BUSINESSES are the customer.
Originally Posted by ThePixelDoc
I'm going state it again: I seriously think that Apple is getting ready to sue Google within the next 6 months.
I think they might do one more Android manufacturer lawsuit before going for the neck. They'll wait until the Samsung crap is completely settled, collect the money, and then see if anyone else is copying hardware as slavishly. If so, them first. If not, Google.
Originally Posted by Vaelian
It's The One Stinking Application that makes me use smartphones. Without it, the entire smartphone is useless to me.
Sounds like you have no business buying a smartphone, then. Sounds more like you need a standalone turn-by-turn GPS.
Thanks for clarifying your position here, though. It gives us some perspective in the future when you're complaining about one feature of a phone that has thousands.
Well this changes my opinion slightly, though not dramatically.
Maps on iPhone was certainly stagnant, and I am not sure who is responsible for that- Google or Apple (I blame Google), but it needed to move it forward. It is very hard to move forward as dramatically as they did without upsetting people, especially when it comes to moving from mature software to something almost entirely new.
That said, I assumed the contract with Google was up and Apple didn't want to sign anything else. I was 100% OK with that. Now it just seems weird. If Google was caught off guard (and I believe them because they had a YouTube app ready to go- it makes no sense to not have a maps alternative ready to go), it doesn't sound like there was much negotiation at all. That kind of bugs me. If Apple is going to start acting out of emotion, it makes me thankful that Google isn't involved in any other products on the iPhone. I hope Apple returns to a level headed thinking after all the bad press this is causing. I know they have a lot of hard feelings towards Google, Samsung, and others, but releasing something that isn't up to your standards because of those feelings disregards the reason people buy your products in the first place: quality. I hopped on the Apple bandwagon because of those high quality standards. Apple usually sticks to those standards even if it means leaving out a few bells and whistles, a quality I admire. This move does not appear to be consistent with that at all, and that is bothersome (though not earth shattering).
Keeping that all in mind- the bad press hasn't done much or anything to hurt sales. People will forgive you when they think its a fluke, and we have every reason to believe this is a fluke given Apple's history.
PS: I am still buying an iPhone 5. :-)
the "person" icon had to be in the info blob... for street view to work. (on my ipad 3).
(great memories of look around brisbane, australia using street view. and being puzzled by the fact that the. google headquarters "employee" photo had the faces blurred out... come on if they didn't want people to see google employees' faces why allow them to pose on the road in front of google for google street level ?)
but, i dont care any more. apple will get their sh|t together, and all will be well.
funny, if 25% of the ios user base has upgraded, google is most definitely seeing a big drop in the traffic to the google maps server ... run google run and get that map app written, cause it is going to take at least a season to get it approved (wonder how google is going to get around the "Duplicates existing functionality" caveat in the approval process...)
so. good luck google you are now writing the map app as apple sees fit, thus it WILL have all the features and more, so that can't be said to "Duplicates existing functionality" ... and so Apple will get the app that the topline andriod phones have... <strong> great chess move/game on Apples part...</strong>
Quote:
Originally Posted by Vaelian
Citation?
As someone who works extensively in the GIS world, people pay big. If you're a small, independent store that just wants to show where a couple of locations are and your website doesn't get much traffic, that's free. If you require a lot of traffic, or your applications is outside to scope of what is available for free (legally), you will have to pay to use Google, Bing, or Yahoo Maps. We're a relatively small company, but even for our somewhat modest needs, we have to pay Bing/Microsoft. We'd have to pay Google as well.
One major reason for the expense is that GIS/Map data is astronomically expensive and goes up depending on number of users. The last company I worked for was a small company and it licensed GIS data directly. It was spending HUGE amounts of money to license that data even with a relatively small user base (we counted in hundreds - not even thousands). I know it was over $10,000. I want to say it was around $30,000, but I cannot say for sure. It could have been more, but it certainly wasn't less. Hard to remember as it was almost 8 years ago (so it is probably more expensive now).
So Apple was paying Google and is now paying Tom Tom, and I am sure in both cases they were/are paying through the nose, as Apple has MILLIONS of users.
Quote:
Originally Posted by jragosta
Just as there is no evidence that it WAS a possibility.
So, once again, we have to decide who knows better how to run the company - you or Apple's management team.
I'll go with Cook and company.
Apple introduced a translucent menu bar in Leopard(?) - take it or leave it. Much protesting from users. Next update to OS X there was an option from Apple to not have a translucent menu bar. Easy and an acknowledgment from Apple as to what should have been there the first time.
On iOS3, the slide switch on the iPad was rotation lock. In iOS4 Apple made it a sound mute switch and moved rotation lock to a more complex sequence. Much protesting from users. A later update to iOS provided an option to allow the user to decide on the function of the slider switch - mute or rotation lock. Easy and an acknowledgment from Apple as to what should have been there the first time.
Clearly, in these cases, users were right and Apple were wrong and by making those changes, conceded users' valid grievances. Apple makes mistakes, despite those on here who seem to think they are infallible and never put a foot wrong. Most of the time they do the sensible, inspired and often surprising thing. Sometimes changes are hard to accept but then we either forget the old way and/or realise that the new way is better. In (Mountain) Lion for example, you can use the trackpad to scroll in the old way or the new 'natural' way - on that one Apple did it perfectly by giving users an option from the start to choose their preference. I'm sure in time that option will go and nobody will mind.
Thinking that contributors here can't criticise Apple's decisions because none of us are Apple's management team is rather like saying that the government can't be critiqued by the voters because none of us are politicians or political graduates. Politicians make mistakes, presidents get impeached and our governments and businesses lie too! Our arguments may need refining, we may lack all the right knowledge and sometimes we are wrong but we are perfectly entitled to offer our views of what we think is incorrect, unhelpful as well as on what really works too.
removed
Apple maps aren't perfect by any means, and I hope none of those errors will cause anyone any harm, but it's pretty darn good in MOST areas (mine included... I live in a fairly large city in the US and so far, it's pretty damn accurate). Just use common sense, submit any errors you find and I'm sure in no time we'll have a GREAT product. Remember, the first iPhone wasn't great either (remember the no MMS, copy/paste and stuff?)
In the meantime, if you aren't certain of an area, or if it's something vital, use the google maps webapp for confirmation.