Hi, I'm a professional analyst. I have done my research and found out that Android updates its map information every day 2:50 a.m. Eastern time. I am thus recommending to my clients that they sell their AAPL positions, and buy Google stock.
Apple's reluctance to move up their map information update time is a sign that they are following, not leading.
Since this story broke, I resubmitted a fair few of the things I had when Maps was first released (because none have been fixed). Let's see how long it takes now.
Not kidding, the physical street sign on the street I live on is misspelled and has been that way for 15 years. Apple Maps gets the spelling correct. Go figure.
I never understood the whinefest that ensued after Maps 1.0 was first launched. For an initial release it was pretty solid and has only improved with time. All software has bugs. Why Apple gets vilified for their bugs more than any other company is a mystery. The fact that Apple allows Google on their ecosystem while Google is actively trying to destroy Apple is one of the great mysteries of our generation.
When maps was first launched I think back then I was on my 4s. I was interested to test both Siri and Maps so just asked Siri to "Take me to McDonalds" as a test. There is one about 1.5 miles down the road from me with hardly any turns. For some reason the route maps used wanted me to drive past the McDonalds for another mile and and half, then turn around. The total trip was 4.3 miles instead of the 1.3 miles it should have been. I reported the problem way back then. I just checked again when I read this story and did the same test and it is still giving me the same error. You can see the pin below which is correct. No reason at all to drive past and make a circle like it shows and suggests. Luckily I know better but the same things has happened in cities where I am unfamiliar with roads.
Had an unfortunate situation yesterday and Apple's Maps failed me. I was sent driving around in a circle instead of being directed to my destination, so I stopped and used Waze, which directed me to where I needed to go. I was very disappointed. There is nothing worse than bad directions in an emergency and this was one of those rare occasions when time was of the essence.
Fortunately, things worked out OK, but I will not use Maps first next time.
and i wont use Waze first after it started popping up ads for nearby businesses along my route.
Good news if true. And I'm sure Apple has thought of a way to
Prevent its competitors from submitting bogus map information user apple's user input system.
I've been wondering how Apple checks these individual notifications. I highly doubt that competitors are sending bogus information. That's just too paranoid.
Better to highlight it at the launch of iOS 8 anyway, as it’s more a consumer feature.
According to reports it was due to middle management issues. Issues that look more like Microsoft management issues. Hopefully, that will be solved by the time iOS 8 comes out.
Come on. Apple wouldn't implement a change just because someone submitted a problem. They'd verify the issue themselves and then put in the necessary corrections.
I think Apple has probably assembled a team to work on Maps issues alone, and they only recently started actively applying corrections, which is why people are noticing them right away. Or they might have had a team all along, but they had such a backlog of problems that it seemed like it took "forever" for changes to appear. Now that they're caught up, changes are coming much sooner.
It's a personnel problem. If thousands of people are issuing corrected info every day, how many people would Apple need to have to look over each one of those corrections, and to then enter them into the database?
At some point a few months ago, we started having problems with delivery companies and deliveries to our home. They would call and ask for directions, and they told us that our house wasn't in Google maps. It certainly used to be. I checked, and sure enough, our cul-de-sac's name was wrong. I submitted an error report and they acknowledged my report within a couple of days, and had it fixed within 10 days.
Here in Atlanta a major exit/connection between to highways that opened several weeks ago was on Google maps the day after it opened. Has yet to show up on Apple Maps
For me, one of the problems is I've just got used to picking Google Maps now. I tried Apple Maps a lot when it first came out, but it let me down multiple times, so I switched to Google. Now Maps would need to offer something significantly better than Google for me to try again.
I didn't expect Apple Maps to be perfect on release, but the mistakes it made were so far from right that it was all but useless at times.
Once something else gets into your "workflow", it's hard to overcome that.
Apple maps have made massive strides, and will continue to get better. What people don't understand is just how serious Apple is about mapping- mock the initial launch all you want, but Apple is highly motivated, and it seems like the system is now in place for exponential improvements. I predict they will release a web-accessible version soon, and also added public transit. Moving maps inhouse is one of the best and important moves Apple has made, if Google was still in control of their mapping data it would be an absolute nightmare, in terms of the leverage Google would have on Apple.
The hilarious thing is that stuff Maps was mocked for (ie. the messed up 3D view of Hoover dam) is now fixed, yet it always has been broken in Google maps and STILL not fixed. Justgoes to show the amount of objectivity some critics had.
My street name has been mis-spelled since the start of Apple Maps. (It's a non-trivial issue since the street does not show up if you search for it using the correct spelling). I have reported the problem a half-dozen times, and it still has not been changed.
I haven't attempted to send in a correction yet, but I don't even know how to tell them what is wrong with the map of my streets in Panama. The map is just completely wrong. When you drive down the street, the dot representing your GPS location is off in to the side of the road a couple hundred meters out in the jungle. It isn't anywhere close to where the road is actually drawn on the map. I don't think it is anything that can be easily fixed. It is not like a misplaced POI that can be moved. The whole map is drawn wrong. There is not very much detail either. A curvy mountain road with lots of switchbacks is just represented by a straight line as the crow flies.
Gray line in the first map is where Apple thinks the road is.
It's a personnel problem. If thousands of people are issuing corrected info every day, how many people would Apple need to have to look over each one of those corrections, and to then enter them into the database?
This is the kind of activity that can easily, cheaply be outsourced (ensuring excellent quality control).
I never understood the whinefest that ensued after Maps 1.0 was first launched. For an initial release it was pretty solid and has only improved with time. All software has bugs. Why Apple gets vilified for their bugs more than any other company is a mystery. The fact that Apple allows Google on their ecosystem while Google is actively trying to destroy Apple is one of the great mysteries of our generation.
Know what Google calls their beta software? "Beta."
Know what Apple calls their beta software? "Version 1.0"
Know what Microsoft calls their beta software? "New and improved version 2.1"
This is the kind of activity that can easily, cheaply be outsourced (ensuring excellent quality control).
I don't think Apple would want to outsource this. Last I read about it, they were continuing to hire people to look over errors, and fix them. Who would they outsource this to? And that would add another layer, which means time, to the process. In the long run, it might not save them any money either.
When maps first launched Apple didn't even have an entire toll road on it. Always irked me when visiting my parents, it would show us driving through empty fields. Reported several times over the past two years, no changes. It's not a difficult thing to verify either - there's a whole website with plans, maps, and documents about it.
I noticed a week or two ago that the road now shows up; obviously something has cleared the backlog.
Comments
Apple's reluctance to move up their map information update time is a sign that they are following, not leading.
Since this story broke, I resubmitted a fair few of the things I had when Maps was first released (because none have been fixed). Let's see how long it takes now.
I never understood the whinefest that ensued after Maps 1.0 was first launched. For an initial release it was pretty solid and has only improved with time. All software has bugs. Why Apple gets vilified for their bugs more than any other company is a mystery. The fact that Apple allows Google on their ecosystem while Google is actively trying to destroy Apple is one of the great mysteries of our generation.
When maps was first launched I think back then I was on my 4s. I was interested to test both Siri and Maps so just asked Siri to "Take me to McDonalds" as a test. There is one about 1.5 miles down the road from me with hardly any turns. For some reason the route maps used wanted me to drive past the McDonalds for another mile and and half, then turn around. The total trip was 4.3 miles instead of the 1.3 miles it should have been. I reported the problem way back then. I just checked again when I read this story and did the same test and it is still giving me the same error. You can see the pin below which is correct. No reason at all to drive past and make a circle like it shows and suggests. Luckily I know better but the same things has happened in cities where I am unfamiliar with roads.
Had an unfortunate situation yesterday and Apple's Maps failed me. I was sent driving around in a circle instead of being directed to my destination, so I stopped and used Waze, which directed me to where I needed to go. I was very disappointed. There is nothing worse than bad directions in an emergency and this was one of those rare occasions when time was of the essence.
Fortunately, things worked out OK, but I will not use Maps first next time.
and i wont use Waze first after it started popping up ads for nearby businesses along my route.
I've been wondering how Apple checks these individual notifications. I highly doubt that competitors are sending bogus information. That's just too paranoid.
According to reports it was due to middle management issues. Issues that look more like Microsoft management issues. Hopefully, that will be solved by the time iOS 8 comes out.
It's a personnel problem. If thousands of people are issuing corrected info every day, how many people would Apple need to have to look over each one of those corrections, and to then enter them into the database?
For me, one of the problems is I've just got used to picking Google Maps now. I tried Apple Maps a lot when it first came out, but it let me down multiple times, so I switched to Google. Now Maps would need to offer something significantly better than Google for me to try again.
I didn't expect Apple Maps to be perfect on release, but the mistakes it made were so far from right that it was all but useless at times.
Once something else gets into your "workflow", it's hard to overcome that.
Apple maps have made massive strides, and will continue to get better. What people don't understand is just how serious Apple is about mapping- mock the initial launch all you want, but Apple is highly motivated, and it seems like the system is now in place for exponential improvements. I predict they will release a web-accessible version soon, and also added public transit. Moving maps inhouse is one of the best and important moves Apple has made, if Google was still in control of their mapping data it would be an absolute nightmare, in terms of the leverage Google would have on Apple.
The hilarious thing is that stuff Maps was mocked for (ie. the messed up 3D view of Hoover dam) is now fixed, yet it always has been broken in Google maps and STILL not fixed. Justgoes to show the amount of objectivity some critics had.
I haven't attempted to send in a correction yet, but I don't even know how to tell them what is wrong with the map of my streets in Panama. The map is just completely wrong. When you drive down the street, the dot representing your GPS location is off in to the side of the road a couple hundred meters out in the jungle. It isn't anywhere close to where the road is actually drawn on the map. I don't think it is anything that can be easily fixed. It is not like a misplaced POI that can be moved. The whole map is drawn wrong. There is not very much detail either. A curvy mountain road with lots of switchbacks is just represented by a straight line as the crow flies.
Gray line in the first map is where Apple thinks the road is.
Second map is Google which gets it correct.
It's a personnel problem. If thousands of people are issuing corrected info every day, how many people would Apple need to have to look over each one of those corrections, and to then enter them into the database?
This is the kind of activity that can easily, cheaply be outsourced (ensuring excellent quality control).
Once something else gets into your "workflow", it's hard to overcome that.
This is spot on. It applies equally to Apple's own prior versions of software (e.g., iWork).
Apple users: "Maps sucks lol. Apple = fail."
Apple: "K, now you can help us fix it."
Apple users: "I'm gonna give you bad info lulz."
Apple: "Sigh. We're doing this for you; don't you want better POI?"
Apple users: "Nah, we just like complaining for the lulz"
Know what Google calls their beta software? "Beta."
Know what Apple calls their beta software? "Version 1.0"
Know what Microsoft calls their beta software? "New and improved version 2.1"
"[whatever year it is] Edition"
This is the kind of activity that can easily, cheaply be outsourced (ensuring excellent quality control).
I don't think Apple would want to outsource this. Last I read about it, they were continuing to hire people to look over errors, and fix them. Who would they outsource this to? And that would add another layer, which means time, to the process. In the long run, it might not save them any money either.
When maps first launched Apple didn't even have an entire toll road on it. Always irked me when visiting my parents, it would show us driving through empty fields. Reported several times over the past two years, no changes. It's not a difficult thing to verify either - there's a whole website with plans, maps, and documents about it.
I noticed a week or two ago that the road now shows up; obviously something has cleared the backlog.