Apple re-ups digital maps pact with TomTom

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Comments

  • Reply 21 of 55
    SpamSandwichSpamSandwich Posts: 33,407member
    Google-owned Waze was going completely nuts for me recently and I had to switch to Apple Maps in the middle of a commute. It worked well. One thing I'd love to see Apple add would be a layer of user added data, such as current traffic conditions, including speed traps, accidents and road hazards.
  • Reply 22 of 55
    konqerror wrote: »
    Commenters on this forum are just like Apple engineers. Works for me here. Must work for everybody else in the world.

    How ironic. Just like commenters who claim "it doesn't work for me, must not work anywhere else in the world".
  • Reply 23 of 55
    NYC is old as dirt and Apple maps has been flawless. I would be surprised but not in disbelief if someone reported issues, but in my experience google maps has never been so far superior as to never make mistakes either.
    konqerror wrote: »

    I have a feeling that it works better in California where they have newer highways that are more regular. Go drive in cities with older highways that have weird exits, and it chokes. I do remember it totally failing in Houston, which has a distinctive style of on-ramps and frontage roads.
  • Reply 24 of 55
    powanpowan Posts: 2member
    Now it may well be just a local issue (I'm in the UK) but apple maps for me has a very basic and very debilitating flaw - the towns that are chosen to be shown on the map bare no relation to their population.

    For example, the town I was born in has a population of over 30,000. Nearby is a hamlet of maybe 30 people. However, it's the hamlet that is shown on the map, not the town. This situation is repeated across the UK, so when looking at the map at certain (most) zoom levels it's impossible to orient oneself because significantly sized towns simply aren't shown, rendering the map unusable.

    Have others come across this quirk, or is it UK only?
  • Reply 25 of 55
    haggarhaggar Posts: 1,568member

    Does Apple partner with anyone for the driving directions?  That needs improvement also.

  • Reply 26 of 55
    Apple Maps sucks. If I had ever used it I could be more specific.
  • Reply 27 of 55
    mstonemstone Posts: 11,510member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by TheWhiteFalcon View Post

     



    Let me guess, you think Siri still sucks too?


    People keep saying Siri is much improved. I'm sure they are making improvements. I just have not noticed any in my day to day use.

  • Reply 28 of 55
    rebe1rebe1 Posts: 30member

    I really wish Apple bought Waze.  I've been using Waze almost every day -- love its traffic flow information and social crowd sourcing of data.     Other than the Waze advantages, the only problem really have with Apple Maps is the searching.  How frustrating is that??  You need the EXACT name that's in their database for a result to come up.  They really need to fix that.

  • Reply 29 of 55
    powanpowan Posts: 2member
    Now it may well be just a local issue (I'm in the UK) but apple maps for me has a very basic and very debilitating flaw - the towns that are chosen to be shown on the map bare no relation to their population.

    For example, the town I was born in has a population of over 30,000. Nearby is a hamlet of maybe 30 people. However, it's the hamlet that is shown on the map, not the town. This situation is repeated across the UK, so when looking at the map at certain (most) zoom levels it's impossible to orient oneself because significantly sized towns simply aren't shown, rendering the map unusable.

    Have others come across this quirk, or is it UK only?
  • Reply 30 of 55
    frantisekfrantisek Posts: 756member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by TheWhiteFalcon View Post

     



    Why don't you buy an Anderoid phone if you love Google so much? Personally, I believe in starving that pig as much as I can.


     

    really smart answer.

  • Reply 31 of 55
    adamj86adamj86 Posts: 1member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by PScooter63 View Post

     

    There's a stretch of "new" interstate in my area that has been open since December 2009... yet Apple Maps believes it to be still under construction, and insists on routing traffic around it.  This was more than a little inconvenient last Saturday around midnight (the area being unfamiliar to me).


     

    Which interstate from 2009 isn't in Apple Maps yet?

  • Reply 32 of 55
    icoco3icoco3 Posts: 1,474member

    Maybe they will start updating their satellite imagery more than once every 3 years.  We moved into our house 1 year ago, renovated for the previous 7 before that and images are still before that.  Google maps updated within the last year and shows the smiley face my son mowed into the front yard.

  • Reply 33 of 55
    philboogiephilboogie Posts: 7,675member
    icoco3 wrote: »
    Maybe they will start updating their satellite imagery more than once every 3 years.  We moved into our house 1 year ago, renovated for the previous 7 before that and images are still before that.  Google maps updated within the last year and shows the smiley face my son mowed into the front yard.

    Funny that, since they both get the satellite images from the same company, https://www.digitalglobe.com. One must be paying more than the other I guess.
    frantisek wrote: »
    really smart answer.

    How were you able to tell¿
  • Reply 34 of 55
    I have used both as well as Waze and Here. Apple Maps is OK for basic point to point on simple routes, but if I don't know the exact location of a store, hotel, restaurant, etc., Google's search is by far superior to Apple Maps. Google (perhaps because of Waze integration) has better alternatives for routing and can proivde traffic updates with alternative routes on the road whereas Apple Maps is sadly lacking. Google provides more local street detail whereas Apple Maps (like TomTom) provides minimal detail. BTW, I am an Apple fanboy of their hardware (iPhone 6 plus, iPad, MacBook, iPod, iMac) but their software isn't getting the attention that it should. JMTS.
  • Reply 35 of 55
    icoco3icoco3 Posts: 1,474member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by PhilBoogie View Post



    Funny that, since they both get the satellite images from the same company, https://www.digitalglobe.com. One must be paying more than the other I guess.

    ...

     

    Didn't know that.  Easy to check, just look at your house and see.  My house is definitely from 2 different periods since we greatly cleaned up the property when we started renovating.  Time will tell.

  • Reply 36 of 55
    philboogiephilboogie Posts: 7,675member
    icoco3 wrote: »
    ^ post

    The funny thing about it is that some imagery is of higher res from Google...while other images are of higher res from Apple. Can't really say it's a tie, but it certainly differs from address to address. (no idea why that is though. Monet would be my first bet, but come to think of it it may be a 'first first, me first' situation.
  • Reply 37 of 55
    I really wish you could change the default map, especially since Apple maps isn't nearly as good as Google maps.

    I convinced my father who runs a very small business to use an iPad mini as his main driver for dealing with customers. It works amazingly well, and he has totally bought into the apple ecosystem.

    Except, when he travels to new customers, Apple maps still sends him the wrong way about 5-10% of the time, so I worked hard to figure out how to open google map coordinates from his calendar/contacts with the google maps custom url scheme.

    If apple forces a default program, it should work 100% of the time, especially something as mission critical as directions for business applications.
  • Reply 38 of 55

    I really wish you could change the default map, especially since Apple maps isn't nearly as good as Google maps. 

     

    I convinced my father who runs a very small business to use an iPad mini as his main driver for dealing with customers. It works amazingly well, and he has totally bought into the apple ecosystem.

     

    Except, when he travels to new customers, Apple maps still sends him the wrong way about 5-10% of the time, so I worked hard to figure out how to open google map coordinates from his calendar/contacts with the google maps custom url scheme.

     

    If apple forces a default program, it should work 100% of the time, especially something as mission critical as directions for business applications.

  • Reply 39 of 55
    tbelltbell Posts: 3,146member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by DougD View Post



    I just wish you could set Google Maps as default. I truly hate Apple Map

     

     

    While we are making completely irrelevant to the story comments, I'd like people to know I am hungry and would love a pizza.

  • Reply 40 of 55
    tbelltbell Posts: 3,146member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by konqerror View Post

     

     

    Theres still some serious issues with Apple Maps. Having switched between the two:

    -Apple Maps POI sucks bad. It's missing a whole Wal-Mart that I've repeatedly reported

    -Apple Maps has no campus coverage

    -Apple Maps search sucks. Type a name wrong, you get sent to a one stoplight town in the middle of nowhere. You search for Wal-Mart it sends you to the cell phone booth in a Sams Club.

    -Apple Maps Navigation has no lane guidance

    -Apple Maps Navigation doesn't alert soon enough on the highway

    -Navigation doesn't handle nested exits: where you make one exit and quickly make a second. It alerts you on the first, then once you pass it, it's too late ("Exit right then keep right")

    -Navigation doesn't handle ambiguous exits, where more lanes of the highway exit than continue ("Keep right")

    -It's a pain to adjust zoom level when driving with the pinch gesture (imprecise), and it doesn't seem to remember zoom levels, so it's always showing only 100 feet of future road.

     

    Apple Maps has improved, but Google Maps has improved even more.


     

     

    Crazy you have described quite a few problems I have with Google Maps. Specifically, Google Maps telling me to exit the highway after I already passed the exit. It also auto corrects routes quite a bit slower than Apple.

     

    Some of the other things you mention are fair points, especially the point of interest and lane navigation needed improvements. Apple, however, has come a long way with POI  improvements.

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