Could this be that this is because you are from China and you are used to such information being easily shared with the government? I ask that seriously. I have always been taught to have a healthy distrust of the government. Things might be different where you live. The problem isn't just with Google having the data, but also the government's ability to access the data from Google.
That's not really an argument. It's not like government only has access to data from Google but not Apple. There's no advantage of using Apple's softwares in that regard.
To me I'm still using the old Google Maps app from iOS5, not upgrading to iOS6 even with Google's new map apps. Being jailbreakable is still the most important thing for my iPhone.
Funny to see people on this site bash Google Maps in favor of Apple's. They both have pros and cons, but no denying Google has a far more extensive database of locations.
It clearly varies by location. Despite a couple of glaring road errors (old data) in my area, when I tested the two apps side by side, Apple maps had better routing and more consistent business location success, so Apple maps is still my primary mapping.
I downloaded it on my new iPad. Needs to be 2x to use and then jaggy as heck. I foolishly thought it was going to support both iPhone and iPad. Also, really didn't like the implied necessity of registering or logging in. If it asked that each time I went to use it, I would be an unhappy camper. As it is, I prefer Apple's solution for now.
I also am one of the downloaders. After trying it out on two short trips while comparing Apple's App at the same time, but on a different phone, I decided the App needs work and I prefer my Apple Maps App and Navigon. Specifically, it forgets sometimes to tell you to turn. Further, it fails to effectively autocorrect routes on the fly. In addition, it isn't super easy to figure out how to use. Apple's build in maps didn't suffer the same issues. Moreover, I really like telling Siri to give me directions.
In my view the press is raving over the Google Map App, but the praise is over blown. Further, people were downloading the app and giving it 5 stars without even trying it out.
Yep, they were praising it up and down 5 seconds after it became available. And they talk about iSheep.
Google has done at least two things right that Apple might learn from. First, it came right out and said this is a beta. Hard to have bad press, when you warned everybody first. Hard to see why Apple didn't do that with Maps when it did it with Siri. Second, iPhone users don't get turn by turn from Apple unless they are on a 4S or 5. That is a mistake on Apple's part because there are a lot of 3GS and 4's in operations. Apple is essentially telling those people to use and become familiar with something such as Google's product. I suspect maybe this is tied to Siri as the same phones that can't use turn by turn also can't use Siri. Nonetheless, Apple should fix that.
Of course Google slapped a "beta" label on their Maps app - precisely because Apple didn't. This move "shows Apple up" for not doing so, and possibly suggests dishonesty on Apple's part (whether they were dishonest or silly or neither seems to have been a matter of considerable debate since Apple's Maps app was released).
So Google cashes in and can be seen to be riding in gallantly to save those who are perceived to have been put at a disadvantage by Apple's version. As you can probably guess, I find Google's move suspect.
I have an iPhone 4, so have never used Siri. I'm not missing TbT, but I'm not viewing not having TbT in either a positive or negative light.
The journos are raving about Google's iOS maps app because (1) it's from Google, the "all-shining and mighty", and (2) it's not from Apple, and is therefore fodder for Apple-bashing, an apparently favourite sport in lots of places. :rolleyes:
That is the most common reason I now use Apple Maps over TomTom. It's just so easy to ask for a route; no jumping through a dozen screens and manually typing in a location. It only takes a minute or so to complete but Siri only takes a few seconds to make the request.
Didn't you hear that you can use Siri to ask a route on Google Maps by just adding 'via transit' at the end of your query?
While messing around with Google maps I came across yet another example of it's perfection and paramount need to be on the iPhone with it's inferior maps.
It pointed me to the lost Optus store, who knows what treasures lay in this Eldorado, the fabled store inthe jungles at the back of the overflow staff carpark, a place only accessible during the Christmas season.
Steeling myself I began the journey through 80 degree heat under a blazing hot sun, few had braved the heat beating up from the sticky tarmac of the overflow carpark and beyond, into the wilderness, it's there somewhere in that forest in the distance, the mythical lost Optus shop.
It was then, at the halfway point that I gave up my quest, looking back at the shopping centre in the distance, I brought my water bottle to my cracked and parched lips and was left to ponder why Optus didn't put their store in the shopping centre with all the other shops?
Today's tale has been brought to you by Google, makers of indispensable mapping perfection.
I suggest the "I do whatever Apple wishes" people to stop defending what cannot be defended. I consider Apple products superior to the competitors, and that's why I use them, by I won't applaud Apple when they made a mistake, and releasing Maps in alpha status was a _mistake_. I use their products, but also criticize them when they're wrong.
GoogleMaps is great. If you won't admit it, well, do whatever you like, but just wait, and you'll realize how many people is using Apple Maps a year from now. You can uninstall GoogleMaps if you wish, but the vast majority of iPhone users won't. Don't applaud Apple mistakes. Criticize them loudly when they're wrong, so that they don't do stupid things again.
I've Streetview on my iPhone. It works. The satellite view also works on GoogleMaps. However, on Apple Maps, most of the time I'm getting the infamous black grid with no photos, I've to wait ages for images to appear, while GoogleMaps displays imagery fine. Apple Maps doesn't work as fluid as GoogleMaps. People notice this. They use Apple Maps and it's not satisfactory. Then they try GoogleMaps and it works like they expected. They notice this, and they choose accordingly.
I suggest the "I do whatever Apple wishes" people to stop defending what cannot be defended. I consider Apple products superior to the competitors, and that's why I use them, by I won't applaud Apple when they made a mistake, and releasing Maps in alpha status was a _mistake_. I use their products, but also criticize them when they're wrong.
GoogleMaps is great. If you won't admit it, well, do whatever you like, but just wait, and you'll realize how many people is using Apple Maps a year from now. You can uninstall GoogleMaps if you wish, but the vast majority of iPhone users won't. Don't applaud Apple mistakes. Criticize them loudly when they're wrong, so that they don't do stupid things again.
I've Streetview on my iPhone. It works. The satellite view also works on GoogleMaps. However, on Apple Maps, most of the time I'm getting the infamous black grid with no photos, I've to wait ages for images to appear, while GoogleMaps displays imagery fine. Apple Maps doesn't work as fluid as GoogleMaps. People notice this. They use Apple Maps and it's not satisfactory. Then they try GoogleMaps and it works like they expected. They notice this, and they choose accordingly.
...and I won't applaud Google when they make mistakes:-
...but, what the hey, any excuse to bash Apple right?
Reminds me of the old days, when the Internet was just starting out, before Google when it was Microsoft vs Apple.
Google has done at least two things right that Apple might learn from. First, it came right out and said this is a beta. Hard to have bad press, when you warned everybody first. Hard to see why Apple didn't do that with Maps when it did it with Siri. Second, iPhone users don't get turn by turn from Apple unless they are on a 4S or 5. That is a mistake on Apple's part because there are a lot of 3GS and 4's in operations. Apple is essentially telling those people to use and become familiar with something such as Google's product. I suspect maybe this is tied to Siri as the same phones that can't use turn by turn also can't use Siri. Nonetheless, Apple should fix that.
Well, the app may be beta, but the underlying data certainly is not. I have had plenty of errors with Google maps, too (original iPhone Maps app, iOS Safari, MacOS Safari, IE, etc). And Google has always hidden behind the "beta" label, anyway. Don't forget they're an ad company. All they really have to do is get their "beta" on gadgets. Users allow Google to collect information because the they think those data will go to improving the product. Meanwhile Google is monitoring your habits and activity, so they can shove ads in your face--and whatever else they do with your data.
With regard to Apple, how often in Apple's history have they called products "beta?" I think Siri was really the oddball. I'm not saying Siri wasn't beta--just odd in that it was touted as such.
If this had actually happened, you'd have a point. If Apple Maps at launch was worse than Google Maps at launch (it wasn't; it was far better), you'd have a point.
…you'll realize how many people is using Apple Maps a year from now.
80% of them.
…the vast majority of iPhone users won't.
Because they're too lazy to figure out how to uninstall something? That's the only reason I can think of.
Originally Posted by BigBillyGoatGruff
Well, the app may be beta…
The app is nowhere near beta. It's the sixth release version of the app; the data would be the only thing whose status is argued over.
With regard to Apple, how often in Apple's history have they called products "beta?"
I'm sure that Google maps will prove to be one of the most popular (if not THE most popular app on the app store) for quite some time. That said, I think most iPhone users will be fine with the stock apple maps.
10 million downloads out of 400 million iOS devices is small. Even if that number climbs to 100 million downloads, it still won't make up the majority of iOS users. And many of those downloads will be used maybe once or twice and then put into a folder in case Apple maps doesn't work for a specific location but won't be used as the primary mapping app.
Apple benefits in that the most vocal critics now have something they will be satisfied with, while the vast majority of map users will still use Apple maps and improve it. It may never completely surpass Google maps, but as long as it continues to improve and catch up, Apple will be better off.
Not sure that is the right way to look at it.
Don't know where is the number of 400 million iOS devices coming from, but even if there are that many iOS devices in use today, not everyone is being used for maps. If they make 100 million, that is huge success.
In addition, US iOS users are much more likely to use Apple maps, but for the rest of the world... not yet. Since Google maps app came out, I've upgraded my 3Gs to iOS6 and played with maps a bit... here in New Zealand, even for Auckland (which is the biggest city in NZ) a lot is missing. Streets, locations... Just as a simple example, I've just tried to find Glenfield Westfield Mall, which is around for decades and, until recently, was the biggest mall in Auckland's North Shore. It doesn't show on map, nor in search. It does show in Google maps and search.
And please keep in mind this is Auckland. I don't know for sure, but I wouldn't be surprised if smaller places are suffering even more. Yes Apple maps are behaving nicer on my ageing phone, but scrolling smoothness cannot beat amount of available info.
If this had actually happened, you'd have a point. If Apple Maps at launch was worse than Google Maps at launch (it wasn't; it was far better), you'd have a point.
Heh. It has to be observed relatively to current situation. Google maps, on release, had nothing to compete against. Apple maps do have. Because if you look at it that way, Windows Phone App Store is bigger than iOS or Android stores on their release, so surely that means it is brilliant. It would be back in 2007, but now we compare it to current AppStore and GooglePlay, and it is mediocre at best, as it is right now.
80% of them.
In US... maybe. How many iOS users are in US, though?
Google maps, on release, had nothing to compete against.
Not by a frigging long shot. Yahoo! Maps. Mapquest. There were plenty of mapping services back then, and they covered more of the planet than Google Maps at launch.
Apple did the entire world at launch. It took Google years to include even half of that. I'd venture that Apple has a lower percentage of inaccuracy than Google Maps.
I wonder how many people are going to be sending error reports to Google so that Google Maps (or its data) can be improved? And how many people won't, as a result, be sending error reports to Apple so that Apple Maps (or its data) can be improved?
As I see it, there is a pretty clear-cut choice: you either use Google Maps and [I]actively[/I] support Google, or use Apple Maps and [I]actively[/I] support Apple. Where it becomes tricky is in those places where Apple's maps appears to be lagging (e.g., India, parts of the UK, parts of Oz, parts of NZ, SE Asia, Japan), if Google is supported by the majority in those places, Apple may never catch up.
It large part comes down to what you want, folks: a decent mapping solution from Apple or a decent mapping solution from Google. I've decided to vote with my fingers and stay with the Apple solution.
And I really think that a web-based version of Apple Maps for data correction would help immensely.
Comments
Quote:
Originally Posted by TBell
Could this be that this is because you are from China and you are used to such information being easily shared with the government? I ask that seriously. I have always been taught to have a healthy distrust of the government. Things might be different where you live. The problem isn't just with Google having the data, but also the government's ability to access the data from Google.
That's not really an argument. It's not like government only has access to data from Google but not Apple. There's no advantage of using Apple's softwares in that regard.
To me I'm still using the old Google Maps app from iOS5, not upgrading to iOS6 even with Google's new map apps. Being jailbreakable is still the most important thing for my iPhone.
Quote:
Originally Posted by september11th
Funny to see people on this site bash Google Maps in favor of Apple's. They both have pros and cons, but no denying Google has a far more extensive database of locations.
It clearly varies by location. Despite a couple of glaring road errors (old data) in my area, when I tested the two apps side by side, Apple maps had better routing and more consistent business location success, so Apple maps is still my primary mapping.
It's a iPhone app not a iPad one.
Quote:
Originally Posted by TBell
I also am one of the downloaders. After trying it out on two short trips while comparing Apple's App at the same time, but on a different phone, I decided the App needs work and I prefer my Apple Maps App and Navigon. Specifically, it forgets sometimes to tell you to turn. Further, it fails to effectively autocorrect routes on the fly. In addition, it isn't super easy to figure out how to use. Apple's build in maps didn't suffer the same issues. Moreover, I really like telling Siri to give me directions.
In my view the press is raving over the Google Map App, but the praise is over blown. Further, people were downloading the app and giving it 5 stars without even trying it out.
Yep, they were praising it up and down 5 seconds after it became available. And they talk about iSheep.
Of course Google slapped a "beta" label on their Maps app - precisely because Apple didn't. This move "shows Apple up" for not doing so, and possibly suggests dishonesty on Apple's part (whether they were dishonest or silly or neither seems to have been a matter of considerable debate since Apple's Maps app was released).
So Google cashes in and can be seen to be riding in gallantly to save those who are perceived to have been put at a disadvantage by Apple's version. As you can probably guess, I find Google's move suspect.
I have an iPhone 4, so have never used Siri. I'm not missing TbT, but I'm not viewing not having TbT in either a positive or negative light.
Quote:
Originally Posted by SolipsismX
That is the most common reason I now use Apple Maps over TomTom. It's just so easy to ask for a route; no jumping through a dozen screens and manually typing in a location. It only takes a minute or so to complete but Siri only takes a few seconds to make the request.
Didn't you hear that you can use Siri to ask a route on Google Maps by just adding 'via transit' at the end of your query?
The always perfect Google maps.
While messing around with Google maps I came across yet another example of it's perfection and paramount need to be on the iPhone with it's inferior maps.
It pointed me to the lost Optus store, who knows what treasures lay in this Eldorado, the fabled store inthe jungles at the back of the overflow staff carpark, a place only accessible during the Christmas season.
Steeling myself I began the journey through 80 degree heat under a blazing hot sun, few had braved the heat beating up from the sticky tarmac of the overflow carpark and beyond, into the wilderness, it's there somewhere in that forest in the distance, the mythical lost Optus shop.
It was then, at the halfway point that I gave up my quest, looking back at the shopping centre in the distance, I brought my water bottle to my cracked and parched lips and was left to ponder why Optus didn't put their store in the shopping centre with all the other shops?
Today's tale has been brought to you by Google, makers of indispensable mapping perfection.
Quote:
Originally Posted by AlexN
80 degrees? That's close to boiling
I translated it for the Septics, maybe I should leave it as 27 and brave a blizzard.
I suggest the "I do whatever Apple wishes" people to stop defending what cannot be defended. I consider Apple products superior to the competitors, and that's why I use them, by I won't applaud Apple when they made a mistake, and releasing Maps in alpha status was a _mistake_. I use their products, but also criticize them when they're wrong.
GoogleMaps is great. If you won't admit it, well, do whatever you like, but just wait, and you'll realize how many people is using Apple Maps a year from now. You can uninstall GoogleMaps if you wish, but the vast majority of iPhone users won't. Don't applaud Apple mistakes. Criticize them loudly when they're wrong, so that they don't do stupid things again.
I've Streetview on my iPhone. It works. The satellite view also works on GoogleMaps. However, on Apple Maps, most of the time I'm getting the infamous black grid with no photos, I've to wait ages for images to appear, while GoogleMaps displays imagery fine. Apple Maps doesn't work as fluid as GoogleMaps. People notice this. They use Apple Maps and it's not satisfactory. Then they try GoogleMaps and it works like they expected. They notice this, and they choose accordingly.
Quote:
Originally Posted by ecs
I suggest the "I do whatever Apple wishes" people to stop defending what cannot be defended. I consider Apple products superior to the competitors, and that's why I use them, by I won't applaud Apple when they made a mistake, and releasing Maps in alpha status was a _mistake_. I use their products, but also criticize them when they're wrong.
GoogleMaps is great. If you won't admit it, well, do whatever you like, but just wait, and you'll realize how many people is using Apple Maps a year from now. You can uninstall GoogleMaps if you wish, but the vast majority of iPhone users won't. Don't applaud Apple mistakes. Criticize them loudly when they're wrong, so that they don't do stupid things again.
I've Streetview on my iPhone. It works. The satellite view also works on GoogleMaps. However, on Apple Maps, most of the time I'm getting the infamous black grid with no photos, I've to wait ages for images to appear, while GoogleMaps displays imagery fine. Apple Maps doesn't work as fluid as GoogleMaps. People notice this. They use Apple Maps and it's not satisfactory. Then they try GoogleMaps and it works like they expected. They notice this, and they choose accordingly.
...and I won't applaud Google when they make mistakes:-
...but, what the hey, any excuse to bash Apple right?
Reminds me of the old days, when the Internet was just starting out, before Google when it was Microsoft vs Apple.
Quote:
Originally Posted by TBell
Google has done at least two things right that Apple might learn from. First, it came right out and said this is a beta. Hard to have bad press, when you warned everybody first. Hard to see why Apple didn't do that with Maps when it did it with Siri. Second, iPhone users don't get turn by turn from Apple unless they are on a 4S or 5. That is a mistake on Apple's part because there are a lot of 3GS and 4's in operations. Apple is essentially telling those people to use and become familiar with something such as Google's product. I suspect maybe this is tied to Siri as the same phones that can't use turn by turn also can't use Siri. Nonetheless, Apple should fix that.
Well, the app may be beta, but the underlying data certainly is not. I have had plenty of errors with Google maps, too (original iPhone Maps app, iOS Safari, MacOS Safari, IE, etc). And Google has always hidden behind the "beta" label, anyway. Don't forget they're an ad company. All they really have to do is get their "beta" on gadgets. Users allow Google to collect information because the they think those data will go to improving the product. Meanwhile Google is monitoring your habits and activity, so they can shove ads in your face--and whatever else they do with your data.
With regard to Apple, how often in Apple's history have they called products "beta?" I think Siri was really the oddball. I'm not saying Siri wasn't beta--just odd in that it was touted as such.
I didn't know that. Thanks.
Originally Posted by ecs
…releasing Maps in alpha status was a _mistake_.
If this had actually happened, you'd have a point. If Apple Maps at launch was worse than Google Maps at launch (it wasn't; it was far better), you'd have a point.
…you'll realize how many people is using Apple Maps a year from now.
80% of them.
…the vast majority of iPhone users won't.
Because they're too lazy to figure out how to uninstall something? That's the only reason I can think of.
Originally Posted by BigBillyGoatGruff
Well, the app may be beta…
The app is nowhere near beta. It's the sixth release version of the app; the data would be the only thing whose status is argued over.
With regard to Apple, how often in Apple's history have they called products "beta?"
OS X, iWork.com, Siri… That's all I can think of.
Not sure that is the right way to look at it.
Don't know where is the number of 400 million iOS devices coming from, but even if there are that many iOS devices in use today, not everyone is being used for maps. If they make 100 million, that is huge success.
In addition, US iOS users are much more likely to use Apple maps, but for the rest of the world... not yet. Since Google maps app came out, I've upgraded my 3Gs to iOS6 and played with maps a bit... here in New Zealand, even for Auckland (which is the biggest city in NZ) a lot is missing. Streets, locations... Just as a simple example, I've just tried to find Glenfield Westfield Mall, which is around for decades and, until recently, was the biggest mall in Auckland's North Shore. It doesn't show on map, nor in search. It does show in Google maps and search.
And please keep in mind this is Auckland. I don't know for sure, but I wouldn't be surprised if smaller places are suffering even more. Yes Apple maps are behaving nicer on my ageing phone, but scrolling smoothness cannot beat amount of available info.
Heh. It has to be observed relatively to current situation. Google maps, on release, had nothing to compete against. Apple maps do have. Because if you look at it that way, Windows Phone App Store is bigger than iOS or Android stores on their release, so surely that means it is brilliant. It would be back in 2007, but now we compare it to current AppStore and GooglePlay, and it is mediocre at best, as it is right now.
In US... maybe. How many iOS users are in US, though?
Originally Posted by nikon133
Google maps, on release, had nothing to compete against.
Not by a frigging long shot. Yahoo! Maps. Mapquest. There were plenty of mapping services back then, and they covered more of the planet than Google Maps at launch.
Apple did the entire world at launch. It took Google years to include even half of that. I'd venture that Apple has a lower percentage of inaccuracy than Google Maps.
As I see it, there is a pretty clear-cut choice: you either use Google Maps and [I]actively[/I] support Google, or use Apple Maps and [I]actively[/I] support Apple. Where it becomes tricky is in those places where Apple's maps appears to be lagging (e.g., India, parts of the UK, parts of Oz, parts of NZ, SE Asia, Japan), if Google is supported by the majority in those places, Apple may never catch up.
It large part comes down to what you want, folks: a decent mapping solution from Apple or a decent mapping solution from Google. I've decided to vote with my fingers and stay with the Apple solution.
And I really think that a web-based version of Apple Maps for data correction would help immensely.