Maps ARE bad !

[cardfan]

This is the difference between what Apple is doing about their new Mapping App that everyone is complaining about and being Proactive about a solution as opposed to other companies that would not go this far:

Please read this link to the story just posted on the front of iMore:

Apple retail employees reportedly taking to the streets to help fix iOS 6 Maps | iMore.com

You mean unloading it on untrained grunt employees who probably already have enough to do? If Apple was serious, they'd have a dedicated team for Maps.

The current Maps should be called Mosaic trying to manage together all the pieces and parts.

Doesn't matter too much since I don't really use Apple Maps much. The concern is that this will become the standard at Apple. This is exactly what we criticized others for doing. It's pretty unApple. If you're going to take that plunge, do it right.

 

[Lightingguy55]

I actually trust Apple more then Google to get things correct. I've used Android devices for 2-1/2 years now, using the maps extensively. There are ton's of known errors in Google Maps, I've found and reported 3 alone in my little neck of the woods. There's an easy "report-an-error" system, but Google NEVER tells you when the error is fixed, you get to learn that for yourself and the fixes take months. Google has somehow managed to massage any bad press about the mistakes. In defense though, they have a huge data base in their search engine that is unequaled, as well they give the map away free to developers, so there are ton's of app's out there that do a lot of good things, sometimes with all the associated errors. Apple has a lot to do to catch up, but they do do things right, in time.

I'm not giving up on maps, but will wait till they issue some updates.

---------- Post Merged at 12:38 AM ---------- Previous Post was at 12:31 AM ----------

You mean unloading it on untrained grunt employees who probably already have enough to do? If Apple was serious, they'd have a dedicated team for Maps.
t.

Yeah, this surprised me. They intend to use the store employees to help check the database ?.

Where's TomTom ?.

One of the the things that has me baffled is TomTom has had GPS devices in the market(s) for years (US and overseas). I cannot imagine that there are this many errors in their data base, as that would have been common knowledge long ago. TomTom is one of the big 3 GPS companies, they've become a good competitor to Garmin, who used to own the market. If Apple is really using TomTom as the primary map database, why suddenly all the errors ?. Or is there something else going on ?. Mapping errors are one thing. Search engine based errors are another (that's Yelp ?). We seem to be seeing errors in both.

Odd

SB

 

[Roo Zilla]

One of the the things that has me baffled is TomTom has had GPS devices in the market(s) for years (US and overseas). I cannot imagine that there are this many errors in their data base, as that would have been common knowledge long ago. TomTom is one of the big 3 GPS companies, they've become a good competitor to Garmin, who used to own the market. If Apple is really using TomTom as the primary map database, why suddenly all the errors ?. Or is there something else going on ?. Mapping errors are one thing. Search engine based errors are another (that's Yelp ?). We seem to be seeing errors in both.

Odd

SB

The prevailing theory seems to be that Apple just hasn't managed to input all the data from their various sources just yet. It seems that map data comes in all different formats, be it from TT, Yelp, Open Table, Open Street Map etc., etc. There has to be some sort of conversion done for the data to be correctly represented.Apparently, even data from the same source frequently needs different conversion processes. Basically, the data has to be massaged, and that's a tedious process. Regardless, whether Apple maps was released this year, or the next, or the year after that, at launch it was never going to be as Google maps. There's a large crowdsourcing aspect to maps, and you don't get that until you launch the product and go through some growing pains. That said, I believe if Apple wants to remain competitive in this arena, they need to devote more resources to it. Flyover is nice and it's pretty, but it's nowhere near as useful as Streetview. Apple should seriously consider doing what Google did, send out thousands of employees with cars and cameras to create their own version of Streetview.

I have to admit, until recently, I never really gave much thought to maps. It was just there and when I needed it, I used it. When I was driving, I used a Garmin because neither my iPhone or iPad had turn-by-turn directions. I rarely used public transit, and when I did, I used public transit apps, not Google maps because I could see the route. I now realize maps is must have feature in a smartphone. What I use it for presently is very basic, but I can easily envision developments in the very near future that will make much more use of maps. Geofencing is already here, and it's only a matter of time before it becomes even more prevalent as developers create more and more interesting ways to use it. At present, it seems my Starbucks card will automatically pop up onto the lockscreen when I enter one, that's actually a silly feature for now, but I can easily see that grow to being something very powerful as more companies sign up for Passbook. I think Apple breaking with Google on maps is a positive thing. Surely there are growing pains, but once things get better, it will provide much more functionality than ever before, since Google will no longer be able constrain what is possible on iOS in favor of Android.

 

[Jaguarr40]

You mean unloading it on untrained grunt employees who probably already have enough to do? If Apple was serious, they'd have a dedicated team for Maps.

The current Maps should be called Mosaic trying to manage together all the pieces and parts.

Doesn't matter too much since I don't really use Apple Maps much. The concern is that this will become the standard at Apple. This is exactly what we criticized others for doing. It's pretty unApple. If you're going to take that plunge, do it right.

They actually do have a dedicated Maps Team. If you read the article where it talks about the info gathered by the store emploee teams are sent via a dedicated intranet to Apple and then Apple takes that info and uses it I am sure withthe people they have designated at Apple to make the info accurate along with the 3rd party companies like Tom Tom. I don't know what else you can expect from Apple. At least this is better than doing nothing. This is very typical of Apple to admit their mistakes and fix them.

 

[impaler]

This is bad.

My Contacts has a "Home" address. It is correct in contacts as well as on the iCloud. It's written as "Home".

I'm on the road today in Astoria, Queens, NYC and asked Siri to "Navigate, Home"

She found the correct contact in my list and opened the map app to start a navigate to the address.

She then sent me to the correct street and house number, except a nearby town 5 miles away.

I then tried to force the correct navigation by clearing the route, starting a new navigation and manually typing in the correct address.

Maps then navigated to the same incorrect town, ignoring the manual data entry.

So totally useless.

Hope they throw some folks at this cause it's bad.

SB

I tried it today. Told Siri to "Take me home". Flawless three times.

 

[kch50428]

Worked fine for me today on a little road trip. iOS6 Maps was every bit as good as my Garmin Nuvi 765T.