Apple Maps 3D performance bad on Intel Macs

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Level 1

30 points

Apple Maps 3D performance bad on Intel Macs

The 3D performance (zooming, rotating...) in Apple Maps is very poor on Ventura/Sonoma on Intel Macs even with powerful hardware (AMD Rafeon Pro Vega II). Rotating or zooming 3D buildings lags very much and is not usable at all. The GPU is basically at 0%. It seems Apple Maps does not use the GPU on Intel Macs at all.

This problem was already discussed here 2 years ago. People noticed very poor 3D performance under Monterey 12.1, which was fixed in 12.2. However, on Ventura and Sonoma it is bad again, but only for Intel Macs. AS Macs are not affected!

Any idea?

Can Intel Mac users out there confirm this?

Best regards!

Mac Pro, macOS 14.1

Posted on Dec 2, 2023 1:46 AM

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Answer 1

vsw62 Author

Level 1

30 points

Dec 2, 2023 8:46 AM in response to dialabrain

I did the following test:

Fly to Manhatten
zoom into complex building area
switch to 3d
hold alt+left-arrow to continuously rotate.

The gif below shows the performance I get on my Mac Pro 2019 wit AMD Radeon Pro Vega II.

I get the same poor performance on my MacBook Pro 2.2GHz Core-6 i7 from 2018

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Answer 2

dialabrain

Level 10

124,499 points

Dec 2, 2023 3:55 AM in response to vsw62

Also works normally on this 2017 iMac running Ventura.

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Answer 3

dialabrain

Level 10

124,499 points

Dec 2, 2023 3:34 AM in response to vsw62

Seems fine on my iMac Pro running Sonoma.

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Answer 4

dialabrain

Level 10

124,499 points

Dec 2, 2023 8:49 AM in response to vsw62

Perhaps a GIF is not the best evidence.

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Answer 5

vsw62 Author

Level 1

30 points

Dec 2, 2023 8:52 AM in response to dialabrain

You cannot upload movies!

Apple Maps behaves on my machine EXACTLY as shown on the gif!

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Answer 6

dialabrain

Level 10

124,499 points

Dec 2, 2023 8:53 AM in response to vsw62

That's the problem. I don't see what the performance issue is.

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Answer 7

vsw62 Author

Level 1

30 points

Dec 2, 2023 8:57 AM in response to dialabrain

The performance issue is: It does not rotate smoothly.

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Answer 8

dialabrain

Level 10

124,499 points

Dec 2, 2023 8:59 AM in response to vsw62

That could simply be the amount of data being transmitted, the connection, what else is running on your Mac, etc.

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Answer 9

vsw62 Author

Level 1

30 points

Dec 2, 2023 9:03 AM in response to dialabrain

No, it has nothing to do with data transfer or connection, because my M2 MacBook Pro on the SAME network is simply flying. It is super smooth! It is clearly an issue on all my intel Macs.

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