Apple maps very disappointing

Perhaps if you had entered the address into the search field rather more sympathetically. Compare what you searched for with what I searched for (44 Avenue Georges V, Paris):

Alex6Fr wrote:

Apple needs to do something by now to improve this app. We also probably need back very soon Google maps. I live in Paris, France. A big city I would say. I was looking for "Avenue Georges V, Paris" and see what I got :

That is typical of the postings in this thread. Someone carefully constructs an address that looks correct, but is worded just wrong enough to return the wrong result. Anyone who actually does a search for "avenue george v, paris" would get this:

Is this where I say "LOL! Apple FAIL!" ?

Indeed, typing the address is most important.

The BAD : Avenue Georges 5, Paris

The GOOD : Avenue Georges V, Paris, France

But 1) I took it for granted that a maps app would take a loacalisation context for searching (after all I was located in Paris at that moment)

and 2) I was in a rush, in the street, in the middle of a mob of strikers (yes beautiful Paris) so it was not so easy to type the correct way.

And to make it worse, with a bad 3G cover, so the time to switch to Google maps on the Web I already reached my destination without GPS. After all it's a big avenue and you just have to follow the mob !

Alex6Fr wrote:

The BAD : Avenue Georges 5, Paris

The GOOD : Avenue Georges V, Paris, France

The bad was the non-word "av". "George 5" has equal success with "George V".

The only failure here is user error.

Both good and bad work in Google Maps, go figure.

Bobdc6 wrote:

Both good and bad work in Google Maps, go figure.

As they do in Apple Maps. Read my previous post again: "George 5" has equal success with "George V".

Got it, thanks.

Apple Maps is a terrible application. The Interface is fantastic but the underlying data is hit and miss.

An example of an address that Apple Maps will find is: 8-10 Edgar Street Stonnington Victoria 3146 Australia. All the information is there so that there is no confusion whatsoever. In theory, Apple Maps pinpoints the location. In reality, it has missed the mark and identifies the wrong end of the street. That is a good outcome with Apple Maps because at least it gets you in the right street in the right part of town.

It appears that Apple Maps has been created by people simlar to the defenders of Apple Maps on this thread. They have taken the "near enough is good enough" attitude to its implementatioin. If I wanted a product of that quality, Id buy Samsung. Unfortunately, it appears that the Apple company is lowering its own very high standards. This is not a failure like any of the others Apple has had in the past. This is an instance of core functionality sacrificed in a release. The end customers user experienced has been severly diminished.

There are many people here running to the defence of Apple Maps. And im happy for all of you who love Apple Maps and rely on it with confidence to navigate you to locations with Google-like accuracy. Here in Melbourne Australia, Apply Maps is junk and you can not rely on it if you want a reliable navigation application, period.

Again, anyone heading to a highly important engagement, be it a business meeting, taking someone to hospital, etc, and the place they are heading is completely and utterly unfamiliar would be negligent to be relying on Apple Maps. In my 3 years experience of using Google Maps, I would with confidence, use it to navigate me to any location with pinpoint accuracy.

Bobdc6 wrote:

Both good and bad work in Google Maps, go figure.

In Google Maps, you can enter "le passion du fruit" and find that same location. You can't do that in Apple Maps because Apple Maps simply doesn't have Google's web search behind it. Now, if you do have an address, then entering that address in Apple Maps is at least as likely to return a valid result as in Google Maps. I have seen instances where Apple Maps does a better job because it is less sensitive to punctuation and capitalization. If the address is off, then Google's address resolution may fail, but Google's web search may still succeed.

At no point has anyone ever said that Google Maps isn't an excellent mapping system. At no point has anyone ever said that Google Maps isn't the BEST mapping system. The only thing anyone is arguing about is whether Apple Maps is ABSOLUTELY USELESS or not. No one ever ripped on Google like this because there was no competition for Google. Before Google, there was little other than US Tiger data. By all accounts, OpenStreetMap is a worthy competitor to Google and Apple Maps (at least in this example) is better than OpenStreet Map.

duckdive wrote:

An example of an address that Apple Maps will find is: 8-10 Edgar Street Stonnington Victoria 3146 Australia.

Once again you have picked out just one specific address that Apple Maps missed by about 100m.

But the interesting thing here is that Google also misses it. Here is the rub. Google Maps is quite good. I can zoom all the way in and see the individual lots. When I do that, you can see that Google is just as wrong as Apple Maps:

It is a little difficult to see because Google's labels are so hard to read. It turns out that Google can't find any address on this street. If I search for #2, Apple Maps succeeds where Google is actually at the wrong end of the road:

You post illustrates why Apple Maps is such a massive failure. You have no idea of the location. Whatever is listed there on the web version of Google Maps is besides the point of it all. 8-10 Edgar street is exactly where the marker in google maps shows it to be. I know it and can confirm it because I have local knowledge. You have absolutely no idea what you are talking about. And to make it even clearer, you turn on street view and can see it with your very own eyes.

Etersoft, again, im very happy for you that you love Apple Mpas. In my personal experience, it is complete junk.

In 13 years of buying Apple products, ive come to experience and expect the very best from them. Apple Maps fails miserably. If and that is a massive IF there were no google maps, Apple Maps would be amazing. The very sad reality is my user experience was thrown to the trash. Apple maps was shoved down my throat. It doesnt work reliably. I was mistaken to publish a real world example of its miserable failure because that would get you all frothy and then you would start working out ways to make googele maps also fail. Google maps, on my phone, finds 8-10 Egar street with pinpoint accuracy. Google maps on the web version finds 8-10 Edgar street with pinpoint accuracy. In your bizarre world, Google Maps fails. Go play with Apple Maps and start a thread that tells everyone how great it is.

So, in other words, Apple Maps is a total failure because Google maps is wrong? Do you really think I can't pull out my iPad 1 and do the same search in Google Maps on iOS5 with the same incorrect result? Really?

In Google, all addresses resolve to the same location, which is wrong. In Apple Maps, each actual address resolves to the actual location. The only address that Apple Maps has a problem with is the parking lot numbered 8-10. It can find the parking lot if you search for either 8 or 10.

I'm sorry, but there is no way you can spin this. You've been outed as a Google shill 🙂. All you have proved is that in this little corner of Australia, Apple Maps beats Google hands down!

Still flogging a dead horse.... You really are embarrassing yourself.

Time to quit and concentrate on improving your own apps perhaps - or are you still hoping for that Genius Bar job?

imaybeawhile wrote:

Still flogging a dead horse.... You really are embarrassing yourself.

Time to quit and concentrate on improving your own apps perhaps - or are you still hoping for that Genius Bar job?

I know I've struck a nerve when the personal insults come out 🙂

Unfortunately, I have no one to blame but myself for letting this thread spiral out of control. I gave the Apple-haters too much credit. Any time they posted about something being wrong I always had to wait until I had access to my wife's iPhone. I just realized that the iOS Simulator comes with the new Maps. I can lookup any address side-by-side with Google Maps and post a screenshot.

It's a no-win situation for you. None of us reasonable people have ever claimed that Google Maps wasn't an excellent tool and the very best in its domain. We just object to the lie that Apple Maps is completely useless. I have no doubt that there are many locations that Google can find with pinpoint accuracy and Apple cannot. But, as I have demonstrated above, the reverse is also true.

It is an ironic commentary on Apple's commitment to excellence. Google spends seven years building the best mapping tool the world has ever seen. Apple spends two years to develop a product that is just almost as good, but not quite. The result - Apple issues an apology and starts firing people. I guess I don't want that job at Apple after all 🙂

Again, you are sitting somewhere in the world, telling me that 8-10 Edgar street finds a parking lot. You have no idea. The exact spot that Google Maps finds is exactly what it is supposed to find. The parking lot is on the other side of the road, exactly where it should be.

Apple Maps is a failure because the data is completely unreliable. Google maps, for the last 3 years, in Indonesia, Singapor and Australia has never ever taken me to a wrong location. Apple Maps, in just 2 weeks of testing produced a mixed bag of results ranging from "No Results Found" or even worse, taking me to a location that is incorrect.

Apple took away Google Maps, the industry standard, the very best of Maps and gave us the lemon which is Apple Maps.