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Google Maps's Moat: How Far Ahead of Apple Maps is Google Maps? (justinobeirne.com)
An anonymous reader shares a report: Over the past year, we've been comparing Google Maps and Apple Maps in New York, San Francisco, and London -- but some of the biggest differences are outside of large cities. That's a comprehensive comparison. Google Maps, unlike Apple Maps, doesn't stop at outlining the routes. It offers contextual details such as depiction of buildings and other structures and vegetation. It has captured everything -- from dish antennae on top of buildings to golf courses. Furthermore, Google Maps also shows name of the neighbourhood, and has more distinguishable icons and colors. You can glance at a portion of the map on Google Maps and get a good picture of what's in that place. Apple Maps, on the other hand, looks empty. Like an unfurnished house.
Google maps was great... then they decide to take away features randomly that are extremely useful.
At least Apple Maps is consistent.
A man using Apple Maps walks into a bar, or a hotel, or possibly a church...
While I'm driving I want to hear voice turn prompts. If I look at the screen I want to see what road I'm on, what road I'm going to be on, how far away that road is, and what lane I need to be in.
Everything else is a distraction. Every distraction is a danger to myself and others. I'd argue we need to get more shit off of each map.
Apple's map database is downright horrendous. It's almost like they intentionally want to mislead drivers as a practical joke.
It thinks that the address for a farm I go to is in the next nearest town. Google getting their maps ready for self driving cars, but I feel there will be a load of wrong direction incidents when they are released.
> Google Maps, unlike Apple Maps, doesn't simply outline the routes. It offers insane details, including depicting buildings and other structures and vegetation. It has captured everything
Stop there, don't kick a man when he is down.
Slashdot, fix the reply notifications... You won't get away with it...
Nothing beats openness in terms of the amount of details in a map.
Sure, it does not have StreetView and only imports satellite imagery, but it knows every detail and every tree by name if it has one. At least in my country. And if it doesnâ(TM)t, you quickly add it yourself.
Plus, there is actually nothing stopping you from making e.g. an OSMamd~ (via F-Droid) plugin that uses Google satellite imagery etc.
(Please make that, because it's all I ever go to Google Maps for anymore.)
"Apple Maps, on the other hand, looks empty. Like an unfurnished house."
But at least all the rooms are easily connected.
I use OpenStreetMap http://www.osm.org/ . It is kind of Wikipedia approach to mapping.
By the way, I use this web application to view Wikipedia articles on the OSM map: http://ausleuchtung.ch/geo_wik... . It works for all language versions of Wikipedia, and to view hotels, supermarkets, etc. this one: http://ausleuchtung.ch/travel_...
Apple's maps were only ever intended to act as an insurance policy if Steve Job's thermonuclear war with Google got Google Maps removed from the App Store. That happened for a short time, but now it's back and things have cooled significantly since 2012 on the patent war. Navigation is as much a minimum expectation of a smartphone now as email is. It was only ever developed at all to ensure there would always be maps available for the iPhone. In the event that Google removes Maps from the App Store, Apple will immediately make new, immediate, and significant investments in their program. Until then, they don't care.
With a show of hands, let's see who is surprised by this information :)
I thought the bar *was* the church...?
Navigation Apple Maps can be invoked with your voice using Siri, without having to touch the device. Very useful in the car (and frustrating that it's limited to Apple Maps).
This is its biggest advantage over Google Maps (for iPhone users). And despite it solely being an artificial limitation, as we've seen with other historical instances of software bundling, it will prove to be very advantageous to Apple.
Backup not found: (A)bort (R)etry (P)anic
In German(y| cities), that is just one case of usage. And not even close to the most common.
Most here ride their bikes or use public transportation or find a bike, car, taxi, cargo taxi, etc.
And OpenStreetMap is by far the best for recrearional bike tours / hikes / exploration / etc.
We alao use it to find the exact location of a shop or doctor or nude beach or whatever all the time.
Which is basically what's left when you don't use it as a car route planner. All transport services (like trams/buses) have their own route planning.
(Just for perspective, for Americans: A normal public transport station has a train/bus every 5â"15 minutes during the day or weekend party night, and even on outskirts at night, you never go below 1 an hour. Our 3rd tier city quarter train stations are bigger that that of some of your cities (like Huston ^^). Thats why we use it so much. Which would make no sense in the US.)
A man was walking in the park with his wife. Suddenly he took his cap off, and his wife asked, "why?". He said, "According to Apple Maps, I am smack bang dang in the middle of First Presbyterian".
sed -e 's/Chuck Norris/Rajnikant/g' joke > fact
to give them ALL you money upfront. ;)
Google rather tries to sneak in ... you giving the companies that give Google your money.
am I looking to find my location and to find my way, or am I looking for antennae on top of buildings on golf courses? If the answer is the former, then you can most likely use any map service available. Any.
More Anti Apple fervor clickbait from the brit queen msmash. Fire that editor please.
that they weren't cheating on emissions tests.
all apple software is third rate at best.
The above unfinished comment is presented to you by thw fucking retarded mobile UI of Android.
I meant to say:
I recently had my office move locations, and had multiple dealers get lost trying to find us with Apple maps. We are in a large industrial park and while Apple maps will navigate users to the entrance of the complex, Google will navigate to right to the front door of the business.
I have also seen Apple maps users get stuck trying to navigate new changes due to road construction in the Seattle area, while Google is updated on a more regular basis and will accurately account for road closures, construction, and changes in the road itself.
The name of the street my parents live on has been misspelled for the last several years. I reported it 2-3 years ago but it's still wrong. All they have to do is run a google search to find the correct spelling.
Other, more serious issues are with navigation like sending you in circles or the name of the exit doesn't match...
When I move from point A to point B, II don't care if there are antennas on the roofs of the buildings prospecting the road you travel through, or if there is a dentist in the middle of my journey. I simply want a no-frills, clearly understandable map (that by the way in my case is displayed on the screen of a iPhone SE placed at about one meter from my eyes).
In our family we have a iPhone, a Windows 8 phone, and an Android tablet. The tablet through Google maps gives the most detailed description of the territory, but we never use it for getting directions, drawing the map with all the details clogs the 4-CPU tablet to the point it becomes a paperweight. Deciding who is the best map navigator between the iPhone and M$oft^H^H^H^H^H Nokia is difficult, I actually prefer the former, my wife the latter, but both work fine and draw circles around the Google navigator in terms of usability.
Northview Elementary School right by Shooting Park Road.
I've found google maps and Apple maps to be at two ends of the timing spectrum on giving directions:
Google: Turn left in 1 mile... Turn left in half a mile... turn left in 1/4 mile... Turn left in 500 feet... Turn left in 100 feet... Turn left
Apple: Turn left in 10 miles... Turn left at the intersection you are now already halfway through.
Both are really annoying in their own way, and a happy medium needs to be found. However, I give Google the win on this because I don't miss turns when Google maps is directing.
I'm a long time Google Apps on iPhone user. Mainly because I can facetime family members with iPhones/Pads and also use Hangouts for those with Android. However, I'm forced to use Apple Maps in the car because Apple Car doesn't allow you to run Google Maps for the in-dash integration.
Argh. What a pain in the ass. Atleast in v11, Apple introduced lane specific directions, and yes Apple maps is much more improved than previous versions, but it still seems way behind Google Maps.
I'd much rather use Waze of GoogleMaps than Apple maps in my car, ugh walled garden...
Care to provide addresses? Of course not, you shill.
Well, if you're going to have a map of Ladd, Illinois, it would behoove you to clearly mark Rip's Tavern, home of the best fried chicken in the state.
You really don't want to have hangry folks wandering about, desperately looking for their fried chicken fix. Google knows better than that...
I can't really comment since the article looked to me like a "sorry, Firefox has crashed" message. I caught a brief glimpse of blinking maps before the crash, but two attempts led to two crashes so I guess they don't want the article to be read on an Android tablet. Fortunately for me I feel absolutely no sense of loss from not being able to read it and proceed happily along with the rest of my life. Incidentally, I have both apple and android phones and have not had any trouble with either of them giving me navigation to any destinations I've needed to get to. As far as I'm concerned that's all that matters, so I don't suppose the article is whining about anything important.
My subdivision was built 7 years age. Two years ago it showed up on Apple Maps, but is stilll missing from Google Maps. The funny thing is that street view for the area is up to date, but wonâ(TM)t let you navigate into the street, just look down it. I did notify Google but nothing happened. Havenâ(TM)t seen us appear on a car GPS yet either. This is in rural British Columbia.
Looking at the examples, Apple Maps may look a bit emptier because they do not have building shapes.
But what if you are driving? If you are driving, emptier is better. In fact that is one of the things I've liked about Apple Maps since launch, is that when driving it's a MUCH easier map to look at compared to Google Maps. It shows you important things, not meaningless trivia like which houses have bay windows.
I don't see what the complete building shapes really do for you in a residential area unless you are a shed thief. So why have them always clutter the map? In a city it's a bit more useful, but there Apple does have building shapes as well. True they do not have fan shapes on the roof that you will never see and cannot access... wait WHY does Google even show that? Just because they can?
Meanwhile you claim Google Maps has some kind of moat, when it doesn't even offer in-station transit directions like Apple Maps does. You know, something people might actually need to know instead of how many fans are on the roof of a building?
The moat seems rather the other way. Apple is way ahead in making a more readable map, and ahead now in giving directions.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Past stories would prove you are wrong. Before when they had touch id, Apple has said users unlock their device a certain number of times per day.
You can't know that by respecting privacy.
> but they will literally sell that information to anyone willing to pay.
Quite the opposite. Older companies that acquired data used to sell it, and some still do. One thing. That has made Google so successful is that they are careful to keep the data to themselves. It's their golden goose. They sell ADS that are targeted using the data. That way they can keep selling ads to the same companies for years, rather than selling data once. They never sell the data because then it could be passed around and that would reduce their competitive advantage.
The other day I was trying to get somewhere in a large hospital complex and I noticed Google had a map of each floor of the building. I could seIect which floor I wanted a map of. I see new features like that being added; I haven't noticed features being removed.
Sure, it's Australia, but still...
The article describes how awesome Google Maps is because it's showing you fans on top of a skyscraper.
On a roof you will never see, and cannot access.
So please, do tell us all why that extra detail is useful in any way, or will be ever before the end of time.
Same goes for sheds in the back of a house I'm driving in front of. It's just more visual detail my mind has to decide does not matter, so why even show it?
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Having never used either one, I can't specifically comment on their differences. However, I'll remind people that the purpose of maps for navigation is not to see all of that detail at all. It is specifically to focus on the navigation required, by removing all of that added information.
I simply want to know which turns to make. I don't want my map to show me all of the great things that I'm passing -- I've chosen to pass on all of them to reach my destination. Same word for a reason.
Even more importantly, reviewing a simple map is easily committed to memory. Six turns, glanced once, remembered for the day. I can look at a map in my driveway, and then not need it anymore. It's called learning.
But give me all of that detail, and now I'll need to glance at the map every minute for a day of driving. That's insane.
Tell me like I'm six.
I was in Hawaii recently, we use both Apple Maps and Google Maps while driving around. Google Maps will send you down some weird route to save you a few minutes. Some regular streets that were so small I had to move to the side to let cars going the opposite way pass. Apple Maps would recommend staying on the major streets. But Apple Maps suck when it came to finding a business in a business complex. Both Google Maps and Apple Maps will tell you to make left turns or U turns at intersections that don’t allow U turns or unsafe to make a left turn. At least on iOS, I have both options to use Apple Maps or Google Maps.
Google Maps website is getting increasingly slower on my iPad 4 (ios7) -- it had an annoying change where I can't do a 1 finger drag to move the map; that now selects an address -- they changed to requiring a two finger drag which must have contributed to the slower response (more code)
That's a comprehensive comparison. Google Maps, unlike Apple Maps, doesn't stop at outlining the routes. It offers contextual details such as depiction of buildings and other structures and vegetation. It has captured everything -- from dish antennae on top of buildings to golf courses. Furthermore, Google Maps also shows name of the neighbourhood, and has more distinguishable icons and colors. You can glance at a portion of the map on Google Maps and get a good picture of what's in that place. Apple Maps, on the other hand, looks empty. Like an unfurnished house.
How the hell is that a "comprehensive" comparison? All the entire article does is focus on how pretty the maps are.
I care that the app can get me to my destination. I care that the app can warn me about traffic congestion and help me route around that. I want an accurate list of businesses in the area I happen to be viewing. I do *not* care that the map has a well rendered maple tree or 2.5d buildings. It looks cool, sure, but it's still just fluff.
So which maps app handles the genuinely *important* stuff better?
Open goggle maps on android device and 75% of the screen is covered with overlays, bars, buttons etc. Didnt used to be this way. No easy way to disable all this fluff.
- Gronk!
Perhaps my post was too strongly worded, in response to a very strongly worded claim. GGP said "they will literally sell that information to anyone willing to pay". That person may have been thinking of other companies whose products are indeed lists of names, addresses, and various information about the people. You can buy a list of people who are into hunting, a list of people who supported Ron Paul, etc. You'll find various lists available on the order forms from these companies.
You will find no such order form anywhere on Google's site. You sure will find adwords, though! Their TOC / privacy policy *allows* them to share information with partners, but that's not what they generally do. They will show ads for "anyone willing to pay", they will not, generally "will literally sell that information to anyone willing to pay", though if they have your consent, they could do so by the terms of the privacy policy.
Bing maps as used in the Windows 10 maps app (actually best on the phone, so-so on Real Computers) aren't bad. Probably halfway between Google (G has better traffic and transit information) and what's described here for Apple. OSM is excellent, but the default maps at http://www.openstreetmap.org don't have terrain or satellite backgrounds which in Google are very handy.
WinPhone of course has the MS maps app (since Nokia maps - better than Bing - went away). There's also an unofficial (not Google supported) GMaps app for Windows that lets you use Google maps without calling things up in Edge.
I usually default to Google, but use OSM when I need more info about details and non-transportation infrastructure, and MS maps of course in the old WinPhone that has W10 squeezed into it.
You are assuming they know that precisely. Itâ(TM)s very possible Apple was using an estimate based on surveys or a focus group of users who opted-in to being tracked.
Google Maps is basically in an entire other category when compared to everything else, for good or bad.
Perhaps I'm wrong on this, but it's just how I face it.
You don't need to be a Google fan, Apple hater or whatever to realize this.
Apple has not invested as much time and money on mapping, nor have any other initiatives like HERE maps, etc.
To put it more simply, Apple Maps is just a service or an app from Apple for navigation. Google Maps represents an entire business division of Alphabet or something that encompases a whole ton of other stuff... it's a behemoth by itself.
One can argue that it's unecessary for things like navigation, which sure, could be.
But I think it's accurate to say that no other mapping company has invested as much time, money or hired as many people and has such a large community backing to form the platform.
Starting with the fact that Google Maps is not a single entity, but intrinsically tied to Google Earth, Waze, Street View and a whole metric ton of 3rd party applications. Google acquired several other companies and technologies to tie into the service, whether people notice it or not.
Apple Maps gets their info from TomTom... and that's basically it. It's at best competing with platforms like MapQuest (which also uses TomTom's data), Bing Maps and HERE Maps.
Google Maps have some insane stuff like a Moon map, Mars map, underwater street view, Google Sky... they have hired satellites to update imagery, hired people on bikes, horses, camels, on foot, etc to take imagery of unaccessible areas, they have images inside some businesses, museums and whatnot. Whatever Apple maps or any other map services produce is only a fraction of what Google Maps does.
That's not to say it's the best one for your particular needs, nor the one that will more accurately represent your area. But it is what it is.
Try getting outside a city once in awhile. A lot of places use address like N2345 Smith St. Google will happily point you to the center of Smith St which isnâ(TM)t exactly helpful when Smith St is 15 miles long.
Apple only came up with Apple Maps because Google tried to play punk with it.
Once Apple started Apple maps and Google got back in line, Apple pretty much did nothing further.
writing phone throttling code and therefore has no time to update or enhance their maps program