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Apple Maps Has Surpassed Google Maps in Detail in 3.1 Percent of the US (theverge.com)
An anonymous reader shares a report: iOS 12 began the rollout of Apple Maps' long-awaited redesign, which will deliver maps with far more detail using data collected by Apple directly. The updated maps currently only cover around 3.1 percent of the USA, focused around Northern California, but already some interesting differences are starting to emerge between Apple's maps and those that Google uses for its own navigation software. The differences are documented in excruciatingly fine detail in a post by digital cartography blogger Justin O'Beirne. The good news for Apple is that the sheer amount of natural cartographical detail its map contains far outstrips what Google currently offers. Vegetation detail is a particular highlight, with Apple's maps even showing grass between two lanes of a highway, or around the borders of individual houses.
Vegetation detail is a particular highlight, with Apple's maps even showing grass between two lanes of a highway, or around the borders of individual houses.
I guess next time I'm looking for exceptionally grassy highway medians, I'll buy an Apple device.
constant privacy violations.
...will still have people driving into ditches or off cliffs.
Historically green areas on maps (paper & digital) have been City, State, or Federal parks, now it's just any old patch of grass?
TheVerge was right, 'more detail, less information'
Just because you disagree doesn't mean it's not true.
GMaps have plenty of low to near zero coverage areas. Find and detail those to the extreme and you can claim this statistic too, despite being horribly lacking where it matters...
Now I know to look to Apple's maps if I want to see the grass between highway lanes in the 3.1% of the US that Apple shows it. Let me ask, does this difference really matter to most of the people who use these maps? Or is this nothing more than marketing hype?
"Apple Maps Has Surpassed Google Maps in Detail in 3.1 Percent of the US" this would seem to suggest that Apple is starting to surpass Google Maps. But when you read Justin's linked web page, you see how bad Apple Maps is compared to Google Maps. Haha.
That is exciting news!
I guess "Google maps are more detailed than Apple's in 96.9% of US" didn't really score enough Apple fanboi points, did it?
"Encyclopedia" is to "Wikipedia" what "Library" is to "Some people at a bus stop"
My own picture map is better for my own house than either Google or Apple. Can I get an article too?
If the data collection process doesn't scale, then this is just a toy tech demo. 99.9999% of the time, I'm not in the 3% covered area, and neither are most people.
The big question is how this extra detail is useful. In particular, is there any impact on the quality of navigation? I don't see how any of the examples mentioned in the article impact creation of routes. Perhaps there might be an impact in terms of choosing routing endpoints. For example, more accurate layouts for parking lots and access points might allow choosing a better destination point. However, this type of information is usually manually digested, and satellite and street-view information is probably much more detailed than even the enhanced Apple Maps information. So, it's not clear that this increased level of detail results in an improved usage scenario.
well, because in India you pay dirt cheap wages, befitting since one gets to Apple India on dirt roads.
That dude has too much time on his hands.
Do people not remember the joys of Apple Maps? ;)
Anons need not reply. Questions end with a question mark.
Now they will work on mapping Ireland, since they have plenty of money there.
If the data isn't useless. I'm glad now that the grassy forest patches are rendered in fine detail while Apple mislabels it as a busy city centre.
>> Apple's maps even showing grass
I hope they do a full refresh at least once a month, otherwise, their pictures of my green grass or leafy trees aren't going to match seasonal reality. If accuracy is a serious goal, that is.
... but what I want is better real-time information regarding traffic, hazards, construction etc. I use Waze and Google Maps (Android device) and while they work pretty well most of the time, I still get caught in traffic due to construction
There's been heavy road construction near my house for around 6 months. A few days a week, the road is down to a single lane so they will stop traffic in one direction while letting the other side through. That will cause a kilometer long backup real quick. Waze will alert me, if enough Wazers report it, but Google Maps is even more hit and miss.
When I'm driving, I don't need to look at the patch of grass between highways. I need better intelligence around traffic
LINUX alone is a just a kernel. You can use just a kernel if you want, but even better would be to join it with GNU!
GNU'S Not Unix!
on extremely high vegetation as I try to navigate around town. Nice.
No need to RTFA
3.1% is extremely non-impressive. Apple is in the early stages of a death spiral, they got nothing anymore. Overpriced junk.
There's probably a good reason why Apple switched to reporting revenue instead of unit device sales
Because every other phone maker does the same thing?
Or maybe it's because sales are starting to decline, and all the other companies have been doing the same because all their sales have been much worse.
Apple is shifting to have users use phones longer and capture revenue in many other ways, so device figures shadow all of the other ways Apple makes money.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
... judging by the roundabout paths that app tends to lead us on.
Even as a hard core Apple guy, I have to say, who cares?
My experience with Apple Maps has been so miserable that I deleted it from my phone as soon as I had the chance. I cannot imagine ever giving it another try, no matter how good it becomes. I do not think they could ever be good enough to get me off Google Maps which works, almost, every time.
it works 51% of the time.
So, for 96.9% of the U.S. google is better...
You really can't see the upcoming future on this one, eh?
Now that Apple has got a system down why can they not scale it t quickly close the gap.
Will you be singing the same tune I wonder when within a year Apple has 60%+ better coverage.
It makes sense to me that Apple could easily surpass Google Maps in detail, as Google in recent years has really lost focus and does not spend much time improving long-standing services.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Google maps UI does keep getting worse. Tried to print from it lately? The contrast is so low between roads and background you can't even see them.
A few months back they started referring to freeway exits as "2A", or somesuch. I know my exit is coming up because it's less than 1/2 mile away But all the signs say "Bancroft", not "2A".
I've driven enough in rural areas to know that that's how they mark a lot of their roads. But I'm guessing 90% of the exits here in the USA use "Bancroft", not "2A".
Thing is, what Apple is getting OCD about here is only a subset of what makes Google Maps superior.
The detail of Google Maps is more than sufficient for me to determine where I am and route me from A to B. However, on top of that is a myriad of metadata and hyperlinked info and resources that all work together to make Google Maps an all-encompassing tool for which "maps" is only a part of.
It really doesn't matter if for a tiny section of the USA, Apple Maps tracks the curve of a driveway around a house with pixel-perfect accuracy. That's not relevant nor does it somehow make Apple Maps more useful. It's still a stinking pile of shit and I'm glad it's limited only to the over-priced status-symbol trash that comes out of Apple's factories.
Google Maps still ahead of Apple Maps in 96.9 Percent of the US
MOD THE CHILD UP!
Apple will start making detailed maps of Uranus?
apple thinks it can write software
How about difference of purpose. Maps for autonomous vehicles are going to be different than maps for someone hiking across the country.
Its not the amount of detail that matters, but correctness. Any fool can generate spurious details with AI.
Itâ(TM)s hyperbole. 3% is dog food in a bowl in comparison to the quantity of mapping not quantized worldwide to become functional, as in rely upon.
South America is abyssamal beyond placing country boundaries, LAT/LON and major cities. Apple would do well to nail one continent - then apply lessons learned at scale.
Google maps has more detail in 96.9% of the US.
Charter Member of The Committee Group For The Elimination And Eradication Of Repetitive Redundancy
This is a good example of damning with faint praise. After reading the article, one would have to wonder what the hell Apple is doing.
I picked my nose. Pretty sure that's better.
-=This sig has nothing to do with my comment. Move along now=-
Impressive post by Apple marketing.
But, it actually means Apple maps is worse in 97% of the US.
I still find Google maps better around my area then Apple maps. Sometimes Apple maps are completely lost and don't show proper mapping in rural areas. It is good that Apple is improving its map details because they have needed improvements.
All that high resolution comes with a price: higher data usage.
The real headline is Google maps still outperforms Apple maps 96.1% of the time....
Google out-details Apple Maps in 97.8 percent more of the country.
or "the vast majority of the country"
kids these days, thinking under 4 percent is a "win" and cheering "their side" for a participation trophy.
So, Apple employees can find their way around the neighborhood. Whoopee! If you want to impress me, get the other 97% if the country mapped accurately.
:)
More detail? As someone who uses maps every day at work, I can tell you that more detail doesn't make a map more usable. Give me accuracy for the things that are displayed and I'll be happy. I was looking at Google maps last night and it showed a Post Office a full half mile from its actual location. Good thing I wasn't headed there in a self-driving car, right?
If I want to see the grass in medians, I'll look at a satellite or aerial view. We use digital maps at work that have an aerial photo layer where we can zoom in to see the cars (make, model and color) in driveways. It lets us know that we're at the right house. No, we're not a SWAT team, just utility workers.
In other words, Google has better detail than Apple in 97% of the US?
Cool. And how much more does Apple Maps cost than a free Android/Windows/Browser app?
We can now find the man on the grassy knoll!
Really...how desperate are Apple fanboy's for news headlines.
That's called clutter. Knowing that the median is grassy conveys nothing useful to a map user. Knowing where the lawn around a house is conveys nothing useful to a map user. When google highlights an area on a map it conveys information that is useful. This orange area here has a high concentration of shopping and restaurants. New to the city and looking for something to do? These are areas to focus on. Yeah, it's cool that their algorithm can pull out the detail like that... but it doesn't help the end user any, and as the article even said, becomes confusing in some areas.