Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Apple Maps Has Surpassed Google Maps in Detail in 3.1 Percent of the US (theverge.com)

Posted by msmash on from the marching-forward dept.

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.

23 of 135 comments (clear)

  1. well then by cascadingstylesheet · · Score: 5, Funny

    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.

    1. Re:well then by QuietLagoon · · Score: 4, Interesting

      ...I guess next time I'm looking for exceptionally grassy highway medians, I'll buy an Apple device....

      Yes, go buy that device, Apple needs your help. There's probably a good reason why Apple switched to reporting revenue instead of unit device sales. The unit device sales are on a downward trend, so Apple has been raising the per-device price in order to keep revenue increasing. It's a good tactic until Apple's customer base gets wise to it.

    2. Re:well then by hey! · · Score: 5, Funny

      I guess next time I'm looking for exceptionally grassy highway medians, I'll buy an Apple device.

      I've always suspected Apple fanbois were sheep...

      --
      Post may contain irony: discontinue use if experiencing mood swings, nausea or elevated blood pressure.
    3. Re:well then by silverkniveshotmail. · · Score: 2

      I don't really care who buys them but I could do without the people that drive them.

    4. Re: well then by magarity · · Score: 2

      And if you have ever actually LOOKED at these medians they are generally designed so people can't do stupid ass u-turns on highways, good fucking luck landing on that. Just saying.

      In an emergency landing the goal is to skid to a stop somehow without dying, not touching down neatly. Highway medians work nicely.

  2. Parks? by poptix · · Score: 5, Insightful

    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.
    1. Re: Parks? by hey! · · Score: 2

      I think Apple's chosen to optimzie for the use-case "Show me some landmarks so I know where I am" over âoeI need to quickly identifiy all state and federal parks in this area".

      If only there were some kind of global system that would tell you your position.

      --
      Post may contain irony: discontinue use if experiencing mood swings, nausea or elevated blood pressure.
    2. Re:Parks? by LordKronos · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Exactly. It's a neat little feature to be sure, but if I really want to see where vegetation is, I switch to satellite view, which actually distinguishes between grass, small vs large trees, dense vs sparse patches of trees, crops, etc. The only case I see in that article where the vegetation detail is sort of useful is in identifying beaches.

      But yes, when you look at those maps, you can still see the distinction between regular vegetation and parks, but it's very subtle and takes much more effort to distinguish. When I'm in an unfamiliar town and have a little time to kill, I'll actually be looking for parks to take my kids to, not random vegetation in the median.

      Finally, that rest of that article just shows a bunch of cases where Apple is fixing things google already had correct, and several more where Apple is still wrong (and google is correct).

  3. So, for 96.9% of the U.S. google is better... by QuietLagoon · · Score: 4, Insightful

    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?

    1. Re:So, for 96.9% of the U.S. google is better... by thegarbz · · Score: 4, Insightful

      It's not marketing hype. Rendering different details actually may be relevant. Unfortunately Apple seems to think that the green should be representative of trees rather than showing the boundaries of city parks or national parks as they are traditionally labelled.

      It matters. It's marketing hype. It's also a stupid backwards idea that makes the map less useful.

  4. Fuck me by nagora · · Score: 5, Insightful

    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"
  5. Project out of money after 3.1% coverage by jfdavis668 · · Score: 2

    Now they will work on mapping Ireland, since they have plenty of money there.

  6. High detail is useless by thegarbz · · Score: 2

    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.

  7. Summer or Winter? by xxxJonBoyxxx · · Score: 3, Funny

    >> 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.

  8. That's all great and everything... by froggyjojodaddy · · Score: 2

    ... 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

  9. Even has a hard core apple guy.... by registrations_suck · · Score: 5, Informative

    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.

    1. Re:Even has a hard core apple guy.... by Dixie_Flatline · · Score: 2

      That probably puts you in the minority. No, I'm not joking. The power of defaults is huge, and most of the people on Apple devices are using Apple Maps.

      Apple's biggest problem has been relying on other people for data. They used to have TomTom as a map provider, and the maps were terrible. As it says in the article, some of the map data TomTom was using was 70 years out of date, collected from extremely old sources. And so every time someone logged a fix to Apple Maps, it had to go through Apple then to TomTom then back again, so it looked like nothing was ever updated.

      This is a good change in direction for Apple, and I'm glad they're doing it. Personally, I keep Google's products the hell off my phone, and I use Google Maps about twice a year because they have cycling directions that Apple doesn't provide yet. But as soon as I'm done, I delete the app off my phone. I have no interest in Google knowing where I am and what I'm doing any more than necessary.

      Even as it stands right now, Apple's stuff is decent enough if you live in a major city. It gives me good Montreal metro directions and takes me to the correct exits and everything. So even if you don't think this is a big deal, it kind of is. I mean, I don't expect you to change, but lots of people care.

  10. Re:The other 96.9%... by dstyle5 · · Score: 4, Funny

    It is just natural selection kicking in.

    Timmy: "But my phone said to drive off the cliff, so I did of course."

    Doctor: "Unfortunately you survived, Timmy."

  11. Re:I'll just stand in the road, car yonder is tiny by Merk42 · · Score: 3, Insightful

    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.

    and with a competitor (Apple) increasing coverage, I'm sure Google will just idly sit by and not do any updates or anything like that.

  12. Re:I'll just stand in the road, car yonder is tiny by squiggleslash · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Will you be singing the same tune I wonder when within a year Apple has 60%+ better coverage.

    Apple isn't going to have 60%+ "better coverage" in one year. It's taken them this long to reach 3.1%, and in the meantime there's absolutely no reason to believe Google isn't improving its processes too. Indeed, I suspect for Google they can throw a switch - do you think the images they currently serve are served at their highest resolution, or just at an optimal quality for use right now?

    --
    You are not alone. This is not normal. None of this is normal.
  13. Not relevant by sremick · · Score: 2

    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.

  14. Re:So you claim Android makers are failing harder? by QuietLagoon · · Score: 2

    Apple is shifting to have users use phones longer and capture revenue in many other ways

    So you agree with what I wrote, that unit sales are down (users holding on to phones longer) and Apple is looking to capture revenue in different ways (raising prices per unit). :)

    .
    Apple is also increasing its service revenue, so that's a plus.

  15. Re:So fuckin what? by bobbied · · Score: 2

    3.1% is extremely non-impressive. Apple is in the early stages of a death spiral, they got nothing anymore. Overpriced junk.

    I'm no apple fanboy, but the news reporting over's Apple's demise is WAY to soon. They may be hitting their peek and driven their business so large they've run out of customers who can buy their stuff, but they are FAR from heading into a death spiral. They have money to burn and could heat their new headquarters with $100 bills for decades.

    Anybody who parrots this "news" is either a fool or is shorting the stock and looking for a quick buck by talking down the stock (maybe both).

    --
    "File to fit, pound to insert, paint to match" - Aircraft Maintenance 101