How is Apple Maps these days?

[uhaas]

Another thing I noticed...happened two or three times on a long 650 mile drive last week...when I was coming up on a major "intersection", maybe two miles before, Maps offered up a better route. It was like it does a last minute check before making the next major route change and adjusts if there is a better route. Actually gave me more confidence that it was a better route. And in the case of these two changes, it noted the time improvement and they both were spot on.

That's what I found new in iOS 11. Also impressed with the results.

 

[sactownbwoy]

Waze allows you to bypass toll roads. In setting you can turn off the option to go on toll roads and it will avoid those on your route. Also you can change it to shortest or fastest route. And there is an option to select different routes, it is right there on the bottom right when you start your route.

Perfect timing for me to provide my insight after using Apple Maps for nearly 1,800 miles of driving over the past 5 days.

The navgation, choice of routes, updtaes to faster routing while driving...all flawless. I knew where I was going most of the time, so I know it was giving the best info. I also double checked against Google and Waze when I could. Waze is kind of ridiculous for long drives as it only picls the fastest route and doesn't give you much of a choice to change. I didn't want to pay $40 in tolls yesterday and only Apple and Google gae me a choice of routes...and Apple's were actually better in this case.

My biggest issue....last week while driving on both the Ohio and Pennsylvania turnpikes (toll roads), I needed gas and knew that more than one service area was in my range. No need to get off the toll road. When I slected the fuel icon on Apple Maps, it always wanted me to go to a fuel stop off the higway...even when I was less than 2 miles from the service area. The service area did show on the map, but the parsing did not recognize that there was a gas station there...only the fact that Starbucks was. I also didn't like that when I would pick the "breakfast" icon, it seemed to limit itself to typical "breakfast" spots like a diner or Panera Bread. Why not list McDonald's, Burger King, Chick Fil A??? Everywhere that serves breakfast (and actually preferred by most people....)

Coming home yesterday, was very low on fuel and Apple Maps was directing me to the "closest" stop...a couple of miles off the road. When I got the the exit, there were two service stations within 100 feet. WTF? I didn't have a chance to check Google, but assume it would have picked the closer options and restaurants when asked. Has been better about that in the past. Waze on the other hand? I always have a "time out error" when searching for POI's tos top at. When it does work, it's fine, but it is rare.

Anyway....outside of the fuel icon and "restaurant" icon picking what I wanted, the iOS11 version was awesome. And when I did search for something either by name or address, it did find it every time...and was fast. They really just need to work on their parsing as the gas stations I stopped at were obviously on there, just not selected as standard by Apple.

 

[nordique]

Apple maps has improved a ton but it's still not google maps tier


It's still good though

 

[MozMan68]

Waze allows you to bypass toll roads. In setting you can turn off the option to go on toll roads and it will avoid those on your route. Also you can change it to shortest or fastest route. And there is an option to select different routes, it is right there on the bottom right when you start your route.

The problem with that is that there was really no way for me to avoid a toll road...I just chose the route that had $6 in tolls versus $40.

And seeing the routes offered right on the map like Apple and Google display is so much easier and helpful IMHO. I never have to change the settings, just choose the route that works best for me. At the end of the day, Waze is really better as a commuting app for me.

 

[PeLaNo]

Apple MUST creat an easy way to encourage people to suggest details about places in their maps app. That's how google have done with their maps.

 

[sactownbwoy]

The problem with that is that there was really no way for me to avoid a toll road...I just chose the route that had $6 in tolls versus $40.

And seeing the routes offered right on the map like Apple and Google display is so much easier and helpful IMHO. I never have to change the settings, just choose the route that works best for me. At the end of the day, Waze is really better as a commuting app for me.

You don’t have to change settings to view a different route, it’s just a simple button push. I see if you can’t drive without avoiding tolls completely how you could have a problem. Luckily for me in California where I live, I can get anywhere without taking a toll road.