Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

General Still Can't Use Apple Maps!!!

Omega V

Omega V

macrumors member
Original poster
Sep 23, 2016
97
76
Las Vegas, Nevada
This is my third time in the past 12 months trying to use Apple Maps and it's failed me all three times!

Last night I needed gas so I put Chevron in the search bar in Google Maps (my main map app) and it showed me a Chevron gas station right down the street. Once I got to that Chevron I decided to see what was different, in terms of information, on the Apple Maps app. When I pulled it up I typed Chevron in the search bar...Apple Maps said there was no Chevron gas station close to my location?

After this I pull up the Google Maps app and it tells me Chevron is 26 feet away (about the distance from my car at the gas pump to the front door of the gas station). I could understand if I lived in some small town in Alaska for example but I live in Las Vegas, Nevada. This city is one of the top tourist destinations in America so I assumed Apple Maps would have it fairly covered already. Plus this gas station has been here for awhile so it's not like it just opened yesterday.

Every time I try to use Apple Maps it fails me so I can't trust it and I have to use Google Maps. I love that Apple Maps looks so much cleaner and uncluttered than Google Maps; but at the end of the day I just trust Google Maps far more and that's sad. I keep hearing about Apple doing all this stuff with Apple Maps but it seems to only matter if you live in certain parts of California?

End of my rant...
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: mrfabio
I also don't like that Apple maps doesn't have a feature like Google Map's Street View. I've used Apple Maps 3D view which is really nice but being able to see real photos (even old ones) is personally more helpful to me.
 
Apple is expected to have a big update to Maps in the near future (at this point, I'm guessing WWDC '19). POIs are supposed to be updated and its possible, based on some reports, that a street view function is coming, perhaps with 3D effects. I realize that this is dreamware at the moment, but clearly Apple has deployed a lot of assets to improve its position vis a vis Google. The layers in certain big cities (SF, NYC) are showing some more significant detail and the navigation layer seems to be showing more detail, as well. Hopefully, they make some sort of announcement about this and the other stuff soon.
 
Last edited:
There is no question Google has much better POI capabilities, but as far as routing trips to new places I have found Apple Maps to be on par with Google. I have taken several road trips recently and used Apple Maps 100% reliability.
 
I have had the opposite problem - was looking directions to a town about 1 hour away and Google didn't list the town at all. Apple Maps had it.
Very inconsistent
I wonder, in general, about what POI are listed and what aren't. Near me there are 2 large super markets members of big chains. One is on the map and even the other is just a couple of hundred yards away - not shown.
Can companies pay to have their locations on maps? I have noticed that, for instance, Starbucks are always on maps but other stores right there aren't..
 
As far as routing goes, I have abandoned Waze for Apple Maps after comparing for about 6 months. My traffic dependent predictable commute with different routes has been great with Apple Maps.
 
  • Like
Reactions: one more
Yep, and the POI situation in Apple Maps outside the US is even more grim. So bad in fact that I no longer search for anything in it, I only search in browser and then copy address into maps which is a PITA. Apple Maps routing (once a correct address is entered) is pretty good. But then again, Google Maps also has it beat for traffic info. I keep wanting to use and like Apple Maps and I keep sending error reports but I'm now getting to the realization that it probably will never be as functional or confidence-inspiring as Google Maps.

Apple Maps has now sadly moved into the folder for my unused stock apps; joining Mail, Weather and Apple Music.
 
digitalexplr said:
There is no question Google has much better POI capabilities, but as far as routing trips to new places I have found Apple Maps to be on par with Google. I have taken several road trips recently and used Apple Maps 100% reliability.
Click to expand...

I open up Apple maps periodically during my work day commute and when I'm out and about. While it gives me a route that works, it is often slightly less efficient than what I get using Google maps, around 4-5 minutes usually according to the app but I know you can't go on that. I haven't done much comparison with Waze so can't comment on that.
 
I havent done much in the way of comparison other than opening Waze on CarPlay and then getting rid of it as it looked awful but i've used Apple Maps pretty much consistently for about a year since getting our new car with Carplay. Never had an issue with it and that includes day to day commuting, ad hoc journeys at weekends and just shy of 4 weeks driving to, round and back from France clocking up just shy of 2500 miles.

In all that time the routes have worked well, its alerted me to issues and re-routed generally pretty well to avoid bigger issues. I've also used it via Siri whilst driving to change destinations and the POI stuff whilst it possibly doesnt have the same amount of stuff as Google which i think is understandable to an extent its not normally something i cant work around by being a bit clever about what you ask it for.
 
Omega V said:
This is my third time in the past 12 months trying to use Apple Maps and it's failed me all three times!

Last night I needed gas so I put Chevron in the search bar in Google Maps (my main map app) and it showed me a Chevron gas station right down the street. Once I got to that Chevron I decided to see what was different, in terms of information, on the Apple Maps app. When I pulled it up I typed Chevron in the search bar...Apple Maps said there was no Chevron gas station close to my location?

After this I pull up the Google Maps app and it tells me Chevron is 26 feet away (about the distance from my car at the gas pump to the front door of the gas station). I could understand if I lived in some small town in Alaska for example but I live in Las Vegas, Nevada. This city is one of the top tourist destinations in America so I assumed Apple Maps would have it fairly covered already. Plus this gas station has been here for awhile so it's not like it just opened yesterday.

Every time I try to use Apple Maps it fails me so I can't trust it and I have to use Google Maps. I love that Apple Maps looks so much cleaner and uncluttered than Google Maps; but at the end of the day I just trust Google Maps far more and that's sad. I keep hearing about Apple doing all this stuff with Apple Maps but it seems to only matter if you live in certain parts of California?

End of my rant...
Click to expand...

Welcome to the club:) Pity because I really love the Apple Maps design, and it is so fast...furthermore there is the lack of storing places in lists, we can only set them as Favourites! Life is so simple for Apple apps:)
 
jeffe said:
I open up Apple maps periodically during my work day commute and when I'm out and about. While it gives me a route that works, it is often slightly less efficient than what I get using Google maps, around 4-5 minutes usually according to the app but I know you can't go on that. I haven't done much comparison with Waze so can't comment on that.
Click to expand...
I don't think ETA on one app is directly comparable to another, because there the assumptions for variables could be different, for example Apple Maps could use posted speed limits, while advertising giant Google uses historic traffic speeds to calculate ETA. And ETA is just an estimate, no maps app that I have used has been accurate enough.

I would say 4-5 minute difference for a 30 minute drive is in the noise, hence that is the wrong metric to compare with.
 
spacemnspiff said:
I don't think ETA on one app is directly comparable to another, because there the assumptions for variables could be different, for example does Apple Maps use posted speed limits which advertising giant Google uses historic traffic speeds to calculate ETA. And ETA is just an estimate, no maps app that I have used has been accurate enough.
Click to expand...

Yeah I agree but I can also judge the routes to see that one is navigating me directly me into a busy intersection while another is leading me around it.

Google does a remarkable job at predicting my arrival within a minute or two. I haven't paid much attention to Apple maps to comment on it.
 
The accuracy of the search is definitely a joke. This & not always giving you the more realistic routes are my only issues.
 
digitalexplr said:
There is no question Google has much better POI capabilities, but as far as routing trips to new places I have found Apple Maps to be on par with Google. I have taken several road trips recently and used Apple Maps 100% reliability.
Click to expand...

Same for me.

I remember using Apple Maps as soon as it was released. I was going to a rental log cabin deep in the hills of the Blue Ridge Mountains. Dirt roads and such. Deliverance.

But Apple Maps found it perfectly... because I gave it an exact address!

Meanwhile... Apple Maps had the wrong location for the Walmart in my town. And this is a Walmart that has been here for 15 years. How does that even happen? :p
 
jeffe said:
Yeah I agree but I can also judge the routes to see that one is navigating me directly me into a busy intersection while another is leading me around it.

Google does a remarkable job at predicting my arrival within a minute or two. I haven't paid much attention to Apple maps to comment on it.
Click to expand...
Good for you, I have the opposite experience with Waze, because the ETA data is outdated by the time I am en-route, ETA is always a moving target.
 
spacemnspiff said:
Good for you, I have the opposite experience with Waze, because the ETA data is outdated by the time I am en-route, ETA is always a moving target.
Click to expand...

That's why I find it so remarkabl. It's able to predict my arrival with so much accuracy on a 45 minute drive in the middle of rush hour with different degrees of traffic. But I'm in a large city so they have plenty of data to work with.
 
jeffe said:
That's why I find it so remarkabl. It's able to predict my arrival with so much accuracy on a 45 minute drive in the middle of rush hour with different degrees of traffic. But I'm in a large city so they have plenty of data to work with.
Click to expand...
Well only thing I can say is that, looks like our experiences are subjective and also that Google thanks you for contributing your uncompensated for 'data'.
 
spacemnspiff said:
Well only thing I can say is that, looks like our experiences are subjective and also that Google thanks you for contributing your uncompensated for 'data'.
Click to expand...

I'm compensated with what I feel are better services and features. It wasn't until I moved away from Android where I was able to see how much the end user benefits from Google's data collection - it actually made me respect it much more but that's an entirely different conversation.
 
jeffe said:
I'm compensated with what I feel are better services and features. It wasn't until I moved away from Android where I was able to see how much the end user benefits from Google's data collection - it actually made me respect it much more but that's an entirely different conversation.
Click to expand...
Agree that it's a totally different conversation, I probably value my data far more and I don't need any implicit nefarious consent to agree to hand it over, well that's the nature of advertising business model, the real customer is the advertisers and not the audience of advertisement.
 
I also question Apple's commitment to timely map updates. It's been so inconsistent in my experience. One recent example, we had a major highway overpass/interchange open last December (took 2 years of construction) and it cuts down travel times to/from a large portion of my city by a third. Niether Google Maps nor Apple Maps showed the new interchange so I submitted an error report to both on the same day. No exaggeration, within 48 hrs it was updated on Google Maps and navigation directions have been updated to take advantage of it. Apple Maps today still does not show it. I've since submitted multiple reports through both iOS and macOS Maps with marked-up screenshots, I even submitted an official municipal PDF showing the change, and still nothing.
 
  • Like
Reactions: one more and mrfabio
err404 said:
Apple also takes user data for analyzing traffic.
Click to expand...
The difference is in how they do it. Apple says they anonymize traffic data by disregarding the start and end portions of a journey so any data collected is mid-route, which, while not perfectly anonymous, keeps the more vital info (start and end point) out.
 
  • Like
Reactions: one more
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back