All Devices Updated Apple Maps

[dk001]

I'm not arguing that Apple Maps is lacking compared to Google Maps for traffic data. It is. Traffic info I'm seeing now compared to Apple Maps is night and day different.

I'm simply saying they apparently have, at the very least, some access to this data for this info if the opening of a fast food restaurant in a dinky city can suddenly affect the traffic data I see on Maps.

Very true. It is getting better. My primary driver is GM.
I noticed the "lack of green" when I was on my work phone (XS Max) and pulled a location from iMessage and it showed no issue with a street route. My other half said "No, it is backed up". That is when I realized I was on AM, not GM, and AM was not showing city street traffic details for many (including this instance) city routes.

 

[MozMan68]

Apple has building outlines in most areas now and does have all in updated map areas. Also, more accurate outlines than Google.

POI is such a strange thing, but yeah, it's amazing what Apple has done even over the past year. It's been my "go to" for checking business data over the past year. I still think Google is better here with updated data as well as what info is available from first glance, but Apple will catch up here very quickly with the new Maps data.

Traffic...again...I think it is a perception thing in my experience and will only get better with the new data collection method. I travel across the entire country and test after test, Apple has always given me spot on arrival ETA's over Google and Waze despite what is shown on the screen (and I still think that is an Apple graphics preference thing).

 

[Alan Gordon]

Apple has building outlines in most areas now and does have all in updated map areas. Also, more accurate outlines than Google.

I agree with you about the updated map areas, but the Atlanta metropolitan area is the only area in Georgia that has building outlines. No other cities in the state.

I also checked some places in Tennessee (like the city I was born in) and again, no outlines. As you stated, that should change soon, but I think "most" is pushing it.

POI is such a strange thing, but yeah, it's amazing what Apple has done even over the past year. It's been my "go to" for checking business data over the past year. I still think Google is better here with updated data as well as what info is available from first glance, but Apple will catch up here very quickly with the new Maps data.

Over the years, I've had some frustrating experiences submitting reports to Google about corrections, so I often focus on Apple Maps more than Google Maps in my area, so I like to take a little credit for Apple Maps being better here.

 

[dk001]

I agree with you about the updated map areas, but the Atlanta metropolitan area is the only area in Georgia that has building outlines. No other cities in the state.

I also checked some places in Tennessee (like the city I was born in) and again, no outlines. As you stated, that should change soon, but I think "most" is pushing it.



Over the years, I've had some frustrating experiences submitting reports to Google about corrections, so I often focus on Apple Maps more than Google Maps in my area, so I like to take a little credit for Apple Maps being better here.

Are there any tricks / tips on getting AM corrections? My area (area around my house) has been incorrect for the three years I have been here and have submitted requested corrections all to no avail. Surprising as a number of the buildings and businesses are government specific / related. Even after the latest updates it is incorrect.
Thx in advance

 

[MozMan68]

As you stated, that should change soon, but I think "most" is pushing it.

"Most" of the areas I travel??

 

[MisterSavage]

I also like that we're able to share our location but wish we could share it to more than one person at the same time. I often share my ETA with my family group chat.

That's a huge bummer. I often would like to share an ETA with more than one person.

 

[Alan Gordon]

Are there any tricks / tips on getting AM corrections? My area (area around my house) has been incorrect for the three years I have been here and have submitted requested corrections all to no avail. Surprising as a number of the buildings and businesses are government specific / related. Even after the latest updates it is incorrect.
Thx in advance

Prior to WWDC '19, I could submit a report and a few days later, it'd be corrected.

As it currently is, I'm still waiting on some reports to be corrected from the first week of June.

The one business addition they did add (the Dairy Queen I mentioned earlier) was placed in the wrong city. I then modified that location with the correct location, and they simply added a new one in the right city, but wrong place, and kept the old location in the wrong city. I submitted a report correcting the location of the new marker, along with geo-tagged pictures last week, but it's still incorrect so far.


Given that you're in new Maps data country, they might correct it very fast compared to what I'm seeing right now, but I suspect they're very busy, so who knows.

I recommend attaching geo-tagged photos of the location to the report. If you can, show any details in those photos that shows off what you're saying needs to be corrected (address number, hours, business, etc.). Be as clear as possible as to what needs to be changed.

 

[G1Ravage]

I've seen Google Maps traffic be dead wrong. On a small street near my apartment, at 1:00 AM, it was showing red for a stretch of two blocks. There wasn't a single car driving on that block. Curious, with Google Maps open, I drove around the block a bunch of times, wondering if I drove on this "red" block at fast speeds enough times, would the traffic color change to green? It didn't. It stayed red, even after five passes.

There's also a highway service road near me that's "unnamed" on Google Maps. I've sent corrections in to them, and they've refused to correct it.

 

[MisterSavage]

I've seen Google Maps traffic be dead wrong. On a small street near my apartment, at 1:00 AM, it was showing red for a stretch of two blocks. There wasn't a single car driving on that block. Curious, with Google Maps open, I drove around the block a bunch of times, wondering if I drove on this "red" block at fast speeds enough times, would the traffic color change to green? It didn't. It stayed red, even after five passes.

It definitely can be wrong sometimes but I've also found it to be incredibly accurate when you're stuck on the interstate and dying to know when it's going to clear up.

 

[MozMan68]

It definitely can be wrong sometimes but I've also found it to be incredibly accurate when you're stuck on the interstate and dying to know when it's going to clear up.

And Apple Maps doesn’t show the same backup? I’ve never had it NOT show a backup on the highway when I’ve hit one.

 

[MisterSavage]

And Apple Maps doesn’t show the same backup? I’ve never had it NOT show a backup on the highway when I’ve hit one.

I did not say that. I said Google Maps has been very accurate for me with traffic reporting on interstates. I'm going to give Apple Maps another try when iOS 13 releases.

 

[gwhizkids]

Wow! What’s in the water in these forums these days? Lots of toxicity...

I will add -somewhat late to the game- that I don’t think most roads have sensors. Many major ones do, but the rest of the traffic flow data for the other roads is crowd-sourced location and acceleration data sent by the phone as it travels along (anonymized by Apple to remove start and end points, per their policy).

Re corrections: I suspect Apple will make POI-related updates quickly now but are making map layer (which is really owned by Tom Tom Go, I believe) changes more reluctantly, depending on its criticality and their ability to verify. I think, however, that the changes many of us have requested but not seen will show up when Apple rolls out its own base layer to the entire US later this year. Fingers crossed, at any rate.

 

[dk001]

Prior to WWDC '19, I could submit a report and a few days later, it'd be corrected.

As it currently is, I'm still waiting on some reports to be corrected from the first week of June.

The one business addition they did add (the Dairy Queen I mentioned earlier) was placed in the wrong city. I then modified that location with the correct location, and they simply added a new one in the right city, but wrong place, and kept the old location in the wrong city. I submitted a report correcting the location of the new marker, along with geo-tagged pictures last week, but it's still incorrect so far.


Given that you're in new Maps data country, they might correct it very fast compared to what I'm seeing right now, but I suspect they're very busy, so who knows.

I recommend attaching geo-tagged photos of the location to the report. If you can, show any details in those photos that shows off what you're saying needs to be corrected (address number, hours, business, etc.). Be as clear as possible as to what needs to be changed.

hadn't thought of geo-tagging ... I'll give that a shot.
Thx!

 

[nicho]

Wow! What’s in the water in these forums these days? Lots of toxicity...

I will add -somewhat late to the game- that I don’t think most roads have sensors. Many major ones do, but the rest of the traffic flow data for the other roads is crowd-sourced location and acceleration data sent by the phone as it travels along (anonymized by Apple to remove start and end points, per their policy).

Doesn’t help the toxicity I guess but I’m gonna come in even later to the game and point out how reaching it is to suggest Apple shows green for no traffic in China because of government oversight.

Then going on to insist apple has data on every road? how can China have more data than all the data?

One simple conclusion is that Apple does indeed have 100% coverage in China and does not in the rest of the world and has made an (unfortunate) design decision not to discriminate between “no data” and “data says no cars” so as not to highlight areas with issues.

Given that setting my vpn to outside of China removes the green from Hong Kong traffic maps though... perhaps it’s an IP issue and something google has protection on that doesn’t apply in China?

 

[MozMan68]

Doesn’t help the toxicity I guess but I’m gonna come in even later to the game and point out how reaching it is to suggest Apple shows green for no traffic in China because of government oversight.

Then going on to insist apple has data on every road? how can China have more data than all the data?

One simple conclusion is that Apple does indeed have 100% coverage in China and does not in the rest of the world and has made an (unfortunate) design decision not to discriminate between “no data” and “data says no cars” so as not to highlight areas with issues.

Given that setting my vpn to outside of China removes the green from Hong Kong traffic maps though... perhaps it’s an IP issue and something google has protection on that doesn’t apply in China?

I don’t understand half of what you said...but never the less...this is China. We know for a fact that nothing happens there without the government saying so. There is ZERO reason Apple would break from its design decision from the rest of the entire planet and only offer this one UI change for China and its controlled territories unless the government of China said it must be that way.

The Chinese government controls all traffic information and Apple is forced to show it that way and gets NONE of its data from the users phone or SIM cards...Chinese government sees all of that info and “allows” Apple to show it on their maps which is why the info is probably more accurate.

This is a country that is tracking its citizens anyway it can...why is this so hard to understand?

 

[achappy]

That's a huge bummer. I often would like to share an ETA with more than one person.

We can. I did it today. I shared it with my son and wife on my way home. I’m on iOS 13 PB1.

 

[MisterSavage]

We can. I did it today. I shared it with my son and wife on my way home. I’m on iOS 13 PB1.

That's great to hear! Looking forward to using it.

 

[eyeseeyou]

That's a huge bummer. I often would like to share an ETA with more than one person.

Just have to do it manually one after another

 

[nicho]

which is why the info is probably more accurate.

But you said elsewhere EVERY road (outside of china) is monitored. how can the information be *more* accurate than total? that's my point - it is more accurate in China because not every road outside of china is monitored as @Rhonindk contended.

FYI "Routing and Traffic" is still present as a system service on chinese phones, and actively makes location tracking requests. Apple does get that information.

 

[MozMan68]

But you said elsewhere EVERY road (outside of china) is monitored. how can the information be *more* accurate than total? that's my point - it is more accurate in China because not every road outside of china is monitored as @Rhonindk contended.

FYI "Routing and Traffic" is still present as a system service on chinese phones, and actively makes location tracking requests. Apple does get that information.

Wrong...China gets that information.

They control every SIM card used in the country. (Unless you illegally install your own while there). Apple has no access to that information which is why the mapping data is different there. Between that and the surveillance info on major roads, yes, traffic info, transit info, etc is probably more accurate in China then anywhere else in the world.

But we were talking about the US, not China. My points about traffic date was about the US, not China. The map examples given above regarding Google versus Apple were in the US (SoCal), not China.

I stated every iPhone (unless feature is turned off) is monitored, not road.

 

[nicho]

Wrong...China gets that information.

They control every SIM card used in the country. (Unless you illegally install your own while there). Apple has no access to that information which is why the mapping data is different there. Between that and the surveillance info on major roads, yes, traffic info, transit info, etc is probably more accurate in China then anywhere else in the world.

But we were talking about the US, not China. My points about traffic date was about the US, not China. The map examples given above regarding Google versus Apple were in the US (SoCal), not China.

I stated every iPhone (unless feature is turned off) is monitored, not road.

Since they can get the information from SIM cards anyway, why would the chinese government need the iphone itself to send location data? Why would apple report that the location data is being sent - the Chinese government definitely would not approve of that (when wechat messages are censored they just simply vanish. there's no hint to the sender that they didn't get received and no hint to the receiver that they were sent. poof gone.) also, why would there be an on/off toggle?

I'm guessing you've never been to China - installing a foreign sim card is not illegal. I regret removing the words "beyond stupid" from my earlier reply you didn't understand half of.

Also, you did say every road is monitored. Right here -

EVERY road is monitored with Apple

you literally said that. you're conflating points when you want to and claiming they're different when they don't back your limited understanding of the issues. Apple has proven they have the ability to show "no traffic" as green, since the maps app does it in China/HK/Macao if you're in China. Using nothing more than a VPN from another country it can be disabled - the map app does not need to be closed or re-downloaded. thus every iphone around the world would be able to show green for no traffic if they have the data.

the problem is, not everywhere outside of china has the data. I'll continue your backtrack and make it explicit - there can't be any data from iPhones alone on a road with a) nobody around or b) android fanboys. that's why there are holes in the system that apple wants to hide by having no/orange/red instead of no/green/orange/red.

 

[MozMan68]

Since they can get the information from SIM cards anyway, why would the chinese government need the iphone itself to send location data? Why would apple report that the location data is being sent - the Chinese government definitely would not approve of that (when wechat messages are censored they just simply vanish. there's no hint to the sender that they didn't get received and no hint to the receiver that they were sent. poof gone.) also, why would there be an on/off toggle?

I'm guessing you've never been to China - installing a foreign sim card is not illegal. I regret removing the words "beyond stupid" from my earlier reply you didn't understand half of.

Also, you did say every road is monitored. Right here -



you literally said that. you're conflating points when you want to and claiming they're different when they don't back your limited understanding of the issues. Apple has proven they have the ability to show "no traffic" as green, since the maps app does it in China/HK/Macao if you're in China. Using nothing more than a VPN from another country it can be disabled - the map app does not need to be closed or re-downloaded. thus every iphone around the world would be able to show green for no traffic if they have the data.

the problem is, not everywhere outside of china has the data. I'll continue your backtrack and make it explicit - there can't be any data from iPhones alone on a road with a) nobody around or b) android fanboys. that's why there are holes in the system that apple wants to hide by having no/orange/red instead of no/green/orange/red.

I like how you only grabbed the part of my quote that supported your argument and not the rest where it was quite obvious I was referring to the phone, not the actual road. Here it is for those following along.

“EVERY road is monitored with Apple. It uses outside traffic data, but more importantly, it uses every single iPhone in use to monitor traffic data (unless you turn that option off...which most people do not know how to do).”

Yes, I said that, but I think the context was quite clear.

I’ve been to China many times...sorry to disappoint you...

No one said they “can’t” show green for no traffic...they only show green in China controlled countries because China controls that information. I’m not sure why that is so difficult for you to understand. Yes, Apple has created the underlying map data and UI, but because traffic patterns, train info etc is live data, China controls that on top of Apples underlaying data.

You can argue all day long whether or not Google’s green roads or Apple’s non green roads are truly showing no traffic or simply showing the fact that there is no data or phones there to show of there is anything going on at all.

The fact is, in the US at least, there are more iPhones collecting more traffic data then any other phone by a long shot.

https://deviceatlas.com/blog/most-popular-smartphones

I stated it above, it can certainly vary from area to area, but showing green, not showing green, not showing any colors at all is a choice made by Apple. I prefer it, you may not. But the data that backs it up, the eta information given, Apple has been proven time and again to be as good or in most cases better than Google or Waze.

People like seeing every single stretch of road showing some color...I totally get it...I do...but that doesn’t mean there is realistic data to back that up in all cases.

 

[nicho]

“EVERY road is monitored with Apple. It uses outside traffic data, but more importantly, it uses every single iPhone in use to monitor traffic data (unless you turn that option off...which most people do not know how to do).”

Yes, I said that, but I think the context was quite clear.

Bold added by myself to show why it was not, in fact, clear in context.

they only show green in China controlled countries because China controls that information. I’m not sure why that is so difficult for you to understand.

Because it's beyond retarded to think the Chinese government has decided that they must show traffic-free roads in green. Apple is clearly capable of processing lack of traffic data/'lack of traffic' data and showing it without colours, therefore there's something else at play. It's a choice by apple because they have better quality data.

 

[MozMan68]

Sigh...you’re grasping...again, I NEVER said they ONLY get data from the phones. Right in the same quote...”MORE IMPORTANTLY” they get data from almost every phone.

Of course they get traffic data from other sources.

And if you really think Apple only shows green roads in China because of the better data and not everywhere else because they don’t have good data, I’m not sure what else to tell you.

 

[nicho]

Sigh...you’re grasping...again, I NEVER said they ONLY get data from the phones. Right in the same quote...”MORE IMPORTANTLY” they get data from almost every phone.

I never said you did say that. I was demonstrating that your claim that every road is monitored is baseless, hence why another user questioned it earlier and you went with the "it's written everywhere" line instead of actually showing said proof.

If you think Apple has zero control of the traffic layer in apple maps in China, tell me why it's not 1:1 with, say, Baidu maps?