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Comment by kentf | Hacker News Reader

I remember when I rolled my eyes at Apple making a Maps product. I thought it was a fruitless, dumb idea. I prefer Apple Maps to Google Maps now... don't underestimate Apple's ability to plant a flag and move it inch by inch each year.

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Any specific reason why?

In my personal experience Google Maps has better navigation data, better place information and overall much better maps. The user contributed content makes the platform such a pleasure to use even if you are in remote parts of the world.

> better place information

Probably 75% of my Google Maps usage is to check business hours or grab a phone number; they've really got that down. Apple is catching up, though!

Yeah, I really liked when Pixel integrated the phone number bit into dialer itself. I can start typing a business name and it just pulls in from Google maps.

The iPhone I have now is a work phone, so don't use maps a lot, should see if it has improved.

I mostly use siri to call a business and it works every time for me.

Totally. In apple's own back yard, SF, business hours are too often totally out of whack, that you have to confirm in Google Maps each time.

And I am biased towards Apple Maps for privacy and usability reasons

I'm pretty sure Apple Maps is using Yelp's data for business hours -- those seemed to be mostly reliable until the pandemic. Now, not so much. I don't know if Google is doing better on that point.

I hate Google maps when it shuts itself off with a 'journey complete' status while I'm still looking for the corner or the building that I was supposed to arrive at.

On my iPhone I think Apple Maps has a vastly better navigation UI. Part of that is its first-party ability to turn the phone screen on when issuing instructions for upcoming maneuvers, which I much prefer to having the screen on constantly for a multi-hour trip (not to mention working well with Siri). Part of it is the overall aesthetic of the map features. I really like how it highlights traffic lights along your route to let you easily count how many lights are remaining until you need to turn.

That said, even here in the Bay Area I tend to do a sanity check of the route on Google Maps first if I’m taking an unfamiliar route. Just a few months ago a section of I-80 was closed just south of SF and Apple Maps had no clue! I believe it was a fairly last-minute schedule change for some planned construction due to vastly reduced traffic during the lockdowns.

> which I much prefer to having the screen on constantly for a multi-hour trip

I’ve found myself swinging in the other direction. I tend to glance at Waze for my speed instead of my own speedometer, but I’ve been driving a mixed bag of cars lately.

I’ve used Google Maps since it first came out on the nexus one. I recently made the switch to Apple Maps. And it’s like stepping into a new world.

There’s the maps layout and where I want to go and my route. That’s it. Google Maps has ads. Switching between Apple Maps and Google Maps really shows how the Google product has friction and information overload. We are talking about a Maps app. Less is better unless I ask for it. Apple has nailed the color scheme, layout, and information density. If I need more information that Apple Maps doesn’t provide, I double check google maps. On a long trip, I will check routes from both apps. Apple Maps and google maps show the same route and same time and same traffic congestions for me. I rely more and more on Apple Maps now.

For me having those stop signs and signals show up in navigation is big plus for Apple maps. I have a pixel phone but if I'm driving with my spouse I always use her apple maps

One great thing with the Apple Maps UI is that when using CarPlay it gives you a 3D view of the street. So you're really seeing buildings on the left and right, which has helped me not overshoot some destinations because I can 'see' the building in the map, and then irl.

The main time I find myself using Apple Maps is when visiting China. Google Maps is blocked so the place data isn't as great, and the local apps are in Chinese, which I'm illiterate in.

I similarly find Apple Pay great for traveling, and easier to use than a credit card.

Same. I have no idea how I would navigate in China without an iPhone. All the other English language map applications are straight up unusable.

Have you tried it lately? It gets better with each iteration, and the street photos are way better where they exist. The satellite and aerial photos are also better in most places that I travel too.

Also, the Google Maps app has gotten much more cluttered and complex than in past versions. They are still the gold standard map, but they regress over time.

Yup, Google Maps has better data.

But, on my no-longer-bleeding-edge iPhone, the turn-by-turn directions suck. It's constantly telling me to turn onto a street I just passed, or rerouting to find a way to get me back to the street that I'm already on. The worst part is that I can't trust it even when it's right. If it says "in 300 feet turn left," I have to desperately look at the street names because it's quite possible that I actually have to turn in 30 feet.

It was such a relief when I realized that it's not my GPS hardware, Apple Maps gives directions perfectly. And the map data is way better than it used to be. Not as good as Google Maps, but good enough.

Not OP, but the Apple Maps + iPhone + Apple Watch combo is now my favorite way to drive with turn-by-turn directions. That alone won me over.

The little nudge on the watch is a nice addition

I also find that Apple Maps respects local mapping conventions. For example in New Zealand Google treats all state highways as equivalent and uses the same weight and colour line for all of them, but Apple Maps follows the NZ convention and assigns appropriate weights to the minor roads.

For those not familiar "state highway" simply means the central government agency pays for upkeep, rather than indicating any particular road quality or status.

Much much better voice directions; with Google, you have to check your screen often; with Apple, you just follow the voice

Google maps likes to wait until you 5m away from a turn before telling you you must cross 4 lanes to turn right

Not the parent commenter, but while I still use Google Maps over Apple Maps, I constantly have issues with the former.

I've put in business addresses or searched the business themselves, and then had it route me to a residential block behind the business on a completely different street, sometimes multiple blocks away from it. This is even after confirming the exact address is being shown and everything.

I only really use Google Maps because it's what I've been using, and I kind of like that its UI is a bit simpler with less animations and things than Apple Maps.

Not OP, but I'm in the same boat. Agreed Google Maps' data is better. Their routing is sometimes better. But I still prefer Apple Maps in most cases. For me, it comes down to a few UX things:

* iPhone + Apple Watch combo is amazing to use w/ Apple Maps. Audible & haptic alerts on your wrist change how one interacts with the turn-by-turn directions, and it's an improvement.

* The fact that iPhone nav is available on the lock screen is a huge help. Doesn't require full unlock to get to the map.

* Apple Maps just seems to handle the accelerometer in the iPhone better. I found that Google Maps never knows what direction I'm facing/walking, and it jumps all over the place all the time. Apple Maps is just smoother and better to use.

The only thing that's missing in Apple Maps is bicycle directions, but apparently that's coming in iOS 14, which is great.

Judging from the responses here, some of the reasons seem to be because Apple Maps is much more vertically integrated with iOS, and that doesn't seem like a good thing to me. Sure, you may get a better experience, but that's more likely because Apple is keeping Google Maps from getting as good than because it's a better solution, period. I have no love for Google but that's not a good model, and I feel like this kind of thing is making Spotify's case for Apple being a monopoly much stronger.

You don't need particularly tight integration with the operating system to make a good maps app; you'd want access to CarPlay, which Google Maps has, and you'd probably want a good sharing extension, which I don't think Google Maps has but could if Google cared about making better iOS apps than they seem to. Google is rather notorious for being very, very slow to adopt new iOS features in their apps, and it's definitely not because Apple is making it difficult for them to do so.

The history here is also at least worth a passing mention -- the iOS Maps app originally used Google mapping services. The reason Apple built their own back end is because Google refused to give them access to vector-based maps and turn-by-turn navigation unless Apple shared more user data with Google than they were willing to provide.

>but that's more likely because Apple is keeping Google Maps from getting as good than because it's a better solution,

I would say Waze is a solid counter-argument.

Apple Maps has the unique and critical advantage of being operable while the phone is locked or sleeping.

I live in a bilingual country, GMaps decides location and street names at random, there is no way to pick which language to use.

I speak one of the languages, not the other. Guess which language Google decides is the correct one?

In my experience, Apple Maps has been more up to date with recent changes to roads here in Norway. There was a new tunnel here recently, and it was updated in Apple Maps when it opened, while with Google Maps it took a while.

I'm guessing that it depends a lot on the area. Google Maps is still probably better in most places, but Apple Maps is catching up and may be better in some populated places. It's impressive considering the head-start Google has.

Apple should add an option of OpenStreetMaps overlay or something. OSM has been better than Google Maps in mapping paths in the forest and such here.

My main reasons for using Apple Maps are:

1 - It actually runs smoothly on my iPhone 11. Google Maps stutters and yanks. Yes, Google cannot build a performing maps app for the fastest phone in the world.

2 - It is a map. Not a yellow pages of coffee places, not an Instagram with amateur photos of locations.

I don't have unlimited data, and I have found Apple maps is much lighter on data use than Google. I have also found that even if I don't have a solid connection Apple maps seems to still be capable of giving me directions quickly, whereas on the other hand with Google I may never get directions.

Its really small, but for me its traffic lights. It's SOOOO much easier to be navigating and say, turn in two lights, instead of "turn in the next three streets". Especially on busy roads when you need to be in a certain lane to make that left or right hand turn.

Google maps added this to their desktop app [1] and maybe their iOS app, but apple has had this for years.

Also Apple maps offers saved places in an offline, non-synced way. Google requires access to all my location data to save places (like web bookmarks) and that's just too privacy invasive for me.

[1]: https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2020/08/google-maps-starts-w...

Even a few years ago I preferred the way a few-block area was represented on Apple Maps vs Google Maps. Apple Maps seemed to be much better at showing relevant landmarks and business names, where Google Maps would randomly select some businesses that happened to have an address there, but often no signage, etc.

Both applications would select the same number of businesses to show (obviously not showing ALL names due to density restrictions on the screen and clutter), but the Google ones were just so painfully arbitrary, and Apple's building skeletons seemed a lot more relevant/recognizable.

My house has not been in Apple Map's index for approaching three years now. It's caused _all kinds_ of problems. Apple seems to drop the ball on the details that are needed to really get a product to be quality.

EDIT: I looked back in my emails and Twitter DMs and it's been 25 months at this point. So "approaching three years" is not accurate.

Can you add it?

Nope. You can report it's missing if you own an Apple device. I have done that (many times). I have also talked with Apple support on Twitter many times, and they even assigned a dedicated support person who called me several times. I facetimed with him and showed him how my complex, plus several of the nearby complexes, are not in Apple Maps but are in Google Maps. That was ... over a year ago. They still haven't fixed it. I finally gave up.

Whenever someone needs to come to my house I need to ask them to use Google Maps. The challenge from that comes from less techy people who don't know the difference. Many people just know their phone has a "maps app". I will admit, experiencing that more closely (how less technical people interact with their phones that is) was interesting fwiw.

Have you tried reporting it? My parents recently moved into a new house built one year prior and I reported it a few days after they moved in. It took about 9 months, but they finally added the road in and populated ALL the addresses on the street, not just the one I reported. Google maps still does not have the roads or street numbers listed. Just wanted to throw that out there.

Edit: Also want to add that it has been two years since my parents moved in. Went in to Waze Map Editor and added the road myself, so their turnaround time was instant. Apple Maps took 9 months, like I said, but Google Maps still has no info on the street despite having all the houses in clear satellite view.

I replied with my interactions with Apple here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24338389

It did take Google a few months to add my complex. I'm not sure what an appropriate turn around time would be on something like this. But I do think it's less than "years".

Just read your reply. That's very frustrating to read -- hopefully the Apple employees come to their senses and add the building soon. It's also weird that they called you through FaceTime and still did nothing. Either way, sorry to hear about all the frustration you've been through.

What's the point of reporting anything to the Apple Maps team? I've reported stuff for a few years, and it hasn't changed nor have they had the basic courtesy to acknowledge the report.

It's not like it's some street address thing, they are missing a whole town.

I've gotten changes made by reporting stuff to the Apple Maps team. I remember years ago, my company's business location didn't show up correctly. I reported it, and within a week it showed up incorrectly in an entirely different way!

I’ve reported issues with POIs in the UK via the in-app features (“Edit Location” and “Report an issue”) and they were fixed within a few days.

In general, Google still has better POI data than Apple Maps in the UK, but the gap has closed a lot in recent years.

IIRC Apple Maps sources data from OpenStreetMaps, so contributing there should make the updates end up in Apple Maps, no?

Only in some places I believe!

try adding it in openstreetmap if it's not there already.

Google Maps is making it easier on them by seemingly becoming worse and worse, in my opinion. The newest act of telling you it's changing your route if you don't click something is so idiotic it borders on malice. So going 70mph down the expressway, I need to take my eyes off the road to read the message and click a button asking it not to take action.

Further, it repeatedly picks a hard route. There's one park I go to that's easier to drive to using one few mile stretch of highway. Google insists it's faster to take these back, poorly lit, windy 2 lane roads. Maybe it is. But it turns a safe easy 3 turn trip into a nerve-wracking 10 turn trip. And it will, as noted above, keep trying to reroute me if I just ignore it and go the easy way.

Noticed that recently too - it insisted on taking stupid backroads and what not, instead of straight highway and no traffic. It seems to be getting dumber, or something.

Another thing google maps always does to me is telling me what the next turn is when its too late and I can't make it anymore. Using google maps with audio only is impossible.

I tried AppleMaps for the first time like 4-5 years ago. Feature-wise it wasn't where it is now but what annoyed me the most is that the GPS on map lagged FAR (1-2 seconds) behind my real position. More than once I missed a turn because of that, especially when you are driving in an urban area with a lot of smaller streets.

Fast-forward to 2020 - in the meantime I used Google Maps with no issues at all. A friend of mine suggested that I should try the latest version and maybe I would change my mind. So I used it for a day - same urban area - and it's still lagging behind - mind you: at this time I had a new iPhone and a new carrier. For me this makes the App unusable. I don't want to plan ahead 500 - 1000m (Germany) while using navigation.

I'm really curious, does someone have the same problem?

Absolutely this. Not sure if it's 1-2 seconds but the delay is enough to make it unusable. I've missed turns and exits because of it. Google Maps seems to have some predictive ability that allows it to appear to be "real-time".

I used to say that but lately apple maps seems to be wrong a lot - back to how it was when it first started, probably a temporary regression (I hope).

Yesterday for example it told me to do a U turn in a (sort of) one way street in the middle of the city, and not the first time its been dumb in the last few weeks.

I think Apple Maps has finally reached "competent maps app" status, but still has miles to go to catch up to Google Maps.

Apple Maps is way better than Google for the wandering pedestrian. Google hides so many restaurants and bars that don’t pay them for prominent display. Apple Maps shows every place near my location. Obviously hasn’t mattered recently, but I always go to Apple naps for nearby browsing.

Google Maps's heuristics for displaying POIs are nothing short of bizarre. I've seen it decide that weed dispensaries are the most important thing to display in an entire city. It's also really aggressive about displaying home businesses on the map, even if they aren't open to the public.

Does anyone know for sure if there is a way to pay to get your business to show up? It seems so unnatural it must be an advert. While zoomed out on my city it just shows icons for hospitals and pizza hut.

> Google hides so many restaurants and bars that don’t pay them for prominent display

Is there public info on the pricing for sponsored POIs, e.g. is it auction-based, for a period of time? Does the listing get dropped from the map after the business stops paying? How does Google get around the FTC requirement to label sponsored content?

I too prefer Apple Maps, but just for driving. Google Maps has way better coverage of public transportation in cities.

For instance Apple Maps doesn't have U-Bahn support in Munich, which makes it unusable for most people.

Only if the Map's Data works for you. From a Worldwide perspective, Google Map's Data is still thousand times better than Apple Map.

Correct

Meanwhile Bing maps manages to be the most frustrating experience of any current online maps.

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