Apple Maps Gradually Winning over Google Maps Users, Report Suggests | Hacker News Reader

Apple Maps Gradually Winning over Google Maps Users, Report Suggests

macrumors.com

98 pointsmgh2130 comments

In my experience, the following things are notably better in Apple Maps vs. Google Maps:

* No dangerous shortcuts where I risk to damage my car

* Routes make much more sense in general and are nearer to what someone who knows their way around locally would suggest

* Voice instructions are clearer, easier to understand and timed better

* Walking directions are easier to understand

* The UI is less annoying. In Google Maps, I find it quite easy to miss the compass button when walking, which causes the map view to freak out and makes me lose context.

What's better in Google Maps:

* Better metadata about shops, locations, crowdedness etc.

What both cannot do right:

* Re-route when an Autobahn is closed completely (I am located in Germany). It's a hot mess for some reason, while that's working relatively fine when there are accidents/congestions.

Finally, as an iPhone user, my location data is already at Apple. Why give it to someone else?

> * No dangerous shortcuts where I risk to damage my car

Can you elaborate on this? This seems like a personal anecdote and not a software feature. How does one even define that? You're saying that there are special roads that Apple knows not to travel bug Google does? That seems odd, since the real world doesn't really mark its roads like that.

I know in Waze at least there is an option to enable tricky junctions, I don't think Google Maps has any such concept.

Google will assume all tertiary roads are equally passable. Apple’s algorithm appears to deprioritize such roads unless there’s no other possible way.

> This seems like a personal anecdote and not a software feature.

It might be.

> How does one even define that?

One example would be a road that is very narrow, but not one-way. Basically so narrow that only one car can drive there. Where I live, there are many such roads on the country side. They tend to be used as shortcuts so that one doesn't need to take the main roads (shorter total distance). But they are dangerous in the sense that you have to pay much more attention when driving there. Google just tends to prefer those for some reason.

> You're saying that there are special roads that Apple knows not to travel bug Google does?

No. I am saying that the directions suggested by Apple Maps tend to avoid those roads, while Google Maps oftentimes doesn't even display an alternative.

> That seems odd, since the real world doesn't really mark its roads like that.

Ever driven on a gravel road slowly to not get stones hitting your car? I am sure there is a way to index the road quality and that this is even easy based on satellite and air photo data.

I believe what you noticed is true. That Google Maps does have a tendency to prefer slightly more difficult roads as "shortcuts".

For example, Waze, which is another decent GPS app that Google owns and sources data from, even has an option for this!

It is called something like "avoid difficult roads/intersections".

The user might mean that Google decides to encourage side roads or dirt paths where Apple sticks to main thoroughfares. This could be related to the input it gained from acquiring Waze, which often took people down residential roads to avoid main road bottlenecks. https://www.streetlightdata.com/waze-traffic-effect-4-steps-...

Google maps is very eager to re-route around traffic which ends up taking you down back roads (atleast in the US). Which are narrow, not controlled-access, poorly lit, and maybe windy and poorly maintained depending on where you are. And it does all this to save a couple of minutes at best. Everyone is using Google maps and getting the same rerouting suggestion so the backroads get filled and slow down eliminating any benefit.

Apple Maps is much more likely to use the “typical” option which is usually a controlled access freeway which are MUCH safer (in my opinion and I believe the traffic accident rates support it).

Apple will take you on the straightforward route that you’d have plotted on a map 30 years ago. The traffic optimization isn’t as aggressive as Google Maps or Waze.

Google will also over-optimize for routes with imperfect information. Here’s an example: Yesterday I was leaving Manhattan for points upstate around 6:30 PM (bad idea) and was routed by Google to the Lincoln tunnel. Google’s route was trash — it magically shaved 20 minutes off the trip by optimizing me onto a side street that would let me cut the line of mayhem to get to the tunnel. The problem is, making a left turn on 10th avenue to get to that road would easily take 20 minutes. Google’s metrics aren’t able to account for that.

Apple’s directions were optimal - West Side Drive to George Washington Bridge. I figured out that I was “getting googled” quickly l, and was able to get out of the gridlock and ultimately arrive at my destination ahead of schedule.

Two examples with Google Maps:

1. In the US, driving in a rural area, Google took me down a five-mile stretch of gravel road between two farms. It's questionable whether this was actually a public road, as I got an odd look from a farmer on his tractor. Admittedly, this saved about 30 minutes.

2. In the UK, Google Maps routinely tries to lead me down narrow country lanes to save 1-2 minutes. In many cases, it will take me off an A road (read: main route) onto a single-lane country lane flanked by hedges. It's bad enough that when I'm using Google Maps, I specifically look at the map at each turn it suggests to see if it has an alternate route highlighted that keeps me on the main road, and I choose that route instead.

I don't experience these things as much with Apple Maps, which seems tuned to keep me on main routes.

> Finally, as an iPhone user, my location data is already at Apple. Why give it to someone else?

I see their plan is working! By the way, do you install any 3rd party apps that require location services?

I try not to, but there are some apps whose main purpose depends on location data. In those cases, I check who's behind those apps and try to restrict the times at which they are able to attain location data as best as possible.

> I see their plan is working!

I sense some cynicism here and I partially agree. The thing is: I am currently using an iPhone for lack of an alternative/platform lock-in and so my personal risk/benefit is skewed towards limiting the data sinks to preferably one, which would be Apple. That's just the way it is. Would I like the world to be different? Oh boy, yes...

The big one for me is Citi Bike, and Lyft which require them to work. But it's only while using the app. Otherwise I actually have location services turned off for almost everything and try to just use a zipcode instead.

With Maps I enjoy not using location services because I end up knowing wherever I am better. It's a bit of a pain sometimes to try to figure out where in a city you are based on some street signs but it's really neat when you can talk about a whole neighborhood before the friends you're visiting can!

> By the way, do you install any 3rd party apps that require location services?

You already read that they are cognizant of installing 3rd party apps that handle their location data... You're coming off as condescending and for what, exactly? Someone's preferred map app?

> You're coming off as condescending and for what, exactly? Someone's preferred map app?

I am the author of the original comment. I might come across as an Apple fanboy to some. While I get your point and I think you're right, please let's stop fighting. As long as we fight against each other, they win.

> Finally, as an iPhone user, my location data is already at Apple.

Fun fact about that:

--snip from https://www.idownloadblog.com/2019/03/13/apple-maps-navigati... --

When you use Apple Maps, your route from A to B is fragmented into scrambled sections on Apple servers because nobody else should know your entire route. Not even us. In fact, we don’t even know who requests a route.

// But doesn’t Maps already know who requested a route from their IP address?

Apple Maps uses a random identifier, which means any route requests made on your iPhone are assigned a random identification value rather than labelling you as the sender. So both you and your routes stay anonymous.

I do enjoy Apple's privacy protections, it's a huge selling point for me and definitely has kept me in the ecosystem. It's why I originally dropped Google products in the first place.

> * Re-route when an Autobahn is closed completely (I am located in Germany). It's a hot mess for some reason, while that's working relatively fine when there are accidents/congestions.

Apple Maps are pretty good about that in the US I think, just today the app was making me avoid a construction closure which hasn't been there last week. However there is still the human error of me thinking that the app couldn't possibly know that so fast so I still drove towards the closure and had to turn around. I think Google Maps tell you if part of the route is closed, not in the Apple Maps though.

I was assuming this was a Europe thing. It seems as if they don’t have correct and complete data of the closed entries and exits. The closure itself was on the map, but the algorithm still failed to plan an appropriate detour. I have had multiple times where I was routed to closed entries over and over to the point where I’d have to park the car and ask a local for directions.

Always tried both apps in those cases and they both didn’t seem to get it.

Two more things that annoy me about Google Maps

- Related to the routes make more sense, Google seems to prefer side streets to save one minute but then you get dumped back on the main road not at the light and need to cross traffic and might lose your minute back just waiting for a chance to cross. I'd much prefer a main route with a light that guarantees a safe turn.

- Google Maps advertisements on the map. No I don't want to see a Whole Foods with a sale two miles away over other landmarks.

In which country do you see ads in Google Maps? My Swiss phone (a Samsung) doesn't show anything of sorts.

The United States definitely has ads/promotions on the map.

United States, they highlight retailers or restaurants on the map that are paying for ads alongside other large landmarks.

Yep. This is increasingly pushing me away from Google Maps. Once offline mode comes to Apple, I'll move over completely ...just wish i could bring all my saved locations over.

I'm using the iOS 17 beta so not sure if it is only on 17 or works on 16 also, but you can download parts of the map on the Apple Maps app now

Not only that, but if one of your turns is adjacent to, say, a corner with a McDonald's that's on the map, the direction narration will actually say something like "In 1000 feet, turn right, past the McDonald's on the right." It's so blatant and makes me laugh.

I never stop, FWIW.

There are ads on Google Maps in Switzerland. Example:

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Pfister+Z%C3%BCrich+Letzip...

Scroll around Zürich and you should see several.

My biggest gripe about GMaps is a minor one but when it happens it's crucial:

Sometimes I'll see a road that looks like it may be a good shortcut or something, but it doesn't show the name. So I zoom in, and in, even to the point that the road itself is taking up my entire phone screen. Still no name! Very tedious and aggravating when it's on the fly.

Yes this is infuriating. The old google maps was excellent at adding street labels everywhere using just the font size and layout. It was more on par with his traditional paper maps used to be designed. Maximize the information for the user. Nowadays online maps are no longer thought to be used as traditional maps in the sense of using them as a tool to explore / navigate. Now they’re 100% focused on giving you directions. Make it easy to understand the directions, suppress other useless detail because all you need to focus on is the next turn.

This change happened around 2018. Super infuriating that Google made the map less useful for manual navigation.

> Google Maps advertisements on the map.

Ad company puts ad on product. News at 11. =)

Living in an area where new houses are built and new roads created, Apple is much more up to date than Google. Neither are perfect.

* Cycling directions, where available, are vastly superior to Google Maps's.

My cycle computer uses Google Maps. I frequently see myself planning a route on Apple Maps, then replicating it on Ride With GPS, then importing it into the device. It's a pain but has allowed me to avoid some pretty bad routes.

> My cycle computer uses Google Maps. […] [Replicating Apple Maps directions is] a pain but has allowed me to avoid some pretty bad routes.

(Sorry for aggressive quote edit.)

Google Maps cycling directions include routes that go against the direction of traffic, even though cycling against traffic is illegal as is riding on sidewalks (where I cycle).

Apple Maps cycling directions take me to the nearest intersection of a destination and instruct me to dismount if the remaining leg would require wrong-way cycling.

Yeah Google also sends me through car tunnels to cross the river. These tend to be quite hazardous, full of exhaust smoke and without any chance to stop for whatever reason (tyre puncture, coughing my lungs out, whatever...).

- For Apple, street view has a higher view point, which makes it easier to look at the scene.

Another set of things annoying about Google Maps: - Google shows pins for locations on the map. Often if I try to click one, it zooms in on a new pin on a random lat/lon next to it. This mostly happens when zoomed out with a wide view of the city. Obviously I was going for that random location, not the ad you were trying to show me. - It routinely shows me illegal routes, some of which I don't notice until I'm well on my way to the route. I know some of this is a data problem, but I don't think the cops will care that Google told me to turn at a "no turns during rush hour" place.

That is a good point that I missed in my list. In fact, I think in a recent update, they made the pins dots in an apparent attempt to declutter the map view. Now what you described got even worse, because the points have an even smaller hit box than the pins.

One thing to add.

Google Maps supports Satellite mode on Apple Carplay.

Apple Maps does not.

Its a personal preference thing, but thats 99% where we use maps apps in my house. My wife prefers Sat view. I dont care.

There is an option to show the route without highways

Anecdotal but recently my partner and I were driving in an unfamiliar place.

We tried google maps on the way there and Apple Maps on the way back.

I expected Apple Maps to be worse but here’s what stood out to me:

1. Apple does a better job at showing vertical height. So when tons of routes go over and under each other, the map is much clearer about it whereas Google maps requires you to look for the thin breakup line.

2. Apple directions are more human friendly. Things like “take a right at the next light” instead of “take a right at XYZ street”. Also telling you to skip an exit and take the next one. It’s minor but that’s how most drivers I know prefer to be given directions.

3. When we’re walking, it does a better job at showing where the crosswalks are.

4. It did a better job at telling you which lane to be in if you needed to make a right and then a left. Google maps seemed to only care about the immediate next step whereas Apple cared about some distance.

5. Vibrating your watch when an action is coming up is great. On the way there, my partner missed a couple turns on Google Maps because they were hyper focused on the road, whereas that little watch nudge helped on the way back with Apple Maps.

6. Last one is purely subjective, but aesthetically Apple Maps is much nicer to my eyes. Things are better delineated and information is presented a little bit clearer.

That said, whereas I think Apple Maps is better for navigating, Google maps is much better for up to date information about an area. I presume that has to be just down to more users correcting things , but things like “this store is shut today unexpectedly” is much better reflected.

Google Maps is much better at encouraging and rewarding user interaction. Google Maps has gamification and rewards for updating store and road information, while Apple Maps treats it a bit more like a bug report.

Yeah that’s true. Google built a community around Google Maps and Google Reviews.

> if you needed to make a right and then a left. Google maps seemed to only care about the immediate next step whereas Apple cared about some distance.

Something I really enjoy about Google Maps is being able to swipe to see the next move, which is not possible on Apple Maps. This is helpful in exactly the scenario you describe. On the same note, I can think of many times where Apple Maps did not tell me the next move like you describe and I had no way to check it myself like I can with google maps. This is one of my biggest gripes with Apple Maps. Similarly, this feature is not possible when using Google Maps with Apple CarPlay which is very annoying.

Swipe down from the top shows the next few steps for Apple Maps on iPhone. Not sure about CarPlay.

I was a little hesitant to switch to Apple Maps but after I did, I cannot go back to using Google Maps.

Everything from the UX to the clarity indicating street names is far superior on Apple Maps.

One thing I always hater about Google Maps is that it doesn’t show you street names when you need them. I was in NYC a while back and I wanted to see the street name and I had to do lot of scrolling to find it.

I also wish Apple has better metadata about businesses, sometimes it shows a restaurant as closed when it’s actually open or vice versa.

Overall I am glad i switched to Apple Maps

Google Maps does feature particularly terrible [carto]graphic design... never understood why they got away so long with such poor feature colour, contrast, and placenames appearance logic.

You can also contribute to Apple Maps. Be the change you want to see

You can't easily contribute to Apple Maps or add places. That's why Google Maps has much more content. Many people would love to contribute to Apple Maps, but aren't allowed.

On the other hand, these are the two wealthiest companies in all of human history. Why can't they hire people all over the world to improve their maps?

>You can't easily contribute to Apple Maps or add places

yes you can, you simply select an item on the map and report a problem. also they already hire third party agencies to add data to the map

Compare that with Google Maps, where anybody can easily add businesses or other places of interest that are missing from the map. How do you go about doing that in Apple Maps? Without an Apple device?

There was mention on HN of people using this feature to add spam.

Businesses should have in their best interest to add themselves to Apple Maps (which they can do). If you see something not showing just pop inside and tell the manager. That's what I did one time at a hairdresser's

Business owners spend their time and effort where it pays off. If they don't have spare time to navigate Apple's user-hostile backend for adding or updating their business, they won't. The network effect means customers will rely on Google Maps.

Apple has a web portal for adding businesses to a map. https://support.apple.com/guide/apple-business-connect/intro... Existing businesses can have inaccurate information reported on and corrected by users.

Business Connect is sadly a total joke. I can't correct the name of a business I manage and just get the error "Thoroughfare or fullThoroughfare must not be empty, Thoroughfare or fullThoroughfare must not be empty"

Google Maps is far better for businesses to manage and get their information out. That's why their maps are dominating.

Apple Maps pulls in OpenStreetMaps data in my area of the country, so submitting information on OSM means an eventual Apple Maps upgrade for me. I edited the 3D shape of some of the houses in my neighborhood and added missing streets on OSM and saw them imported into Apple Maps a few months later.

Here is a map to see where people affiliated with apple are contributing to openstreetmap: https://piebro.github.io/openstreetmap-statistics/#e19b it seems they use OSM data everywhere but in North America and most of Europe.

Apple Maps also credits TomTom as a data source, so could it be OSM > TomTom > Apple in terms of the data flow?

Accorinding to wikipedia they have many different sources (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_Maps#Features):

> The main provider of map data is TomTom, but data is also supplied by Automotive Navigation Data, Getchee, Hexagon AB, IGN, Increment P, Intermap Technologies, LeadDog, MDA Information Systems, OpenStreetMap, and Waze.

uhhh street view

Apple does have a "street view" of sorts in areas where they have driven vehicles around the area, but it's limited now to only some cities. https://support.apple.com/guide/iphone/look-around-places-ip... It is possible to use Google's data through Apple Maps via a third-party app. https://apps.apple.com/us/app/streets-street-view-browser/id...

the street name thing is super irritating when I run into it.

Agreed. Is it so hard to render the street names most relevant to your route? It seems to always render the most important names last as you zoom in, when they should be first.

I wonder if its a cultural thing. In my area of Not-California, roads will often have a local municipal name, but also be a county highway. For a while, navigation was unaware of this and would tell you "turn on highway 48" while driving downtown. As a driver, you go "wtf is highway 48". YIou have to zoom all the way in on the map to see that its Bank Street. Now it usually says "Bank Street", but will only display the 48 on the map. Very frustrating.

no, it will just not be labeled. So you need to scroll around along the street until you find a part with the label on it.

Not only street names, but business names too.

Sometimes I’ll zoom in to max zoom to a particular building where I know some business/restaurant is at (for example to check opening hours), and gmaps shows an empty rectangle.

The only way to get it to show what I was looking for is to search for it in the search box, and then it magically appears in the rectangle that was completely empty a moment before.

Google Maps is yet another decaying Google product, unfortunately.

However it has a moat that is hard to overtake: Business information. Apple Maps is a superior experience as long as you can find the business(shop, restaurant etc) but unfortunately it's still far from matching Google at this.

It's even annoying me on Bing. I've switched to Bing and I'm pretty happy so far but when I search for a shop or something, that's when Google still has the edge thanks to vast the business info on Google Maps which would be displayed in a Google Search result.

Hate that Google defaults to the 'eco' route that takes a few minutes longer.

Otherwise my initial experience with Apple maps was so bad that I havent tried it since. It basically would wait until the last possible moment to tell me to turn, not exactly possible going 45mph.

Are you sure your car isn't set to hybrid or EV in the maps settings? I think it defaults to eco if that's the case.

What I hate about Google routing is that it would change the pre-agreed one to save time. I'm not always watching the map screen so I would miss out the "dismiss" button and I will end up on a surprise route which is supposed to be quicker but ends up to be too involved because I have to drive through strange places that require active chauffeuring and there's a reason(potholes, kids playing on the streets, steep hills, narrow roads with parked cars that barely let you pass etc.) why it's not everyones default choice of route.

IMHO Apple Maps is much better on this, it even list the "less turns" option, so I can just chill on a straight line or follow the curves instead of trying to enter and exit intersections every few minutes.

Also, the road connection graphics are much clearer on Apple Maps.

For me, Apple Maps replaced Google Maps, and Google Maps then replaced Yelp/Foursquare/etc. Apple does a better job of getting me where I want to go and Google does a better job of letting me know what’s around when I get there.

I like Apple Maps over Google Maps for many reasons, but the primary is potentially also the silliest: while driving, the "you" icon is smaller and its location timing is different than Google, making turn-by-turn directions far easier to understand in an area I've never seen before. When I'm trying to see if it's the next street or the street afterward that I'm going to have to reach, the little bit of timing difference that Apple Maps has is incredibly important. Apple Maps lets me look at the map and then at the road and get a good indication of where I'm to turn, whereas my experience with Google Maps has me looking at the map and then realizing that I've already passed the road.

> Apple Maps lets me look at the map and then at the road and get a good indication of where I'm to turn, whereas my experience with Google Maps has me looking at the map and then realizing that I've already passed the road.

That's interesting. Last I tried Apple Maps a year or two ago, it was the reverse. The indicator in Apple maps tended to "lag" a bit, especially in roundabouts (I'm in Europe). With GMaps, it would always be quite clear where exactly I was with respect to exits.

Also, on a turn, the Apple Maps indicator would turn on the map, so again, in a sharp turn, or a roundabout, I wouldn't see much of the road ahead. GMaps would turn the map and keep me facing north, so I could see what to expect further ahead.

You and I may be having the same UI experience but coming to different conclusions on the benefits. I can't recall at the moment if Apple Maps has a lag or if it's actually presenting the location dot ahead of its real location, but the timing is beneficial to me for turn-by-turn directions. I regularly find that Google Maps' UI makes me think I have more time to turn to the street where I need to go than reality, meaning I regularly miss my turn and have to double back to get to my location, where Apple Maps feels more in tune with my driving methods.

The macrumors link is an article about an article which feels like a waste. Here's the WSJ article macrumors is "reporting" on...

People Have Begun to Love Apple’s Most Hated Product

https://archive.is/9FkNS

My gripe is that neither platform supports dynamic routing based on ferry times.

I live on Prince Edward Island which has a bridge and a ferry connection to the mainland. Halifax is the nearest city centre with an IKEA, a well-known shibboleth of sophistication. ;)

Getting there by ferry (3 h) is slightly faster than driving (3.5 - 4 h) but only if you get the ferry times right. Otherwise, you’ll spend as much time waiting for the next crossing as you will driving.

I would love for Apple to innovate and solve this once and for all!

I still can't help but always reach for Google Maps by default because it just seems most likely they'd have the most up to date traffic information from all the Android users they're constantly tracking. I don't think Apple really has access to that data?

I live in a smaller city in Canada so I just don't know how Apple would figure out when there's construction or roads blocked off to route me around those things. Google Maps seems to get it done cause of all the live user tracking they do.

I'm a professional driver (high school bus, so a lot of longer-distance sports trips and stuff), and I swear by Apple Maps for up-to-date traffic info. Google Maps has given me under construction exits, backed up freeways, and just plain inefficient routes too many times for me to rely on it anymore. Sometimes I'll bring it up just because the satellite imagery is newer and I want to see they layout of a parking lot or something, but otherwise it's all Apple Maps.

Are you in a big city?

Kinda? I'm in a rural area outside of Phoenix, but I travel around the entire state for trips

I'm in a rural area and find Apple Maps is generally always consistent with the real life conditions when it comes to traffic and road closures.

iOS devices report the flow of traffic, they just do it in an anonymized way. I'm also seeing more and more user-reported events (the Waze-like feature now built into Apple Maps). Reporting things like speed checks, accidents, etc.

I suppose they could be leveraging the Find My network for traffic updates. I've never thought of that. Maybe I'll have to give it a shot

Apple Maps is infinitely superior to Google Maps to get walking directions. It's very easy to understand where I'm looking at on the map.

Where are you based? My experience so far is that Apple Maps is not very good outside of the US

I'm in Europe. Apple Maps have served me very well in my country as well as in a few other European countries I've visited.

Apple Maps is fantastic in Canada, or at least the Toronto area. Even in cottage country hours from urbanity has excellent directions and 3d buildings and structures.

I'm currently visiting Poland and Estonia, and have been using Apple Maps to walk from place-to-place. It's been working well for me—I have yet to get lost using it, and it seems to be giving me good directions.

Everything about walking directions from Apple maps (directions on lock screen; Apple Watch integrations) is better, UX wise.

The problem is, despite admittedly massive improvements, I still have issues with it containing stale location data, incorrect POI classification information (e.g. convenience store without gas pumps marked as a 'gas station'), and suggesting paths that don't exist or simply aren't tenable (no, Apple, I am not going to talk a walking shortcut through the middle of an Italian military facility).

While I don't like the feeling of being exploited through unpaid/volunteer labor to improve the app, I do know that most or all of your issues can be resolved by reporting errors through the app. Business data can be changed by users pending a review by Apple, and routes can be reported with a thumbs down/up response upon resolution of the trip. The walk through a military facility is a little harder to report, though. :)

I always submit reports when something is wrong on Apple Maps, same as I do with Google Maps. I think the public service aspect of it outweighs the 'free labor' aspect.

Apple Maps is also the only app that shows the exact entrance and exit to take on public transport in the cities I’ve used it in (Vienna, London: esp. time-saving there with often exits numbered 1–5 without clear indication where they lead to), and the station layout with underground walkways overlayed on the map is also very accurate.

The only annoying UX gripe I have is that it doesn’t show the arrival time, you have to do your own mental math to add the route duration to the start time you’ve entered.

I had to finally give up on Google Maps in my car because after 15 minutes or so into a route, Google maps would start to lag reality by about 20 seconds. It got very difficult to actually use to drive a route. I thought it was poor GPS signal, my head unit’s slowness with Carplay, etc. Finally I tried Apple Maps out of desperation and it just worked.

As a bonus, it is better at giving useful driving directions. It will say things like “the right at the second stop sign”, which is a great signal to use to a driver.

I do occasionally use Google maps for finding businesses, but that’s it.

Location - NJ, USA. Car - Kia Telluride with CarPlay.

I haven't used Google for much of anything in my personal life for years now. I have an email on gmail that I check sometimes but it's mostly just spam at this point. Beyond that Maps and DuckDuckGo are fine. Plus iCloud I guess. I don't really have a lot of need to share documents or spread sheets.

Maps has definitely gotten better over the years. Their bike instructions aren't great though.

I really appreciate the voice directions given by Apple Maps when navigating. Instructions such as “go past this light, then at the next one turn right” are so much more helpful than Google’s “in 1000 ft, turn right”.

I use Apple maps because I'm tired of Google's bullshit, not because Apple Maps is a better product.

* Google just "has to have" _Web And Search History_ enabled to enable some features. Really? How did we possibly exist before this?

* I'm tired of typing in stuff into Google Maps and seeing ads across the entire fucking internet for bass fishing of I time bass (as in guitar) into Google Maps

* There is no reason I should have to "sign into" a mapping product or even have a fucking account. When I sign out, all the sudden somehow I'm signed out of google in my browser. What in the actual fuck? What are these cross-app attacks even a thing?

Apple maps leaves a lot to be desired but it's worth the hassle to get around Google. Its the same reason I own an iPhone... Android phones are superior in hardware, durability, speed, picture quality, interoperability, but you can break Google's creepy addiction to your gazing up your buttox for anything personal.

> Android phones are superior in hardware

At least regarding choice in hardware. I'm tapping this out from the last BlackBerry handset ever produced (albeit by a third party), and I can hang on to it indefinitely because I can replace the parts as they break. The hardware isn't gated to what the OEM allows.

For maps, OSM works well enough. And when I find a place I want to go that's not mapped, Google Maps in a mobile browser works just fine - no account or app needed.

Hell, at least one time (visiting in Germany) OSM had the correct opening hours for a shop that Google Maps had wrong. Google is not all-knowing, or even required for modern life.

Although Apple Maps is way more fluid to use, it's is missing so much local detail in so many places, I find myself often having to switch back and forth between Apple Maps and Google Maps just to make sure I'm not missing stuff on the map. At which point you may as well just not use Apple Maps outside of the biggest cities in the US.

I recently switched to apple maps. The biggest reason for me is that the audible directions are a lot more useful. Instead of "turn left in 200 meters" I get something like "At the next light, turn left".

That reduces the cognitive load immensely and i find i'm not trying to look at the map as much

Sadly no cycling directions for my city. Despite their size Apple aren’t great at supporting smaller countries. Even when there seems to be no good reason. No AQI data for many if not most countries, for example.

I'm a fan of the Apple Maps UI over Google and they have some really nice features like the 3D view. However, the one problem I have with Apple Maps is that their satellite imagery is often times out of date compared to Google. This doesn't matter as much for getting directions, but I enjoy looking around on satellite view to find hidden beaches or get to know my surroundings better than a street map can offer.

use a nice topographic map :)

As someone in the geocomputation space, the road and intersection detail in the map tiles is super impressive. I wonder how they did it. They’ve got seemingly perfect vector-graphics representation of all road features: lines, islands, medians, slip lanes… very impressive.

I exclusively use Apple Maps, but the location sharing feature is better in Waze. Waze also generally has more people reporting police locations.

Is it my imagination or is Google Maps app the single flakiest android app?

Some piece of it tends to freeze, parts keep working.

It regularly decides not to do voice directions for a few minutes after starting.

Touching the screen anywhere causes unintuitive things to happen. Like around the edges of the screen, where no UI design would ever put anything.

“Forced” to use Google Maps in the car because it’s on the big screen, and recently I’ve been disappointed by how bad it is at navigation in the Bay area, taking me down pothole and slow streets with lots of turns. Even taking me to crossings without traffic lights making it difficult and slower to cross when traffic is heavy. And then as others have already explained, there are virtually no street names on the map (no matter how much you zoom), so it is very difficult to find the street I want to drive on. Or maybe that’s Tesla’s fault. Not sure.

One minor gripe I have with Apple Maps is that it doesn’t show my favorite locations in a quick and easy pickable ux… so I end up having to search for “home”.

Importantly, Tesla’s maps is not Google Maps. It’s powered by it sort of as a data provider but it does its own rendering, map management and some routing adjustments.

It’s actually one reason why I wish Tesla had CarPlay because even though their maps is okay, it’s quite far behind the first party Apple or Google Maps implementation .

Google Maps is by far the strongest consumer product the company has to offer, and one of the most important online services, if not the most important online service of all. Google Maps was the reason I bought a smart phone. It is a revolutionary service, not only for navigation, but much more for finding restaurant and hotels, reviews and opening hours.

With that said, the interface is awful and laggy on all devices, and keeps changing.

Apple are total morons for not allowing crowd source of information on their maps. Business owners usually don't put their stuff there, and they think Instagram is a much better use of their time than having their adress and opening hours on Apple Maps.

> Apple are total morons for not allowing crowd source of information on their maps.

This leads to false information and scams. There's a huge issue right now with Google Maps and airports; scammers update the phone numbers for airlines, attempting to scam users out of money.

Apple does provide business connect for business owners to manage their data on Apple Maps. It's slowly being used more and more by businesses.

https://businessconnect.apple.com

> This leads to false information and scams.

That's a very very minor issue, compared to the amount of true data on Google Maps. Computers in general, as well as the printing press or pen and paper, have the same problem. Should those technologies be limited?

From what I see, Apple launched their Business Connect this year, just about 10 years too late. And it's a very dysfunctional platform to boot.

We have to be honest and admit that Google Maps is superior. I wish Apple or anybody could compete, but they can't.

Google Maps a) uses the wrong source language for street names, preferring the minority language over the majority b) butchers the street names pronunciation so badly I don't have clue what it's saying 80% of the time

For me Apple Maps is the clear winner, just because I like to have my phone in english - doing voice commands in my native language feels silly and is more error prone.

Additionally Apple Maps UI and voice is clearer on when to swap lanes, which is a life-saver in busy intersections where you haven't been before.

As a hack I use the Irish english voice for Siri, it pronounces street names correctly about 95% of the time and the rest is still legible.

Apple Maps first caught my interest with its walking directions, which are great (in major cities at least, which is where it’s most useful anyway).

I started using it more for public transit and driving directions as well, and now that it -ahem- lets me mark police activity on the highways, I don’t really have any reason to use Waze anymore. I recently took a road trip through the southwest US, a mix of freeways and tiny streets in tiny towns, and I’m not sure I ever flipped to Waze or Google Maps.

I’ve been cautiously using Apple Maps primarily for the last 3-4 years now. It has come a long way. I think I might be done with Google for navigation.

At some point I just didn’t download Google Maps on a clean install and it was fine, never felt a reason to go back. Now when I look at it on other devices it seems over complicated to me.

I haven't had Google Maps installed on my phone for at least 4 years now. In the beginning using Apple Maps was an exercise in frustration at times but nowadays it's better than Google Maps in a lot of scenarios. Annecdoctaly we if we were driving somewhere sometimes I had to unplug my phone to get Google Maps directions on Car Play but lately it's actually the opposite.

POI, restaurant reviews etc are still miles better in Google, but using the web version is enough for those.

Apple Maps is great, one thing they could improve though (on iPhone) would be to nail down the location of the input boxes. Currently they jump around when content finishes loading, which often leads to the user pressing the wrong button.

Google Maps when you're driving in Brooklyn: Instead of "Take a right on Avenue Q", it'll say something like: "Take a right on Thomas L. Jefferson Remembrance Honorary Memorial Boulevard Avenue Q"

One of my top feature requests for Apple Maps would be a way to import all of my bookmarks from Google Maps.

I can export them from Google with Takeout, I believe, but there’s no way to do get them into Apple Maps except to manually save hundreds of locations.

Since I don’t want to split my bookmarks, that means I’m stuck continuing to use Google Maps, and continuing to add more bookmarks to Google Maps. But, I do enjoy using Apple Maps for bicycle navigation.

Apple Maps seems like it will fail at what I find most important, however. Does it try to upsell me unrelated products when all I want is plain instructions to an address or location? Does it misinterpret accidental finger touches as some mid-route change-of-mind and irretrievably lose my instructions to get there?

Maybe I didn't know it years ago, but these are what Google has grown to realize I can't live without.

My wife uses google maps in her car and lately the routing is strange - like making 3 right turns when there is a protected advance green for left turns. Apple maps just showed turn left.

Sure, I know that sometimes 3 rights is better than one left but it didn't happen just once, it was multiple times.

Apple Maps has come a long way since its initial (disastrous) launch (so bad it was a gag on 'Silicon Valley')

Apple Maps still feels like a half baked product the multiple times I’ve tried to use it. Businesses in the wrong locations, lack of details for transit options, and a clunky UI that makes my iPhone feel like it’s running on a Dorito… I wish Apple would allow third party apps to have access to things like directions without unlocking the phone.

Apple Maps is lightweight and confortable scrolling. Only thing that is missing is the rating/reviewing system. While Google Maps have great amount of users who review stores and facilities, Apple Maps doesn't. It does integrate with TripAdvisors and some other services though, it's not confortable as Google Maps.

Personal experience, with Apple maps I almost never make the wrong turn or miss a turn but with Google maps it happens quite often. The way Google maps zooms in or doesn’t zoom in I always feel like I’m further from the turn than I really am.

On the other hand, when driving somewhere in the boonies G maps tends to be a lot more accurate.

I found HERE WeGo maps the best of the bunch when traveling in Albania and Greece. Particularly for offline maps. Apple Maps lacked enough detail to be usable and Google Maps frequently insisted on taking narrow alleyways designed for humans that the car could not fit in. I’ve become a big fan.

I use both.

Google maps is a superior lookup tool. I use this to get the address and location of where I want to go.

Apple Maps is superior for navigation when you already have the address, especially if you have an Apple Watch.

I also use OpenStreetMaps as a third, offline option. IMO all three of them have their uses.

I live in Europe (Norway) for what’s it’s worth.

I switched to apple maps for carplay. Back in those days on google it was like 3 small button presses to switch voice navigation on and off requiring you to look at the screen. With apple it was hit the big black box, easy with peripheral vision

Apple broke that feature but inertia means I haven't changed.

One thing that I love about Apple Maps apart from getting directions in an Irish accent, is that it gives directions like a normal person.

As an example "go through these lights and at the next set turn left" rather than "in 600m turn left". It is a night and day difference.

Traffic light indication in Apple Maps is a good solution in many ways, and you can't miss the instruction "at the light." Meanwhile, Google Maps does have a tiny traffic light indication that barely does anything but gets the UI even messier.

It was the endless login popups and constant rerouting when in traffic that did it for me. Google maps just suck because, first of all, it is a Google product meant to harvest data and trick people into making accounts if you ask me..

Anecdotally, I avoided using GPS navigation whatsoever until a couple years ago. So, I feel I had no investment in either one. I tried them both on a cross country trip, and Apple Maps was hands down better than Google Maps.

When it comes to Apple Maps versus Waze, Apple Maps tend to be more realistic about arrival times, too.

Can you report police speed traps on Apple Maps? If so, I may have to move away from Waze.

Mmm battery life, but always verify destination locations with Goog

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