Hacker News Reader

Comment by whalesalad | Hacker News Reader

Apple Maps rendering surpassed Google a lil while ago. I still use Google for a variety of reasons but I do think Apple’s map design is superior.

View on HN

Depends on what you're talking about.

For aesthetics? No question Apple's superior.

For navigation? A tossup in my experience?

For discovery of places and reviews? Google's so far ahead it's not even close.

Apple's interface with Google's database of places and reviews would be the holy grail.

Open POI on top of OSM? Would have to figure out how to accept and lifecycle reviews, but could probably be done. Perhaps reaching critical mass is the hard part.

For car based nav I stay on Google. For transit, I’ve found Apple is the way to go. I’m sure it depends on the location though

I agree 100%. I use Apple Maps for navigation but Google Maps is so much better for discovery of places. It's the only reason I keep it installed, tbh. My "places to go" is contained within Google Maps, just because they have so much more data.

It's wild to me that Apple hasn't spun off their own reviews system yet. Relying on Yelp in 2023 seems foolish.

Apple doesn't like to do things unless doing so somehow makes or saves them money.

There are native reviews in some places and not in other places. Maps features tend to be like that.

I'd love to use Apple maps.I just can't commit to a service that's only available on some of my devices & computers.

Fun. I get your point, but I, on the other hand, can't happily commit to a service that is "free".

The real problem of Apple Maps is that outside of the US it's quite poor, so one is forced to use google maps quite frequently.

I am of the opinion that Apple Maps are pretty bad outside of Cali. The locations are not exactly accurate for the remote locations of the United States. They seems to be exceptionally interested in improving lives of Californians who use iPhone.

I have to say that in Italy (and Europe) in general they are not that bad. Still way behind google maps. Like anything else unfortunately.

Anyway my point stands: if something doesn't have a clear business model, I'm not happy using it. If the business model is ads I'm very unhappy using it.

I don't understand what commitment there is. If you go somewhere and have an iPhone with you, you can route with Apple Maps. There's no commitment to use it later when you look up a place on your PC.

Apple also has a bunch of small hiking and biking trails that Google doesn't. They must've bought some GPS data from Strava or something because you can't see them from space and there's no way they could have paid someone to map them that thoroughly.

As the person you’re replying to is talking about design, I think they and you and me agree. Apple Maps looks nicer and “cleaner”. Also on iOS and macOS, the performance of Google Maps is so janky that for navigation Apple Maps is also superior.

For navigation, if you’re in a region where Apple has their “new maps” which have maximum speed, traffic lights, 3D buildings etc. then navigation is on par with Google with some nice extras thrown in because Apple owns the platform (like: navigation on the Lock Screen, custom notification styles etc.) Except bike navigation which Apple still does not offer in the bike capital of the world, The Netherlands.

As for location data…yeah Apple is indeed bad. Both in number of places it knows, in accuracy of their data like opening hours and especially in reviews which is regurgitated from terrible sites like Yelp or TripAdvisor.

Disagree with that, I keep trying it sometimes and it's still inferior in too many ways. It feels like they don't use their own product, which wouldn't come as a surprise.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com