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Comment by ChrisMarshallNY | Hacker News Reader

In my area (Long Island), Apple Maps works great (better than Google Maps). I hear that it falls down, in rural areas, though.

[edit]

Looks like I pissed in someone’s cereal. Didn’t mean to, but different strokes, and all that…

I was just recounting actual personal experience, which, I suppose, isn’t popular, hereabouts.

Just for context, I have been writing Apple programs, since 1986. I am totally committed to their products, and their vision (although I have no opinion, –yet– on their Vision), and have every right to be critical. Those of us that have been on the ride for that long, have seen a very bumpy road.

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I just checked my area in Apple Maps out of interest and my own house, which I've lived in for longer than Apple Maps has existed, is listed as belonging to a business I've never heard of. The only actually existing business I can find with that name is at the opposite side of the country.

Not a great first impression. Also while I can view Apple Maps via a third party like DuckDuckGo, you can only report a map issue through an Apple device, so I guess it's staying wrong.

It's possible a previous tenant used that address or was attached to a business with that name. It happens to offices all the time as well. We had like 8 businesses attached to one of our offices, where only 1 ever existed. They were all tied to the owner and original filings used the address temporarily.

Still weird either way.

Apple Maps in New Zealand is really, really good. Travel estimates are nearly perfect.

In smaller countries though, it's total rubbish. Samoa, travel guidance is nearly non-existent. Tahiti, very patchy. In those countries, Google Maps was perfect.

It really is location dependent. I find that Apple Maps has much better driving directions and a better UI that doesn't get in the way. Google Maps on the other hand typically has much more up-to-date information on businesses and restaurants. I am in the habit of using both if I am trying to find an unfamiliar business address.

I generally find the quality of Apple Maps to be quite good here in Tokyo, although unfortunately Google does still seem to have them beat pretty consistently. The recently completed Azabudai Hills complex, for instance, is correctly rendered on GM, while AM still shows the pre-development layout.

However, one bug that is a showstopper in AM is the dreaded “can’t reach the server now”, which I get probably more than half the time I try to use it, and with apparently no solution other than wait.

As a result, I just removed it from my phone.

I gave Apple Map a second chance after hearing good things about it recently.

But it gave me a route where I need to turn left right after taking a right-turn ramp, except that the left turning line are separated by road dividers before the exit of the ramp. So I would need to either go wrong direction and do a 180, or bulldoze the dividers. As a comparison, Google Map never gave me that route in the past.

This happened in a moderately sized town so I guess I will still stick to Google Map for now.

In my particular rural area, Apple Maps knows the street I live on exists. Google Maps still needs a call to delivery people to explain to them that their map is lying to them.

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