Google Maps for iOS
itunes.apple.com
itunes.apple.com
Navigation is great, so much better than Siri's dreadful voice, easy to navigate from A>B with a tap of your destination. Let's not even mention the street data.
Great 3D flyovers, but no satellite-3D flyovers (if you're worried about that you probably have too much time to waste during the day - this is a maps app, to take you places, not give you a tour of Los Angeles).
UI feels great - intuitive, fluid, multi-touch works fantastic. Heard someone mention that it "lacks polish" or feels "laggy" - not sure I agree with that - feels fast on an iPhone 5 and on a 4S side-by-side. UI is clean and not cluttered, that's a plus. Someone else mentioned that it's simply GMaps in a UIWebView - no chance for that.
Of course, the public transport data is second to none. The data in general - we won't discuss that.
Great release - welcome back
* Rendering is faster on Apple Maps
* Apple Maps caches a much larger area offline, while Google Maps is basically useless without a network connection
* Apple Maps integration in iOS apps is better than embedding Google Maps, which is very obvious if you compare 3rd party public transit apps that use Apple Maps to Google transit directions.
Not saying Apple Maps is nearly as good as Google Maps (because it isn't), but 'totally annihilates Apple Maps in every way' is simply not true.
Google Maps for Android has the possibility of caching e.g. a whole city offline, which is great for travelling (since we haven't solved roaming yet). It might be a Labs feature. The iOS client has been lagging so bad, I figured they would have fixed a lot in the new version.
I've been getting around the "no network" issue by using the Garmin app anyways.
Unfortunately, the better integration of Apple's app is something I have not figured a work around. Other than getting an Android phone, I mean.
Once you get past the onerous task of searching for your destination, i found Apple Maps to be much better
When it's not shoving down a Google account login down your throat, places where Google maps is better (exactly where you'd expect it be)
1 - In POI and searching. However in the limited searches i did (in the Bay area so i guess the Apple Maps critics immediately discount that) both did the same. Given the widely documented inaccuracies and just downright lack of data in the rest of the world, this is probably orders of magnitude better.
2 - Public transit - This is obviously a no-contest. Apple Maps just doesn't have it.
3 - map data - This is probably the same as POIs.
>Navigation is great, so much better than Siri's dreadful voice, easy to navigate from A>B with a tap of your destination.
Navigation isn't great on Apple maps because of Siri's "dreadful voice" ?
>Great release - welcome back
I agree but the whole annahilation bit a quite hyperbolic.
Isn't the purpose of maps to find your destination?
Can you elaborate on what you find much better in Apple Maps? It probably has better typography/layout design, but other than that?
How is it shoving a Google account down your throat? It took me a minute to find where to log into my Google account so that I could retrieve my saved Maps places.
How do you contrast this with Apple Maps, which transparently uses an iCloud account on the backend?
Do you lay the blame on Google? Or Apple, for not having system-wide account services for Google (as they do with Facebook and Twitter).
> Wow. New GMaps totally annihilates Apple Maps in every
> which way.
It turns out that getting directions via transit works as expected. I'm not even sure what the transit link when you swipe left is supposed to show. So it's a weak ui in that respect, but the app gives me what I was missing.
If you're into 3D satellite views, this is available in the Google Earth for iOS app. Google launched the 3D flyover stuff in that app a couple of months before Apple released iOS 6, so it's been around for a while.
If you have Google Earth already installed, then you can jump directly to that app in the swipe-left menu of the new Google Maps app (and it will even jump to where you were looking in the Google Maps app, so it's pretty seamless transition).
Hopefully they will enable an in-app mode in the next version.
Personal experience report on an iPhone 4: the app is laggy as hell with one to two seconds of delay when dragging. You have to actively combat inertia to navigate around, and minimal movement occasionally sent me overshooting by multiple screenfuls. Also, it keeps wanting to turn north around on the slightest twist when zooming, which is even harder to handle due to lag.
> Someone else mentioned that it's simply GMaps in a UIWebView - no chance for that.
That's not how it looks, but that's exactly how it feels. Well, that's also how it looks on the login screen given the overflowing sign-in form. The drag lag on the map feels like the typical JS-overriden scrolling. I'd really not be surprised if it is a UIWebView and a properly designed web app (not web site backportedly shoved in as an app).
On this hardware, Apple Maps has a clear victory on the performance and interaction front.
I would agree that it gives the app an unpolished feel, that and the sign in nagging. Otherwise the functionality is great.
There are some places it's fine. Other places it's problematical. Other places it's a complete disaster.
The last two categories seem to outweigh the first for me. In the UK especially where basic things like searching for local train stations (we actually use public transport quite a bit here ;-) seem to fail completely in large chunks of the country.
Since my experience of Google Maps on the iPhone until the switch over was that - as long as I could get GPS and an internet connection - 100% fine the Apple maps app is a complete fail for me. I can understand that there might be reasons for it being necessary from the business perspective - but for me personally it now means I have had to have three map apps on my home screen to get around rather than just one.
I'm hoping I can switch back to Google Maps to have one thing that works.
I could rely on it totally.
Q: "Where's Dulles Airport?"
A: I couldn't find any places matching 'Dulles International Airport'.
Honestly, if anyone has a voice search that will find it, let me know.
I'd be surprised if they polished anything, considering you can't exactly reuse Java code when writing an Obj-C app. They just have a lot of very talented engineers and actually cared about making it nice.
Why does it say "preview", when it actually means "start navigating"?
After playing with this app for 10 minutes I think this is far superior to the iOS5 Maps experience. It's an extremely refined and clean app that is extremely fast with lots of features. Start typing a street or location and it'll know what you mean within a few letters.
edit: Opening the side menu, for its matter, visually seems to depend on hitting a tiny tap target; there is hidden space to the left of the target but not above it, which is the natural place I tried tapping. The menu itself is weirdly designed (giant spacing) and prone to accidental dismissal by someone trying to scroll it.
No bookmarks either.
Re: Side Menu - Unlike those stupid tiny x marks in the notification tray which I can never hit on my first try, I can't seem to miss opening the side menu. Are you swipe-in opening it? It's not a push, but a swipe.
Bookmarks are there - you just have to click "save" when you open the item. Then clicking on an empty search bar will bring them up.
Now, at the same time, it does seem to be locked at 30fps rather than 60 (as in Apple Maps). So it's not quite as silky smooth in that respect, I suppose, but it'll also drain battery more slowly.
I think for bookmarks, you have to sign in (with your Google account, or a dummy one) and save them in your account. Not sure though, haven't tried yet (and probably won't, as I don't need it).
And I agree about polish. You have a 4S. I have a 4. It barely makes 20 fps.
Great release, you can swipe from the outside edge of the display to open the sidebar, not a big deal.
This release is fantastic and will only get better with time
You can also get there with a two-finger horizontal swipe.
I'm still looking to see how the option to save Home and Work addresses helps me - it makes home and work function as search terms but there must be more to it?
It's quite amusing to see how excited people are about this when this has been available with Google Maps on Android since 2009 (IIRC). I remember I used my Galaxy Nexus to navigate NYC for a whole week with public transit without ever asking a person for directions.
Thus Apple has achieved its goal of upgrading the map experience on iOS!
Now that we have an apple maps program, and various competitors including and not limited to google; we also have a chrome (and other) iOS browsers to compete with safari (and yes, I understand it's really just skinned web kit) and a new default video player,
Is this situation not akin to the anti-trust wars that threatened to consume Microsoft a decade ago?
For instance, they (the apple defaults) are all installed by default, and they remain the default option: for example if you receive an address (either physical or web) in messenger or whatsapp or whatever, iOS will attempt to recognise it and make it a hyperlink, but it will then open in the apple default app - if you want it to open in say chrome or google maps you have to copy and paste it.
So- is this the same as the anti-trust case against Microsoft? Will apple ever change the default program? Or will my next phone be an android..
Yes, this is much like Microsoft a decade ago; in fact, it's worse, the iOS offers significantly less choice than Windows did back then; you could develop your own software for your own computer without joining a restrictive developer program from Microsoft.
If you don't like it, my recommendation is that you don't buy into it. Get an Android. I've been perfectly happy with mine.
If more people just bought what they liked, shut the hell about it, and didn't rage jihad against the opposite platform, the internet would be WAY better.
I'd love to have an iphone 5 running Android! :]
Nobody is going to suggest Apple has a Monopoly in the mobile phone, nor even the Smart Phone industry. In fact, I think Eric Schmidt publicly said that "Android had Won" today - so that kind of puts an end to that thread.
After all, the MS issue wasn't about IE being the only browser so it's not about the ability to change it, it was about it being the default browser and therefore what many unsophisticated users will use by default.
Today, the situation is different: if you as a customer don't like iOS you can go and easily buy a smartphone with Android or Windows OS.
This is an important distinction. Otherwise for example every car manufacturer could be accused with similar grounds because they use their propriety software or custom parts instead of providing totally configurability.
This is probably why there was no drama with Google releasing maps: Apple knew they were beat, so they did nothing to stop it.
But I don't think that Apple ever considered to cause drama about the Google Maps release, just like they didn't cause a drama about YouTube, or Nokia Maps, or whatever. That seemed more like Google trying to take a cheap shot at Apple's approval process.
In the end the case kinda fizzled out as the times were changing so fast. Browsers kinda became an accepted "default" application to go along with an operating system.
I have to admit with all of the lawsuits in the software industry, I'm kinda surprised that Apple hasn't gotten more heat.
Apple are nowhere near close to this until they own 95% of the global cellphone market and start making credible threats to destroy HTC or Samsung if they dare to sell an Android phone, or an iPhone with Chrome preinstalled.
The transport directions are slightly better, it'll find actual options for me now but does still occasionally go "Nope, no public transport around you!" when I live near a bus stop. And a train station.
It's slightly laggy on my iPhone 5, I popped it up with a high view when I was on the train and it was very visibly jerky, Apple Maps was much, much smoother.
Hey guys, SIGN IN. You want your search history? SIGN IN. That's really annoying, and given when the whole Maps shift started it was rumoured that Google was demanding more and more information on the searches it points to Google really wanting that search history with your account.
POI stuff spanks Apple, easily. Apple sucks at that at the moment, the fact that Google can autocomplete a hell of a lot of it is much nicer.
I don't like some of the UX choices, the 'tutorial overlay' says the bottom right button is tappable but it's actually a slide over, tapping did nothing for me. Accessing Street View is non-intuitive. Occasionally it felt like there was a few too many taps to get me where I needed to be. This is all stuff they can work on though.
All in all, it's pretty good. I'll have it as a secondary Maps app, I'm going to try stick with Apple Maps though. Not because I'm a glutton for punishment but because it has genuinely started getting better for the use case I need it in. Choice is always nice though.
Yes Apple want to own maps on iOS but given how their own launch went the ship has sailed on that for a while at least. But given the position they found themselves in this goes a long way to undermining the criticisms of mapping on iOS because if you think Apple maps sucks you just go and get Google maps for free.
One of Apple's big gripes supposedly was that they couldn't get Google maps turn by turn navigation on the iPhone and here it is (and without them paying for it it seems) plus they get to work on Apple maps with some of the pressure off which protects them some if Google start messing around.
I'm not in any way saying that this was Apple's plan all along - that plan went badly wrong in the summer - but as of this morning iOS, for regular users at least, just got more attractive.
Yes it's a win for Google, but it's a win for Apple too.
I thought it was because when Apple asked for turn-by-turn, Google said "okay, but we want larger Google branding, and also want to hook it up to Google Latitude" and Apple said no way?
Now that Google Maps is back on iOS, I agree that it's a win for Apple as well. But someone please explain it to me how it could have been a win for Apple to drop Google Maps in the first place?
Remember Apple already give Samsung, another competitor, a shed load of each money for components. Why enrich someone you're competing with?
Two-finger slide from the right sometimes opens up a sidebar that apparently contains settings (not sure what the magic incantation is).
Zooming in works, but there's no street view, you just keep zooming waaaaay in.
No bike directions. :|
I might like the map drawing better, can't really say which is quicker on my relatively slow device, and it does work quite well. But so far I'm not impressed at all. The previous iOS 5- version was better, if less new-Google-aesthetic-y.
Maybe there's a better way, but I'm with you, I tried just zooming way in first.
Access to streetview would be quicker that way.
There's a grippie in the bottom right corner indicating the settings pull-out sidebar.
Though now I discover I can only change one setting before it automatically closes it, which also sucks. And crashed when I tried to change two anyway.
--
So far I'm seeing it as a decent alternative that uses a better data-set, but not much else. Definitely not "now I can finally upgrade to iOS6" material.
Yes, what is up with that? Android app had that for ages. I guess I am not supposed to have an iPhone if I bike.
I had Chrome installed on my iPhone for the first time since I have ever performed a restore like this. ( I was getting jumbled cover art on albums and a restore seems to have solved it ) During this process, I was asked to setup the phone, first I think I had to unlock it, then wait some time, then set my location, then some security questions, and then a new screen I had not seen before, where there was Safari and Chrome listed, and I needed to pick one.
The problem is I was rushing, waiting for a phone call and didn't want to miss it. While in this setup mode the 3G radio icon was not on so I wanted to get back up and running. I didn't read what this screen does, chose Safari, and moved on.
I remember thinking to myself, hmpf, odd, Apple asking what default browser I want to use, that's a first. But it was what first came to mind. I can't say for sure that is what it was, as I didn't take the time to read the screen.
It's such a painless process, I may restore my phone again to answer this question. If I do, I will report it back here.
Not in line with apples otherwise timeless designs at all.
http://au.news.yahoo.com/technology/news/article/-/15610781/...
Now police in Colac, west of Melbourne, say faults with Google maps are putting people's lives at risk along the Great Ocean Road and in the southern Otways.
Sergeant Nick Buenen says trucks, buses and tourists are being directed down Wild Dog Road, which is a one-way track, not built for heavy traffic.
He says VicRoads has denied responsibility and Google Maps has not responded.
"Update, 12:41 p.m. PT A Google spokesperson said that Google Maps routes drivers onto Wild Dog Road only if the driver searches for a destination located on that road. For directions to other nearby locations, Google Maps routes drivers onto Forrest-Apollo Bay Road/Skenes Creek Road. "
First five results:"Google Earth", "My Places for Google Maps", "My Maps Editor", "Road Tripper", and then finally "Google Maps"
Seriously, how difficult is it to bump an exact string match to the top of the list?
Seems to me that iOS is just getting worse and worse.
When someone searches on the term "maps" do you want the "best" (highest rated, most popular, whatever) app to be the top hit (give it a week and that'll likely be Google Maps), or the one from the person who had done a bit of SEO and thought to call his app "maps" to hit the exact string match?
I contest that what's happening is actually a good thing and what you propose would be a field day for those who look to game the system.
OR
Does it have a few problems that, when compared with all the progress Google has made in that arena, makes its performance untenable?
I say this because I have used Apple Maps to navigate the rural southeastern U.S. with absolutely no problems. I even had my dedicated GPS to make sure Apple Maps wasn't leading me astray.
What I dont get is that people were/are willing to wait for google to get it together with the "next release," and crucify apple for doing the exact same.
Either way, we win because apple removing google maps from ios forced google to work hard on providing a good app and google's app will force apple to polish up their maps.
I've also had it direct me to locations that did not exist (but were in Yelp). But since no one uses Yelp to review bank branches, that data has never really been checked before.
Even requests that are hitting the server seem to return almost instantly.
Is it just me?
Which is to say, simple text, simple lines, simple shadows - all of which, so long as you take the time and draw smartly using Core Graphics, is well within the capabilities of any iOS device. Combine with a few dashes of smart UI caching and the whole thing will scream.
iOS UI optimization is a topic I wish more devs knew about. So many relatively simplistic apps are dog slow because no one has bothered to do even the most modest amount of optimization.
I'm assuming the actual map and StreetView is implemented in openGL. Heck, maybe the whole thing is.
I like the overall look of Google maps more, having more detail and and the 3d buildings that pop-up are cute. Apple maps are right down bare looking in comparison.
I was sorely missing streetview, I was amazed myself how used to I was checking streeview of various places.
Can't offhand remember places Apple maps couldn't address-locate so I don't have any good comparison off the map data quality, but both have been mostly fine, with google having slightly better heuristics finding an address even if it doesn't know the exact street number.
I like the rotation with two fingers in google maps is less sensitive, I often rotate in apple maps accidentally. But then again, Google maps has this menu that comes up when sliding with two fingers (by placing two fingers and then dragging) and that came up accidentally few times.
In google maps, sometimes a quick tap tells you the address of that place, but sometimes it needs a tap-and-hold, feels erratic.
Google maps driving directions didn't say a word while staying still, so I can't say much about that. The finnish voice in apple maps is very understandable, but quite harsh. The US voice of course failed to read any finnish names in a comical way (but had to change phone language to get finnish voice, I usually prefer my electronics in english).
Public transport stuff has always been useless in finland, so nothing to say about that either..
Prior to the uproar around IOS 6 maps not having Transit direction, I wasn't even aware the IOS 5 Map had transit directions. In San Francisco, Tokyo, New York and other places this is a big deal. But, if you want to get Transit Direction from Redwood City, CA to Oakland, CA, IOS 6 Maps currently beats out Google Maps.
With that said, I'm blown away by how quickly the interface can guess what I'm looking for as I start typing into it. Apple has a long way to catch up in that department. I suspect for much map searching, Google Maps is going to become my "Goto" client on the iPhone.
[Edit - Love the speedy Swipe Left/Right interface. Also Offline Maps. Just Cached all of California, Switched to "Airplane Mode" - and all my mapping data is cached. Awesome.]
[Edit 2 - Wow - this map is fast. IOS 6 Maps wasn't particularly slow, but switching back and forth shows me Apple has a long way to go. Have to Love Competition]
[Edit 3 - Jumping into StreetView is silky smooth, and, they make use of the accelerometer so you can look around]
I think this is just "an exception that proves the rule" - It's pretty well accepted that Google Transit Direction are pretty good - just not well defined on their iOS App for my use case (yet)
Update: Following OP's advice I was able to get to the Google, Inc page where the Maps app is listed. Still no luck. This is gonna be a waiting game :(
* Open up App Store
* Search for Chrome
* Click on Chrome to bring up the app page
* Select Related tab
* On "More By Google" section, click see all
* On the list of Google Apps that appear, Google Maps is at the very bottom... Click on the "FREE" or "INSTALL" button to install. Alternatively, click on the item to bring up the app page for Google Maps
The one major drawback from the Original Google Maps app is that the original one did an excellent job showing every single street name on even a deep zoom level. The new Google Maps one does a poor job on this and you have to hunt back and forth to figure out what zoom level you need to get to in order to read the street name. Once they get this right, things will be back to normal.
I expect Apple to see a drastic increase in iOS5->iOS6 upgrade over the next few days. Hahah!
1. Google now gets stats from millions of iPhones. Which can be used to infer important sales information in different regions.
2. Maps improve as more people start using them. If more users are on Google Maps, Apple's own product improves at a slower pace.
Hasn't it been stated already that the original Google-backed apps weren't being updated anymore and the contract expired?
It's the same situation as the YouTube app. Why would Apple not allow the Google Maps app?
If anything, this was actually good, now we have 2 map apps and Google is forced to make a good one, just riding on the superior mapping data won't cut it.
Which is 1?
1) Search for "Google Maps" and it is the 5th result. The app is literally called Google Maps. The results before: Fine Maps, PD Maps Worldwide Edition, Google Earth(?!).
2) 300 comments and the topic of Apple anti-competitive behaviour with regard to App availability is hardly touched. In fact the top most comments are on UI and nitpicking over details such as Bookmarks and response speed.
I suspect that this is simply due to some part of the searching algorithm that takes things like number of downloads and publishing date into account. Over time the position will probably change.
I suspect (And this is entirely speculation on my part) that if iOS Maps had not been under such a cloud of scrutiny since it launched, we might not have seen Google Maps.
With so many having major issues with iOS Maps, and Apple needing to do a lot of catch up, being seen to block a reasonable solution would be very, very bad. Especially the same week as the well publicized "Sending people into the middle of the Australian outback with no mobile reception instead of the city they put in" news on iOS Maps.
Not trying to sound conspiracy theorist here, but observing past behaviours and the likely influence of current demands.
And anti-competitive maybe a bit strong. But wasn't it Google Voice that has been stranded in review for a while now?
I think Apple's mono-culture is beginning to fail: using the App Store as a gateway to their devices (touched on briefly above), etc.
1). It connects to my car stereo via the phone bluetooth profile so even though my car can't stream music by bluetooth, I can still get my turn-by-turn directions. My Navigon uses the whichever audio profile is used for music, so I only get the turn-by-turn over the car stereo if I'm plugged in by wire. Kudos Google, that's a really nice touch. Thank you.
2). I like the way it displays the streetview when you arrive at your destination so you can see where you should be. Another great touch.
And a couple of things I really don't like at all:
1). "In 300 metres...[pregnant pause]... turn left".
2). I don't like that it doesn't provide the street names in the audible turn by turn directions. So in cases where you have two streets in close proximity, unless you actually look at the screen, you're left guessing which is the correct one.
"Google Maps Navigation is in beta. Use caution.
Please keep your eyes on the road and obey applicable laws. Do not manipulate this application while in motion. Directions may be inaccurate, incomplete, dangerous, or prohibited.
Traffic data is not real-time, and location accuracy cannot be guaranteed
"
Now to see about offline access.
Some things that lack or incomplete in the meantime:
- iPad version, which is less critical, of course. - Access to contact addresses - Street view doesn't load high-resolution images when zoomed in.
The performance on iPhone 4S is good enough but zooming in and out is sometimes too fast and hard to do with precision.
Still, I already replaced Apple's Maps with this one of my iPhone's home screen.
Is this feature in any other app? Maybe I just haven't seen it yet.
EDIT: I take that back, as others have noticed, it's there... just unavailable from the sidebar. Not sure why.
Not to be sour or anything but I would have been fine with a stretched version for the iPad.
That was originally the main reason Apple stated why they developed they own maps data, didn't they?
Google Maps: 22 seconds Apple Maps: ??? It took me to Luxembourg
I think I know which map app I'll be using from now on.
But seriously, this is just great news for us folks outside the US and who use public transit. I can now get an iPhone 5 today! :D
It's great we are happy to have working maps, but let's just hope other companies can break the monopoly on our location data at some point.
Apple clearly wanted Google maps to be relegated to an also ran.
This works for both of them - the complaints about Apple maps are undermined by the existence of Google maps for iOS, Google get to retain their position as the best maps on any platform.
I see no evidence for an exchange of money in any direction.
"Try again later."
Unavailable for me still, I see in the App Store and within iTunes but no go on the D/L.
This strikes me as funny and suspicious.
Rest is nice, glad to have Google Maps back on my phone!!
also if you watch the loading closely you can tell.
"Google Maps" in App Store showing nothing for both iPhone and iPad. (Canada?) Had to go though this link. I understand it is new but that seems a bit underhanded...
Come save me from IOS 6 hell
So it's not just equal, but actually identical.
Cons: 1. No integration with the address book.
Pros >>>> Cons.