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Comment by ancarda | Hacker News Reader

I've been using Apple Maps since it was first released in iOS 6. I've reported countless problems but only 1 was ever fixed. Unlike with Google Maps, it seems there's no way for a business to register itself or otherwise contribute info. As such, Google Maps often has more information.

Apple Maps is, generally in my area, out of date and missing businesses and schools and unfortunately I don't see it getting better.

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I find both Apple and Google unresponsive to user corrections. Since iOS released maps it has shown a hospital near me that has long been closed, demolished, and rebuilt as a retirement community. The hospital itself moved about 10 miles west to a different community, yet there it is on the map in all its pink glory.

In the course of a "google maps doesn't have these problems" discussion I pulled up Google maps, and lo and behold, it has the same problem.

Fast forward to the present and they both still show this long dead hospital despite me taking the time to send in corrections from time to time. For a long time the new location was trivially verifiable by following the map's own web link. Now that URL is dead, so it would require a quick search and a tiny bit of thought.

I hope no one relies on that information in an emergency to get someone to a hospital.

I reported two issues to Google Maps on a recent trip to Ireland and the UK, both have been fixed and I received followup emails from Google Maps on the issues.

These were reported via Google Maps on Android.

In addition to reporting problems, you can edit it yourself: https://maps.google.com/mapmaker -- faster turnaround.

I reported an issue to Google where they were routing traffic off a highway and down a two-track road that basically ends in the middle if you don't have a 4x4 truck, then back onto the highway at the next intersection. It took almost five years for Google to change their mapping directions to keep people on the highway. I got the county road commission to put up a sign saying the road was a dead end quicker than I got Google to change the map.

An anecdote, I know, but I'm just saying Google has these problems too. It's not just Apple.

Not sure if your location is covered by Google's Mapmaker.

For my location, I usually provide updates/corrections via Mapmaker; it goes through a community review process and shows up in the main Maps within a couple of months (at most).

I put in the request before MapMaker was available to the public, but I had to look that up because I'd never heard of MapMaker. Interesting technology, thanks!

I don't disagree that there's plenty that remains to be fixed on Apple maps in terms of location-data and business info for those locations. On the flip side, I've been waiting for Google to update the business hours for a business I work with for over two months despite submitting multiple requests for the correction. As far as Google is concerned, they're closed on Sundays.

This verges on nitpicking.

I have lost score on how many times Yelp has glaringly gotten business hours wrong, for hot restaurants in major neighborhoods.

This from a website whose whole purpose is to help customers find businesses.

Frankly, business hours are a some what tricky problem as it is purely up to the whim and fancy of the establishment, when it wants to stay open or when it wants to have reduced hours or when it wants to be closed for business.

I wish businesses and restaurants were required to maintain minimum standards of serviceability in this and many other regards.

The best way to register as a business on Apple Maps is to register on Yelp.

When Apple maps first launched, I submitted map corrections for several mistakes within a few minutes walk from my house. Years later, none of the errors have been fixed.

This does not change your point at all, but I did a double take at "years later" and had to check for myself. It was released in September of last year, so less than 14 months ago.

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