Apple Maps vs Google Maps

[mcdonaat]

According to Gizmodo, Google Maps is now available in the App Store. It even has the same turn-by-turn voice navigation as Android, and looks pretty sweet. However, I like that my Nexus 7 has had Google Maps for a while ^_^

Download it here, and post what you think of it so far!

Disclaimer - I do not have an iPhone, therefore I cannot make any comments on how it runs.

[JMoses24]

As of 12 midnight, the app had been pulled. Damn.

EDIT TO UPDATE: As of 1:08 AM EST, I am downloading the app now after all! Thoughts after I experiment.

[empirestate]

It's up now, I got it. Some nifty features, but there doesn't seem to be a way to turn off labels in Satellite view. I'd actually prefer to make labels off the default, since often what I'm looking for in the aerial photo is precisely what's underneath the label (i.e., the road)!

[SSOWorld]

Supports iPhone/iPods only for now.  They haven't rolled out support for iPads yet.  I threw it on and will experiment with it this weekend for the St Louis meet.

[1995hoo]

I downloaded it, although I seldom use maps on my phone because I prefer the built-in sat-nav in the car. Cleaner interface in my opinion and the small joystick makes it easier to pan it around and such with one hand.

The Google Maps app doesn't have the spiffy route shields. On the other hand, I see it has the new HO/T lanes on I-495 in Virginia, and when I search for "Williamsburg, VA," it correctly dropped a pin right near the College of William and Mary in that town. Apple Maps, on the other hand, gave me directions to Williamsburg Boulevard in Arlington, Virginia, around the corner from Nicklas Backstrom's house.

[empirestate]

I downloaded it, although I seldom use maps on my phone because I prefer the built-in sat-nav in the car. Cleaner interface in my opinion and the small joystick makes it easier to pan it around and such with one hand.

Yeah, but when you're not in your car? You mean you don't sit around looking at maps on your phone the way most people do Facebook?

[Dr Frankenstein]

Wow. Literally two days after I upgrade my 3GS to iOS 6 specifically to try Apple Maps out! Great timing! I installed it before going to bed last night.

[SSOWorld]

Wow. Literally two days after I upgrade my 3GS to iOS 6 specifically to try Apple Maps out! Great timing! I installed it before going to bed last night.

The only thing Apple got right on their maps app is the route shields.  The problem is that they don't mark the routes with all the shields - they take the number with the lowest first digit - example: I-94 NW of Minneapolis on Apple maps is marked as US 52 except for the portion concurrent with MN-210, which is marked as that.  Google marks both.  Apple has a very long way to go to catch up with Google and the decision they made to drop using Google Maps will hurt them badly from a business perspective.

[1995hoo]

I downloaded it, although I seldom use maps on my phone because I prefer the built-in sat-nav in the car. Cleaner interface in my opinion and the small joystick makes it easier to pan it around and such with one hand.

Yeah, but when you're not in your car? You mean you don't sit around looking at maps on your phone the way most people do Facebook?

I was looking at an atlas (paper maps) the other day while taking a dump. Does that count?

[Scott5114]

Apple has a very long way to go to catch up with Google and the decision they made to drop using Google Maps will hurt them badly from a business perspective.

I doubt that. My guess is that they are seeing a huge uptick in iOS 6 upgrades right now, from all of the people that heard "don't upgrade, Apple Maps is shit". People will install Google Maps on their phone, and things will be back to normal, except people will have a useless Apple Maps button on their screen to go with the Newsstand and Stocks buttons.

[vdeane]

I suspect that Apple Maps will be forever cursed by their decision to launch too early.  Note that Windows Vista is still considered junk by many despite being nearly indistinguishable from 7 (today, not at launch; this does not include netbooks and low end/obsolete systems) except for the taskbar and some UAC stuff.

[StogieGuy7]

This decision will likely prompt me to end my boycott of iOS 6 for my iPhone.  Not because I want Apple Maps (though they will be interesting to explore), but because I'd like the new Google Maps app.  Sounds like it has a lot more features than the Google Maps app that my phone has - which is not upgradable. 

[1995hoo]

I played with the new Google Maps app yesterday and one thing I liked is that when I started typing an address it suggested the one nearest to me (for example, I was in Falls Church, Virginia, when I was doing this and the street name I was typing in appears in both McLean and Alexandria; it suggested the McLean one, which was indeed the one I wanted). Of course you have to allow Location Services for that to work, but it seems to me to be kind of stupid to use a mapping app without allowing it to use Location Services!

Apple Maps sort of does this in that as you type it gives you suggested addresses, but it's less intelligent about it. As I type this post (on my PC) I grabbed my phone and tried typing in the address of the house where we lived in the 1970s, which is located about 12 miles from where I live now. Apple Maps showed that address as about the fourth option after I started typing the street name, but the first two options were both in Glasgow, Scotland. I then tried it with Google Maps and at the same point in typing the street name, that address was right at the top of the list. To me this seems to make perfect sense. Sure, there are times when you'll want another address further away, but I'd wager that it's more common for people to be searching for directions to local addresses.

[JMoses24]

So, I have had Google Maps for a few days.

Overall...I'm okay with it. If you're using finger motions, you can end up tilting into 3-D mode without realizing you're doing it. This can be addressed by a simple "hey, if you do this, you'll be in 3-D mode", which prevents me from doing it when I DON'T want to do it.

Otherwise, I like having Street View at my fingertips and having transit directions available without needing to download other apps (!!!). This app, to me, should've been the one to be on iOS by default in the first place.

[PAHighways]

It is nice to have Street View again, which comes in handy when I am working on my site and need to quickly check something.

The voice guidance is a good feature, which is something Apple did not bestow upon us iPhone 4 users in Maps.  When I need to find my way on the road, I use Waze which has had voice guidance for years.

One good thing about Apple Maps is it helps me determine the alignments of decommissioned routes such as PA 71.

[Roadsguy]

One good thing about Apple Maps is it helps me determine the alignments of decommissioned routes such as PA 71.

They show a route on the map that's been decommissioned for 50 years? Or is that a special setting?

working on my site

Like the gallery?

[PAHighways]

One good thing about Apple Maps is it helps me determine the alignments of decommissioned routes such as PA 71.

They show a route on the map that's been decommissioned for 50 years? Or is that a special setting?

No special settings need changed.

It shows many other decommissioned or old alignments of relocated state routes such as PA 229 in Allentown or PA 766 in Jeannette to name a few.

working on my site

Like the gallery?

It'd take too long trying to Photoshop the "haze" out of those images.