entrada

A few observations after using the new iphone maps in Europe.

1. The point to point navigation worked extremely well when the address was determined to be a valid address. We used it for car travel in fairly remote areas and the turn by turn directions and routings were perfect. The voice is easy to understand and the alerts are provided just in time to be useful. The GPS seems to locate a moving vehicle precisely with no lag time. We had no experience with directions that were incorrect. We had several instances where the navigation system didn't recognize an address as being valid or thought the location was in a different city but this happens occasionally in the US with in car navigation also.

2. Using the maps as a tourist trying to locate addresses or sites without an address is very difficult. It is not at all as easy as the google maps were. You can not enter the name of a restaurant or a site you want to visit and have the map find it like you can in google. You have to enter the actual street address.
The only locations you can find by name are those that have Yelp icons.
The Yelp information the maps rely on is not consistent from City to City. In certain cities the important sites are referenced. However in most cases the map is littered with "McDonalds" locations, shops and other useless details but fails to show important sites (Churches, theaters, parks, etc.). As many have requested it would be nice to be able to turn off the Yelp icons since I found them to be worthless. I tried to use the web application of Google maps instead but it rarely seemed to work well. The GPS function was really slow and often didn't locate us correctly on the map. This may just have been my internet connection but I never got it to work well. I didn't try the other web based maps.

3. The CityMaps2Go app worked well and the GPS functioned all the time. These also do not use up internet data as long as you download the maps in advance using wifi. This app shows the important sites a tourist would be interested in that the apple maps often do not show.

wco81

Which city or country did you try this?

Did you have mobile data on?

I'm going to Italy in a couple of weeks. Wonder if Siri could understand me mangling Italian words for names of places.

entrada

We used the point by point directions in Italy. I had mobile data on and don't use Siri. We entered the addresses manually.

ckendall

Not sure how it would work in your case, but an Italian friend with an Italian Ipad managed to talk to Siri even with his Neapolitan accent.

MrDplus

My experience has been completely the opposite, but that's because I don't have addresses, but only names of hotels, restaurants, and landmarks. I've tried to use it for Warsaw, Brussels, and Rome.

Internaut

I think I'd recommend downloading Bing Maps as a backup while Apple irons out the issues. The needing an address is a bad one - Google's integration with its own search engine is a great asset in this respect.

MAN Pax

Or don't upgrade. That's my current strategy.

X3Skier

+1

BTW, the guy responsible for the new Apple Maps App was just fired from Apple. Not the only reason but when he would not sign an apology for the Maps fiasco as directed by the CEO, Tim Cook, it was the final straw and he hit the bricks, aka Sacked, made redundant, etc.

Cheers

DeafFlyer

Let's hope that means that they will bring back Google Maps soon.

Internaut

Not likely I'm afraid. Apple has invested a lot in the new Map software. They will get their, eventually. Personally, I'm happy I moved to Android a few months back - Google Maps was all too often my friend when I had the iPhone and it's still my friend on Android .

MrDplus

Meanwhile I've been using Google Maps on my browser. As Internaut said, Apple will get there eventually.

wco81

It's also a strategic move.

Location-based info is a big deal and there's no way you can outsource that to a competitor. It's no more likely than MS using Google Search on their devices.


I just tried loading a custom map and trying directions on the mobile version of Google Maps on my browser.

Not the smoothest experience. It showed the list of custom POIs but when I tapped on one of them, there was no option to have directions. So I had to manually key in the names of places and it worked okay (public transport directions) but I created a custom map with POIs so I wouldn't have to re-search them again. Well that and mainly for printing out custom maps. I think I could make it work in a pinch.

But if Google does produce their own Maps app. for iOS, I will certainly be installing it.

wco81

BTW, that was for a Verona map.

I also tried MetrO, downloaded the transit info for Verona and it also produced good directions, plus I know it works offline.

But it doesn't show a map of the directions like Google Maps and I can't just tap in the name of my hotel. I have to either give it an address or pick a nearby landmark, like a Piazza.

Big_Dutch

Not sure that's an accurate account. If he were fired he would no longer be employed by Apple, he's staying on as an advisor until the end of the year.

The head of Retail on the other hand got fired.

kburges

have you tried naokia maps