Apple Maps Review
Apple Maps has just gone live for less than three days and unfortunately, the flack it received from many users has been quite astounding. The iOS 6 no longer carry the Google Maps and instead replaced it with Apple’s own mapping service. The change may come unnoticed at the beginning because of the similar icon and interface that the new map app uses. However, once you give it a try even just for a number of times, you will find its many differences with that of Google’s.
The app has good points like the “flyover” feature that shows you 3D maps with an overhead view and the turn-by-turn directions given by Siri, that is easy-to-use and reliable. Some of its bad points are the unavailability of transit information and the weak content it provides in the search results.
It may be too early to tell if the Apple Maps would be a success or a failure. But for whatever its worth, read on and be the judge.
Advantages
The biggest advantage of the Maps app is its free turn-by-turn directions feature. This may have been available for Android phone for quite sometime now but unlike Apple’s, Android phone owners who wanted the feature need to subscribe to paid third-party app provider.
One other advantage of Maps over Google’s is its capability to provide satellite maps in 3D. This is made more interesting by another obvious advantage, the flyover feature. Imagine yourself in an airplane that is flying at a low altitude over a city. That is how entertaining these features can be.
Some improvements with the Maps are the availability of reviews for places of interest as well as the two-finger touch feature of re-orienting the map.
Losses
The database from Google is probably the Map’s greatest loss. The Apple Maps’ information on locations are sourced from Yelp, which fails in comparison to Google’s reliability. You can try searching for “coffee” on a particular street and there is a high possibility that it would return Starbucks but not any other privately-owned coffee shops along that street. Also, testing it side-by-side with Google Maps in searching for “Mac repair” would surely return businesses offering the service, but not as many as those returned by Google Maps. The disintegration from Google’s database would obviously mean losing the Street View feature as well.
If Google Maps has directions for mass transits, Apple Maps do not have that. You will find an icon of a tiny bus on the Map but it only lists transit apps from third-party providers. If that is not already disappointing you, press on the app that you have from the list and you will find yourself kicked out of the Maps app. Of course, you know that clicking on a transit app that you are not subscribed to will direct you to iTunes App Store.
There are many reasons why you might not favor this a lot. First, you have to switch from the map to check the area and then to the third-party app for the directions every single time. While in Google Maps would allow you to see both at the same time. Second, you might have found it difficult to get a reliable third-party transit app that can give you complete directions from your place of origin to the bus stop and then finally to your destination. Google Maps provide all of that.
Lastly, it may seem unreasonable to remove a free feature when it has been the preferred method of getting where you are supposed to be, especially if you rely on public transport a lot.
Going Back to the Old School
Surely, Apple would have already known these misses with their mapping service but we cannot expect the company to humble itself this early and make the Google Maps app available for use with the iOS6. An alternative is to use your device’s browser to navigate to Google’s website. While navigating to the website would provide you the similar mapping information including public transit, directions, businesses and bike routes, the compass and the street view features are removed.
Aside from these, the website’s interface would not provide the same experience that the actual Google Maps app provides. SInce you are accessing it from a browser, there would be a minor variation in terms of performance.
You may also want to take note that you would not be able to use the integration features with your address book and with Siri while you are on the website.
So far, the Apple Maps is not making any good impression but as mentioned earlier, it does not seem fair to pass the final judgement when the feature is just three days old. Who knows what other fine features you would discover as you play around with it. But just like in any contest, this round goes to Google Maps.
2012-09-21 03:43:33
Source: http://www.emate-econtent.org/applications/apple-maps-review/
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