from Hacker News

Apple Maps' Acceleration (2020)

by chenglou on 10/12/21, 4:15 AM with 117 comments

• by ChrisMarshallNY on 10/12/21, 9:20 AM

  I’m using Apple Maps for the app that I’m developing now.

  The alternative would not have been Google Maps. It would have been MapBox.

  Google Maps will give app developers like me severe sticker shock. I watched a friend of mine get it in the shorts (forcing him to switch to MapBox). After watching that, I decided that I will never depend on Google services as a linchpin technology. In fact, it simply hardened my resolve to avoid third-party dependence, wherever possible.

  When I started the project I’m working on now, Apple Maps had already grown to cover all of the US, albeit not as well as Google Maps. I’ve been seeing Apple Maps cars driving around here, for at least a couple of years.

  I’m pretty confident that relying on Apple Maps was not a mistake.

• by lnanek2 on 10/12/21, 3:19 PM

  Even if Apple Maps doesn't have as much data as Google, the experience is so much better. Makes a lot of sense that Google is copying it as per the article.

  Whenever I use Google Maps, it constantly harasses me about how there's a slowdown ahead, puts a little tray across the bottom of the screen hiding the information I care about, with no way to get rid of it except tapping and other nonsense. I searched throughout the settings and can't find anyway to turn off all these annoying pop ups it has. Someone needs to write an ad blocker for it.

  Apple Maps not only doesn't constantly harass me with meaningless notifications I can't dismiss without taking my hands off the wheel, it also shows traffic lights, and the voice over instructions include them as well. With Google I often turn too early or too late because it isn't very clear exactly when to turn. With Apple Maps that happens a lot less because Siri will flat out tell you, turn at this light, turn at the next light, etc..

• by websap on 10/12/21, 4:17 PM

  I've been recently trying out the new Apple maps' turn by turn navigation. Some of the directions are almost human like - "Take a left at next traffic light" Must say makes driving directions easier to follow compared to take a left on X street, when I can't even see what X street is at night.

• by sandgiant on 10/12/21, 7:15 AM

  > Perhaps the most noticeable difference between Apple’s old and new maps is all of the vegetation detail Apple has added.

  I really don't understand the way they blend forests and fields together. It used to be that forests and grasslands were marked green and agricultural land was white, so you could easily tell the difference. Now they are the same, or nearly the same, color while the difference in landscape is massive. To actually tell the difference now you have to switch to the satellite map.

  I don't see how this is adding more detail. If anything it's providing less information.

• by littlestymaar on 10/12/21, 8:49 AM

  I still don't understand why Apple map is so bad compared to OpenStreetMap given that they contribute a lot to it (they are even the biggest company contributor to OSM). There must be a reason, legal or something, but why don't they just use OSM as a default for places they didn't map by themselves?

  [1]: https://www.gislounge.com/openstreetmap-one-of-the-worlds-la...

• by tylerrobinson on 10/12/21, 5:44 PM

  Every time I've tried Apple Maps, I run into the same problem--it doesn't seem to predict your realtime location ahead by X feet to account for your speed and delay in GPS signal. Google Maps does this. The result is that on Apple Maps, your position is "behind" where you really are at the moment, and it's harder to make the turn. Google's tradeoff is that if you miss a turn, it will momentarily show your position as if you'd made the turn correctly. Perhaps this is a matter of preference, but I am much more successful at navigating while driving using Google Maps than with Apple Maps.

• by mulmen on 10/12/21, 9:14 AM

  I’m on the big island of Hawaii and Apple Maps is basically useless. I can’t find my hostel by name. I also can’t find it by address. It’s just very bad.

• by dchest on 10/12/21, 8:20 AM

  Meanwhile, in other parts of the world it cannot even get the shape of land and country borders right. Here's an example on the border of Montenegro and Albania: https://imgur.com/a/B3aVJYH

• by throwawaysea on 10/12/21, 6:26 AM

  This article is from last year but the latest iOS 15 updates show how mature Apple maps has become (see https://www.macrumors.com/guide/ios-15-maps/). It’s not just at parity but actually better than Google maps. It has beautiful rendering and easy readability, and I haven’t encountered odd routing issues for a couple years now. The added privacy is a welcome bonus. The only thing missing is a way to report police presence like on Waze.

  I’ve been impressed by Apple’s pace and wish there was more I could read about their engineering and product journey for the maps product.

• by gordon_freeman on 10/12/21, 4:37 PM

  I recently started using Apple Maps in my car using CarPlay and just pleasantly surprised with some nice features as showing STOP and SIGNAL signs on the map so I know when to stop way beforehand in my mind rather than straining my eyes to look for those signs when I get closer to them. Makes a huge difference when you are tired and can not focus 100% when driving.

• by TedShiller on 10/12/21, 5:23 PM

  To compete, Apple Maps will also need to have a fully accessible web version

• by GeekyBear on 10/12/21, 9:47 AM

  Since this 2020 post, Apple's home grown map data has extended to all of the US and it's territories, Canada, Ireland, The U.K., Spain, Portugal, and Italy.

  I believe Australia is the next addition.

  https://www.justinobeirne.com/new-apple-maps-expansion-12

  You can access the Apple Maps web interface through DuckDuckGo.

  https://duckduckgo.com/?q=Rome+Italy&ia=web&iaxm=maps

• by rcarmo on 10/12/21, 9:24 AM

  This needs a (2020) in the title.

• by alberth on 10/12/21, 3:16 PM

  Google = data company

  Apple = design company, who's getting better at being a data company

  As an aside, I really love reading these yearly posts from Justin. I always drop what I'm doing when I see one of these posts from him.

• by asymmetric on 10/12/21, 8:25 AM

  From 2020.

• by MrBuddyCasino on 10/12/21, 9:52 AM

  I discovered that Google Maps is consuming a huge amount of data, several GB during my last vacation, nearly depleting my contingent. How does Apple Maps compare?

• by echelon on 10/12/21, 7:21 AM

  I still don't get it. Apple is a company people cheer for, yet it continues to accrue substantial and dangerous power.

  They don't let you repair devices, install your own software, or run your business unfettered. They spy on your files. They coddle and report to authoritarian governments.

  This monopoly is lauded and praised as it continues to get bigger and encompass everything one does.

  I don't understand it.

  It hurts to watch this.