Maps in iOS6 is virtually Useless

Does anyone else find the mew Maps App in iOS6 so poor as to be virtually useless for finding even the most visited of locations, let alone navigation?

I reside in Macau, but as a non Chinese reader I can only see the Chinese language map for Macau. To make matters worse, try to find just about any location and the App fails to come even close. eg. The Venetian Macau can not be located, nor can Macau Tower. Don't event try to find a business, even if you have the address.

How can Apple release something so bad, best to release iOS6 without the map app until it is fit for release. It would never have happened under the leadership Steve Jobs. Is this the sign of things to come? Is apple gong the way of others and just out for the fast buck,?

I think it's been well-established that the Apple Maps app is a first generation mapping app that will be refined over time. That said, there's plenty of third-party mapping applications that can fill the gap. Google Earth, for one, should be able to give you the detail you desire.

Apple Maps works fine here in Victoria, BC. But of course that's part of North America, which any new mapping app is going to start off getting right first.

I find it kind of amusing how people are freaking out about this. YES, I think it was a mistake on Apple's part to REMOVE the Google Maps app before Apple's own Maps app was fully cooked. But have you really never used a 1.0 software release before?

I think because Apple got iOS so right on the first try people appear to now believe that every Apple app springs fully-formed and perfect out of Cupertino like one of Zeus' children. Not so.

Pull up a chair and I'll tell you about iMovie 07 ...

Whilst I accept that all new apps will have the odd bug or two in, thins is not just an odd bug or two, it is a totally unusable app. From all the posts I see in various blogs etc not just for me but for many many others too.

A lot of us rely on Maps when we are going about our everyday lives, both wrk and pleasure, so to release an app that is not just buggy, but bam right useless and at the same time take off a tried and tested app is to say the least annoying if not dam right stupid.

If I had made an error of thins magnitude in my work, I would expect, and rightly so, to be looking for a new job right now.

What in my mind makes it worse is to see the Apple response, which instead of owning up the the monumental foul up, says in effect its a new app, live with it. not to mention the more you use it the easier it will be. Oh that I could use it!! it is so bam bad in Macau that it is unusable here.

I used it for the first time on the bike yesterday to get to a place id never been before, and quite rural. Did the job perfectly. So I guess it depends on the place.

Hi,

Defiantly feel it is a location thing and as has been said will be updated and resolved within a short time. Used in the UK the other night and was spot on giving directions and distances.

maps

you can still get google maps. Go to maps.google.com through safari, export and add to your desktop or phone and you will have access to that application. Works as I have done it on IPAD and IPHONE

The problem is that they're now so anti-Google that the iOS6 update automatically removes Google Maps and replaces it with something that many/most people find useless. One person I know (in the UK) has had to abandon using his iPhone for navigation in his company vehicle and go back the Tom-Tom he used before.

I believe (haven't tried it) that if Google Maps is removed on installation of iOS6 and you then manually reinstall it, you lose all your waypoints and any database of maps you've built up. For someone like the friend above that's a major kick in the teeth.

I miss street view, google earth doesn't seem to offer that when you zoom in. (I only spent a few seconds trying and would like to be told different)

gazzastrip said:

I miss street view, google earth doesn't seem to offer that when you zoom in. (I only spent a few seconds trying and would like to be told different)

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That is my main complaint too . . .

peterbj7 said:

The problem is that they're now so anti-Google that the iOS6 update automatically removes Google Maps and replaces it with something that many/most people find useless.

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I updated my iPad2 to iOS6 and Google Maps is still available and working.

Lightcraftsman said:

I updated my iPad2 to iOS6 and Google Maps is still available and working.

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How did you manage that? I still have a Maps Icon, but it pulls from Apple Maps (TomTom) now instead of Google Maps.

Razormac said:

How did you manage that? I still have a Maps Icon, but it pulls from Apple Maps (TomTom) now instead of Google Maps.

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I upgraded through Settings/Software Update and Google Maps is still in my iPad 2, and fully functional. As much as I detest Google Maps on iOS I must admit Apple's Maps app need a lot of improvement, but it does have a few advantages over Google Maps. Turn-by-turn directions being chief among them.

Has anyone tried the turn by turn voice commands? I couldn't get it work on my iPhone 4S. Siri is on and the volume is turned up.

Anthony88 said:

it is a totally unusable app.

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You undermine your credibility when you use unfounded absolutes and superlatives you clearly don't actually mean.

I used Maps twice yesterday. Worked perfectly both times. Therefore, your argument is invalid.

Unlike you, I'm not actually saying your opinion is wrong. For you, where you are, in your particular situation, maybe the app is (almost) useless. I don't disbelieve you at all.

I'm just saying that if I could travel back to 2007 and see how well the original release of Google Maps on the original iPhone worked in Macau, I wonder if it would be better? I somehow have doubts about that ...

I think Apple made a mistake in removing the Google version of the Maps app before their own Maps app was more fully cooked and global. But I also think they had good reasons for replacing Google (eventually) for maps, and I have the luxury of waiting for them to improve the program as I know they will. It's a free service with no ads, it's worth noting ...

In the meantime, there is NO shortage of alternative navigation apps in the App Store, and you can continue to use Google Maps all you want ... as a web app. The web version actually has MUCH more functionality than the iOS version did!

chas_m said:

You undermine your credibility when you use unfounded absolutes and superlatives you clearly don't actually mean.

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I agree - we wouldn't want to engage in such discussion right?

chas_m said:

I ... think they had good reasons for replacing Google (eventually) for maps

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What reasons are those? I only know of the commercial ones.

peterbj7 said:

What reasons are those? I only know of the commercial ones.

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As I understand it (if I understand it) is Google and Apple were at odds on allowing turn-by-turn in Google Maps on iOS. Who is at fault I don't know, but apparently Google would not allow it, though it is a feature on Android systems.

However, in my not so humble opinion, instead of replacing, Apple should have just added there own APP.

It's a very difficult situation for everybody. Google started out by sourcing information from their users, and still does to this day. Their Maps app was no different than Apple's is at this point, but the one thing they did which was different was to develop a web based Map application, which helped in aiding the amount of users who had access to it, and thus were able to submit error reports and such.

Apple needs to do this in one form or another, for several reasons. For one thing, the iOS Maps app is a pain in the rear to use for reporting errors and such, from an operational POV. Secondly, and this ties in to using Maps in general.. when one is actually "using" a GPS app for coordinates and getting around, the last thing they're going to do is use it to make corrections for a corporation when they already have an existing, working application!

This is the crux of the matter, for me, at least. I mean ok, I'm really cool with contributing to the data pool and reporting issues etc.. But ask yourself something. When is it exactly, that you are using a map application? When you're actually going somewhere and need accurate information, right? The problem is that we have had a working and accurate system with google maps (if that is your sole source of gps data) for years now.

So what we are being asked is, to start from scratch more or less. We are being asked to rely on a second form of data (if available) and confirm that the original is indeed correct and relay that back to Apple if not. Just seems like something most will not want to do when on a schedule to get somewhere, is all I'm saying.

What I'm not understanding here, is why Apple doesn't reference existing correct data and use it to further tune or fine tune the new Maps app? Or is there perhaps a bigger problem at the core, where the data is actually correct, but the database has been corrupted somehow? I mean, obviously... most addresses and POI's exist, but are a lot of the time seen in the wrong location. That has to count for something in terms of there being a glitch somewhere, no?

I dunno. Personally speaking, I'm still on 5.1.1 but that's mostly because I have an iPhone 4. I'm not sure that there would be any gain in moving up to 6 at this point.

Doug

Someone else pointed out that Apple have issued an early beta product and want customers to provide free testing and product development for them. The odd correction is fine, but when it gets to the scale this is reported as it's getting a bit naughty.