What is bad about apple maps

Apple’s maps: good, bad or just dangerous to know?

Lone Boab tree in scrubland, The Kimberley, Western Australia. Not a place to get lost — but not a place many reviewers test phones in either. Photograph: Oliver Strewe/Getty Images

Lone Boab tree in scrubland, The Kimberley, Western Australia. Not a place to get lost — but not a place many reviewers test phones in either. Photograph: Oliver Strewe/Getty Images

Apparently I shouldn’t ever have liked Apple’s Maps app.

When I tested the iPhone 5 for my review, after its announcement but ahead of its official release, I was struck by a number of things about it – particularly how different the iOS 6 Maps app was.

Google Maps, in the iOS 5 version, was good enough for many uses. But it wasn’t great. For a start, it used rasters – every screen was in effect a separate download, so when you dragged the map to look at the adjacent locations, it initiated a whole new download. Zoom in or out – more downloading, because you’re looking at slightly different pictures. (This is how it works on the desktop, but it preloads the tiles on each edge so you don’t notice any delay.)

Raster maps, as I know from the time campaigning for people who wanted access to the UK Ordnance Survey’s vector map data, are a pain. They’re otherwise known as «tiles»; you see the raster tiling effect most clearly when you switch to satellite view on an online map, and the picture fills in square by square. That’s what Google’s maps – as the default maps app – used to do on iOS 5. It chews up data, and it’s highly dependent on network connectivity. Barely anything is cached.

Also, on iOS 5 you couldn’t get turn-by-turn navigation without buying a separate app – unlike Google’s Android, where since 2011 it has been built into the maps.

So when I tried out the iPhone 5, and discovered that Apple’s Maps app used vector mapping (where a huge amount of the map is downloaded straight away, in a form where the elements are encoded by their spatial relationship, not as a fixed picture), and also included turn-by-turn navigation, I was impressed. That’s good, I thought.

I tried it out for some navigation near where I live, which is very rural, and where the signal while you’re driving is patchy. And it worked well. I searched for a destination; the search found it first time. I set up the route and it found a shortcut I didn’t know about. Directions were given by (computer-generated) voice. When I had to divert because a road was closed, it re-routed without complaint. Even better, I thought.

Of course, you expect that from a dedicated satnav, but compared with what had gone before – where you’d have been wrestling with the phone and trying to figure out where you were and where you needed to be, with only the silent text of your route directions on screen – it was a colossal improvement. As I noted in the review, it brought feature parity with Android.

I also looked at what there was around London, which I also know, having lived there for many years. I tried typical searches that one does for locations (ie places where I’d lived). I looked at what there seemed to be offered. I looked at places where I’d lived. It seemed fine.

The news in May that Google was sidelined as the provider of maps for the iPhone (in any phone that runs iOS 6, to be released later on Wednesday 19 September) caused a fair amount of hand-wringing and worry. Would it be as good? Or would it just use some in-between rubbish?

Don’t worry – it’s very good. Here we need to distinguish between the maps themselves, and the maps app. The maps don’t have all the highlighting of Google’s, but the amount of detail such as road names seems to me greater.

Now – did I try to drive to Mildura in Australia? No. Did I look up places called «Airfield» in Ireland? Nope. I just used it like I use maps most of the time, while trying to use other elements of the phone too. On that limited basis, I thought that Apple’s maps were very good. They’d taken me where I wanted to go, found shortcuts, re-routed, didn’t use so much data, and were better than what had gone before.

Of course when Apple’s maps began to be more widely used, and the list of errors in them began appearing and kept on coming, my brief summary in my iPhone 5 review based on my experience, that they were «very good», looked pretty foolish. Certainly, a small group has since enjoyed playing Nelson Muntz in the comments. Ha-ha.

In retrospect, yes, I should have tested the new maps element in iOS 6 more thoroughly. At the time I thought I had. One of the challenges of doing reviews is trying to figure out what will be important to people, and what won’t; companies frequently give you thick «reviewer’s guides» with the intention of directing you at particular things, but those don’t tell you whether, say, maps will be more important than photos to many users. Nor is it self-evident that you should search for airfields, or remote Australian towns. (This is Apple’s problem too.) What if some devastating flaw had been lurking in the Passbook system, but I hadn’t been able to test it sufficiently to find it, and so commended something that was no good? Well, ha-ha. (The other reviewing challenge, of course, being limited time.)

The simple solution to that would be to do a review where you studiously avoid passing any opinion at all. You don’t say if you think something is good or bad. You just recount what’s there — a laundry list you could get off the side of the box. I don’t enjoy reading those reviews, and don’t think they provide anything useful; cereal boxes are more entertaining. If you don’t have an opinion about something, you probably don’t care about it. A product or service should ideally have provoked some emotion — for or against.

So do I still think Apple’s maps are «very good»? Well, I’ve been using an iPhone, and using the iOS 6 maps system for navigation regularly, and they still haven’t led me astray. They’ve kept navigating me to places I need to get to without hassle. This, I know, isn’t the experience of everyone; some have had terrible experiences. (Apple may have been lucky not to have a fatality over the Mildura mislocation.) The Nelson Muntzes demand – Spanish Inquisition-style – that I recant; that I shouldn’t like the experience of using Apple’s maps, on behalf of anyone else who doesn’t. (More odd is that many of the Muntzes don’t seem to be iOS 6 – or even iPhone – users themselves, so I don’t know where their experience of it comes from.) If maps contain any mistakes, they can’t be «good». At all.

Trouble is, that’s still not my experience. Are Apple’s maps perfect? Nope. Could they be better? Yes. Are they getting better? Actually, they are. Are Google’s maps even better? Yes, far better — but until now, with the availability of Google’s Maps app, you couldn’t get the vector maps and turn-by-turn functionality, which are what is actually needed now at this stage of smartphone development.

Not having that functionality was far worse – unless all you really needed was location, rather than navigation. Google’s data on iOS 5 provided great location, but no navigation, and I’ve already been in situations where navigation became much more important than location. I know of other people who aren’t rabidly attached to any platform who haven’t had a problem with the maps. But the errors are there nevertheless.

So, I’m sorry that my review didn’t pick up the fact that Apple’s Maps fall short for a number of people. I called them «very good» because I was comparing them with what had gone before on the iPhone, and my experience was positive. Vectors beat rasters any day; similarly, free turn-by-turn voice-directed navigation beats none. Some of Apple’s errors were egregious. But many were also well-hidden until a huge number of people started using them. Location and navigation is at least partly a search business, and if you don’t try the right searches, you won’t find the flaws in the arrangement of the data. I failed to find the right searches.

Now, here’s the thing: Google’s maps are superb. The choices of colours, for instance, are outstanding (blue for motorways in Britain; Apple still uses yellow, the same as interstate highways — motorway equivalents — in the US). The fine detail, such as minor roads, is picked out with higher contrast. Google simply does it better.

And here’s the other thing. A number of people seem to have been holding off updating to iOS 6 after hearing about the problems with Apple’s maps. Now that Google’s Maps app has landed, they’re heading off to update their phones — which means that the default Maps app that used Google’s raster data will be replaced by Apple’s one, and Apple’s maps will be the default when people search for locations.

That means Apple has a growing number of people who are using its maps app. More data means better maps. The whole experience of launching their own maps service has surely scarred Apple’s executives — and gotten a couple fired — but the irony is that it now has what it wanted all along: vector mapping and turn-by-turn navigation on the iPhone. And users have not one, but two free versions to choose from. Competition turns out to be good. Very good, in fact.

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Question: Q: Why is IOS 15 maps bad?

The new IOS 15 made the apple map terrible. It sometime just stay quiet and when your near the turn. It doesn’t say turn at all, just silence. The old Apple Maps used to talk all the time and tell you what side of the road you should be on or when to turn.

iPhone 12 Pro Max, iOS 15

Posted on Sep 22, 2021 3:59 PM

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I’ve been having the exact same issue. I hope they update maps soon.

Sep 26, 2021 9:45 PM

I’ve noticed map data is now at least 4 years old with iOS 15, on iOS 14, it was about 2 years old. My across the street neighbor who moved in 4 years ago, his house is now a vacant lot, no dirt work has even started.

Sep 26, 2021 11:31 PM

Exactly same issues. I am having lot of issues since iOS 15 update. Even find that lot of businesses are misplaced, the direction are worse than it used to be… the other day ended up driving into a mall from the side oposite you the real entrance.

I would hate having to come back to google once again, as I like the look and feel of Apple maps…

Oct 13, 2021 5:25 AM

ive Noticed that too! So weird that they’d change the data to the old maps.

Oct 18, 2021 6:17 AM

The new Apple Maps is horrible. It never loads and if it does it takes forever.

Nov 2, 2021 2:20 PM

iOS15.1 Map is outdated by at least 6 years. I bought a rental home and had many trees cut away from roof, added large shed and added a paver patio in Oct. 2016. Map updated and it goes to previous owners in Spring’16. Current home, road or neighborhood isn’t on “new update” our current home was built in 2017 and doesn’t exist according to Apple

Nov 11, 2021 4:31 PM

When is Apple going to fix the map problem?? It was so good in IOS 14. PLEASE fix it.

Dec 5, 2021 12:32 PM

Question: Q: Why is IOS 15 maps bad? More Less

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Reviews on Apple Maps: A Complete Guide

Apple has released the ability to review most businesses in the US. It is fast, easy and hard to spam. Learn the what’s, why’s and wherefores of this significant new review platform.

Mike Blumenthal

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Mike Blumenthal

• Apple only allows a thumbs-up or down rating (no text review), but enables ratings on multiple business attributes, for more nuance.
• Unlike Google, Apple includes defamatory, libelous, harmful, unlawful and deceptive information as explicit content violations.
• Apple Maps ratings should dramatically cut down on review spam. But its approach to moderation remains to be tested.

Apple has finally rolled out their native Apple Map review and rating system in the United States. The feature has been available in the UK and Australia for some time but it appears that Apple has broadly rolled out the feature internationally as well.

How do you leave a review on Apple Maps?

When viewing a business on Apple Maps in a reviewable category, the call to action is a simple thumbs up or down. Tapping either icon takes you to a second screen where you can add thumbs up/down across a range of attributes. You are also given the choice of adding a photo at that time.

In all, it takes 15 seconds (I timed it) to complete the attributes and probably no more than a minute total if you go to the effort of adding a photo.

When you search for a business the option to leave a thumbs up/down rating is right under the business name and any third party reviews. When selected you are taken to a second screen. Here the user is presented with just an opportunity to add a photo or first select attributes and then add a photo

What is a review on Apple Maps?

Apple has made leaving feedback on a business very simple with a Netflix-style thumbs up or down for many business categories. The rating feature does not include any written review, but for many categories Apple also allows for an additional thumbs up and thumbs down rating of attributes.

While a thumbs up/down only approach without any text is not very revealing (with only two possible statuses), when viewed together, the specific attributes can present quite a nuanced picture of a business overall.

Unlike a simple 5-star rating system, Apple’s thumbs up/down overall plus three individual attributes can provide up to 56 possible rating combinations. And because they include attributes, one can learn a great deal about a given place.

For example a dingy dinner might be a wonderful experience with great food and service but a terrible atmosphere. The system provides a lot of structured detail that a simple 5-star rating system can not.

These attributes vary by category, with some businesses having no attributes while others having either two or three additional attributes. There may be more variety in these attributes but here are a range of examples I’ve found so far.

New Car Dealer has only the top level thumbs up/down and no attributes Physical retail shows products + customer service Tire service location includes services in lieu of products Restaurants include three additional attributes

Some categories, like healthcare, only allow the top level thumbs up/down with no ability to leave more nuanced attributes. And many categories like banks, professional services and academic institutions offer no ability to leave any rating what so ever.

An example of healthcare only allowing a top level thumbs up/down but no attributes Lawyers, professional services, government and academic instittuions do not allow ratings

Surprisingly, hotels do not currently allow any rating. Whether this is due to some previously existing contractual obligation, or the fact that Apple has enough worldwide data in that category from their third party providers is unclear.

Where’s the Beef?

Not having review content but having multiple attributes blurs the line between a review and ratings. It is neither fish nor fowl in the review world and as such it has certain weaknesses.

Most text from consumers is perfunctory and not very useful. Not offering text allows the reviewer to cut to the meat of the issue more quickly. That being said by not having any text, it is difficult to understand why any one review was negative. Customer service could be bad because an employee was rude or it could be bad because the system to provide service was fatally flawed.

Neither the consumer nor the business will be able to tell why. That limits some of the power of reviews for business improvement. Most consumers on the other hand will find the high level summaries (when they become available) more useful than just a simple star rating or a star rating with perfunctory text that is never read.

What are Apple Maps’ User Content Guidelines?

Unlike Google, Apple provides country-specific user guidelines for reviews. It is not clear how much these guidelines vary per country, but in the U.S., the terms include many of the standard clauses, including leaving the copyright to the review in the hands of the reviewer, while Apple retains the right to use the reviews in any way they see fit.

Google has long relied on hiding behind Section 230 and their Terms of Service to avoid having to deal with contentious or libelous review content. Apple, on the other hand, includes defamatory, libelous, harmful, unlawful, deceptive as reasons for a content violation. Given that there is no text currently available in an Apple review it is not clear how selecting thumbs up or down and including a photo could ever lead to one of those violations.

Apple, again unlike Google, is quite clear about what can and can not be in reviews and photos noting that your «submission must not including any of the following content or elements»:

• Profanity or offensive hand gestures
• Nudity exposing private areas
• Blood
• Weapons
• Blackmail
• Child exploitation materials
• Sexual activity or content
• Drugs or drug paraphernalia
• Prostitution
• Filters
• Overlays
• Collages
• Poor lighting (i.e., too dark or bright making subject not visible)
• Blurry
• Watermarks
• Copyright notices
• Date or time stamps
• Emojis or selfies
• Aspect ratio greater than 2.2:1
• Format other than JPEG, PNG or HEIC
• Resolution of less than 960×1280 or greater than 4864×4864
• Edited from raw image
• Clipart
• Stock photos
• Redundant photos

In what countries are Apple Maps reviews live?

According to Apple’s website, the feature is available in over 60 countries including the U.S., Australia, the U.K. and what appears to be all of Europe. Besides the U.S. and Canada (both English and French), Apple includes 9 countries in Central and South America, 15 countries in the Asia Pacific region and 41 countries in Europe.

A few European countries like Hungary and a number in the Asia Pacific region offer ratings in English only, but most are available in the country’s native tongue. Apple is offering reviews in 29 different languages.

More interesting is the countries in which Apple Maps ratings are not yet available (or for which they do not provide guidelines) including France, India, all of the Middle East and Africa.

Reviews are however available in Hong Kong and Chinese speaking areas as well.

Where do Apple ratings show?

So far in the US the rating is currently only shown to the person leaving it, and they do not yet appear when others view the listing. While the review call to action is readily visible on mobile, it appears that the desktop ability to leave a review is in the process of rolling out. Some users see the feature and others do not.

In areas of the world where there are Apple reviews (and no Yelp reviews) they are shown very high in the listing.

Where and when these ratings will become visible for public consumption in the US and how Yelp reviews will be handled on listings where there are both is not yet clear.

Has Apple solved the «review problem»?

With this rollout Apple has dealt with several very significant issues with reviews.

The first is the reviewer’s user experience. A user can provide a fairly detailed review in a very short time.

When the reviews become publicly-visible, the format will allow Apple to solve for one of the ongoing issues of review value by distinguishing between aspects of the service and acknowledging that a 5-star business may not do everything well. This could be particularly helpful in the restaurant space where a great restaurant can be anything from a dive to a romantic experience.

Apple, with over a billion phones in use, also knows the identity of every reviewer. For many reviewers, Apple has a long history and experience with that user, knows their travel patterns and even has their credit card on file.

Apple knows that I was near the Beef and Barrel yesterday. Actually I rode my bike by on my way home and I didn’t actually go inside.

This will make sock puppetry and reviews by fake users very difficult to execute. It will also make it very expensive for spammers to leave reviews, given that one iPhone can only leave one review at one location. It should dramatically cut down on possibilities for review spam right from the start.

However, good moderation still will require both automated and human intervention, and it remains to be seen how well Apple will handle reviews that violate the guidelines but that are not caught by their automated system.

Will Apple be responsive to the business community and quickly take down those reviews? It is one of the hardest problems in reviews and we will have to wait and see how Apple handles this.

The Bottom Line

Apple has, in their typical fashion, released a unique spin on reviews. One that will likely have a large role in the local ecosystem and be widely used by consumers.

I first wrote about Apple reviews almost exactly one year ago when they were first spotted in the iOS 14 beta. At the time, I noted that consumers could be winners and Yelp could be a loser in all of this. The full rollout has solidified that opinion.

Apple has, over the past year, refined and rolled reviews out to most of the world.

While Apple’s ability to provide moderation is still in question, they offer a fresh take on reviews that should be welcome by consumers and businesses alike.

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