It certainly affects the usefulness in the UK. I used Apple Maps to direct me to a major superstore. The location was off by a few hundred meters… leading Apple Maps to direct me to the wrong road and get stuck in traffic trying to get back for 15 minutes.
When low on fuel I asked AM to direct me to the nearest filling station… which turned out to be an empty field 2 miles from the nearest filling station.
AM also recommended I take a shortcut through a military base.
I much prefer the look of and lack of clutter in Apple Maps, and it’s privacy, and that it shows traffic lights on the map. But unfortunately its data is still way behind Google’s.
Maybe it’s a northeast city thing? I currently live in Boston and Apple Maps has taken me on so many detours that I’ve given up on using it for driving directions. (However it’s really great for walking and transit directions when taking the T around town). I never had this many issues with it when I was living in the Midwest.
Loved the episode good update on the new features. We reside in Singapore but still find it remarkably accurate and useful even for mass transit. I also liked the discussion on What3Words. I think this is an exciting technology with lots of potential uses. Would love to see Google or Apple Maps be able to interpret the W3W and give directions. Currently you have to start from the W3W app and then use it to launch Google or Apple Maps to navigate… I personally find the best use cases for large spaces like state parks, stadiums, or even Disney. Some friends and I were recently at the Singapore F1 and sued W3W to locate each other, it worked slick.
Ahh, OK, thank you, I wasn’t aware, that they are making a difference on that!
Did they brought that back with iOS16?
It still seems to be not available on Monterey?
W3W is not that bad, as you are showing it here. It might have issues, that should be adressed and corrected, but overall it is doing a pretty good job.
Mapcode is an other system, I became aware of, with an similar approach.
What we really need, would be an App, that could use ALL of these different systems to show an position reliable, independent from the system locally used.
I’m about halfway through the episode but haven’t heard about the 3D mode on satellite images on the Mac. I must be missing something, but it’s so easy to invoke on my iPhone, yet nearly impossible on the Mac. Am I missing something?
I really like the share my location feature in maps. I usually use it with family as we travel on vacations to places. There is one issue I have found and that is for someone to get alert that you are sharing your current location with them they need notifications turned on in Maps. I’m not sure if that is something most people had told to turn off at first launch because they wouldn’t know why Maps would want that or turned off by default.
Noticed the same behavior on Photos when making shared albums.
Replying to my own post, I found the flip side of Google’s vast amount of data a few days ago. I was in central Scotland driving along unfamiliar, major roads with complex junctions using Google Maps.
Google’s display has far too much information to be practical. It shows you multiple alternative routes. It shows you the traffic flows not only on your route but on every other road around (who cares?!). It shows some side roads as white on light grey (really?).
After getting the directions wrong twice I stopped and switched to Apple Maps. It was beautiful. Nicely presented and only the relevant information I needed shown on screen. An oasis of calm.
I typically use Waze as my primary navigation when driving. I like the background on Apple Maps better though. The primary thing I like about Waze is police notifications. I’ve never had that pop up using Apple Maps. What I do like to do is use Waze notifications in the background to receive warnings, and have Apple Maps on the screen. Also, I found the difference between how Apple Maps and Waze locate my vehicle on the screen. Apple Maps seems to be a little bit ahead of my location and Waze seems to be a little bit behind.
Completely agree. I also find the distance to junctions when driving doesn’t make sense. I use Waze which has a nicer UI (and better traffic/camera alerts).
Also… why oh why doesn’t Google Maps or Apple Maps show your current speed when driving?
I forgot about location. I will always start out with Apple Maps to show my location (especially in a parking lot or something), and then maybe I’ll consider switching to another map.
Apple Maps is like coloring with a sharp pencil Waze is like coloring with a Texas sized sharpie
Regarding the comments on the Episode concerning wired CarPlay vs. wireless CarPlay, I can say that the wireless CarPlay built into my Lincoln has been very fast and easy to use. From what I heard, Stephen and David both have aftermarket head units with CarPlay as well as aftermarket BT dongles being used to mimic a wireless connection in an older car and an older truck. I did have a BT dongle in my 2018 Lincoln with only wired CarPlay and it did exhibit slowness at connecting and reacting with a wireless CarPlay dongle, but my new 2021 car with wireless CarPlay built is lightning fast, just like using a cable. Combined with the wireless charging pad in the console to charge the iPhone, it all works great.
One way that I like to get directions to places is through the Calendar app on CarPlay. I’ll frequently add an address to an appointment in Calendar on my iMac (or iPad or iPhone), and when you go to the Calendar app in CarPlay, the appointment is there along with an option to give you directions (via Maps) to the destination. Very cool and easy! Touch the button on the screen, the directions load and off you go.
Haven’t listened yet. Do they discuss how Apple gets its real time traffic data, and suggested alternate routes to save time? That’s my number one thing I care about. I like using Apple Maps but in a jam I am always a little nervous that I might be getting better up-to-the-minute traffic and alternate route suggestion info from Google Maps or Waze.
Is this knowable? I know google has a decade head start on existing map info, businesses, etc. But I am much more curious about the relative accuracy and robustness of the real time traffic data with the two map systems.
