back to article Fans rap Apple's 'crap' Map app

Apple today faced the ire of thousands of irritated iOS 6 users who upgraded to the new version of the iDevice operating system only to discover the Cupertino's new Maps app is, well, pants. As we noted in our review of iOS 6 yesterday, Apple dropped Google's mapping system in favour of one of its own. The result is an …

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  1. Tom_
    Thumb Down

    Road colours are wrong too

    It really is rubbish when they've got A roads in yellow and B roads in white. WTF?!

    1. Bob Vistakin
      Facepalm

      Re: Road colours are wrong too

      They didn't include NFC because "it wasn't ready for prime time" but let it ship with this shit? Steve Jobs was a hypocritical thief, but at least he had standards - he'd either have stuck with Google until ready or pulled it all completely. He'd never have let this ship.

      I'd say give it a month for the first batch to get out, then watch the real reviews as the backlash begins and the iSheep realise they've been screwed again and have to wait another full year till they get to even last years Android levels of functionality.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Road colours are wrong too

        This news means those of us that really use the maps can sit back on v5 until the Google App is released.

    2. Shagbag

      Shit-for-brains Archeaologist

      "One iPad owner who uses Google Maps for close-up viewing of archaeological sites said: 'With iOS 5, I had generally very good resolution, colour imagery of ancient sites, enough to see features not readily seen on the ground. Now the resolution is lower, so I can't zoom in to examine a feature so closely as before, and many areas are presented in black and white.'"

      Using an iPad for viewing archaeological sites?

      Fucking idiot.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Shit-for-brains Archeaologist

        He never said he was an archaeologist.

        He might be an archaeology student in which case he can see sites from all around the world. Or he might just be an enthusiast with a passion for history.

      2. Stan the man

        Re: Shit-for-brains Archeaologist

        I think the problem is in the wording of the article. Aerial photography is used extensively in identifying possible sites. For instance, there is often a noticeable difference between the shading of crops where there is something underneath. These patterns are very hard to see from the ground, but much easier to spot from above.

      3. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Shit-for-brains Archeaologist

        Sorry, the Daily Mail's second on the left down the hall. Do close the door behind you.

      4. Shagbag

        Re: Shit-for-brains Archeaologist

        56 TDs and counting :D

        What's the record?

      5. Helena Handcart

        Re: Shit-for-brains Archeaologist

        Charming: definitely not, but as an archaeologist I'm not going to vote shagbag down because he's sort of right. Certainly in temperate climes, commercial aerial photography is often ill-suited to archaeological sites because there is often a fairly small window of time to get a good snap of crop or soil marks. Low raking light, a light dusting of snow just on the melt, rainfall that happened a few hours or days before, just the right time after planting of certain cereal crops, are all good times to pick out the very subtle variations in soil and crop colour and drainage, but these conditions are generally not flown by commercial units when their brief is to capture a district or county - at least not deliberately.

        It is also very inefficient to scroll around aerial photography on the off-chance of finding an anomaly that hasn't already been recorded, with a view to excavating it. The closest process that is used is one of inference: watchtower A is here and watchtower C is here, they're not intervisible, so putative watchtower B is probably somewhere here. But assuming permission and funding have been obtained, using an iPad on site to look at commercial photography would get you laughed off site, or at least accused of not doing your research beforehand.

    3. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Missing villages

      Villages outside South of Chester all missing!

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Missing villages

        All English Welsh border villages missing outside Chester.

    4. dougal83
      Thumb Up

      Re: Road colours are wrong too

      Hillarious! :)

      http://theamazingios6maps.tumblr.com/page/5

  2. trashbat

    Not all bad

    I mean, with new Apple Maps, you have 28% more charge in your battery.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Not all bad

      Yep... comes in very handy when you get LOST!!!!

    2. HMB

      Re: Not all bad

      I know you're joking there, but from watching the video there are some things that I prefer:

      1) The navigation doesn't incessantly babble more instructions than necessary. I have used Google Navigation in Leeds and got to the point where I was shouting at my phone in the car and turning the air blue. Silencing the phone solved the problem, but it's not a secret these days that giving a driver excess information on a sat nav doesn't help and causes stress.

      2) The navigation allows you to choose from alternative routes when you start.

      While these are good points, I don't believe Steve Jobs would have let the product out in it's current form of readiness.

      1. trashbat

        Re: Not all bad

        You can choose alternative routes with Google Maps Navigation. It's just not particularly obvious, and I can't remember how you do it now.

        1. Rosslee

          Re: Not all bad

          You go to directions > get directions > direction list/route list something like that > menu option route options > avoid m fucking 1

      2. Bob Vistakin
        Go

        Re: Not all bad

        @HMB When you "used Google navigation in Leeds" was is as good as this? http://goo.gl/amB1g

        1. HMB

          Re: Not all bad

          @Bob Vistakin "was is as good as this? http://goo.gl/amB1g"

          Hahaha, no it was really pretty competent. :)

          I had NO anti-android or "grass is greener" sentiment to my earlier message. I just acknowledge good ideas when I see them, no matter where they come from.

          Someone else earlier said that Navigate did offer alternative routes, I never said it didn't. I just mentioned I liked them being options at the start.

          Navigate never used to try and feed you info you didn't need, it was better when it just gave you the vitals. Going through Leeds, it was telling me what was coming up next at really inappropriate times.

    3. MrT
      Joke

      Not to worry! Apple Maps User Group self-help meeting has been organised...

      ... Feeling lost? Join owners of Apple iOS6 devices at Manchester United Football Club - just search for it on the new Google-free Apple Maps app and follow the directions given...

      Feeling lost? Join owners of Apple iOS6 devices at Sale United Football Club, all wandering about trying to find Old Trafford stadium after they followed the directions from Maps...

      Will Apple to perform a legal U-turn when possible over this? Nah, cos it's run by blokes... ;-)

  3. Dazed and Confused
    Big Brother

    Native Google maps

    What make you think Apple will allow their customers to become Google's customers by letting them download the enemies mapping app. The whole point of bringing out Apple maps is to demonstrate who owns which customers.

    1. Geoff Campbell Silver badge
      Pirate

      Re: Native Google maps

      Certainly Apple have past form for refusing to allow apps that duplicate functions already on the phone. I wonder if they might invoke that clause to block a Google Maps native app?

      GJC

      1. DrXym

        Re: Native Google maps

        I wonder what blocking would mean given that there are a large number of satnav apps on the iPhone too. How do you block access to google's service without blocking the others too and provoking an uproar?

        Perhaps Apple believe that by the power of default will allow them to fix their crappy content over time or most users are so ignorant that they won't even notice the difference.

        1. Spudbynight

          Re: Native Google maps

          Hmm....didn't Microsoft get hit with an Antitrust suit for bundling IE with Windows?

          I am not sure what the difference is here?

          1. ThomH

            Re: Native Google maps (@Spudbynight)

            Microsoft got hit with an antitrust suit for using its monopoly position in one market to distort competition in another. Specifically it used its desktop monopoly to kill Netscape.

            Apple doesn't have a monopoly position in the phone market. Apple's inclusion of a different mapping app isn't going to kill Google. Indeed Apple's market share in the maps market is going to remain minuscule compared to that of Google Maps.

            For the record, Apple argues that the licence with Google ran out. It probably did but something tells me they didn't try very hard to negotiate an extension.

      2. Darryl
        Joke

        @ Geoff Campbell Re: Native Google maps

        According to this article, the last thing Google Maps does is duplicate functions already on the phone.

    2. JDX Gold badge

      Re: Native Google maps

      Can't you just use it in the web-browser? I can on iOS5, I even get a little popup "Install this web app". Apple cannot keep it off even if they want to.

      1. cyke1

        Re: Native Google maps

        they could ban the app from their store and pretty much won't let you install it less phone is unlocked. sadly its something apple would do, i put money on it

        1. uhuznaa

          Re: Native Google maps

          There're loads of nav apps and even Google Earth already in the App Store.

          The maps app sucks still.

  4. Bob Vistakin
    FAIL

    The launch video reminded me of the crowd faking tears at Kim jungs death

    Android has had turn by turn navigation for years. It's had 3D maps for well over a year. Yet when this was announced with iOS6 the crowd of iSheep all ooohed and ahhhed like it was up there with rounded corners.

    Just look again at the video - it takes brainwashing to a whole new level. Every one in the audience is for some reason pretending they are totally unaware of there being literally nothing new here:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mrl14SrhaUM

    1. Steve Todd
      FAIL

      In case you've been living in a shed in outer mongolia for the last few years

      The problem was that Google weren't going to let Apple use their data to do turn-by-turn navigation. They were also no going to let them use vector data, cache map data etc. It was Google who forced Apple to move, and for a version 1 product they haven't done a bad job.

      As for things like satellite imagery, Google Earth is still available in the App Store, you can still see that.

      Public transport navigation is still somewhat lacking, but the idea that you can plug in specialised apps seems a good one.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: In case you've been living in a shed in outer mongolia for the last few years

        > and for a version 1 product they haven't done a bad job.

        The problem with being an OK version 1, is that the rest of the world is now on polished v9 so you still look like a rant beginner.

      2. Funkstain
        Meh

        Re: In case you've been living in a shed in outer mongolia for the last few years

        I have no idea of the exact circumstances preventing the iOS-version of Google Maps being upgraded properly (turn-by-turn, data caching being the most useful things), but it seems clear that the primary mapping application for iOS absolutely needs these features.

        Either Apple weren't willing to pay Google enough, or Google weren't willing to cede a competitive advantage that Android has over iOS, or some combination, or an argument in a toilet. Who cares? It's irrelevant, iOS needs a primary mapping app with up to date features, and so Apple had little choice once / if negotiations broke down.

        I'm no apologist, but the facts are that Apple have been investing in mapping technology and companies for years now (google search will throw up many results), and as a consumer I'm happy to see competition to established players.

        But it is a V1, and not a very good one - they have a huge amount of catching up to do, and given the much more closed nature (Gmaps has become so good partly as a result of independent contributors), they may find this difficult. Perhaps they should have just coughed up...

      3. Gulfie
        FAIL

        Re: In case you've been living in a shed in outer mongolia for the last few years

        Sorry, quote some reputable sources or STFU. I've heard nothing about Google forcing Apple to stop using Google Maps and I've been following the iOS mapping story for some time. Google has poured tons of money into Maps and everything it supports - Apple can't expect to stand up even 10% of that functionality inside a year.

        I can believe that Google wanted too much money for turn by turn. And I can absolutely believe that they don't want to allow caching offline - a fantastic feature in the Android app.

        Apple chose to move for a variety of reasons, and iDevices are the poorer for it. This is simply fallout from The Patent Wars. Live with it or get a more advanced phone like a Galaxy S3 or Galaxy Nexus!

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: In case you've been living in a shed in outer mongolia for the last few years

          I don't care about turn by turn. I don't care about caching. I've got a perfectly good Garmin for that, it cost me about 90 euro and covers Western Europe offline, with TMC to boot. I'm using an iPhone and will continue to do so, but I do agree that the new Maps app is shite. The main reason : I've lost Street View... and I used that A LOT. So much that it might be a deal breaker. If Google chooses not to release a maps app for iOS I might even go to the dark side, though then I would have to deal with the crappy EAS implementation on Android (which means completely resetting your phone every couple of months).

          Choices, choices...

        2. Steve Todd

          @Gulfie - start by reading Google's own terms

          https://developers.google.com/maps/terms

          They make it impossible for Apple to use the data for turn-by-turn navigation, cache any of the data etc.

          Then factor in the fact that Google have been putting the costs up significantly

          http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/10/27/google_maps_api_no_longer_free/

          Google were making their turn-by-turn navigation, vectorised maps etc a USP of Android. You honestly think Apple were happy with that and couldn't be bothered to update their maps client to use the new data?

          The new Maps app seems to be fairly solid, all the problems are with DATA, and the data lives in the cloud where it can be updated and fixed without users having to download or fix anything.

          1. pdxbrit
            Meh

            Re: @Gulfie - start by reading Google's own terms

            And one of the very first things it says in the terms and conditions link that you posted is "Unless otherwise agreed in writing with Google, the Terms will include the following:", i.e. you can't do caching etc. with the standard license. There's nothing that says you can't negotiate with Google and pay them for different terms.

            So, the question once more becomes, what proof is offered that Apple tried to do so and that Google were unwilling to allow them to do so? It is certainly conceivable that Google were unwilling to co-operate or wanted to charge Apple "too much", but other explanations are equally plausible, not the least that Apple were determined to drop Google at any cost, up to and including shipping the turkey of an app that is in iOS 6.

      4. Craigness

        Re: In case you've been living in a shed in outer mongolia for the last few years

        Version 1 of Google Maps was better. Google wanted to be on the Iphone but apple kicked them off. AFAIK Google would have been happy for Iphones to have all their features but Apple wouldn't pay the license fees. Using an API for free is harder than using FRAND patents without paying.

    2. Absent
      Facepalm

      Re: The launch video reminded me of the crowd faking tears at Kim jungs death

      That's what gets me. They're replicating functions everyone including their own users already have, but even just going "we have a map of Paris" makes the audience go "ooooooo!, aaahhhh!".

      1. Bob Vistakin
        FAIL

        Re: The launch video reminded me of the crowd faking tears at Kim jungs death

        "Winston, how many fingers do I have up?"

        http://www.george-orwell.org/1984/18.html

        And it all started so well ... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R706isyDrqI

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: Bob Vistakin

          after watching the video you linked to, I followed a related video which is called "15 funny apple ads". The video is posted on June 2007, the 3rd ad show the PC guy calling the Windows bundled application as "apps".

          I don't know when the ad was made and/or aired. But will this ad affect the "App Store" trail?

          http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VCL5UgxtoLs

    3. Sam Liddicott

      Re: The launch video reminded me of the crowd faking tears at Kim jungs death

      Rubbish.

      I watched that clip for some laughs and found the crowd enjoying some features that google maps don't show ME

      1. hplasm
        Gimp

        Re: some features that google maps don't show ME-

        because you are on IOS 6.

    4. h4rm0ny

      Re: The launch video reminded me of the crowd faking tears at Kim jungs death

      Maybe the audience actually were impressed. Okay, from what I've seen this is definitely not as good as Google's service and may not be for some time (another year? another two years? three?). But still, it's hugely impressive to create something like this. In amongst all the slating of Apple that is going on here, it's worth remembering how hard it is to compete with Google on their maps at all. It's good that they made this. It keeps competition in the market and being a programmer myself, I can see that this must have taken a lot of work.

  5. Mattjimf

    Google Earth still exsists

    The guy complaining about using Maps for archaeological reasons should just download the Google Earth app, that way he gets the high detailed overhead ariel photographs he's missing.

    1. dotdavid
      Headmaster

      Re: Google Earth still exsists

      I found that Ariel's website has a load of reasonably high-res photographs, although none I could see that are taken from overhead.

    2. Scott Earle
      FAIL

      Re: Google Earth still exsists

      Google Earth doesn't exist in the App Store where I live ...

      So I am stuck with a crap map app, and no alternative apart from maps.google.com in safari.

      1. AJB
        Happy

        Re: Google Earth still exsists

        There are other mapping apps, I use GAIA GPS and ESRI have an ArcGIS viewer. No turn by turn directions, but a variety of imagery and rendered vector mapping.

  6. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    You don't understand!

    I coulda had class. I coulda been a contender. I coulda been a great map app instead of a bum... which is what I am

    1. Bob Vistakin
      Joke

      Re: You don't understand!

      http://theamazingios6maps.tumblr.com/

  7. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Go Android

    Far cheaper and more flexible.

    1. Captain Scarlet Silver badge

      Re: Go Android

      Go one better just buy an Apple (I recommend Granny Smiths) and a map

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Go Android

        Granny Smith !

        None of that Johnny foreigner stuff here, I like a good old cox pippin (oh er missus)

        1. Darryl

          Re: Go Android

          Better yet, my all-time favourite is the McIntosh. Sweet and juicy.

          (NOT the Macintosh, which is entirely too expensive, aluminium, and tasteless)

  8. g e
    Facepalm

    Just another

    #HateFest #FootBullet from you-know-who

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Just another

      #youarenotontwitter

  9. All names Taken
    Paris Hilton

    Silly Apple?

    Increase display resolution then add fuzzy content?

    I wonder if heads will roll?

    1. Destroy All Monsters Silver badge
      Trollface

      Map Relativity

      It's just the actual view on the other side of the Reality Distortion Field.

    2. Gulfie
      Thumb Up

      Gotta find those heads first.

      Better use an Android phone to get there!

  10. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Plain awful.

    Yep, upgraded to IOS6. The new maps are utter shit - even the Bing maps are better.. Losing street view is a pain in the arse. I'd avoid upgrading if you can.

  11. Andrew Lobban

    Shockingly bad.

    I've been using the betas (for development) for a few months and the map app has been utterly terrible since it was first available. I assumed it wasn't finished and would be updated properly before general release. Oh how wrong i was, it doesn't even qualify as a second rate replacement for google's map app, satellite resolution is crap everywhere around me and the locations are simply inaccurate. Its actually unbelievable that it has been deemed worthy of release. As others have said, download google earth until the problem is solved, hopefully soon.

    1. Lui-g
      Thumb Down

      Re: Shockingly bad.

      I'm just like you - throughout the betas I assumed they hadn't switched on the UK satellite imagery to save on some licensing fees until the launch.

      Interestingly, using "Find my iPhone" on iCloud.com, the satellite imagery for where I live (Brighton, UK) has the expected detail. So Apple do have access to the images, they just haven't made them available on their mobile devices.

      It's the first time I'm recommending EVERYONE I KNOW to hold off on an iOS update as it's more of a downgrade where maps are concerned.

      Thank the heavens I also have an Android phone (S3) - I ended up getting one to explicitly to use the Google services which I particularly like - also, any respectable geek should own at least a couple of devices from the top players.

      Now, Google, where's that Google Maps iOS app already?

      1. Gulfie
        Thumb Up

        Re: Shockingly bad.

        If I was Google I'd actually withhold a Maps app. Just to show 'em.

    2. ItsNotMe

      Re: Shockingly bad.

      " I assumed it wasn't finished..." And how right you were.

      Just ONE MORE case of Apple using its customers as BETA TESTERS.

  12. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Quick, get Nick Clegg !!!!

    He's good at saying sorry!

    1. Simon Harris
      Alert

      Re: Quick, get Nick Clegg !!!!

      He'll even sing his apology!

  13. TRT Silver badge
    Thumb Down

    If Apple had been...

    trying to create something that didn't already exist, then it would have been hats off to them for the effort. But they aren't. I haven't seen the new map.app yet, so I'll refrain from spouting from a bath of ignorance, but one thing I *can* complain about is that change they made way back to the ALS cache. Having only an iPod (preferring my telecomms via a regular 19-days on standby talky device), I liked the way it would remember forever what WiFi it had seen and fill in the location later when it could get online. I knew that if I'd driven or walked or train-ridden or bussed around a place, I'd be able to get a blue dot. Now, if I've spent more than 7 days not being somewhere, the cache is cleared and it becomes lost again. I fully appreciate the privacy concerns, but I'd have liked a switch in the prefs to retain the old behaviour. The problem wasn't the size of the cache, it was the lack of encryption for it. Same as I'd have liked a control to cache more map data. It was kind of handy to have all those geopoints in there for the bus tracking parts of Malcolm Barclay's excellent travel app(s).

    Nowadays I barely use the map app. I used to enjoy watching the little blue dot jump around the screen.

  14. Ru
    Trollface

    Do I spy an opportunity...

    ...for Microsoft to hawk Bing Maps? I'm sure Apple can negotiate a rebrand and vow of silence, and I'm sure the end result can't be any worse than what's there now.

  15. simlb
    Trollface

    Why the surprise?

    So Apple remove a third-party app which works fine and replace it with their own version which is not fit for purpose and then everyone complains. Why are people complaining? This is not a new thing for Apple to do.

    If you buy Apple, you buy into their walled garden and accept what they give you. Stop complaining and suck it up.

  16. teapot9999
    Thumb Down

    very poot

    Even my local Sainsbury's is shown at least a mile from where it actually is!

    1. RainForestGuppy

      Re: very poot

      I think you will find that Apple is correct and it's the Sainsburys store is in the wrong place. Please contact Sainsburys and ask them to move the building to where Apple say it should be.

    2. Neill Mitchell

      Move the store...

      It's no big deal.

    3. Bob Vistakin
      FAIL

      Re: very poot

      You're using it wrong.

    4. Simon Harris
      Joke

      Maybe it's shown there...

      ... because Google have a patent on Maps With Things In The Right Place.

  17. Wang N Staines
    Happy

    The legendary Apple user usability coming up trump again.

  18. cyke1
    FAIL

    yea

    Apple tried to do in months what took google years and 10's if not hundreds of millions of dollars to do. to list all those street's landmarks and on most roads in town's and citys have pictures from the google car. Heck even now google is doing in inside view of places. Google has such a major lead on this would take 5+ years for apple to catch up to even come remotely close.

    1. Mark C Casey

      Re: yea

      What I'm surprised at is Apple are sitting on a gigantic cash pile, why haven't they ploughed some of that into their new mediocre maps app?

      1. cyke1
        Happy

        Re: yea

        like i said above, how many years it took google to get their maps to the level they are and well money is not much issue for apple, but took google years to get high rez images of some area's. Its not a cheap and done in a month thing

      2. Jedit Silver badge
        Headmaster

        "Apple are sitting on a gigantic cash pile, why haven't they spent some?"

        Because if they did, they wouldn't be sitting on as gigantic a cash pile. Corporations don't look at their money and wonder how they can use it; they look at it and wonder how they can get more. Their aim is to maximise profit, and the less money that flows out the easier this becomes.

      3. Robert Grant

        Re: yea

        What I'm surprised at is Apple are sitting on a gigantic cash pile, why haven't they ploughed some of that into their new mediocre maps app?

        If they bothered doing that then they wouldn't be sitting on a giant mountain of cash. The reason they do is because people are willing to pay for more than what the product costs. Marketing and caché cost a lot less than year-on-year investments.

    2. Matthew 3

      Re: yea

      Apple knew the functionality that they were trying to duplicate. So it doesn't matter if it's a good first attempt or not. If you're going to replace anything there will be people who dislike change - any kind of change. But this is a different league: they're pissing off everyone with a product that's several generations behind. That's just stupid.

      They should have stuck with Google until they had a product that was, as a minimum, comparable. Anything less is showing just how little regard they have for their customers.

  19. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Standard apple stuff...

    Surely the maps app is pretty normal for Apple stuff though - looks great in a presentation, but when it comes to actual basic features they're more often than not very lacking.

    Remember how long it took apple to "re-invent" copy and paste?!

    The trouble is, like someone said above, this time apple are replacing existing functionality that their own users previously had.

  20. cyke1
    Trollface

    only reason google's map app will stay as an option on app store is all the disgusted over how bad apple's is atm, give apple time, the day they believe their maps can compete decently google's is day they kill off google map app.

  21. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    This is why

    my next phone will be a Galaxy S3.

    Buh Bye Apple.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: This is why

      ...and this is why my next phone will be a Nokia 920. Built in offline Nokia maps that are the result of years of investment.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: This is why

        When I am going abroad I plan ahead where I might need detailed directions and download the surrounding area into Google Maps cache.

        It looks like Google maps already has the major roads of several countries already built-in. Thanks to that and the WiFi access where we stayed I never needed to switch on 3G roaming when we went on holiday in Italy and Greece this summer.

        Out of contract HTC Desire.

      2. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: This is why

        true - nokia maps is excellent - worth having a nokia for

  22. Richard Scratcher
    Meh

    The UK has had an alternative to google maps for decades

    Sure, it's in black and white but I find the traffic news is better.

  23. Scott Earle
    Unhappy

    If you think it's bad in the UK ...

    Try it in Thailand, where it's truly awful.

    They don't even claim to offer turn-by-turn here either. Although if it's as bad as it sounds, perhaps that's not an altogether bad thing?

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: If you think it's bad in the UK ...

      The last time I used a GPS map system in Bangkok was a "never to be repeated" experience. We never reached our destination. Luckily, taxis are cheap, cheerful and plentiful in Bangkok and that is why I don't own a car.

      1. TRT Silver badge
        Gimp

        Re: If you think it's bad in the UK ...

        That's *YOUR* excuse for being found in a bar surrounded by ladyboys. What's mine?

        1. Shades
          Coat

          Re: If you think it's bad in the UK ...

          Perhaps thats the point of iOS6? Not being found in those bars! lol

  24. djstardust
    Flame

    Public transport?

    Who needs public transport on an iDevice .... surely all Jesus phone owners already have a BMW or Mercedes?

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Public transport?

      yep and anyone you see wearing a Ferrari t-shirt has an f40 at home

    2. John Bailey

      Re: Public transport?

      Yes.. But usually their mother needs it to drop their big sister off for soccer practice after school.

    3. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Public transport?

      I want to be a barrista where you live if they can all afford BMWs and Mercs.

  25. Frank Bough
    Meh

    But Surely

    Google Earth and maps.google.com still work? I also use bing maps via the Motion X GPS. The TomTom traffic aspect is just plain better than what went before. Surely we have MORE free mapping choices now on iOS?

    1. n4blue

      Re: But Surely

      Yes you're right. Apparently iOS 7 will include iFart. It won't be as good as any of the other fart apps available but you'll at least have MORE free farting choices on iOS.

    2. Mr_Bungle
      Facepalm

      Re: But Surely

      You surely do have more mapping options. It's just the default iphone map app, that most Apple uses will use is the crap new one.

      Most Apple uses have been brainwashed to accept what they are given, they wouldn't have a clue how to use a different system. "I don't want to know how it works, I don't want to mess around, my iPhone just works!" squeals the Apple user.

      So thanks to this philosophy, Apple now have a userbase that is mostly incompetent and unwilling to learn anything about the devices they use. Unable to find their arses with both hands, they will wave their $600 mistake at anyone with half a brain shouting "MAPS BROKEN!"

      Stop trying to spin these failures Frank, it make you look like a moron.

  26. gjfreakboy
    Facepalm

    Google Maps pointing to Apple Maps

    Anyone noticed the link to Google Maps for iPhone from Google.com now points to Apple Maps?

    http://www.google.com/mobile/iphone/ - click the learn more button on Google Maps

  27. Mike Judge
    Stop

    Don't forget

    that the public transport is missing from iOS6 maps, as is Streetview, and taiored turn-by-turn for car, bus, bicycle, walking, also don't forget the inside mapping of airports, shopping malls etc.

    However this is a fix to get full functionality back (better than before, with full Google powered turn-by-turn and vector maps, and Zagat ratings and full POI and all the above missing features).

    You can get the fix here:

    http://www.samsung.com/global/galaxys3/

    or here:

    http://www.sonymobile.com/gb/products/phones/xperia-s/

    or even here:

    http://www.htc.com/www/smartphones/htc-one-x/

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Don't forget

      Yeah but when you install that fix you lose access to all the decent games that are on the App Store that still aren't on Android and the phone suddenly becomes much too wide to use one handed.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Don't forget

        Sounds like your understanding of Android apps is from 2009, just like your new mapping application...

        On the upside (the upside that the media don't want to talk about), you get the games on Android that aren't on iOS...

        Awesome games like Apparatus, for example....

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: Don't forget

          Really? Got Street Fighter x Tekken yet?

          1. Anonymous Coward
            Anonymous Coward

            Re: Don't forget

            How masochistic do you have to be to play a fighting game with a touch screen? Especially Street Fighter of all things...

  28. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    retro styling

    in that it looks like it was done with a Box Brownie from the back of a de Havilland Tiger Moth

    1. Robert Sneddon

      Re: retro styling

      It's that skeumorphic thing Apple are so proud of, you know calendars with spiral binding graphics at the top, Post-It(tm)-styled sticky notes etc. Same with their mapping app, although in this case it looks more like they used a Daguerrotype camera in a Montgolfier balloon rather than anything as high-tech as a Kodak.

  29. nozzo
    FAIL

    Nelson:

    ha haa

  30. Colin Miller

    Ovi maps?

    Nokia's Ovi maps looks better; perhaps Apple can use that, if Nokia is switching to Bing maps.

  31. Gizzit101
    Terminator

    so is it...

    ...mapocalypse now?

  32. Alan Denman

    Loadsa dosh loadsa dosh - lovely jubbly.

    It is fantastic that when I click on that Tesco store I now get to pay Apple all of the advertising money.

    Paying the piper as they say.

  33. Nick Gibbins

    I could live with the poor quality aerial photography, the woeful POI data (I've found businesses shown in Southampton that are actually based in Nottingham), the wacky road colouring (motorways should be blue, ffs!), the lack of motorway junction numbers, the missing features (streams, footpaths) and the lack of Street View, just about.

    However, when you're selling the new Maps app on its turn-by-turn navigation, it really shouldn't be sending you the wrong way down one-way streets, or directing you to impassable junctions (it will happily tell you to turn right from York Street in Bath onto Stall Street - good luck with the bollards, the pedestrians and the oncoming cars).

  34. mrfill
    Happy

    Duplicating functionality

    Isn't that usually called copying?

    1. xyz Silver badge

      Re: Duplicating functionality

      I heard some people tend to sue over that..No names, no rotten apples

  35. xyz Silver badge
    WTF?

    I think the problem the AppMapApp is the users...

    They are obviously looking for places that are not "Cupertino Cool" (tm) and are therefore irrelevant. Why should an iShinester waste his or her valuable existance pandering to a load of iSheep (err.. valued clients)? I mean trying to find Sainsbury's, Archeological site etc. FFS. Bet Satrbucks and Caffe Nero outlets are accurate to the mm.

    Can we have a middle finger icon as well as an up and a down thumb?

  36. CarlC
    Coat

    Not an iDevice user anymore but....

    I gather the new Maps App turn by turn navigation just directs you left all the time, in some sort of infinite loop.........

    Mines the one with the paper Ordnance Survey map in the pocket.

    1. Alister
      Coat

      Re: Not an iDevice user anymore but....

      just checking: is that 1 Infinite Loop?

  37. Mark Wilson

    Our road is in the right place

    Surprisingly our road is in the right place. Shame the road which leads to it isn't there at all :( Fortunately Bing provides the correct info .

  38. ElNumbre
    WTF?

    Auntie

    I notice that the Beeb are reporting on it, saying that 'Hagley' in the West Midlands is showing up as 'Dudley'.

    I am now pondering what appears if you search for 'Bell End' which is just down the road from the actual Hagley?

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Auntie

      Surely the search you suggest would just turn on the forward facing camera?

      1. This post has been deleted by its author

  39. Alister

    It's my understanding

    ...that the underlying map data for the new Apple Maps was supplied by Tom Tom.

    Any navigation errors, or, as reported elsewhere, missing or incorrectly named towns, are therefore Tom Tom's errors, not Apple's.

    This may help explain the continued reporting of drivers blindly following their sat-nav into rivers, off the edges of cliffs etc, if Tom Tom's data is so flawed.

    1. David Neil
      Thumb Down

      Re: It's my understanding

      Doesn't matter if they bought the data from Tom Tom or recycled old Luftwaffe aerial shots, they put their brand on it and now people are saying it's inferior to the competition.

      Apple should never have released an app which is not up to par with the rest of the premium experience people are paying for.

      1. simlb
        Coffee/keyboard

        Re: It's my understanding

        @David Neil - 'recycled old Luftwaffe aerial shots'. That made me spit my coffee out! Nice one.

        And the Luftwaffe did find Coventry right where we told them it was. At night. Nuff said.

    2. Lars Silver badge
      WTF?

      Re: It's my understanding

      Any proof for that Tomtom stuff. I am a bit curious because I used Tomtom years ago without any such problems.

      Not to say that I have had even one navigator one could consider absolutely fool proof.

      Perhaps even Apple can fail.

    3. Chet Mannly

      Re: It's my understanding

      "It's my understanding

      ...that the underlying map data for the new Apple Maps was supplied by Tom Tom."

      Based on what? I have a 4yo Tom Tom that is 100x more accurate than maps appears from this article (I haven't used the new maps app personally, unlikely to now!)

  40. NellyD
    Facepalm

    Apple Shops?

    Do they show up in their correct locations?

    1. Neill Mitchell

      Re: Apple Shops?

      No they don't. They've got Sydney's is on the wrong side of the road :)

      http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2012/09/20/apples-ios-6-maps-app-fails_n_1899603.html#slide=1546612

  41. Bolonel Climp
    FAIL

    Its beyond bad...

    Its bloody useless.

    I searched for petrol station. It doesn't know of the the four I would have to pass to get the nearest one that it suggests. Which is a newsagents.

    Driving directions to another petrol station pointed out I would have to park up and walk the last 70 yards.

    To quote a friend of mine "I don't know what I was expecting but it wasn't THAT"

  42. Jabber 44
    Trollface

    I know how you can get your google maps back.....

    Get an Android phone...

    Haters gonna hate.

  43. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    It was blatantly obvious that the new Maps app was going to be worse than the old one, so I don't have an awful lot of sympathy for those who went ahead and upgraded without thinking about the consequences.

    I'll stick with iOS 5 on my iPhone 4, since iOS 6 seems to make pretty much everything worse. A bit of an odd situation really. I would look into the Android option more at this point, but I have no wish to use a product which allows Google to track me even more than it already does.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Facepalm

      "but I have no wish to use a product which allows Google to track me even more than it already does."

      OF COURSE!

      Because Apple doesn't!

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Apple isn't trying very hard to collect scarily vast amounts of data about me to use me as an advertising product. Google is.

        1. Chet Mannly

          "Apple isn't trying very hard to collect scarily vast amounts of data about me to use me as an advertising product. Google is"

          This would be Apple who run an *advertising service* in competition with google?

          What makes you think Apple will be mining any less data than google? Marketing data is extremely valuable - especially for people who buy expensive shiny devices...

          1. Anonymous Coward
            Anonymous Coward

            "What makes you think Apple will be mining any less data than google?"

            The fact that Apple is in the business of selling hardware for its revenue, whereas Google depends entirely on turning its users into advertising products for its revenue.

  44. mickey mouse the fith
    FAIL

    Im actually flaberghasted that Apple would release this on their flagship product. A product that most people will be upgrading to, rather than coming to the brand afresh.

    Everyone is going to notice the downgrade, from the what looks like ww1 era arial imagery taken from a zeppelin to the dreadful routefinding and missplaced roads and places.

    The press are going to have a field day taking the piss with this, potential new customers are going to gravitate towards Android or Wp7/8 and upgraders are going to be very pissed off indeed. It doesnt matter that you can use safari to get google maps, most iphone buyers wont consider this, they will just see this awful thing with Apples name on it. This will hurt the Apple brand.

    What were they thinking?

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      "What were they thinking?"

      Grab as much money as you can out of the pockets of the saps who are silly enough to buy into our hype?

      Perhaps?

    2. Trevor Marron

      It really is not a problem, they sold 2 million of the handsets before anyone had even seen one. What does it matter to any of those people? They don't care what it does or does not do, it is the latest Apple phone and they MUST have it.

      1. Chet Mannly

        "It really is not a problem, they sold 2 million of the handsets before anyone had even seen one. What does it matter to any of those people?"

        Or looking at it the other way - they sold 2m before people could see how awful some of the "upgrades" were.

        Its possible that sales from this point on may be lower than before everyone realised Apple's maps app was total pants.

        The IP5 will still sell in big numbers of course, but this publicity tarnishes their "it just works" image which shifts a lot of units

  45. Peter 48
    Happy

    simple solution

    Stick your iPad / iphone on ebay and buy a Nokia or Android device instead. Mapping problem solved.

  46. Annakan

    But the most AMAZING is

    that they are not ALLOWED to install Google Maps back because it is **forbidden** to offer through the "apple tax and monopoly not so a market place" product "competing" with Apple craps :)

    LOL

    Morons.

  47. EddieD

    Nicked from the BBC website...

    "Spending a fortune on your legal team and peanuts on R&D doesn't seem to be a clever business plan"

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Nicked from the BBC website...

      ""Spending a fortune on your legal team and peanuts on R&D doesn't seem to be a clever business plan""

      Works for the idevice owners! Not good enough for the initiated tho.

    2. Chet Mannly

      Re: Nicked from the BBC website...

      "Spending a fortune on your legal team and peanuts on R&D doesn't seem to be a clever business plan"

      Its served Apple well to date, but yeah, you only need to look at that same old iOS UI, and the glacial pace of OSX development to see that cutting R&D is a bad idea long term for a company that prides itself on innovation...

  48. waarg
    FAIL

    Ha ha ha

    iSchadenfreude

  49. Frederick Tennant

    bad map

    So the post "Jobs" crap started already, He would never had released this product its like playing into the hands of the competition. if i used maps on my old version I would restore back to iOS 5 and wait.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: bad map

      This can't all be the fault of the TomTom data or none of their stuff would work. This has to be a big fail in the rendering.

      1. TheOtherHobbes

        Re: bad map

        Maps also credits the Ordnance Survey.

        It's not because of Tom Tom. Or because of OS.

        This is 100% an Apple fail. When you have good maps from two reputable sources, you have to *work hard* to make them useless.

        It doesn't just happen. It takes skill, planning, and world class management.

        Which leaves me mightily pissed off. I have a client waving a big pile of money at me to develop a Maps-based app.

        What am I going to tell them now? (Except possibly 'Fine then, I'll use one of the Open databases. It'll make the app huge and take at least four times as long. But it wouldn't send the the wrong way up a one way street, or drive you off a cliff. No? Thought not. Sorry. How about we do it for Android instead?')

        I don't think Apple realise the magnitude of the problem. Someone could die trying to use this for in-car navigation.

    2. Chet Mannly

      Re: bad map

      "So the post "Jobs" crap started already, He would never had released this product its like playing into the hands of the competition. "

      Never a Jobs fan myself, but you are 100% right - he would *never* have allowed this to be released in the state its in.

  50. AndrewInIreland

    Also,

    It managed to flag Airfield House (which is a farm up the road from me) as an airport.

    1. Lars Silver badge
      Pint

      Re: Also,

      Sounds very logical to me, who the heck gave a farm such a silly name.

    2. Chet Mannly

      Re: Also,

      "It managed to flag Airfield House (which is a farm up the road from me) as an airport"

      Just change the name its not a big deal :-P

    3. Gulfie
      Thumb Up

      Re: Also,

      You're using that land incorrectly. Just build a runway, its no big deal.

  51. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    "With iOS 5, I had generally very good resolution, colour imagery of ancient sites, enough to see features not readily seen on the ground. Now the resolution is lower, so I can't zoom in to examine a feature so closely as before, and many areas are presented in black and white."

    Looks like your iDevice is a useless as your peers have been telling you all along! Why are idevice owners so militant to defend what is a really mediocre device/os?

    1. Gulfie

      Its emperor's new clothes syndrome.

  52. Daniel Owen

    Work in progress

    They should have released this as a beta. Like they did with Siri.

    That way they can put all this down to it being a beta.

    I am glad they have done this. For me, slightly worse mapping, but with turn by turn is better.

  53. zanto
    Trollface

    the new here is that

    the fanbois actually realized something on their itoy's wasn't good enough.

  54. jestersbro
    FAIL

    Where's the "Like" button.

    In all seriousness though, did no one at Apple ask the question "Would Steve Jobs accept this?"

    I guess not. Ho hum, now the inexorable slide into "hasbeenism".

    Hey! They can keep Nokia company!

  55. Ilgaz

    That is nothing

    People from Kazakhstan report half of cities missing and some went back to Russia.

    Check comment at

    http://www.androidpit.com/apple-changes-the-world-5-hilarious-ios6-map-mistakes

    Didn't look like a joke to me.

  56. This post has been deleted by its author

  57. Vladimir Plouzhnikov

    Stop complaining!

    The map is correct. You people just built your towns/shops/offices in the wrong places.

  58. Nathan 13
    Joke

    Maps are definately broken

    I put in "quality phone retailer" and it took me to an Apple store :)

  59. Paul 181

    Old ipad

    I was annoyed that my ipad1 couldn't be updated to ios6, feeling a bit smug now

  60. MacroRodent
    Coffee/keyboard

    The site theamazingios6maps.tumblr.com

    has kept me laughing for half an hour now in middle of some private life problems. Particularly the Vilnius airport runways are great (takes a genius to distort like that an area that by definition must be perfectly flat). Thanks, Apple!

  61. Paul Hovnanian Silver badge
    Facepalm

    Greece and Spain show up as states of Germany ......

    ..... Oh, never mind. I figured it out.

  62. Anonymous Coward
    FAIL

    Apple Have Form

    Apple have form on this. Over a year on from the Final Cut debacle, that updated application still isn't ready for primetime and anecdotal evidence on professional editing forums indicates that Adobe are continuing to hoover up disgruntled ex-FCP editors.

    Apple knew what they were doing when they released the map application. As far as they are concerned all is well because their internal corporate culture means they'll all have been back slapping one another prior to the release.

    Me? I know better than to jump on any Apple OS release until the early adopters have suffered all the problems. I'll wait for the Google app.

    1. TheOtherHobbes

      Re: Apple Have Form

      The fail started with FCP. Then we had Lion Server. Then we had iPhoto on the iPad, which had some serious bugs in 1.0 - which were fixed - and some eccentric design decisions, which weren't.

      But those are niche products with relatively small audiences.

      Now we have Maps, which is so mainstream the world's major news outlets are talking about it.

      It's a clear pattern of taking successful products and making them weird and broken. Either someone in upper management is attempting to kill the brand and the company, or something has gone very wrong at 1 Infinite Loop.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Gimp

        Re: Apple Have Form

        What was suggested at the time of the FCP debacle by someone who had been in meetings with them about the release was that Apple don't like negativity internally so nobody speaks out.

  63. spidercrab
    FAIL

    The town of Barry appears as "Biglis"!

    Satelite images are very poor and many places built in the last 5 years are not present within the maps.

    The town of Barry appears as "Biglis" - very strange.

    Apple get your act together. This is not what is expected.

  64. MacroRodent

    I get it!

    looking at the wavy bridges, skyscrapers and runways on the tumblr site, I finally realized what is going on: this is the famous reality distortion field in action!

  65. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    So it's new, it's bound to get negative reaction from the conservatives -- and yet..

    Anything new gets bad press. People are creatures of habit, they are worshippers of dead radicals.

    And yet, when you replace anything existing, you have to provide something the old version did not have. With the new maps, the new snapshot "3D of downtown NY highrises" only does not cut it.

    I live in Istanbul. You might have heard of it, it's quite a big town outside the U.S. Google Maps has very good coverage, only surpassed by Yandex (a Russian Google clone/wannabe). Bing Maps is barely adequate. Apple Maps is-quite frankly- only works (as in- does not crash, shows some streets). No decent addresses. No points of interest.

    So. for iOS users over here: Finally a Turkish keyboard - hello! Only took 3 major OS revisions, meanwhile no third-party keyboards allowed, and now the new design is so bad -keys being slivers of pixels and all, too narrow to hit, no help at all.

    Sorry - the embedded gps maps thing is a lot s***tier too.

    Yay! March of progress! Apple knows best!

  66. J.G.Harston Silver badge
    FAIL

    STOP calling it a maps app. It's an aerial view app.

    1. JaitcH
      FAIL

      It's a Crap App

      and was rushed to market.

      Guess Apple needs to employ a screamer like Jobs to get the job done.

  67. Sam 6
    Thumb Down

    It is a bad app, badly implemented and not ready

    This app screws everyone who's used to the old map app. Sure extricate from Google but not before there's something decent in place. I may as well be looking at a blurred satellite map of my area with one eye shut and squinting with the other.

    Very poor performance Apple and with a particularly distasteful arrogance until you had something decent to give your customers.

  68. JaitcH
    FAIL

    Rome wasn't built in a day and ...

    Apple has only been buying so-called mapping companies for three years.

    Perhaps they should have stuck Beta on it and then everyone would be happy. Siri didn't work well, give Apple a few more years and they will get it right.

  69. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    I hope they have a way for users to submit issues and corrections

    With over 300 million iOS devices upgradable to iOS 6 out there, this app is going to see a lot of use. Many of the inaccuracies could be addressed quite quickly if there is a SIMPLE method to report issues back to Apple (i.e. a button on the UI, not an email address) They'd need a team of people to investigate and fix them, but presumably they have that in the form of the people working at the mapping company they bought a few years back.

    Google's maps didn't get to where they are without a lot of user feedback (for instance, I fixed the location of my business, as searching for the address dropped a pin in a vacant lot a couple hundred yards north of the building's actual location) Apple will need to do the same thing if they hope to catch up.

    If Google pushes out the maps app for iOS fairly quickly they could make the Apple maps app suck much longer, as anyone who uses mapping a lot and doesn't need turn by turn would probably install Google's app and mostly ignore Apple's maps.

    1. Alex in Tokyo
      Unhappy

      Re: I hope they have a way for users to submit issues and corrections

      They do have a reporting button for POIs (not for errors in the actual maps themselves). It is also pants.

      My local supermarket was available as a POI, and in the right place. Unfortunately it had the name truncated and was listed as a vetinary hospital. I tried to correct this, and discovered that there is no category (in either English or Japanese) for supermarket. 'Magician', yes; 'Brothel', yes; 'Supermarket', no. And no way to create new categories.

      Total. Utter. Fail.

  70. Mika Peltokorpi
    Holmes

    Nokia Maps

    http://maps.nokia.com on Safari will do, also (not only Google maps - that usually lags behind Nokia Maps location data in Europe, BTW). Unfortunately 3D version (ref: Flyover in iOS Maps App) works only in Firefox and Chrome.

  71. Paul Hovnanian Silver badge
    Boffin

    Map data source

    Supposedly, iMaps data was derived (in part) from OpenStreetMap (http://www.openstreetmap.org/) data. So, what is everyone's experience with the accuracy of that? I've installed it (with a Shuttle Radar Topographic map overlay) for Washington State. And it appears to be pretty accurate here.

    So, is OpenStreetMap screwed up in your neighborhood? Or did Apple mess up the conversion?

    1. pdxbrit

      Re: Map data source

      The brief time I spent looking at local openstreetmap data where I live tends to point to the latter. It is both highly detailed and accurate for the areas I looked and with which I am very familiar.

  72. Winkypop Silver badge
    Facepalm

    Sorry I'm late to the comments section

    I upgraded my iPad maps then got lost along the way...

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