Where Apple fails miserably is search, and local place names. Apple Maps data will often show results in a different country instead of whatever I meant to search for in my city. Trying to find businesses if you don’t know the full official names is practically impossible.
Apple Maps works great if you know the official address, but it’s pretty much useless for anything else.
It's still not quite up there with Google Map's location knowledge, but it's certainly not the often-innacurate mess it once was.
The big difference I see now days comes down to how quickly the data is updated. To test this, take a newly opened (or closed) restaurant or store and compare Apple and Google's knowledge of the location.
Google tends to have it almost immediately, presumably because Google provides tools for the business owners to enter the information directly. But Apple's knowledge can lag behind by a few weeks, or more for more obscure things. This is presumably due to their dependence on third-party data providers like Yelp.
It will just do crazy stuff. Ask for something and want you to drive, literally, to something 300 miles away. It is easily confused when you use something by it's name.
But trying to use Apple Maps on holiday in Europe was almost useless.
Then so many other things. Google Maps will tell you if the place will be open or closed when you will get there for example.
Apple use to stand for providing the best products. The best user experience. Somehow that has been lost and become acceptable to do a poor job.
Same with Siri. It is just an awful user experience compared to using the Google Assistant.
Guess my question is why is this acceptable? Look at their privacy agreement and you approve them collecting all kinds of data so that is not it. Heck Apple even forces you to accept them collecting data on people you interact with in the US.
https://www.apple.com/legal/privacy/en-ww/
"When you share your content with family and friends using Apple products, send gift certificates and products, or invite others to participate in Apple services or forums, Apple may collect the information you provide about those people such as name, mailing address, email address, and phone number. Apple will use such information to fulfill your requests, provide the relevant product or service, or for anti-fraud purposes."
I am tired of Apple getting a pass on offering a poor user experience. What they use to be all about.
To be fair to Apple, tehy are very responsive if you report. I quite often use the in-Map tool for reporting a problem with a location and these days get a 'Its been fixed' within a few days or a week.
Depends on where you are. Goole maps are surprisingly poor in parts of London.
For some reason it is now acceptable to provide a bad user experience and Apple Maps is a perfect example compared to Waze or Google Maps. But the gap is increasing.
It is the same with Siri. So will it be acceptable if an Apple self driving cars kills people?
I just do not get the excuses for Apple? Why have they moved from what they use to stand for?
https://www.apple.com/legal/privacy/en-ww/
Apple has the ability to collect all the same data as Google but actually more. Apple actually forces you to agree to them collecting data on people you interact with.
I quote from the agreement.
"When you share your content with family and friends using Apple products, send gift certificates and products, or invite others to participate in Apple services or forums, Apple may collect the information you provide about those people such as name, mailing address, email address, and phone number. "
https://www.apple.com/legal/privacy/en-ww/
I get Apple is great at marketing but lets work in reality.
My issue is NOT that the Apple services are sub par but rather when did it become acceptable at Apple to have second rate user experiences?
Why are they given a pass?
