iOS 6 Maps: It Just (Doesn't) Work

[Andara Bledin]

So, I don't have an iPhone and don't really want one, but anyone who pays attention to tech news or Internet memes has likely come across the problems they're having with their new program.

The mapping is so bad, there's a Cheezeburger-esque Tumblr page devoted to screen captures: The Amazing iOS 6 Maps

Going through, it seems pretty obvious that there are a few issues at hand, mostly involving violating space and time.

Space

Apparently the satellite overlay and map overlay are out of sync. This has a variety of fun results, including popular landmarks being pinned in the middle of waterways, entire cities relocating, and the GPS directions suggesting massive detours (when it can find your location at all).

Also, quite a large number of waterways and lakes no longer exist, while large swathes of city are being turned into parks unbeknownst to their residents, particularly transit centers.

Then there's the 3D feature, which is turning major cityscapes into melting Dali impressions; bridges are particularly noteworthy.

Time

Another amusing problem is that the satellite imagery was taken during different seasons, so it's not uncommon to find a summer image full of greenery to be stitched side-by-side with a deep winter landscape covered in a blanket of snow. One example had only a long strip from the winter season which was then surrounded by summer images.

And then we get into the fact that a notable portion of their data is out of date, often by decades. One region is reported to have cities labeled with names that they held prior to WWII. There are facilities that closed down over 20 years ago with active labels. And passable roads are shown where now only exist the broken remnants of deserted pavement with one such example being part of a harbor and the missing section dropping off into the water.

It's a shame this program was let into the wild in the state it's currently in. Jobs must be rolling in his grave over this blunder. This is a PR nightmare for a company that prides itself on it's product functioning with a high level of polish and reliability.

^-.-^

[the_std]

This is the whole reason I don't want to update my iPhone 4S to iOS 6. I like being able to get to places, thank you very much.

Their decision to split from Google Maps may make sense from a business stand point, but they've basically said, "No, you can't play with their toys - you have to play with ours, which are broken and missing the necessary components that makes the toy work". They shouldn't have done anything like this until their replacement program was, y'know, in working order.

[TheHuckster]

I miss the little bubble.

It's quite amazing how poor the new maps are. There was the occasional time I'd be misled by it because something was maybe a few hundred feet off (usually it was just that the business just had a wonky address that didn't really fit in with the rest of the street). But there was never an issue like entire cities missing or interstates going into the ocean.

One of the reasons I got an iPhone was because my GPS was about as piss poor as the new maps. Now I might have to consider an Android. I heard their maps were pretty good.

[HYHYBT]

Thank you for the warning; I don't use the map often on my iPod Touch, but I like that it works so well and there's nothing compelling that I've heard of in favor of updating to 6.

Which is more likely: that they get the new system right with an update, that they go back to Google, or that they insist people don't really want accurate maps anyway?

[Andara Bledin]

Which is more likely: that they get the new system right with an update, that they go back to Google, or that they insist people don't really want accurate maps anyway?

Considering this article over at Extreme Tech shows a sign in London stating they'll provide local area maps, and quotes Ireland's Justice Minister commenting that he's having Apple informed of the urgency of the need for it to be fixed, I expect a roll-back until they can make it actually work as opposed to forcing people to work with broken maps and refreshing in their minds about how bad an upgrade this really was.

However, it's worth noting that the map data was supplied by TomTom, and if there is out-of-date information (which there absolutely is), then it likely would have to have come from them, despite their claims to the contrary.

^-.-^

[CaptainJaneway]

Saw this article on Yahoo. I am sticking with android phones.

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/apple-...115802424.html

[Tanasi]

Before I retired from the USArmy one of my jobs was to teach new officers and NCO how to navigate using a compass and/or a map. I found it amazing how many folks do not have a clue how to use a map unless it say "you are here" on it.
My wife had to install GPSs in all her trucks because so many drivers either couldn't read a map or even read. One driver would have the dispatcher record the directions on a micro-cassette recorder than then use it to make his deliveries. Not real efficient but he was always on time and usually followed directions.

[HYHYBT]

So how *do* you use a map when you don't know where you are?

[Andara Bledin]

There are a lot of different ways to do that.

You can triangulate, use landmarks, use a sextant to find your latitude, or use where you used to be to calculate where you've ended up.

When dealing with your typical street map, you narrow down. You start with the city, then home in on the neighborhood, then find the street you're on, and then find the nearest cross or major landmark, and that becomes a springboard to chart how to get where you want to be.

However, I suspect that Tanasi was talking more about people who couldn't manage that last part; most people can figure out where they are, but figuring out how to get from point A to point B is inexplicably difficult for a pretty decent percentage of people.

With the increasing prevalence of GPS and guidance systems, people are actually forgetting how to get places without them in much the same way that nobody knows anybody else's phone number any more.

^-.-^

[Racket_Man]

from a delivery drivers perspective

1. we have a well define delivery area
2. we have major streets and landmarks to home in on
3. addresses and address ranges are well defined

Now when I first started delivering over 7 years ago I did not know the area all that well as I was kind of new to the town I live in. AND I did NOT have a GPS or a phone with GPS capabilities. for some of the farther out deliveries I did have to write down turn by turn directions.

BUT after a couple of months of delivering, using the avaiable store and phone book maps, I learned minor street names and address ranges by paying attention as I was driving.

Now I am refered to as the "human GPS". some addresses I can tell you the house location and the color of the house, what pets they have, etc.

There are some of the newer drivers who even after almost a YEAR of steady employment, STILL choose to use their GPS's to plot a delivery route. Some of them were even BORN in this town.

While they are inputting the adderess into their GPS, I am alredy pulling out fo the parking lot on my way to MY destination.

I believe that some people have lost part of the brain power to "easy" technology.

Call me old fashioned if you will but after a certain period of time, you have to have learned something just by sheer repetition.

Yes I will use a map program like Google maps or Mapquest if I am going into an area I do not know. Say I wanted to go to somewhere in the nearest major city south of me. as I do not know the area I will look up my destination online.

In times past I would have gotten a hold of a street map for that city and found my destination and route manually.

when I was in my teens, my parents planned several long trips. for assistance they went to the local AAA trip office and asked for detailed directions from say St. Louis to Clearwater FL to New Orleans back to St. Louis.

[SongsOfDragons]

My parents moved a couple of years ago, and I started havign to drive up to visit them in Lincolnshire from Hampshire every Easter and Summer. (Christmas I get the train.)

I was petrified of the journey at first, and for the first time (when the bungalow wasn't quite finished yet) I went up with my housemate. My dad drew me a map of an easier route, but I was relying on Sean the Satnav...

Now, however, whilst Sean is still in use, I have memorised the route almost down to the junctions. The only thing I really still need Sean for is the A43, which is a gauntlet of like...what, ten-twelve roundabouts? But even then I can merely follow the signs for the M1/A34...

I still take Dad's map with me every time I visit, and I've used it to learn the junctions. It's just a pencil-drawn thing, but I'm thinking of laminating it. ^^

Also the car park of Watford Gap Services is my exact half-way point going by mile count.

[insertNameHere]

My gps is alright, as mentioned the data can get outdated rather quickly. Really need to get a smartphone but I don't feel like wasting $100 a month for something I don't truly need.

[smileyeagle1021]

Android's maps are awesome... I almost never use the navigation feature because even they get kind of wonky (they can't handle a single point interchange or diverging diamond to save anyone's life), but the maps themselves are mostly accurate and up to date.
Then of course, there is driving in Reno, where I scare my friends there... I have been gone for 6 years and I can still navigate there better than they do... partially because I had to learn all the streets, I didn't get the fancy GPS as early on as they did, and quite often I did get lost and had to find my way back to where I was going, which actually kind of is a good way to learn a neighborhood.
Of course, anyone under 16 now will never know what it is to be lost... unless they use Apple's maps

[powerboy]

I have a smartphone, which I can only use when connected to wifi. I also have a TomTom, which is always in the car. I also have a map that is in the car. So I can always find where I am going. When I get the chance, I am going to get a newer GPS system.

[Gravekeeper]

-but they've basically said, "No, you can't play with their toys - you have to play with ours, which are broken and missing the necessary components that makes the toy work".

That's pretty much been their company motto for years.