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I am one of many writers who actually like Maps. Perhaps the data is accurate in the SF Bay Area. San Jose Mercury News columnist Larry Magid notes:
“I’ve been using the mapping app for about a week. While I have my complaints, it isn’t all that terrible — at least based on my travels around the Bay Area. To its credit, it provides turn-by-turn directions, a feature that Google has long included in the Android version of Google Maps, but not on the iOS version that Apple used to offer. And like the old Google Maps, it’s integrated with Siri, which is incredibly useful if you need to enter a location while you’re driving. Just tell Siri where you want to go and, if she’s online and if she understands you and knows where it is, she’ll get you there.”
NBC News also posted an article on their website, claiming the iOS Maps furor is overblown. No one is saying the app is perfect. This issue is similar to antennagate, where a minor flaw that exists in all products is blown out of proportion and defined as being unique to Apple.
The main criticism on the Internet is that iOS 6 Maps’ data are inaccurate, not that the app itself is buggy. Some of these claims are contrived. The most infamous example is from a Motorola ad campaign. The campaign shows an iPhone with iOS 6 Maps and a Motorola smart phone side-by-side. The iPhone is shown with a primitive map, although it can actually render a very detailed 3D satellite/hybrid view. The Motorola phone is shown with a hybrid/satellite view, which is neat, but not as impressive as iOS 6 Maps. It is contrived. It doesn’t end there. The claim is that Maps cannot find the address “315 e 15th st ny”. Of course it can’t. It doesn’t exist. It is a park with no address. Check it out on Google Maps — the location it finds is approximate. No one would enter in an address that does not exist, unless it was a mistake.
