[jrnichols]

My experience has been very similar, and to this day I'm still dismayed at the negative opinion people have of Apple Maps. Most of the people I've asked haven't used it in years, instead just defaulting to Google Maps.

I've also encountered a surprising number of people that just assume all maps are Google Maps. Kind of like the ones that don't know there's email besides Gmail.

[empath75]

Shows how important first impressions are. Apple maps was terrible on release and Apple deleted google maps from people’s phones when it came out.

I was visiting Costa Rica at the time and the small town I was in which was thoroughly mapped in google maps didn’t exist in Apple maps at all. An infuriating experience that made me never want to use Apple maps again.

[scarface74]

Apple didn’t “delete Google Maps” when Apple maps came out.

The Maps app was written by Apple from day one. It used Google’s data. Google wouldn’t allow Apple to do turn by turn directions without Apple giving Google more user data. Apple had to either find other sources for map data or give up user privacy.

[dragonwriter]

> Google wouldn’t allow Apple to do turn by turn directions without Apple giving Google more user data.

As I recall the reporting at the time, it was a choice of either more data or more money for turn-by-turn navigation.

[dragonwriter]

> Apple maps was terrible on release

Yeah, I remember when, just after release, on a trip between Woodland, CA, and Davis, CA, it decided to route me through Woodland Hills, CA. (Not “it mistook a Woodland address for Woodland Hills, but it routed from Woodland to Davis by way of Woodland Hills, adding ~800 miles to an ~12 mile trip.)

[asark]

If only you'd followed its directions, you'd have gone on an amazing days-long adventure that ended in your finding a fortune in buried gold. Alas, you second-guessed the navigation genie.

[m463]

It was terrible when it first came out. Has it really changed?

For instance, a nearby road intersects with another road at a cloverleaf. The exits are marked road2 North and road2 South just a short distance from each other.

But apple maps directions just said "exit right road2" or something like that. I submitted a change at the very beginning and it never changed. I could probably check again.

In general dedicated systems are WAY better at these things, probably because you don't want to piss off a paying customer (who may be a car manufacturer)

[briandear]

My new Audi built in nav is far worse than Apple Maps. Just an anecdote, but still a data point. Many car navs use aging Tom Tom data.

[m463]

I recently bought a garmin portable gps for a car without nav and it's really quite good.

Very clear directions when navigating, shows you and tells you which lane to be in, live traffic, touchscreen interface, voice command. Everything is offline so it's more private than apple :)

[Marsymars]

I've got a positive opinion of Apple Maps, and would preferentially use it (I'd even pay a subscription fee for it) if it were available on Android. I can't use iPhones for various reasons.