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by bjohnson225 1804 days ago
Yeah, the data on Apple Maps is just not good enough here. The opening hours are frequently just wrong and can’t be trusted.

Part of the reason for that is they use Yelp as a data source which is pretty much non-existent here. If I look at a popular local restaurant on Apple Maps (one which has thousands of reviews on both Google and TripAdvisor) then the opening hours are just wrong and seemingly pulled from Yelp where the restaurant is unclaimed and has just 9 reviews, all in English rather than the native language.
2 comments
ehsankia 1804 days ago
That's what many don't realize. Apple shows really fantastic and detailed 3D handcrafted maps each year at WWDC, then when you dig deeper, you find out that it's only for like 3 American cities and it's coming in a year... Basically useless for 99% of people.

While Maps also has some discrepancies between cities and also different countries, in general it's a lot more consistent and features roll out more widely.

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pfranz 1804 days ago
You make it sound like Apple's efforts stop after announcing at WWDC. They do seem to be following through. The "new maps" were announced in 2018. They finished the continental US in January 2020 and since expanded to Canada, UK, Ireland, Spain, Portugal, and Italy with the most previous update released last month.

Justin O'Beirne has followed Google/Apple maps in detail for years https://www.justinobeirne.com/

Forbes is an American business magazine and the author covers cover security and surveillance. So I wouldn't think his advice is meant for everyone.

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ehsankia 1804 days ago
Announced WWDC 2018, arrived to the neighbor to the north 2.5 years later in December 2020, that's still quite a gap. But to be clear I was referring to the brand new detailed maps announced this year.

> This will only be available in the San Francisco Bay Area, Los Angeles, New York, and London by the end of the year.

So 4 cities 6 months after announcements.

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theshrike79 1804 days ago
Yeah, over here most Yelp reviews are utter crap. Maybe 1-4 reviews and the average is around 2 stars for really good places.
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