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by kalleboo 5019 days ago
If I zoom in one more step than he did on Google Maps, I see the same POIs as on his Apple map. And the copyright on maps.google.com is... "AutoNavi", the same provider he praises.

I agree that Apple have done a better presentation here by showing more data at a further zoom level. It's the exact opposite of my experience of Apple Maps here in Japan - I have to zoom in to absurd levels just to see train tracks (which should be on par with freeways IMO)
3 comments
harisenbon 5019 days ago
(Japan) My wife had updated her iPhone to iOS6 and we were using it to go to the next city over. Not only are the stations, trainlines and street names not listed unless you zoom in right on top of them, there are no traffic signals or intersection names.

The font that they chose for the area names is also incredibly wide, which works well for something like "Brooklyn" but not for a name as long as "KakamigaharaHonmachi," which is pretty standard for a Japanese town.

Everyone I've talked to in Japan who has upgraded regrets it.

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snogglethorpe 5019 days ago
> Everyone I've talked to in Japan who has upgraded regrets it.

... and yesterday I saw a rather long prime-time Japanese TV news piece about how screwed up Apple's iOS6 maps are, where the reporter was travelling around to various places in Tokyo and showing how crazily Apple maps misrepresented them...

So the story's clearly made the jump from something techies know about to general news, just when all the resellers are trying hard to get people excited about the iphone 5...

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beering 5019 days ago
The number of people who actually know what's going on with maps nowadays is probably not much greater than the headcount of Google Maps. Meanwhile, just assume that every article and opinion piece on Apple or Google Maps is grossly misinformed.
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snogglethorpe 5019 days ago
Even Google maps in Japan way overemphasizes highways and other roads, given that they're less important than transit in places like Tokyo.

You can tone down some of road-overemphasis by selecting the transit option (路線図) in the side-menu, but this really should be turned on by default in Japan. [Using this option is also a little annoying because it highlights subway lines in rather garish colors, while (equally important) surface rail lines keep their ordinary subdued appearance.]

I dunno why they do things this way, but I suppose a lot of the tech and know-how came from the car-obsessed U.S., and probably a lot of their Japanese data comes from road-atlas companies (who have a reason to emphasize roads).

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