[SllX]

I recently switched back to Google Maps after Apple announced ads were coming to Apple Maps, since if the default Maps app is going to be saddled with ads on my thousands of dollars worth of Apple hardware anyway, I may as well use the best. And yeah, let’s be honest, Apple Maps is good enough for most use cases, but Google Maps blows it out of the fucking water.

In that light, I may be hard pressed to call it a debacle, but it’s still third-rate.

[microtonal]

For sports OpenStreetMap is much better anyway, in most countries it has many more hiking/cycling/MTB trails. More details on relevant POIs (water points, bathrooms, etc.). Plus there are many specialized versions like Open Fiets Map (cycling), Freizeitkarte (general outdoors), OpenMTB (mountainbiking and hiking), etc.

Currently I'm using Garmin's version of OpenStreetMap + an overlay for the Dutch cycle path network [1] on my watch.

[1] If you are in the Netherlands, this is a gem: https://planner.gps.nl/download.php?toolid=1 . Download the device version, copy it to your Garmin gpsr or Watch and you have a very nice overlay of the cycle network with nodes (knooppunten), etc.

[interloxia]

Examples.

https://www.macrumors.com/2026/04/24/apple-maps-ads-what-to-...

How to advertise in Google Maps

https://support.google.com/google-ads/answer/16388390?hl=en

[mannyv]

My kids pointed out that Apple Maps shows street lights, which makes navigation much easier than waze or google maps. They use apple maps exclusively.

[miyoji]

This is a very weird comment considering that Google Maps has had that feature for years.

[Centigonal]

FWIW Google Maps also has ads, although they're disguised as "sponsored" PoIs with greater visibility in search results

[dylan604]

> In that light, I may be hard pressed to call it a debacle, but it’s still third-rate.

Not sure how that isn't a debacle:

"The product wasn’t ready," Cook, who will step down as CEO in September, said during an Apple town hall on April 21, Bloomberg reported. "We apologized for it and we said, 'Go use these other apps. They're better than ours.' And that was a humble pie. But it was the right thing for our users."

https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/news/2026/04/24/tim-cook...

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-04-22/tim-cook-...

(Bloomberg site paywalled, so used a non-paywalled source quoting Bloomberg)

[SllX]

To clarify, if this wasn't clear already: Apple Maps at launch was a debacle. It's present day Apple Maps I would be hard pressed to call a debacle.

[d12bb]

Well, except Google Maps nowadays sucks for everything but POI discovery, and even that is getting worse with reviews getting tinkered with more and more. Not to speak of the abomination Google calls an user interface.

Only reason to use Google nowadays for me is travel in countries where neither Apple nor OSM have good coverage.