Re:Apple Maps Gradually Winning over Google Maps Users, Repo...
by jwestbury on Tuesday July 18, 2023 @11:34AM
(#36774175)
Two examples with Google Maps:
1. In the US, driving in a rural area, Google took me down a five-mile stretch of gravel road between two farms. It's questionable whether this was actually a public road, as I got an odd look from a farmer on his tractor. Admittedly, this saved about 30 minutes.
2. In the UK, Google Maps routinely tries to lead me down narrow country lanes to save 1-2 minutes. In many cases, it will take me off an A road (read: main route) onto a single-lane country lane flanked by hedges. It's bad enough that when I'm using Google Maps, I specifically look at the map at each turn it suggests to see if it has an alternate route highlighted that keeps me on the main road, and I choose that route instead.
I don't experience these things as much with Apple Maps, which seems tuned to keep me on main routes.
1. In the US, driving in a rural area, Google took me down a five-mile stretch of gravel road between two farms. It's questionable whether this was actually a public road, as I got an odd look from a farmer on his tractor. Admittedly, this saved about 30 minutes.
2. In the UK, Google Maps routinely tries to lead me down narrow country lanes to save 1-2 minutes. In many cases, it will take me off an A road (read: main route) onto a single-lane country lane flanked by hedges. It's bad enough that when I'm using Google Maps, I specifically look at the map at each turn it suggests to see if it has an alternate route highlighted that keeps me on the main road, and I choose that route instead.
I don't experience these things as much with Apple Maps, which seems tuned to keep me on main routes.