PC Magazine’s John C. Dvorak has tested three mapping applications available for iPhone and very surprisingly the much maligned Apple Maps came out on top in the tests. The testers were Leo Laporte from TWiT who was using the Waze app, John C. Dvorak who had Google Maps and finally Glenn Rubenstein who had Apple Maps. They each set off with several missions, one of which was to find Apple’s 1 Infinite Loop headquarters.
Leo was using Waze, which he thinks is great. He was misdirected in one instance and took forever to get there. He got lost for unknown reasons at another target location. Overall, he—and Waze—came in third (and last).
Glenn, who actually inspired my idea for the test, was using Apple Maps, which he switched to after iOS 6 dumped Google Maps. "I don't have any trouble with it," he said. "It works fine." In fact, it worked better than Google. On one leg from the Apple facility to a shopping mall, Glenn beat me, though just barely. Leo was the laggard. But then from that location to a lunch spot, Glenn and I followed each other. Suddenly, Glenn jumped on to the freeway as Google Maps directed me through the city streets for a cut across town. At the time, this seemed like a better route, not to mention a more scenic one. But the long stoplights in Sunnyvale are dreadful. Glenn arrived at least five minutes ahead of me. I gave the nod to Apple and now wonder what the fuss was about.
Obviously this is not a scientific test however it is a real world test and shows that Apple Maps is really not as bad as it first appeared. In time it will improve and it is improving as every day goes by. It will be interesting to see how it develops when Apple announces iOS 7 in the coming months. I am sure it will be getting a lot of attention.
One funny thing to note from the three maps app shootout. Google Maps on the iPhone showed Apple’s 1 Infinite Loop in Street view from behind the building, looking at a bin store. Not sure if this is deliberate or a genuine mistake, what do you think?
Source: PC Magazine
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