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A decade after a disastrous launch, is Apple Maps finally good? (www.theguardian.com)

submitted 1 year ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

45 comments fedilink hide all child comments

Archived version: https://archive.ph/hguLn

Excerpt (and context):

Apple Maps’ offering might surprise people who remember its disastrous launch in 2012, which the Guardian described as the company’s “first significant failure in years”. Users were more than furious – they were lost, sometimes dangerously so. In Australia, police had to rescue tourists from the huge Murray-Sunset national park, after Maps placed the city of Mildura in the wrong place by more than 40 miles. Some of the motorists located by police had been stranded for 24 hours without food or water. In Ireland, ministers had to complain directly to Apple after a cafe and gardens called “Airfield” was designated by the service as an actual airport.

But mostly the map was just glitchy and unhelpful, its directions always a little off kilter. Users revolted and Apple made a rare retreat, allowing Google Maps to be used as the default on many iPhone apps and apologizing for the product.

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[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Download yes, but you can’t plan routes offline.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Not sure what you mean by plan routes but you can definitely find destinations in downloaded maps and navigate to them offline.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Apparently we’re both half right.

Not sure if I just never tried driving routes in offline Google Maps, but I see that it works now.

However, other types of routes are unavailable.

https://imgur.com/a/FANmMOr

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

Interesting. I guess I've only ever used driving directions offline.

In their defense, Google does clearly say this on their website:

Tip: Transit, bicycling, or walking directions are unavailable offline. In your offline driving directions, you can’t get traffic info, alternate routes, or lane guidance.