I remember about a decade ago when I used to live in a new townhouse development (some people may call them rowhouses, but that’s unimportant I guess). Giving directions was always difficult because my street didn’t exist on Google Maps for ages, the satellite view showed me living in a field. At the time I remember a lot of internet hate for Apple Maps, but I liked it because it actually had my street on it. Want to come to my house? Buy an iPhone.
I thought it was just me, but I love scrolling around on maps too!... And since I'm an Android user, I'm often stuck with Google maps for a casually scrolling around... It sucks, it's so nice to unlock my iPad and use Apple Maps, and Apple maps is always improving and getting better, I'd argue at a faster rate than GMaps, but I wish we all had a map app that was clean, simple and cross platform.
Ah, it's even worse. Here in Chicago, we have a street at what used to be ground level but is now (effectively) underground -- and running right through River North, one of the densest parts of the city. Carroll Avenue runs from the beginning of the north branch of the Chicago River east toward the Lake. More amazingly: it has an old freight rail line down the middle of it. I recently looked at Google Maps and for some reason, they have removed most of this street. They have only one block on each side of an entrance to it from the upper streets -- even though you can see bits of it in exposed trench from Street View and it has been on maps for years. I tried submitting a fix to Google Maps: they old me "Thank you! It's fixed!"... and nothing had been done. Compare what Open Street Maps has (https://www.openstreetmap.org/#map=17/41.88785/-87.63229) with Google's nonsense (https://maps.app.goo.gl/BquW8tCmm4xTYFNM8). Thankfully, transit planners do not (usually) use Google's bad maps.
I totally agree, the second you have multilevel or complex situations maps breaks down, but a lot of these scenarios are pretty common and worth developing better automated processes for!
Yes it sucks that we can't see GO routes on Google Maps.
I think the bike way finding is decent. I use it and I love that it shows multiple routes that you can take. I've also used alternative apps but they don't give you alternative routes, and their turn by turn navigation is much worse than Google maps.
I've also been surprised by the Subway wayfinding. I'm not sure how recent this change is, but I recently noticed that they have mapped the various exits to the subway. So it'll show you the walk path and which subway exit to take. This is an amazing feature, as it can be very confusing which street level exit to take when leaving the subway.
Google Maps is terribly car-centric and caters almost exclusively to American suburbanites who always drive everywhere. This is especially obvious if you ever read any reviews of places on Maps.
I used to think Google maps was reasonable for PT, but I went to South Korea earlier this year and KakaoMap is a whole nother level, even the Australian specific apps are not that good at showing PT in Melbourne
I use Google Maps as a last resort nowadays and I actually basically use a bit of everything for various different things. If I'm navigating out and about using public transport or walking or cycling, I'll use Citymapper. If I want to look at public transport, want a prettier map or a second opinion route-wise, I'll use Apple Maps. If I want to look at specific buildings on my laptop for some reason, I'll go to OpenStreetMap. If I'm stuck or want the distance measure tools, that's when I'll use Google Maps. It's clunky and needs a change. While Apple Maps isn't amazing either, it's not terrible anymore and if Apple keeps improving (and I mean for lesser-known cities too, like Birmingham, UK - where's our 'Look Around' and cycling directions!?) and brings it to other platforms, then I think it can definitely become THE alternative to rival Google Maps.
I saw a google maps ad before the Taylor Swift eras tour movie. :) They were advertising the eco-friendly mode for driving. And some other features, maybe bike rental integration.
One thing I love with Google Maps is you can have satellite view + transit view as well, though Apple Maps has a better transit view able to see intercity routes when zoomed out to bus routes zoomed in. Too bad it can’t be with satellite view, helps me to understand what the area looks like. It also somewhat quicker to update having the LA Regional Connector and Montreal REM updated, compared to months and weeks for Google maps
I have noticed that satellite images aren't always up to date on Google Maps, but it's not dramatic. I live in a medium-large sized European city and the 3D image view has been updated very recently, but the older one was only from ~2020/21. What is strange is the new image hasn't been pushed to mobile yet, except for the Google Earth app. I do live in an area with a new postal/zip code and Google maps seems to know that just fine, not all services do. As for transit, departure times are good, maps layers poor. Thankfully the wayfinding is acceptable here.
An area you didn't go too deep into was custom maps. Google MyMaps has not been updated in a very long time, which is a shame because it is genuinely very good, useful software but in 2023 there isn't much reason to use it when Open Street Maps exists. I like Open Street Maps, but I especially liked having a choice between two good services and I used both. It's a shame. I hope it is revitalised and not killed but I wouldn't bet on it with Google.
Another issue I’ve had with the Google Maps transit layer is that they do not seem to be on top of new transit lines. This happened with the REM in Montreal and the 3rd street Subway in San Francisco where they did not have directions on day 1. I understand that this is probably the transit agency not pushing data to google but I feel like Google maps should be staffed by more people who are transit and bike enthusiasts who might know this kind of stuff!!
While I agree with most of the problems you highlight in the article, I think that while many of them could be improved upon the main problem is scalability. Except for the "colors" problem, everything else would be extremely hard to fix automatically, and would most likely require some manual changes to the map. This is fine in maps with limited reach, but it's nearly impossible to do in a global map. For example, you give Apple Maps as an example, and while it works very well in North America, in the rest of the world it is missing many of the features and gives users a bad experience. PS: good luck with trying to get all transit agencies to release data in the same format
Transit agencies already mostly do release the same data format - GTFS developed by Google!
I don't agree that much better could be done automatically, things like not having labels overlap lines, or having stop directions automatically populate are trivial, and some satellite image analysis could do wonders on some of the other stuff!
I remember about a decade ago when I used to live in a new townhouse development (some people may call them rowhouses, but that’s unimportant I guess). Giving directions was always difficult because my street didn’t exist on Google Maps for ages, the satellite view showed me living in a field. At the time I remember a lot of internet hate for Apple Maps, but I liked it because it actually had my street on it. Want to come to my house? Buy an iPhone.
Yeah I can relate to this, the processes for updating maps seem to be pretty universally bad!
One thing that is shocking about Apple Maps is that there are no accessible journey options. Very disappointing in 2023.
I agree, I hope to see that fixed soon!
I thought it was just me, but I love scrolling around on maps too!... And since I'm an Android user, I'm often stuck with Google maps for a casually scrolling around... It sucks, it's so nice to unlock my iPad and use Apple Maps, and Apple maps is always improving and getting better, I'd argue at a faster rate than GMaps, but I wish we all had a map app that was clean, simple and cross platform.
Exactly, a good accessible easy map for all would be such a game changer!
Ah, it's even worse. Here in Chicago, we have a street at what used to be ground level but is now (effectively) underground -- and running right through River North, one of the densest parts of the city. Carroll Avenue runs from the beginning of the north branch of the Chicago River east toward the Lake. More amazingly: it has an old freight rail line down the middle of it. I recently looked at Google Maps and for some reason, they have removed most of this street. They have only one block on each side of an entrance to it from the upper streets -- even though you can see bits of it in exposed trench from Street View and it has been on maps for years. I tried submitting a fix to Google Maps: they old me "Thank you! It's fixed!"... and nothing had been done. Compare what Open Street Maps has (https://www.openstreetmap.org/#map=17/41.88785/-87.63229) with Google's nonsense (https://maps.app.goo.gl/BquW8tCmm4xTYFNM8). Thankfully, transit planners do not (usually) use Google's bad maps.
I see a lot of planners using Google Maps!
I totally agree, the second you have multilevel or complex situations maps breaks down, but a lot of these scenarios are pretty common and worth developing better automated processes for!
Yes it sucks that we can't see GO routes on Google Maps.
I think the bike way finding is decent. I use it and I love that it shows multiple routes that you can take. I've also used alternative apps but they don't give you alternative routes, and their turn by turn navigation is much worse than Google maps.
I've also been surprised by the Subway wayfinding. I'm not sure how recent this change is, but I recently noticed that they have mapped the various exits to the subway. So it'll show you the walk path and which subway exit to take. This is an amazing feature, as it can be very confusing which street level exit to take when leaving the subway.
Google Maps is terribly car-centric and caters almost exclusively to American suburbanites who always drive everywhere. This is especially obvious if you ever read any reviews of places on Maps.
I used to think Google maps was reasonable for PT, but I went to South Korea earlier this year and KakaoMap is a whole nother level, even the Australian specific apps are not that good at showing PT in Melbourne
I use Google Maps as a last resort nowadays and I actually basically use a bit of everything for various different things. If I'm navigating out and about using public transport or walking or cycling, I'll use Citymapper. If I want to look at public transport, want a prettier map or a second opinion route-wise, I'll use Apple Maps. If I want to look at specific buildings on my laptop for some reason, I'll go to OpenStreetMap. If I'm stuck or want the distance measure tools, that's when I'll use Google Maps. It's clunky and needs a change. While Apple Maps isn't amazing either, it's not terrible anymore and if Apple keeps improving (and I mean for lesser-known cities too, like Birmingham, UK - where's our 'Look Around' and cycling directions!?) and brings it to other platforms, then I think it can definitely become THE alternative to rival Google Maps.
I saw a google maps ad before the Taylor Swift eras tour movie. :) They were advertising the eco-friendly mode for driving. And some other features, maybe bike rental integration.
One thing I love with Google Maps is you can have satellite view + transit view as well, though Apple Maps has a better transit view able to see intercity routes when zoomed out to bus routes zoomed in. Too bad it can’t be with satellite view, helps me to understand what the area looks like. It also somewhat quicker to update having the LA Regional Connector and Montreal REM updated, compared to months and weeks for Google maps
I have noticed that satellite images aren't always up to date on Google Maps, but it's not dramatic. I live in a medium-large sized European city and the 3D image view has been updated very recently, but the older one was only from ~2020/21. What is strange is the new image hasn't been pushed to mobile yet, except for the Google Earth app. I do live in an area with a new postal/zip code and Google maps seems to know that just fine, not all services do. As for transit, departure times are good, maps layers poor. Thankfully the wayfinding is acceptable here.
An area you didn't go too deep into was custom maps. Google MyMaps has not been updated in a very long time, which is a shame because it is genuinely very good, useful software but in 2023 there isn't much reason to use it when Open Street Maps exists. I like Open Street Maps, but I especially liked having a choice between two good services and I used both. It's a shame. I hope it is revitalised and not killed but I wouldn't bet on it with Google.
Another issue I’ve had with the Google Maps transit layer is that they do not seem to be on top of new transit lines. This happened with the REM in Montreal and the 3rd street Subway in San Francisco where they did not have directions on day 1. I understand that this is probably the transit agency not pushing data to google but I feel like Google maps should be staffed by more people who are transit and bike enthusiasts who might know this kind of stuff!!
While I agree with most of the problems you highlight in the article, I think that while many of them could be improved upon the main problem is scalability. Except for the "colors" problem, everything else would be extremely hard to fix automatically, and would most likely require some manual changes to the map. This is fine in maps with limited reach, but it's nearly impossible to do in a global map. For example, you give Apple Maps as an example, and while it works very well in North America, in the rest of the world it is missing many of the features and gives users a bad experience. PS: good luck with trying to get all transit agencies to release data in the same format
Transit agencies already mostly do release the same data format - GTFS developed by Google!
I don't agree that much better could be done automatically, things like not having labels overlap lines, or having stop directions automatically populate are trivial, and some satellite image analysis could do wonders on some of the other stuff!
Where do you think todays innovative minds are going? I don't disagree, it seems like their culture has gone way downhill.