Photo: Bogdan Popa/autoevolution/reddit user Daehtop_Yrrah
Apple has been working around the clock on making Apple Maps a more solid Google Maps alternative, and the detailed city experience's debut certainly helped the company get closer to this ambitious goal.
The detailed city experience is the biggest Apple Maps update in history, bringing in-house maps, Look Around, massive navigation improvements, and 3D buildings for a completely overhauled experience.
The biggest shortcoming is that the new Apple Maps needs years to reach the broad availability phase, so it continues to be available in limited regions three years after the rollout kicked off officially.
Google Maps keeps evolving, too, as the Mountain View-based search giant invests in new-generation capabilities. Immersive View for routes is living proof, as it creates a multi-dimensional view of a suggested route, allowing users to get familiar with every turn before they begin driving.
However, Apple Maps' biggest problem isn't Google's investments in innovations or the slow detailed city experience rollout. Apple still needs weeks, and sometimes months, to update Apple Maps, giving users no option but to switch to Google Maps for up-to-date information.
It might sound ridiculous, but my house still doesn't appear on Apple Maps, despite me reporting the issue to the iPhone maker back in 2020. I sent further updates every few months, but Apple still hasn't updated its maps to show the street in front of my house. If I enable navigation in Apple Maps, the application can't offer turn-by-turn guidance to my front porch simply because it has no idea there's a street that can take me there.
Someone on reddit recently highlighted a similar problem, confirming that Apple has a hard time making the necessary edits in more than one location. The redditor explains that a new section of the freeway opened close to their home approximately two weeks ago, but Apple Maps still doesn't show it on the maps. Google Maps not only showed the new section but also added it to the map before it was opened, using a "Road Closed" symbol to prepare for the grand opening.
Due to the lack of updates, Apple Maps has no idea users can drive on a new highway section, and as a result, it can't route them through the region. The application could suggest detours and take users on other routes despite the new highway section serving as an important shortcut for certain destinations.
Users have no option but to abandon Apple Maps and use Google Maps for navigation, and unfortunately for Apple, similar problems happen in way too many locations worldwide. Apple allows users to suggest map edits and help keep the maps up-to-date, but as I explained earlier, the company can't keep up with the feedback it receives, sometimes needing up to several weeks to make critical edits.
The biggest shortcoming is that the new Apple Maps needs years to reach the broad availability phase, so it continues to be available in limited regions three years after the rollout kicked off officially.
Google Maps keeps evolving, too, as the Mountain View-based search giant invests in new-generation capabilities. Immersive View for routes is living proof, as it creates a multi-dimensional view of a suggested route, allowing users to get familiar with every turn before they begin driving.
However, Apple Maps' biggest problem isn't Google's investments in innovations or the slow detailed city experience rollout. Apple still needs weeks, and sometimes months, to update Apple Maps, giving users no option but to switch to Google Maps for up-to-date information.
It might sound ridiculous, but my house still doesn't appear on Apple Maps, despite me reporting the issue to the iPhone maker back in 2020. I sent further updates every few months, but Apple still hasn't updated its maps to show the street in front of my house. If I enable navigation in Apple Maps, the application can't offer turn-by-turn guidance to my front porch simply because it has no idea there's a street that can take me there.
Someone on reddit recently highlighted a similar problem, confirming that Apple has a hard time making the necessary edits in more than one location. The redditor explains that a new section of the freeway opened close to their home approximately two weeks ago, but Apple Maps still doesn't show it on the maps. Google Maps not only showed the new section but also added it to the map before it was opened, using a "Road Closed" symbol to prepare for the grand opening.
Due to the lack of updates, Apple Maps has no idea users can drive on a new highway section, and as a result, it can't route them through the region. The application could suggest detours and take users on other routes despite the new highway section serving as an important shortcut for certain destinations.
Users have no option but to abandon Apple Maps and use Google Maps for navigation, and unfortunately for Apple, similar problems happen in way too many locations worldwide. Apple allows users to suggest map edits and help keep the maps up-to-date, but as I explained earlier, the company can't keep up with the feedback it receives, sometimes needing up to several weeks to make critical edits.
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