
Google Maps for iOS - zacharytamas
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/google-maps/id585027354?mt=8
======
dakrisht
Wow. New GMaps totally annihilates Apple Maps in every which way. Not that
this comes as a surprise...

Navigation is great, so much better than Siri's dreadful voice, easy to
navigate from A>B with a tap of your destination. Let's not even mention the
street data.

Great 3D flyovers, but no satellite-3D flyovers (if you're worried about that
you probably have too much time to waste during the day - this is a maps app,
to take you places, not give you a tour of Los Angeles).

UI feels great - intuitive, fluid, multi-touch works fantastic. Heard someone
mention that it "lacks polish" or feels "laggy" - not sure I agree with that -
feels fast on an iPhone 5 and on a 4S side-by-side. UI is clean and not
cluttered, that's a plus. Someone else mentioned that it's simply GMaps in a
UIWebView - no chance for that.

Of course, the public transport data is second to none. The data in general -
we won't discuss that.

Great release - welcome back

~~~
colmvp
Does living in the Bay Area color my view of Apple Maps? Because honestly, I
use it nearly everyday to navigate and it's never let me down. It's actually a
pleasant surprise and works pretty well with other apps I'm using at the same
time, like Spotify in the car.

~~~
jon-wood
In the UK (although just outside and around London, so data is probably quite
good) my experience has been that if your driving the directions work about as
well as Google Maps. If you're traveling by public transport its useless,
since it just doesn't support it. Finding places is also really hit and miss,
sometimes it works fine, and other times I'll get pointed to some place in
Texas despite there being an identically named place within a few miles of me.

~~~
Tyrannosaurs
Based on my anecdotal experience in the UK outside of London it's fine.

I'm not going to say I can't see what the fuss has been about as I've seen
enough examples to know that there are real and significant problems, but I
can say where I live (west of Scotland) for my use cases (basic searching and
navigation) I've not had anything to complain about.

------
brackin
This is leaps and bounds better than Apple Maps and even the original maps
client on iOS that used Google Maps. I didn't even think Apple maps were
'that' bad. The huge hole was POI data, in London at least. Most POI's seemed
to be approximated and the rest of them were missing, old or incorrect.

After playing with this app for 10 minutes I think this is far superior to the
iOS5 Maps experience. It's an extremely refined and clean app that is
extremely fast with lots of features. Start typing a street or location and
it'll know what you mean within a few letters.

~~~
comex
My impression is the opposite - Google Maps' data is so much better that it
hardly matters, but this app seriously lacks polish. For instance, it's laggy
- iOS 6 Maps doesn't always make 60fps, which is a shame, but this app doesn't
even try. Simply panning around (on my 4S) is enough to produce serious
stuttering; even the simple transition to the side menu is not smooth. Or
consider Street View, which is missing the signature transition as you "move"
from one place to another.

edit: Opening the side menu, for its matter, visually seems to depend on
hitting a tiny tap target; there is hidden space to the left of the target but
not above it, which is the natural place I tried tapping. The menu itself is
weirdly designed (giant spacing) and prone to accidental dismissal by someone
trying to scroll it.

No bookmarks either.

~~~
cremnob
Is the lag any better on an iPhone 5?

~~~
elithrar
It's very smooth on my iPhone 5, but it does have moments where you can notice
a bit of frame drop (only if you've read this comment thread beforehand).

From a UI/UX perspective:

\+ Fonts and text entry are _great_ \+ Search speed and interface speed are
fantastic

\- The pull-out menu on the right (akin to a hamburger menu) feels a bit odd
and it's not immediately clear as to what it does (they are layer toggles for
traffic/transit routes/satellite) \- I can't figure out how to bookmark my
home or work addresses (whilst being logged in) - if there is a way it is not
intuitive.

~~~
nsp
You're right - it's not intuitive. To set your work and home while logged in,
click the person on the upper right and then the gear then edit home or work?

------
robbiep
So a question I have for some people more knowledgable than me in the iOS
system:

Now that we have an apple maps program, and various competitors including and
not limited to google; we also have a chrome (and other) iOS browsers to
compete with safari (and yes, I understand it's really just skinned web kit)
and a new default video player,

Is this situation not akin to the anti-trust wars that threatened to consume
Microsoft a decade ago?

For instance, they (the apple defaults) are all installed by default, and they
remain the default option: for example if you receive an address (either
physical or web) in messenger or whatsapp or whatever, iOS will attempt to
recognise it and make it a hyperlink, but it will then open in the _apple
default app_ \- if you want it to open in say chrome or google maps you have
to copy and paste it.

So- is this the same as the anti-trust case against Microsoft? Will apple ever
change the default program? Or will my next phone be an android..

~~~
lambda
Just buy an Android. You can configure what browser opens links. You can
configure what map application opens maps. You can configure what video player
opens videos.

Yes, this is much like Microsoft a decade ago; in fact, it's worse, the iOS
offers significantly less choice than Windows did back then; you could develop
your own software for your own computer without joining a restrictive
developer program from Microsoft.

If you don't like it, my recommendation is that you don't buy into it. Get an
Android. I've been perfectly happy with mine.

~~~
snogglethorpe
The thing is, Apple makes really nice hardware. Really, really, nice hardware.
There are some pretty good Android phones, but Apple nails it in a way that
nobody else seems quite able to pull off.

I'd love to have an iphone 5 running Android! :]

~~~
robbiep
Hmm.. Are there hardware level-blocks on jail breaking an iPhone so far as to
run android on it?

~~~
wtracy
No, surprisingly.

And yes, the Android port is well underway: <http://www.idroidproject.org/>

~~~
untog
According to the site, the project is pretty much dead. Shame, as I agree with
the OP that Apple hardware is better than anything an Android manufacturer has
turned out - or is interested in turning out. I can't remember the last time I
saw an Android phone under 4.3" big.

------
nicholassmith
It looks great, the fact that it has 480 upvotes on here shows that a lot of
people wanted it.

The transport directions are _slightly_ better, it'll find actual options for
me now but does still occasionally go "Nope, no public transport around you!"
when I live near a bus stop. And a train station.

It's _slightly_ laggy on my iPhone 5, I popped it up with a high view when I
was on the train and it was very visibly jerky, Apple Maps was much, much
smoother.

Hey guys, SIGN IN. You want your search history? SIGN IN. That's really
annoying, and given when the whole Maps shift started it was rumoured that
Google was demanding more and more information on the searches it points to
Google _really_ wanting that search history with your account.

POI stuff spanks Apple, easily. Apple sucks at that at the moment, the fact
that Google can autocomplete a hell of a lot of it is much nicer.

I don't like some of the UX choices, the 'tutorial overlay' says the bottom
right button is tappable but it's actually a slide over, tapping did nothing
for me. Accessing Street View is non-intuitive. Occasionally it felt like
there was a few too many taps to get me where I needed to be. This is all
stuff they can work on though.

All in all, it's pretty good. I'll have it as a secondary Maps app, I'm going
to try stick with Apple Maps though. Not because I'm a glutton for punishment
but because it has _genuinely_ started getting better for the use case I need
it in. Choice is always nice though.

~~~
jinushaun
Bottom right button is tappable. I avoid sliding/swiping on the phone unless I
have to.

~~~
nicholassmith
I've tried it a few times and it doesn't seem like the tap zone is quite as
big as it could be. Or my fingers are tapping the wrong place, possibly.

------
Tyrannosaurs
I'm not seeing a lot of comments about how good for Apple this is.

Yes Apple want to own maps on iOS but given how their own launch went the ship
has sailed on that for a while at least. But given the position they found
themselves in this goes a long way to undermining the criticisms of mapping on
iOS because if you think Apple maps sucks you just go and get Google maps for
free.

One of Apple's big gripes supposedly was that they couldn't get Google maps
turn by turn navigation on the iPhone and here it is (and without them paying
for it it seems) plus they get to work on Apple maps with some of the pressure
off which protects them some if Google start messing around.

I'm not in any way saying that this was Apple's plan all along - that plan
went badly wrong in the summer - but as of this morning iOS, for regular users
at least, just got more attractive.

Yes it's a win for Google, but it's a win for Apple too.

~~~
highwind
So when Apple decides drop Google Maps as their default, they probably thought
that it'll bring more value to their iOS platform. But obviously that didn't
happen.

Now that Google Maps is back on iOS, I agree that it's a win for Apple as
well. But someone please explain it to me how it could have been a win for
Apple to drop Google Maps in the first place?

~~~
Tyrannosaurs
Relations between the two companies were hardly cordial. I suspect Apple
didn't want to be beholden to a rival over what was becoming an increasingly
core service.

Remember Apple already give Samsung, another competitor, a shed load of each
money for components. Why enrich someone you're competing with?

------
Groxx
So far, it seems very awkward...

Two-finger slide from the right _sometimes_ opens up a sidebar that apparently
contains settings (not sure what the magic incantation is).

Zooming in works, but there's no street view, you just keep zooming waaaaay
in.

No bike directions. :|

I might like the map drawing better, can't really say which is quicker on my
relatively slow device, and it does work quite well. But so far I'm not
impressed at all. The previous iOS 5- version was better, if less new-Google-
aesthetic-y.

~~~
el_cuadrado
> No bike directions. :|

Yes, what is up with that? Android app had that for ages. I guess I am not
supposed to have an iPhone if I bike.

~~~
Blara
Unless you want to have the phone attached to the bike, I haven't found any
good mounts for my galaxy nexus, but there's plenty of mounts for iPhone. I've
considered a switch just because of that.

~~~
topbanana
Bluetooth headphones any use?

------
packetslave
IOS SDK released as well:
[http://googlegeodevelopers.blogspot.com/2012/12/a-new-way-
to...](http://googlegeodevelopers.blogspot.com/2012/12/a-new-way-to-add-
google-maps-to-your.html)

~~~
selectout
I hope this get's more use than the "Open in Chrome" button does. Both are
awesome, my only gripe with iOS 6 is not being able to set default apps for
browser, email, and maps. (coincidentally I'd switch them all to Google or
google owned items)

~~~
veidr
I don't think it is coincidental; I think that is precisely the main reason
why Apple chooses what apps can be used for these purposes, instead of the
user being allowed to choose.

~~~
mjhagen
As long as you buy Apple hardware, I don't think they care what default
mapping software you use. I think there is a different reason why they don't
have settings for this.

~~~
veidr
Such as?

------
sudhirj
Also, double tap and hold, move up and down to zoom. Full one handed operation
FTW.

------
mkinsella
I can finally upgrade to iOS 6.

~~~
lunchbox
Yes, but keep in mind you can't make Google Maps the default mapping
application, so links to addresses (e.g. in calendar, web browser, contacts)
will open in Apple Maps.

~~~
SquareWheel
I expect there to eventually be a jailbreak tweak for this. Though of course
having an iOS6 jailbreak would help first.

------
kalleboo
What I found really interesting is how after playing with Google Maps for a
couple minutes, then hopping out to the Settings app to change something, the
standard iOS look instantly felt really dated, with the bubbliness, heavy
gradients and pinstripes.

~~~
Too
I get that every time i use an iphone. Feels like the "Web 2.0" era or some
shitty flash-game where everything consists of rounded corners and gradients.
The sms-view really makes me cringe.

Not in line with apples otherwise timeless designs at all.

------
toast76
Voice guides, street view, search/favourites syncing...oh and the maps are
actually correct.

~~~
cubicle67
Edit: yeah, it's a cheap shot, but my point is "correctness" is not binary

[http://au.news.yahoo.com/technology/news/article/-/15610781/...](http://au.news.yahoo.com/technology/news/article/-/15610781/police-
warn-of-safety-concerns-from-google-maps/)

 _Now police in Colac, west of Melbourne, say faults with Google maps are
putting people's lives at risk along the Great Ocean Road and in the southern
Otways._

 _Sergeant Nick Buenen says trucks, buses and tourists are being directed down
Wild Dog Road, which is a one-way track, not built for heavy traffic._

 _He says VicRoads has denied responsibility and Google Maps has not
responded._

~~~
cleverjake
[http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-57558777-93/police-
google-m...](http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-57558777-93/police-google-maps-
giving-dangerous-directions-too/)

"Update, 12:41 p.m. PT A Google spokesperson said that Google Maps routes
drivers onto Wild Dog Road only if the driver searches for a destination
located on that road. For directions to other nearby locations, Google Maps
routes drivers onto Forrest-Apollo Bay Road/Skenes Creek Road. "

------
mrcharles
So, I find this out, I go directly to the App Store on my phone, and I do a
search for "Google Maps".

First five results:"Google Earth", "My Places for Google Maps", "My Maps
Editor", "Road Tripper", and then finally "Google Maps"

Seriously, how difficult is it to bump an exact string match to the top of the
list?

Seems to me that iOS is just getting worse and worse.

~~~
Tyrannosaurs
Ranking based on a number of factors, not just a string match is generally a
good idea.

When someone searches on the term "maps" do you want the "best" (highest
rated, most popular, whatever) app to be the top hit (give it a week and
that'll likely be Google Maps), or the one from the person who had done a bit
of SEO and thought to call his app "maps" to hit the exact string match?

I contest that what's happening is actually a good thing and what you propose
would be a field day for those who look to game the system.

~~~
mrcharles
Does that hold true when the exact string match is already #1 on the Free Apps
list? Because to me, if it's an exact string match, AND it's wildly popular...

~~~
Tyrannosaurs
The shorter the period of time you use to measure popularity, the more
volatile the order will be.

I think it's clear that this is a transient issue, that the apps popularity
will kick in shortly so I'm not sure it's a big deal regardless.

UK App Store at least it's up to fourth now so it's moving.

~~~
mrcharles
Okay, how about, it's an exact string match, it's wildly popular, and it's
from a well known and long time developer whose apps have always been wildly
popular? Is that enough yet, to make search not suck?

PS, Google Maps is now the third search result instead of the fifth. After how
many days should search not suck?

~~~
Tyrannosaurs
Given that that app is going to be there for years, how about what percentage
of the time? At the moment it's likely that it will be a small fraction of 1%.

And search doesn't suck - it's still easy to find, you just need to look a
little bit more. Given that it's the number one free download discovery really
doesn't seem to be an issue here.

------
frogpelt
Is Apple Maps really completely terrible?

OR

Does it have a few problems that, when compared with all the progress Google
has made in that arena, makes its performance untenable?

I say this because I have used Apple Maps to navigate the rural southeastern
U.S. with absolutely no problems. I even had my dedicated GPS to make sure
Apple Maps wasn't leading me astray.

~~~
emehrkay
My theory is that people want it to be worse than it actually is. I've put
~1000 miles on it via turn-by-turn and I like it a lot better than the old
maps app.

What I dont get is that people were/are willing to wait for google to get it
together with the "next release," and crucify apple for doing the exact same.

Either way, we win because apple removing google maps from ios forced google
to work hard on providing a good app and google's app will force apple to
polish up their maps.

------
andrewfelix
Notice the cheeky use of London and Japan in the screens. Two locations Apple
maps had real difficulty with.

~~~
pooriaazimi
It had real difficulty everywhere _except_ (parts of) California :)

~~~
epmatsw
A bit of a hyperbole...it's been fine everywhere in Georgia. I've been using
iOS6 Maps since the first beta, and I honestly didn't notice any of the issues
people have with Apple Maps until people pointed them out after the public
release.

~~~
andrewfelix
It isn't hyperbole at all. Tim Cook himself apologised for its shortcomings.
The fact that Google is getting so much attention for their maps app speaks
volumes as to how problematic Apple Maps is.

~~~
epmatsw
Tim Cook responding to bad press makes sense, but having bad publicity doesn't
necessarily mean a product is awful. "Apple Maps fail hard after Steve Jobs
dies" is a big headline, and it's no surprise that news agencies pick up on
that regardless of how much substance it has.

And realistically, I don't think it says much. First, tech sites are obviously
going to pick up on this release. It continues the narrative they've had going
for months. Second, even if there had been no stories about Apple Maps, we'd
be seeing tons of stories about this release. Very few people had issues with
mobile Safari before Chrome came out, but the response to that was huge as
well.

~~~
andrewfelix
There's no getting around it. For most of the world Apple Maps was truly
awful, it was particularly bad here in Australia to the point that it was
useless and even life threatening. I'm not sure why you're even trying to
argue the point, it has been written about and commented on everywhere around
the world, and the overwhelming consensus is; Apple Maps was a step backwards.

You can't just dismiss the criticism because it made for a good headline.

~~~
epmatsw
All right. Outside of the US, it may have been bad. I don't have any personal
experience with that, so I'll concede that point. The original comment was "It
had real difficulty everywhere except (parts of) California". I pointed out
that that was a hyperbole. Apple Maps is fine in the vast majority of the
United States, and fine with a significant portion of iOS users.

~~~
chime
I am in Florida and use Apple Maps to travel all over the state. It was wrong
countless times, from location of restaurants to taking me to wrong addresses
because I did not spell "northeast" as NE. Worst of all it did not find most
local businesses. Unless you have personally used it to travel all over the
US, how can you say it works everywhere?

~~~
epmatsw
I can say it's been fine in Georgia, South Carolina, Tennessee, Kentucky,
Indiana, Michigan, and Wisconsin. I've been using it since June, and I just
haven't encountered any problems that seem to plague everyone else on the
Internet. Maybe it's just good luck on my part, but whatever. At least
everyone can be happy now :)

------
alooPotato
I'm shocked how fast the UI is. I'm on an iPhone 4S and every UI gesture, view
load and transition has absolutely no lag. For example, from the sliding info
sheet, tap on the street view button and it loads instantly.

Even requests that are hitting the server seem to return almost instantly.

Is it just me?

~~~
potatolicious
Looking at the UI I can see why it's fast - everything is set up in a way to
maximize performance if you're willing to put in the work.

Which is to say, simple text, simple lines, simple shadows - all of which, so
long as you take the time and draw smartly using Core Graphics, is _well_
within the capabilities of any iOS device. Combine with a few dashes of smart
UI caching and the whole thing will _scream_.

iOS UI optimization is a topic I wish more devs knew about. So many relatively
simplistic apps are dog slow because no one has bothered to do even the most
modest amount of optimization.

~~~
featherless
We definitely had a blast optimizing the app :) Gotta love Instruments.

~~~
alooPotato
Any chance you can do a blog post on your process and what you learnt?

~~~
featherless
I'll look into it.

tl;dr Use Instruments while running on the device (not the simulator) to
pinpoint the highest avoidable CPU usage and then optimize the relevant code.
Repeat until the scrolling is buttery smooth on a 3GS :)

~~~
xuki
It's far from smooth on iPhone 4 and 3GS

~~~
featherless
Which parts aren't working well for you?

~~~
ubercow13
Could I also ask, lots of people are asking about the FPS. I notice the app
seems to have zero hiccups/ latency spikes throughout the UI, however the
framerate does seem to be around 20/30 FPS in the map view on my iPhone 5. Is
this intentional? It is a very consistent framerate it is just that it is
noticeably lower than most every other part of the iOS experience.

------
scoopr
On a cursory glance, The panning performance is disappointing (looks like
20fps) on my iPhone 5, whilst Apple maps is buttersmooth at 60fps.

I like the overall look of Google maps more, having more detail and and the 3d
buildings that pop-up are cute. Apple maps are right down bare looking in
comparison.

I was sorely missing streetview, I was amazed myself how used to I was
checking streeview of various places.

Can't offhand remember places Apple maps couldn't address-locate so I don't
have any good comparison off the map data quality, but both have been mostly
fine, with google having slightly better heuristics finding an address even if
it doesn't know the exact street number.

I like the rotation with two fingers in google maps is less sensitive, I often
rotate in apple maps accidentally. But then again, Google maps has this menu
that comes up when sliding with two fingers (by placing two fingers and then
dragging) and that came up accidentally few times.

In google maps, sometimes a quick tap tells you the address of that place, but
sometimes it needs a tap-and-hold, feels erratic.

Google maps driving directions didn't say a word while staying still, so I
can't say much about that. The finnish voice in apple maps is very
understandable, but quite harsh. The US voice of course failed to read any
finnish names in a comical way (but had to change phone language to get
finnish voice, I usually prefer my electronics in english).

Public transport stuff has always been useless in finland, so nothing to say
about that either..

------
ghshephard
Just one Data Point - My first query (from my office in Redwood City) was
"Directions to Lake Merrit" - it found Lake Merrit, but, unlike IOS 6 Maps,
couldn't get me transit direction there. IOS 6 Maps one-clicked me over to
"HopStop" which gave me a choice of Walk/Caltrain/Bart.

Prior to the uproar around IOS 6 maps not having Transit direction, I wasn't
even _aware_ the IOS 5 Map had transit directions. In San Francisco, Tokyo,
New York and other places this is a big deal. But, if you want to get Transit
Direction from Redwood City, CA to Oakland, CA, IOS 6 Maps currently beats out
Google Maps.

With that said, I'm blown away by how quickly the interface can guess what I'm
looking for as I start typing into it. Apple has a long way to catch up in
that department. I suspect for much map searching, Google Maps is going to
become my "Goto" client on the iPhone.

[Edit - Love the speedy Swipe Left/Right interface. Also Offline Maps. Just
Cached all of California, Switched to "Airplane Mode" - and all my mapping
data is cached. Awesome.]

[Edit 2 - Wow - this map is fast. IOS 6 Maps wasn't particularly slow, but
switching back and forth shows me Apple has a long way to go. Have to Love
Competition]

[Edit 3 - Jumping into StreetView is silky smooth, and, they make use of the
accelerometer so you can look around]

~~~
timothya
Is there a way to manually cache areas for offline use (i.e., how could I
cache all of California like you said you did)? When I go in airplane mode I
can see that it's cached the areas I had been browsing online, but I can find
any explicit UI to add areas to the cache.

~~~
Blara
There is on the android version, there's an option "Make available offline"
you just draw out a square of what part of the world you want offline. Not
sure if it's available on the iOS version though.

------
benesch
Coming up as "Temporarily Unavailable" when I try to download it. Not yet
appearing in search results either—maybe it's just still processing?

~~~
zacharytamas
Possibly. I found it by chance on the page which lists all the apps by
"Google, Inc." in the App Store. It's listed there, but agree it doesn't show
up in search results yet and I can't download it. It just seems this is
definitely the permalink to it.

~~~
joshmlewis
Woop, karma for you! Good job.

~~~
headShrinker
You don't need to tell people you are upmodding them. Just upmod them.

~~~
joshmlewis
I wasn't really telling him, I was just acknowledging the fact he gets to
collect credit for finding this first. Unnecessary? Sure. I apologize.

------
mromanuk
The item is not available anymore in the US App Store :|

~~~
jlmendezbonini
Are you sure? I just downloaded it (30 seconds ago).

~~~
mortenjorck

      This item is temporarily unavailable.
    
      Try again later.

------
TillE
Again no iPad native version on the initial release, just like their YouTube
app? That's a little disappointing.

~~~
FootballMuse
Notice the last screenshot preview of the app? Interestingly, it is the iPad
aspect ratio. So I'm sure it's just simply not yet ready for public release.

~~~
kalleboo
It might also just still be in review

------
kjackson2012
Finally, I'm happy that this app is released. I refused to use Apple Maps any
further.

The one major drawback from the Original Google Maps app is that the original
one did an excellent job showing every single street name on even a deep zoom
level. The new Google Maps one does a poor job on this and you have to hunt
back and forth to figure out what zoom level you need to get to in order to
read the street name. Once they get this right, things will be back to normal.

------
iag
Yes!!! finally.

I expect Apple to see a drastic increase in iOS5->iOS6 upgrade over the next
few days. Hahah!

~~~
epmatsw
Maybe a small bump. They hit over 60% adoption in October, and when you take
out devices that can't upgrade to iOS6 and people who don't even realize
updates are available (my grandma, for one), I'd have to think people who have
intentionally held out this long make up a small but vocal minority.

------
joshmlewis
Apple had an interesting choice here, they could allow it, or they could not
allow it. If they didn't, Google had a very good opportunity to slam Apply
publicly and get users riled up, and enemies more ammunition. They chose the
latter, which I think is the best choice as they now have real competition and
they'll have to step up their game. This is app number two that will probably
take place over the natively installed apps now by Google.

~~~
ntkachov
What is app number 1?

~~~
joshmlewis
It's actually Chrome, I use it 90% of the time. The other 10% is when things
open in Safari. Apple could be a little looser about setting which apps to
open by default.

------
radiosnob
I'll throw my voice into this maelstrom.

1) Search for "Google Maps" and it is the 5th result. The app is literally
called Google Maps. The results before: Fine Maps, PD Maps Worldwide Edition,
Google Earth(?!).

2) 300 comments and the topic of Apple anti-competitive behaviour with regard
to App availability is hardly touched. In fact the top most comments are on UI
and nitpicking over details such as Bookmarks and response speed.

~~~
nicholassmith
The search algorithm isn't necessarily predicated on name, which is silly in
_many_ ways but I wouldn't say it's anti-competitive.

~~~
radiosnob
I don't believe the Search algorithm to be malicious, but it is definitely
off.

And anti-competitive maybe a bit strong. But wasn't it Google Voice that has
been stranded in review for a while now?

I think Apple's mono-culture is beginning to fail: using the App Store as a
gateway to their devices (touched on briefly above), etc.

------
danielrm26
It's great, but nothing on the iPhone will open the app, which is very
annoying.

------
balabaster
I used the new Google Maps for my GPS on the way to work this morning to do a
side by side comparison with my regular GPS software from Navigon. A couple of
things I love:

1). It connects to my car stereo via the phone bluetooth profile so even
though my car can't stream music by bluetooth, I can still get my turn-by-turn
directions. My Navigon uses the whichever audio profile is used for music, so
I only get the turn-by-turn over the car stereo if I'm plugged in by wire.
Kudos Google, that's a really nice touch. Thank you.

2). I like the way it displays the streetview when you arrive at your
destination so you can see where you should be. Another great touch.

And a couple of things I really don't like at all:

1). "In 300 metres...[pregnant pause]... turn left".

2). I don't like that it doesn't provide the street names in the audible turn
by turn directions. So in cases where you have two streets in close proximity,
unless you actually look at the screen, you're left guessing which is the
correct one.

------
carlsednaoui
Not sure what's going on...I get "the item you tried is no longer available"
but a friend did manage to download it.

~~~
vyder
Yeah, I copy pasted the link into Chrome on iPhone 5, it opened the install
page on the iTunes app (instead of the App Store app). Possibly because of the
itunes.apple.com/... in the url. What are regular app link domains anyway?

------
senthilnayagam
nobody commented about this. any opinions?

"Google Maps Navigation is in beta. Use caution.

Please keep your eyes on the road and obey applicable laws. Do not manipulate
this application while in motion. Directions may be inaccurate, incomplete,
dangerous, or prohibited.

Traffic data is not real-time, and location accuracy cannot be guaranteed

"

~~~
notimetorelax
Isn't it a standard disclaimer? Even if you buy Tom-Tom or Garmin they'll have
something similar.

~~~
senthilnayagam
my point is if we had to agree to this disclaimer, there was nothing wrong
with apple maps then

~~~
notimetorelax
Well you shouldn't bet your life on the accuracy of these maps but there's
great distance between hugely inaccurate maps and maps with millimeter
precision.

My guess is if Apple maps were introduced 5 years ago (or even earlier) people
wouldn't complain as there wouldn't be any other better alternative that used
to be available.

------
selectout
Voice Navigation and turn by turn!

Now to see about offline access.

~~~
robflynn
Does voice navigation work on iPhone 4? I currently use a telenav app due to
them having voice nav. I'm not in a position to upgrade my phone yet, so my
girlfriend and I are stuck with the 4 for a bit. I downloaded the app and gave
it a test but it didnt seem to do any voice -- that may be because I wasn't
moving, though. It did give me the option to mute the voice navigation --
which I found odd.

~~~
teejae
Yes, voice navigation should work fine on an iPhone 4. Enjoy :).

~~~
robflynn
Thanks! You were right. Apparently it didn't do anything when I wasn't moving
but I finally had a chance to try it on the move and it worked flawlessly.
Thanks for correcting my initial assumption.

------
nachteilig
This app is fantastic. And now I can finally upgrade to iOS 6. Thanks Google
Maps team!

~~~
tjmc
It will be interesting to see if there's a spike in iOS upgrades now. I
suspect a lot of people will have been holding off.

------
janesvilleseo
Wow! This is a very slick and sexy app, I am impressed. I am going to give it
a try for my commute to work tomorrow. Very fast, responsive, and the voice is
nice (but a little too fast as compared to iOS)

------
grayprog
It's certainly a great alternative for Apple's maps, which lack data in many
parts of the world. It also appears to be vector maps, like Apple's, unlike
Maps in iOS 5.

Some things that lack or incomplete in the meantime:

\- iPad version, which is less critical, of course. \- Access to contact
addresses \- Street view doesn't load high-resolution images when zoomed in.

The performance on iPhone 4S is good enough but zooming in and out is
sometimes too fast and hard to do with precision.

Still, I already replaced Apple's Maps with this one of my iPhone's home
screen.

------
miles_matthias
The new Google Maps' shake to give feedback feature is so genius. Shake your
phone in frustration, and get to yell at Google :)

Is this feature in any other app? Maybe I just haven't seen it yet.

~~~
sisk
You can also find this feature in the PayPal Here app.

------
ryanoshea
Reviews mention street view; anyone figure out how to enter it?

~~~
packetslave
Tap a named location (such as a business), or tap-and-hold on a location to
drop a pin, tap the name plate that appears at the bottom of the screen, then
tap Street View.

~~~
ryanoshea
Thank you kindly.

------
yoda_sl
It is available at: <https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/google-maps/id585027354>

------
toddmorey
So, I'm really disappointed. The thing I was most looking forward to was the
return of public transportation schedules on my iPhone. But this new app
simply says, "Unavailable in this region." They were there before and they are
still available for my area on a desktop computer. I don't understand why they
are missing.

EDIT: I take that back, as others have noticed, it's there... just unavailable
from the sidebar. Not sure why.

------
nimeshneema
No iPad version. Seems like Google is playing it's cards.

------
newman314
I thought this was for both iPhone and iPad but it's only for iPhones.

Not to be sour or anything but I would have been fine with a stretched version
for the iPad.

------
dirkdk
Already 967 reviews on US iTunes Store, 4.5 (?) average. Surprised iTunes
didn't break down under the downloads. Only 6.7 MB, quite small!

------
sgh_1
The good thing is that OS on my iPhone can now be upgraded to iOS6... The
interesting conclusion for me as a user is that: (1) I value the additional
services like Maps more than the base OS... (2) I don't care about Apple
loyalty - my loyalty is towards iPhone and any app provider who continues to
provide me an excellent iPhone experience

------
emehrkay
Will maps put the idea of unchangeable default apps on the radar of anti-
competitive practices? The people clearly want their mapping from Google, but
if you dont implicitly open the google map and type an address (by way of
hyperlink in another app, etc.), all mapping will be routed to apple's app.

------
guyzero
Presumably the app icon does not have you drive off an overpass onto highway
280 near Apple HQ in Cupertino.

~~~
benesch
That's a fantastic catch. I always knew something bothered me about that icon.

------
albertzeyer
Yea, vector graphics.

That was originally the main reason Apple stated why they developed they own
maps data, didn't they?

~~~
pkulak
That or the thermonuclear war on Android.

------
tharris0101
As a timed test, I wanted to see how long it would take me to search for my
favorite Phoenix, AZ coffee shop (Lux). I did the test from start up to
clicking on the pin on an iPhone 4.

Google Maps: 22 seconds Apple Maps: ??? It took me to Luxembourg

I think I know which map app I'll be using from now on.

------
fedxc
It is not available on all countries. In example, Uruguay. Not available here
yet.

------
DigitalSea
Not seeing this in the Australian App Store either. Can't wait, my girlfriend
will be especially pleased she relies on having maps on her iPhone because
she's a hopeless navigator and the iOS 6 maps frustrate her.

~~~
toast76
<https://itunes.apple.com/au/app/google-maps/id585027354?mt=8>

~~~
DigitalSea
Thanks man. I just realised the app is so new Apple's app store search index
probably hasn't been refreshed just yet, so went onto the HN homepage on my
phone and it opened up in the store.

------
madoublet
Best review so far "I almost died in Australia, thank god this is out."

~~~
JimmaDaRustla
Burst out laughing at this!

------
kodisha
I wonder how this thing with Apple App Store works, and why some items appear
in US store only, and in other (Croatian, and i see from comments Uruguay and
Turkey) hours or even days later.

------
twodayslate
Now we just need a jailbreak tweak to make this the default map app.

~~~
cryptoz
Or you could use Android, which lets users select default apps for handling
different user intents.

~~~
w1ntermute
Whoa, whoa, whoa, let's not get too crazy here!

------
vincefutr23
A shame you can't delete apple maps icon from the homescreen.

~~~
panacea
Oh for fuck's sake. Tap and hold on the icon. It will wiggle. Now drag it
across the screen with your finger and put it on a secondary page.

------
tterrace
The first thing I did after reading the headline was go to the app store on my
iphone and search for "google maps" - 328 results, and google maps isn't one
of them.

~~~
panacea
It's showing up as the eighth hit for me.

------
mattquiros
Death rates of misguided tourists are plummeting!

But seriously, this is just great news for us folks outside the US and who use
public transit. I can now get an iPhone 5 today! :D

------
JuDue
Google dominate this area, obviously.

It's great we are happy to have working maps, but let's just hope other
companies can break the monopoly on our location data at some point.

------
dakrisht
Thank God we're done with Siri's miserable fucking voice...

~~~
taligent
Which one ? It's different depending on the region.

~~~
dakrisht
Siri U.S. voice is the worst thing in the history of AI, if you can even call
it that...

~~~
taligent
Then switch. 5 other English voices available.

------
gvkv
Whoohoo! I can finally dump Apple Maps in my iCrap folder.

------
frazerb
You've got to wonder how much Apple are paying Google to support maps on
iOS....or what other kick-back (more valuable to Google than cash) there might
be.

~~~
Tyrannosaurs
Why do you think they're paying them anything given how the transition from
one mapping application to the other has gone?

Apple clearly wanted Google maps to be relegated to an also ran.

This works for both of them - the complaints about Apple maps are undermined
by the existence of Google maps for iOS, Google get to retain their position
as the best maps on any platform.

I see no evidence for an exchange of money in any direction.

~~~
piyush_soni
But I still don't see what motivation Google had for releasing an iOS 6 app. I
mean they are already the undisputed kings in maps - and had they not released
an iOS6 maps app, wouldn't have more users converted to Android phones? Just
trying to understand all this, I'm not a business expert. Though I agree there
wouldn't be any money exchange for this between the two.

------
qas1981
I live in Atlanta and Apple maps let me down numerous occasions. I like their
interface and integration but, the data quality & quantity is bad.

------
rjsamson
I'm unable to download on phone and mac - anyone else?

~~~
stevewilhelm
"This item is temporarily unavailable."

"Try again later."

~~~
rjsamson
And now its saying "no longer available"...

------
nsxwolf
Rendering is slow on the iPhone 4. Interface looks nothing like an iOS app.
It's like some Android alien has landed in my iPhone.

------
dakrisht
Wonder if this will hit 1,000,000 download in one night...

Unavailable for me still, I see in the App Store and within iTunes but no go
on the D/L.

~~~
joezydeco
With the way their CDN is getting hammered, it's gonna be a million downloads
in the first hour.

------
shoopy
I wonder if Apple is still willing to pay the 80/20 piper with iOS maps? It
must be awfully expensive to keep up on data quality.

------
jaimefjorge
A customer review: "Boring UI, slow data and seems pretty feature-free. I'll
stick with Apple Maps."

This strikes me as funny and suspicious.

------
mikek
All Google needs to do now is make a way to open the app from within Google
search (the Web app), and I will be happy again.

~~~
Achshar
That's not for google to decide unfortunately, not for safari anyways but with
the new SDK, it might work in Chrome for iOS.

~~~
melvinmt
They could replace all links with a Google Maps URI.

------
jim_h
If you are having trouble installing on phone, try using iTune to search for
it, then download it and sync it to the phone.

------
dutchbrit
I can't seem to look at an angle, except for my current location. Is this a
bug?

Rest is nice, glad to have Google Maps back on my phone!!

------
ricardobeat
But Apple is evil, they wouldn't allow this!

~~~
homosaur
Your smarminess is cute, but Apple eased up on the "duplicate functionality"
stuff a long time ago. You have to look no further than the fact that Chrome
exists.

~~~
cheald
Which is still just a UIWebView in the Chrome dressing because Apple won't
permit Google to run their own Javascript or document rendering engines on
iOS.

~~~
Firehed
That's a totally separate issue, with completely valid security concerns
(although sounds like an implementation issue that should be rethought).

It very much duplicates the core functionality of Safari, just as Google Voice
does for the Phone and Messages apps. And GV was what both started and
eventually ended that whole "duplicate functionality" debacle.

------
piyush_soni
It's still not completely clear if they're vector maps (I'm hearing different
things). Can someone confirm?

~~~
davidwhodge
They are vector based maps. Confirmed on their blog post about the SDK release
alongside the app. [http://googlegeodevelopers.blogspot.com/2012/12/a-new-way-
to...](http://googlegeodevelopers.blogspot.com/2012/12/a-new-way-to-add-
google-maps-to-your.html)

also if you watch the loading closely you can tell.

------
guelo
Weird that bike directions are missing.

------
siphor
disclaimer.. I'm a little (a lot) drunk but still... Searching for 'google
maps' does not bring up this app.. I could only find it by clicking on the
link... Is visibility this poor on the App Store... The name I'm searching is
identical to that of the app, what's going on here..

~~~
nik_0_0
I am seeing the same as you (ctrl+f'd for 'search').

"Google Maps" in App Store showing nothing for both iPhone and iPad. (Canada?)
Had to go though this link. I understand it is new but that seems a bit
underhanded...

~~~
taligent
Underhanded ?

The more likely explanation is that Apple is caching the search index. Which
given the traffic volumes, number of apps and the fact they are using Lucene
makes sense.

------
mavbozo
I don't have iphone but my friend who does can not install it because it is
not available in my country

------
Too
Can this be used inside other apps that rely on maps? Otherwise only half of
the problem is solved.

------
akurilin
How does this compare to Google Navigation (or Navigate?) from Android? A
viable replacement?

------
isabre
Finally! I get back my street view and my public transit schedule. Welcome
back!

------
DenisM
Hallelujah!

------
greattypo
Anyone know if we've got real-time transit directions yet for MUNI and BART?

------
apronchenkov
I supposed that backspace was implemented as ``punch all holes''.

------
kennystone
Beautiful app. They've clearly been working on this a long time.

------
jmount
WTF: you have to sign in with your Google account to use this?

~~~
kingnothing
No. Press 'skip'.

------
assharif
This never would have happened if Steve Jobs was alive.

------
ssapkota
A sigh of relief! Finally I can upgrade to ios6.

------
dcu
Excellent! I am downloading the app right now

------
sbov
They need to add one way street indicators.

------
volkanvardar
Not available in Turkish market, yet :-(

------
wowfat
they should have launched it just after xmas. this news will increase apple
sales for xmas period!

------
steilpass
Merry Christmas to you too Google.

------
homosaur
THANK YOU JESUS/GOOGLE

Come save me from IOS 6 hell

------
Vitaly
WTF is it in the US store only?

------
phawk
It's good, it's really good!

------
jasongaya
love google map. i think its beet apple map.... Great work by google.

------
jstalin
Competition === good

~~~
Florin_Andrei
> ===

So it's not just equal, but actually _identical_.

------
bonjourmr
The crime rate in Victoria is dropping by the minute.

------
rogerchucker
Pros: 1\. You can pinch to zoom while during turn-by-turn navigation 2\. You
can select a point anywhere in the map and it instantaneously gives you the
time to drive there from your current location (which is also a link to the
navigation details/options. 3\. Feels like a real map compared to the barren-
ass land that Apple's Map shows. 4\. Streetview (that is even smoother than
the browser version)

Cons: 1\. No integration with the address book.

Pros >>>> Cons.

------
lucian303
Inevitable comeback. And a great example of why I don't develop for iOS on
principle.

