Google Maps is the best for businesses, but the site is extremely slow (lite mode or no) and, at least in the Netherlands, they're behind with road data. When I want a map I use osm.org; when I want aerial I use bing.com/maps; and when I need opening hours or find the nearest restaurant I reluctantly open Google Maps.
Well I know instances of both, but a recent example was the opening of the A2 tunnel in Maastricht. I think Google got it by now, but OSM had it overnight (like 9am when it opened 8pm the previous evening). I myself thought of it Saturday morning after it opened on Thursday evening, but the mapping job was already done. Plus, OSM can contain roads currently under construction, so it's a simple matter of removing the construction tag, removing the old roads and connecting the new one(s). Or if you are a user and not a mapper, you can still see where the road will be.
Interesting--here in Houston I stopped using Google Maps long ago when I want to look up a business's hours. In fact, I had already stopped using it when Citysearch was popular, but I don't use that anymore either. Google Maps often has out-of-date data whereas Yelp always feels current.
I agree. What it comes down to I think, is how easy it is to contribute information on Yelp. Even when the posted hours are wrong or not present, I'll happily fix or add them. It's a huge competitive advantage for Yelp that they have maintained a community wiki- feel to the operation, and the emails and workflow are excellent. I'd never go through the same effort on Google because I wouldn't be sure it would ever make a difference.
Google is actually pretty good at accepting updates to things like operating hours. I've done it many times. They actually have a program (https://www.google.com/local/guides/) that encourages you to keep their maps up-to-date with correct information.
My default search engine isn't Google, but I guess going to google search is quicker than going to google maps, so it's a good idea. Trying a few shops, it seems to work, thanks!
Interesting, how does TomTom save you time over the gmaps navigation? I just tell my phone, "navigate to <business name>" and 15 seconds later it's telling me where to go. What am I missing?
I don't have a data plan on my phone, so I use offline mode whenever I want to go somewhere. It's pretty great, I just need to remember to save the route before I leave WiFi.
The only limit to how big an area you can cover with Google offline maps is your storage. Each individual offline map is limited in size but you can download as many as you want to cover as big an area as you can fit in your phone.
> Note: Downloading offline areas isn't available in some regions because of contractual limitations, language support, address formats, or other reasons.
100+ 120,000 sq km areas, huh? You visit 12 million sq km of land on a regular basis?
Yes, Google can't provide offline maps in some countries. This is true of all mapping applications, though some have better offline coverage than others, nobody has everywhere. For example HERE does not offer offline maps in Japan or South Korea.
You'll need 100s of areas if you want to minimise your local storage usage, and micro-managing that would be a PITA. GM announces 'up to 1750mb' to download the part of my country I traveled to in the last month, it's a non-starter.
Compare that to the 179mb/113mb that I need with OSMAnd/Maps.me for the whole country without fiddling. Add to that the fact that OSM's data is significantly better than Google Map's for my country (YMMV) and that there's no such thing as "offline mode not available in some regions" with OSM.
HERE Maps. I also liked HERE on Windows Phone, but the deciding factor on Android was Google Maps being broken on my phone - attempt to get it to even calculate directions and it crashes out completely. Probably fixable with a factory reset, but I have an alternative that I already liked...
