back to article Apple iOS 8 'will put end' to crap map app rap flap misery

Apple is set to fix its crap map app this year with an update featuring public transport information. According to a report on 9to5Mac, the fruity firm is keen to leave the Maps debacle behind and chart a new direction. Cupertino's Maps app became infamous after it steered drivers onto one of the runways of Fairbanks Airport …

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  1. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    ... the fruity firm is keen to leave the Maps debacle behind and chart a new direction.

    Did they ask Google and/or Nokia for the new directions?

  2. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Crap Map App

    Nuff said...

    1. theblackhand

      Re: Crap Map App

      The good news is that it will be referred to as the "Not Crap Map App" if it does improve.

      Although ideally it would still be crap and need further development by a Japanese company named Zap....

      1. Frankee Llonnygog

        Re: Crap Map App

        But at least, if you run Mavericks on a Macbook, you'll have a Laptop Crap Map App with App Nap

  3. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    It's never been the app, it's the data.

    1. Lars Silver badge
      Pint

      On the contrary, Apple is improving the app not the data.

      1. oolor
        Black Helicopters

        >Apple is improving the app not the data

        They are inventing the app. Patent application to follow. The data is still a mirage like a desert road.

        Wondering how they will leave a gaping hole for the black helicopters to fly through>>>

  4. Slap

    It's not the the map app was crap

    It's not that the map app was, in itself, crap, it was the data being fed to it that was seriously lacking in some departments. Although it could be said that the map app is still overly simplistic.

    To be honest I never had a problem with it. Probably because I don't blindly trust whatever navigation system I'm using, and that I only really use it to locate places in urban areas - although I've got to say that google maps is still more accurate.

    Then again I'm old "Skool" I guess at my age. It doesn't seem that long ago that I was navigating London with a well thumbed copy of the A to Z and was thus used to finding things that were not quite as they were when my copy of the A to Z was first published.

    Map apps in general are a great assistance but nobody in their right mind should treat any of them as gospel. Unfortunately this is what some people do, and when this is added to a lack of common sense disaster ensues.

  5. Fuzz

    will it have downloadable maps?

    One of the really useful features of the nokia here maps on my windows phone is that you can choose to download a region of maps to the phone. This means you can download a map of a foreign city you are visiting and actually use some of the features of your smartphone without needing to hunt down a wifi hotspot.

    1. Charles 9

      Re: will it have downloadable maps?

      And while Google's own Maps app tends to prefer a mobile connection (you can try to cache a path ahead of time), there are at least alternatives out there that offer offline downloading and (if you wish) only use the mobile connection to get traffic data, which isn't nearly as demanding on mobile data allowances.

    2. Slap

      Re: will it have downloadable maps?

      I have my doubts as to whether it'll support that, but I've found "citymaps2go" to be an alternative on iOS. Pay a couple of quid for the app and then download the maps you need. I'm not sure it offers turn by turn, but as I can actually read a map it's not that important for me.

      1. Charles 9

        Re: will it have downloadable maps?

        It's available on Android, too. Got it for free while it was on a promotion.

  6. Alan Denman

    Silly fuckers buy it when it dinnit even work...

    methinks Apple sales will go into orbit when they finally sell something that works.

    Or is it the supreme crapness that is the fatal attraction?

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Silly fuckers buy it when it dinnit even work...

      I don't think anyone actually paid for Apple Maps above and beyond the cost of the device, or the download that came for free with the Apple Maps app...

      Are you trolling?

  7. Kristian Walsh Silver badge

    Unique public transport features?

    Nokia has real time public transport routing already. Or maybe it's 'unique to an Apple product', as usual..

  8. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    I was reminded of this earlier today ...

    Searches on Apple Maps to work out a distance from Victoria Station in London:

    "Victoria Station" gives Sloane Square, three quarters of a mile to the west

    "Victoria Station London" gives the junction of Victoria Street and Broadway, half a mile east

    "Victoria Railway Station" gives Royal Victoria on the DLR, eight miles to the east

    Yes, about time for an update.

    1. El_Fev

      Re: I was reminded of this earlier today ...

      Yeah sure you have an iPhone..iof the Maps app was so bad you would have gone to Android, why lie on an internet forum?? And if you reckon that putting in Victoria station give you slone square , your lying through your teeth!

      1. elstcb

        Re: I was reminded of this earlier today ...

        I just tried this but as I'm not in London it brings up different results, none of which match "Victoria Station".

        That said, "Victoria Station London" asks me if I want to search for "Victoria Street, London, SW1H" or "Victoria St, London, ON N5Y 4A9, Canada", neither of which are correct.

        I remember now why I still use google maps which gives me the option of "Victoria Station, Victoria, London" and pinpoints the station exactly.

  9. Toothpick
    Meh

    When it's released will Apple HQ be renamed "Fruity Firm"?

  10. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    insert title here

    Apple zaps crap map, taps new slap-up app

  11. tin 2

    Cool, they can make the whole OS work as good as IOS 6 did while they are at it. The pillocks.

  12. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Will it understand buses?

    Google thinks everyone commutes by train. If Apple gets the whole bus thing, that would be helpful*.

    * It would be doubly helpful if, unlike Google, Apple doesn't want me to go to Blackpool North to start my commute. I live, and work, in Greater Manchester. I don't want a 2-3 hour detour through Blackpool!

    1. ukgnome
      Facepalm

      Re: Will it understand buses?

      except that Google includes buses and underground and tram. So what was that you was saying *

      *just check routes options

      1. Jason Hindle

        Re: Will it understand buses?

        Not for Manchester!

  13. heenow

    The sheer stupidity of not bothering to investigate before you publish is reason enough to shut down this author, and possibly the whole site. It's a good thing Cook is laid back.

    The runway in question is actually part of the road network in a small Alaska hamlet. Do your bloody homework.

    1. Kristian Walsh Silver badge

      You seem to be lost. The Guardian tech section is that way...

  14. Sir Lancelot

    Where did I leave my Gulfstream G650?

    So how am I supposed to find the way to my private jet then when Apple withdraws taxiway routing?

  15. Igamogam

    yes but...

    I deleted Google maps because it just doesn't work as well as the native Maps app.

    It may not be as feature-rich as Google's effort but it gets me to where I want to go 100% the time (so far...) whereas Google maps has sent me on some really crazy wild goose chases and often gets the address wrong. I admit the Maps.app doesn't find businesses as easily as Gm but if I can find the correct address it will help me arrive. I once stood within 300m of a destination (I knew where the tech park was) but Google sent me 14 km away - stupidly I actually trusted it. When I realised I was in totally the wrong place I turned to Maps.app and bingo it took me straight there by a faster route. Personal experience says the Crap Mac App is better than the alternatives, perhaps that why most iOS users stick with the default Maps.app?

  16. Ben Rose
    Megaphone

    Fixed in the next version

    Is it just me, or is the iPhone always fixed in the next version?

    No doubt they'll be addressing concerns about battery life too? And reception difficulties that cause phone calls to be cut off?

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