Maps – Illustrated

I’ve been giving a lot of slack to Apple over their release of their own Maps service in iOS6. Maybe it is because I don’t depend much on my iPhone maps to search for businesses or places. Maybe it’s because I’m pragmatic enough to know that mapping is really hard, and pretty much all mapping software has challenges, and while it’s so un-Apple like in recent memory to be so bad — maybe I remember how bad the first versions of OS X and OS X server were, and that iOS didn’t even have copy and paste for goodness sakes. And don’t get me started on the Xserve. Maybe I’m still pissed at Google about Google Wave. Or maybe I’m just an Apple fan(atic).

I really like parts of iOS6 maps, and the whole Apple-Google spat is at once great for innovation-through-competition, and lose-lose over Google data-backed features and Apple presentation — including Maps, all at the same time.

I’ve been searching for a new house in NC for about three years now, usually the western side of the Research Triangle Area, and sometimes in the mountains of NC from Boone to Asheville.

I’ve used Google Maps a tremendous amount as well as Microsoft Live maps (whose “bird’s-eye view” trumps Google’s aerials most of the time in NC). They are far from perfect, but it’s still awesome — 12 years ago buying my first house, I had nothing like this, and man I wish I had.

Apple deserves flak, especially with how they set expectations. And the maps can be really, really bad. And thankfully the internet is there to let us know just how bad

But if any of you out there, for one second, are going to somehow give Google some holier-than-thou-so-much-better-than-Apple-maps pass? You better think again, because while searching for where the Oklahoma City memorial was this evening — this is what Google Maps showed me — a sponsoring business 4.5 miles out of place — right on the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building Plaza.

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And that folks pretty much illustrates the whole Apple — Google difference for me.