iOS 6

[markopolo]

I upgraded to iOS 6 on my iPod last night.

It installed a new "Maps" app that, in satellite view, is not as up-to-date as the previous Maps app. The older Maps app showed my house as it is currently with the garage we built early in summer 2011. The new Maps app shows no garage, a Bigfoot Class C Motorhome and a Dodge extended van in the yard. I sold those two vehicles earlier in 2011.

[Davydd]

Mine is the opposite. Google Earth shows my property pre-2006. Apple is uptodate. How do I know? I asphalt paved my driveway in 2006 and Apple shows my Great West Van instead of my old Pleasure-way.

Apple is essentially using the TomTom data sets which i have been using for two years to navigate on my iPad and iPhone through the TomTom app that doesn't need a cellular connection. The maps pretty much do the trick but TomTom data was designed more for just street navigation and doesn't show the periphery detail as well as Google.

Google maps is a series of raster images with fixed zoom levels. The Apple data is vector images with infinite zoom levels. In theory the vector images should prove easier and faster to update than raster and should be more accurate. So I look at it as a technological change improvement that should point to a better future. I'm willing to bear with it for a while. You can always use Google maps through the Safari browser if you desire and hopefully an alternative standalone app will be available.

Who stands to lose most in this? Google. Apple iPhone/iPad/Touch generates 92% of mobile web traffic. The experts aren't sure what Android users do but they don't use their devices to the same extent. Revenue is all about advertising linking. Google just went off the air so to speak. Google may be laughing at the Apple Maps app publicly but probably fuming behind closed doors.

[wabbit]

I'm in the process of upgrading to IOS 6 now (18 minutes remaining). I don't use my iPad for navigation, so it will be interesting to see how the maps stack up, just for grins.

[markopolo]

I used the new Apple Maps for route planning on the first leg of our last trip. It gave us 3 route options. Normally, we would have taken the first route, which would be the same as what our Garmin would give us. We picked route #2 just for fun. It added 10 or 15 minutes to the 3 hour trip but it was much more pleasant than just getting on the same old highway and heading south. It was a route that I would not have thought of taking for the first part of the journey and we traveled some roads I had never been on before.

Driving in much of New Brunswick can still be considered a pleasure with hardly any traffic in front or behind you. This photo is one of the roads from the route #2 option.

[Davydd]

I'm guessing they are using TomTom GPS data of which I am familiar with in using the TomTom GPS app for the past year. It generally gives you alternate routes off the freeways to consider. I almost always take the alternate routes as I am generally in no hurry to get anywhere.

There is a big positive with Apple Maps over Google Maps. It has been reported that they use 80% less cellular data in being vector based vs. Google's raster based maps. That has been my experience in using apps like Everytrail and IMapMyWalk to log my hikes of over an hour at a time. With Google Maps my battery would be half drained. With Apple Maps there is hardly any battery drainage over an hour's walk. I have an unlimited cellular plan but new users don't and I would think that would be more important besides the battery drainage.