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Petition Google for iOS Maps (change.org)

38 points by jasondayton ↗ HN
Apple just released their "revolutionary" maps application. I love my iPhone, my iPad and my Mac but this a serious step backwards. I've started a change.org petition to hopefully get Google to quickly release a native maps application onto the iOS app store.

Please sign here: http://www.change.org/petitions/google-maps-for-ios-release-an-updated-google-maps-for-ios#

45 comments

[ 4.6 ms ] story [ 119 ms ] thread
sanatgersappa
Shouldn't you be petitioning Apple instead? They're the ones who took it away.
rimantas
How do you know that? Apple and Google had an agreement which expired this year. Any side can be responsible.
trackofalljades
Well more importantly, both sides will have to be "responsible" for a new app to become available. Google has to make it, and then Apple has to allow it into the app store. So that's going to be fun.
nicholassmith
After the last time Apple cock blocked a Google App and nearly ended up in court, they'll play nice I imagine.
meiji
Pretty sure Google have already announced they'll release an iOS version of maps. That said it can't come soon enough. I've no idea how they've defined POIs on Apple's maps but they need to go back to the drawing board. Where I live there's a pedestrian zone which Apple say has a gas station in it. Worse is the gas station they say is in the middle of a heavily wooded park (neither of these are there obviously). Whilst I appreciate things can't be perfect, this is so far from perfect and has been since beta phases that I just think Apple is continuing their beta testing using all of us as testers.

The Google Maps app can't come soon enough; I'm only glad that I have TomTom and my car's built-in navigation to fall back on because I have no faith in the software Apple built.

trackofalljades
If they have made any such announcement, their search engine sure can't seem to find it for me...
erikpukinskis
http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2012/06/google-maps-ios-app/

The trick was to narrow the date range to exclude recent chatter surrounding the actual launch of iPhone 5: https://www.google.com/search?q=google+standalone+maps+ios&#...

nileshk
Google executive Jeff Huber says: "We look forward to providing amazing Google Maps experiences on iOS."

While this more than likely means that they are going to create an app, it leaves it open enough that it could just mean that they're going to improve their mobile web app version of maps.

nchlswu
They essentially issued a "no comment" recently but wishy washily commited to supporting multiple operating systems.

I'd imagine they're hedging their bets. Working on an iOS version while improving the web app version because you never know what will happen in Apple's App review process.

css771
I dont see much incentive for Google to release an app right away. The people who are going to install a native app from the app store will use the web version anyway. And Google can still get to serve location based ads on the browser for places.

I wouldn't be surprised if they just improve the web version some more and call it a day. If you want good Maps, they might want to make you switch to Android.

gtufano
This. To be completely honest, I have to say that outside US (for sure in Rome), the "new" Apple maps are not significantly worse than the previous (Google) ones.
erikpukinskis
The old Maps lacks bicycle directions. I grit my teeth and use it anyway, since bicycle directions are only, say, 20% of what I need maps for, and I can usually kind of guess about bike routes.

But the new Maps lacks both bicycle AND transit directions, which means it only does, maybe 50% of what I need it for. It's basically only good for seeing where things are and where I am. It's basically useless for me for routing. No way I'm "upgrading".

Man, I miss the Maps app on Android. It even told me when I had to leave the house to make a specific bus.

LaGrange
Actually, in many places in Europe Google transit directions were non-existent or useless, and apps providing similar or better functionality are very common.

* Netherlands -> 9292

* Poland -> JakDojadę + Bilkom

* Zurich -> Wemlin + SBB Mobile

* In Germany I only know the trains one, which would be DB Navigator (for some reason separate from DB Tickets).

saurik
This seriously simply "depends"; there are a ton of people discussing this issue in different locations on an r/apple thread on reddit called "Apple maps in iOS 6 is useless if you live in small countries/cities".

http://www.reddit.com/r/apple/comments/1013ha/apple_maps_in_...

Some people, such as a few specifically living in New Zealand and Belgium, are reporting reasonably similar quality to Google Maps. However, many are not:

"I live in Oslo, the capital of Norway. The quality of the maps are so bad that I spent an hour or so just laughing."

"Here in The Netherlands the maps app isn't providing any useful information on landmarks, shops, hospitals.. etc. heck, even Amsterdam Central Station isn't mentioned."

"I live in Torshavn - The Faroe Islands." <- the guy who started the thread with this image -> http://i.imgur.com/7ZI66.jpg

"India :("

alpb
They are "sh*t" in Turkey. Just cloning OpenStreetMaps does not give them a good Point-of-Interests (POI) database. They don't have any hospitals, post offices, stop buses, subways etc.
munimkazia
I can hear a lot of people complaining on twitter. My friends who use iPhone are really regretting upgrading to iOS6 (we are in India). Two of them have also started considering buying android phones just for the maps.
s_henry_paulson
The majority of users are non-technical.

They want easy access to their maps, but yet most lack even the knowledge to navigate to maps.google.com in safari and then the ability to make a link on their home screen.

The longer google waits to release a map, the larger the marketshare of people using apple maps grows because there is no "easier" option, and people don't care.

If people want google maps back, and the answer is as simple as installing something from the app store, that is a small hurdle for the general public, as it is a familiar action.

If they are told that if they want to use Google maps that they need to use Safari or create a web link on their desktop, most users will not bother.

It's sad, but it's true.

dave1010uk
While I'm not an iOS user, and you may be correct about average users, getting to a web app is simpler than installing and running an app:

       App                           Web
    1. Open app store                Open browser
    2. Search for google maps        Search for google maps
    3. Click first result            Click first result
    4. Install
    5. Open app
kevinflo
Am I the only one that finds the new maps to be functionally superior? To me it seems like basically the same thing but with yelp reviews baked in, turn-by-turn added, and a much better bookmarking interface. It is a bit ugly and it lacks public transit directions, but I don't really understand the fuss.
redbad 

    > it lacks public transit directions
I would say 50% of my phone-in-hand time is (was) spent in Maps, and 50% of that time was spent navigating with public transit. This is a huge, huge problem.
prof_hobart
Maybe the Yelp reviews are better where you are, but around me (Nottingham, UK), I'm reasonably sure that half the businesses listed near me don't even exist - I'm pretty confident that I would have noticed the restaurant that it claims is being run three doors down from me in an entirely residential street for example.
[dead] thunderrabbit
"We love our iPhone's" ?????

"Apples maps" ???

Someone please move that apostrophe!!

redbad
Four glaring apostrophe errors, and at least two grammatical errors, on the first reading. I appreciate and agree with the sentiment, but there's no way I'm putting my name on something that amateur.
manojlds
Why can't they use Bing maps? Going to MS is not a new thing for Apple and it would also mean fighting a common enemy for them.
fpgeek
These days, I'd imagine Nokia would have something to say about Microsoft sharing mapping technology with Apple.
chrisbroadfoot
That doesn't really make sense. Nokia owns Navteq, which is essentially TomTom data. Microsoft licences it from Nokia.
redbad
Case in point: http://i.imgur.com/MyWGT.jpg
unhammer
OTOH,

Google Maps: https://maps.google.co.uk/maps?q=Gaza+Strip,+Shamal+Sina%27,...

OpenStreetMap: http://www.openstreetmap.org/?lat=31.34516&lon=34.30541&...

nicholassmith
I won't sign, because petitioning Google for something they're probably already working on is fairly redundant. If you don't like the iOS Maps app, use Google Maps web application front end until it drops in the App Store.

Or until Google decides "nah, screw 'em" and doesn't bother releasing one. Both are possible I guess.

alimoeeny
the web version (google map in mobile safari), is far less useful compared to native app.
nicholassmith
I don't think it's too bad actually, has much better search query recognition than the native app did.
joefarish
I think the big challenege will be getting Apple to approve it. It'll be like Google Voice all over again.
2muchcoffeeman
I upgraded and I agree that overall it's worse.

However, Apple are also using some OpenStreetMaps data. Forget Google Maps. Let's petition Apple to spend some of their billions on contributing data back to the OpenStreetMaps project.

chippy
I believe they are just using (old) OpenStreetMap tiles on their iPhoto application.

Edit - in some places, it appear that they are, actually using OSM data - in Islamabad, for example. Possibly, therefore, in places where there is no TomTom data

[dead] thedeuce
hey assholes...just use android!
csmatt
Google is already working on this; it's just not out yet. However, I don't understand why Apple has begun releasing unpolished software as of late. Siri, although more of a gimmick than anything, was not ready for prime time and now this maps program has been rushed to market. I can give them a pass for playing catch-up on hardware, but only if they stick to their roots when it comes to overall UX.