Apple's new maps app a rare flop: experts

21 Sep 2012, 9:15 am   -   Source: AAP
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Apple spokeswoman Trudy Muller says the app will work better the more people use it, alluding to the fact that users can report errors and omissions. (AAP)

Apple spokeswoman Trudy Muller says the app will work better the more people use it, alluding to the fact that users can report errors and omissions. (AAP)

Early upgraders to Apple Maps - the new replacement for Google Maps - say it's slow, confuses landmarks and is 'not quite there yet'.

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Early adopters of Apple's new replacement for Google Maps are reporting the maps are less detailed, look weird and misplace landmarks.

It's "a complete failure" for Apple, according to Jeffrey Jorgensen, a user interface designer for a San Francisco-based startup.

He began using Apple Maps months ago, because Apple made it available early to people in its software development program.

"It's slower, its directions are poorer and its location data doesn't seem to be accurate. All around, it's not quite there yet," he said.

Its most-hyped feature is a "Flyby" mode that shows three-dimensional renderings of buildings and other features. It presents a convincing depiction of the canyons of Manhattan, but bridges and highway overpasses tend to look wobbly or partly collapsed.

The Apple app also has a tendency to judge landscape features by their names.

For instance, it marks the hulking Madison Square Garden arena in New York as green park space because of the word "Garden" in its name.

Conversely, Apple Maps marks "Airfield Gardens", a farm and plant nursery in Dublin, Ireland, as an airfield.

This prompted the country's Justice Minister, Alan Shatter, to warn pilots on Thursday not to land there.

Marcus Thielking, the co-founder of mapping-app developer Skobbler, said the lapses of the Apple app are surprising, particularly since Apple purchases map data from Tele Atlas, a subsidiary of TomTom, a Dutch maker of navigation devices.

Apple spokeswoman Trudy Muller says the app will work better the more people use it, alluding to the fact that users can report errors and omissions.

"We launched this new map service knowing it is a major initiative and we are just getting started," she said.

There's been a Google Maps app on the iPhone since it was launched in 2007, but it's always come with the operating system. Now that it's gone from the list of "core" apps, users are finding that it's not available for download either.

Google says its goal is to make Maps available, but hasn't said when that will be.

In the meantime, iPhone and iPad owners can access maps.google.com through their browser.

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