[mboni]

Driving out of town yesterday evening, I was frustrated with several aspects of the Apple Maps implementation. We've got a great 10" screen, it should display a great map, right? So this morning, I did some searching and found that Apple has a feedback form just for Maps on iOS. I sent in a few suggestions. But my suggestions will be more likely to get into the next release of the software if other people are asking for the same thing. So here's the link:

https://www.apple.com/feedback/maps_ios.html

I suggested 3 items, but I'm sure the crew here can think up some more good ideas.
1. Offline Cached Map Data
2. Better colors for night mode (big roads are dim reddish gray, background is dim blueish gray: there's just no contrast)
3. Scale indicator for zooming

Offline data is the big one for me, but I figure the others are easy to implement too. Who else has some good suggestions?

 

[JAL1]

I generally use Google maps except when driving my Bolt. I automatically and without thinking use Google maps to plan my drive and then I was forced to copy and paste the address to use Apple Maps. So I was pleasantly surprised on my last trip that Apple Map's first option when launched was my last search on Google maps! The verbiage was something like, "I see you searched for this address using Google maps."

 

[ProfessorBolta]

I do Apple development, not sure about the "my suggestions will be more likely to get into the next release of the software if other people are asking for the same thing". Apple seemingly has their own ideas, about everything. and gleefully yank the rug under you on the next version (users only see a fraction of this). Anyhow don't hold your breath is my advice.

Anyhow, from years of working in different engineering teams, I think I have a good sense of figuring out another team from how they do their development and product design. My feeling on Apple is that it's driven more by engineering time limitations than anything. I think they have more than they can handle (Mythical Man Month)

 

[mboni]

I do Apple development, not sure about the "my suggestions will be more likely to get into the next release of the software if other people are asking for the same thing". Apple seemingly has their own ideas, about everything. and gleefully yank the rug under you on the next version (users only see a fraction of this). Anyhow don't hold your breath is my advice.

Yea, I'm a software developer myself. And I agree that Apple, like everyone else, is time/resources constrained. But when they are allocating tasks, the ones that more customers are asking for are sure to bubble up at least a little bit.

 

[nautilus]

iOS 11 has made some updates to Apple Maps for CarPlay, so make sure you update. The maps are more detailed now with 3D models.

One small thing they fixed: When choosing "ETA Only" for a route, it would temporarily mute the audio when the route started as if it was going to start talking, and then audio would come back an instant later when it seemingly turned off audio guidance. Now, the audio doesn't get muted when you choose this option.