Simon Willison’s Weblog

Why is everyone so obsessed with picking faults with Apple’s new maps on the iPhone?

20th September 2012

My answer to Why is everyone so obsessed with picking faults with Apple’s new maps on the iPhone? on Quora

Because this is actually a really big deal. For a lot of people (especially those who live in a big city like London or New York) the maps app is one of the most-used apps on their phone. The new iOS maps are a huge regression, not just in terms of map quality but also in terms of search results. On iOS 6 (at least here in the UK) you can’t even type in a simple address and trust that your phone will show you a pin in the right place.

It’s big news because thousands of people are upgrading their devices and discovering that a feature that used to be excellent and essential on a day-to-day basis is now decidedly sub-par.