Here’s where Apple Maps beats Google Maps

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Apple’s mapping and navigation service, Apple Maps, long considered second to Google Maps, has made significant strides in recent years. Here are the areas where it now outperforms its chief competitor.

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I switch between Google Maps and Apple Maps regularly, mostly as an experiment, and at this point I think Apple’s product is just as reliable as Google’s for turn-by-turn directions. Sure, Google is more likely to have a given business in its database, especially if that business is new. If you type the same address into both apps, though, they work about as well as each other for navigation.

And I’ll go even further: There are some things Apple Maps does better than Google.

• Little Audio Details: Apple Maps, in my opinion, is better at explaining in plain language what you need to do next while you’re driving.

• Quickly Check Transit Times: Apple Maps has a transit feature called “Nearby transit” that just shows a list of the incoming buses and trains near where I’m standing… Google doesn’t offer a feature like this.

• Integration With Apple’s Ecosystem: I’m a fan of messing around with Apple Shortcuts, the automation platform built into Apple devices. For example: I added a “Save my parking spot” button to my phone’s homepage. I couldn’t build a shortcut like that for Google Maps because Google doesn’t offer any kind of Apple Shortcuts integration. This is just one example of how Google doesn’t go out of its way to integrate with Apple’s ecosystem.

• It’s Just Cleaner: Google Maps, over time, has had more and more stuff grafted onto it. Nothing makes this more obvious than opening both apps and noticing the contrast. Apple Maps sports fewer toolbars, fewer buttons, and in my opinion the geographic references offered on the map itself are more likely to be useful (possibly because, unlike with Google, fewer of them are paid advertisements).

Via: Wired.com