Has Apple Maps improved?

When iOS 6 was announced, Apple's own mapping software was lauded as one of the key improvements over iOS 5. The company's own marketing spiel boasted that "Maps take a whole new turn", alluding to the turn by turn spoken directions alongside a “stunning” Flyover feature, and a beautiful vector based interface. Unfortunately, a botched release led to all manner of negative press surrounding the inaccuracy of the maps themselves and an open letter was duly drawn up by Tim Cook, apologising for the shortcomings. We were told that the service was a work in progress so, three months on, has Apple Maps improved?

When iOS 6 was announced, Apple's own mapping software was lauded as one of the key improvements over iOS 5.

Maddeningly, some of the infamous errors to beset the service in September remain. A search for Luton still points to the small village of that name, which is part of the Devonshire countryside, for example, and it's difficult to shake the feeling that while some of the major inaccuracies have been fixed the Statue of Liberty has been restored in all its glory - there's simply no excuse for not having fixed all of the serious errors by now. Does Apple really not care about its mapping application after all?

The errors mar an otherwise solid experience, as Apple's other claims for the service are borne out during long-term use. The turn by turn directions on screen are delivered in lightning quick time and the presentation is exemplary. As you'd no doubt expect with Apple, this really does look the part compared with the competition, with a large blue banner at the top of the screen presenting clear instructions on how to get to my chosen destinations. It's worth noting, too, that the directions were accurate during testing and I particularly liked the speed with which I could zoom in and out of the map, depending on the level of detail required.

Come to Luton. The countryside is lovely

Aside from driving directions, Apple Maps boasts its Flyover feature which is, when it works, alarmingly good fun. I say when it works, because the feature is limited to major cities and areas at present, so if you wanted to take a good look at Toronto, for example, this is excellent. You can't look at your home village, though, and you don't get a street level view like you would with Google's service. You could argue, then, that the Flyover tool is a bit of a gimmick, designed to show off the 3D mapping capabilities of your iOS device and little else, and you'd be right but when it works, it really does show it off to its best.

Apple Maps will cache maps for offline use, although Wi-Fi only models will suffer from a lack of GPS capability on that front. However, it does store an impressive amount of information even when offline, enough for us to follow through all the directions from A to B, albeit without the detailed maps behind it.

Apple Maps will cache maps for offline use, although Wi-Fi only models will suffer from a lack of GPS capability on that front.

Apple Maps falls down on accuracy but it delivers plenty of other features and does so at a level of performance that many other services cannot match. The tie-in with Yelp means that a search for something like 'Coffee' comes up with details of coffee shops in the local area, including reviews and photos where available, and while this isn't as comprehensive as Google Maps, because of its own tie-ins with various sources, it's still a welcome search feature.

When it works, Apple Maps is actually very good and deserves more credit than it's had. Compared with most rivals, this knocks them out of the park. It's just that compared with one very well-known rival, it finds itself lacking.

Details ·         Developer: Apple ·         Website: www.apple.com ·         Required spec: iOS devices Ratings ·         Quality: 7 ·         Value: 7 ·         Overall: 7