Long the subject of scorn and mockery for its massive inadequacies, the Apple Maps app, which appears on Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) devices, is finally more responsive to user corrections and feedback, according to an article published today on Apple Insider. After not acknowledging user feedback on mistakes for years, the Cupertino company recently moved to updating Apple Maps every Friday, and, most recently, to every night at 3 A.M..
Users can go directly from the map screen to a menu that permits them to “Report a Problem,” and given Apple Maps history, there are still many “bugs” waiting to be worked out. The Cupertino company, in an apparent drive to correct Apple Maps’ many very real shortcomings, has purchased a number of mapping companies in recent months. Apple appears to be trying to forge a competitive advantage in the field of indoor mapping, too.
Though much progress is still needed, a notable improvement is rumored to be in the works for autumn 2014, when the release of iOS 8 will also usher in the addition of public transit timetables and mapping into Apple Maps. This function, present in most competing mapping programs for years, has been a particularly sore point for many iOS and Mac users.
The improvement is said include subways, trains, and buses alike, and to show both routes and timetables for these services. Presumably, light rail – such as that made famous by the successful designs in Minneapolis/St. Paul and other cities of the Upper Midwest – will also be included in this data. If not, users may have the tools on hand to report the omission to have a correction appear in one of the 3 A.M. updates.
In early June, Ingrid Lunden of TechCrunch stated that Apple Maps were “still lost,” and claimed that the organization of map improvements for iOS 8 was actually a tragicomedy of incompetence, failed tasks, and developers quitting Apple (AAPL) altogether. This grim portrait is probably accurate for its time, but just a few weeks later, it appears that Apple has found its feet somewhat and is working hard to correct the Apple Maps app.
Apple’s mapping program, of course, illustrates an interesting point. Large companies have a wide margin for error and can often keep battering at a problem for years until it is finally solved. A smaller company with an important mapping program that failed to deliver as spectacularly as Apple has with its Maps app would have been punished with bankruptcy. Apple, on the other hand, can take a certain measure of incompetence in stride and keep throwing money at the problem until it goes away. Ironically, some day commentators will likely be praising the “genius” of Apple Maps, with only a passing reference to the app’s “slow start.”
