Roger Fingas
Apple on Monday expanded the reach of its Maps Connect service for small businesses to three more countries, namely Italy, Mexico, and Switzerland.
The Maps Connect portal lets smaller companies submit and edit a Maps listing without having to enter into a complex arrangement with Apple. The goal has been to make Apple Maps more competitive with Google Maps in terms of helping customers find local shops and services.
Entries are submitted through a web interface, but fact-checked by Apple reviewers before appearing in the live edition of Maps.
Maps Connect first launched in late October of last year. At the time it was US-only, but it has since branched out to a handful of other regions. Those include Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Ireland, New Zealand, Singapore, and the UK. With the latest additions, the service is available in a total of 12 countries.
Apple has struggled to increase the popularity of its Maps apps for iOS and OS X. Google Maps remains one of the most downloaded titles on the App Store, and is typically considered both more accurate and feature-complete. There is no Apple equivalent of Street View, for instance, and the company stripped out public transit directions when it abandoned Google content for iOS 6.
The first release of Apple Maps was fraught with missing or mislabeled content, which hurt Apple's reputation and was the subject of jokes in the media and on social networks. The service has improved substantially since then.
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10 Comments
I love using Apple maps. The interface is great. The data has improved a lot since inception here in the UK. That said, there's still a long way to go to equal Google. It's also hopeless for footpaths in central London. Open Street maps or Ordnance Survey maps are both better than Apple or Google for paths.
Apple Maps is practically unusable here in India, but when I was in London, I used it all the time and never once had to go to Google Maps.
In terms of usability and UI, Apple Maps really is ahead of Google Maps. When it works!
Who here prefers Google Maps on their iPhone? On a side note: I hope apple announces search soon.
In the United States, Apple Maps works really really well.
Apple has done a great job in improving its Maps product.
And Apple continues to improve it.
Maps Connect is a great idea to allow businesses to enter their own Map locations!
Apple has done a great job in improving its Maps product.
And Apple continues to improve it.
I like the notifications when they have fixed an issue you have reported. The last two I put in were fixed in about a week.