Apple Maps’ offering might surprise people who remember its disastrous launch in 2012, which the Guardian described as the company’s “first significant failure in years”. Users were more than furious – they were lost, sometimes dangerously so. In Australia, police had to rescue tourists from the huge Murray-Sunset national park, after Maps placed the city of Mildura in the wrong place by more than 40 miles. Some of the motorists located by police had been stranded for 24 hours without food or water. In Ireland, ministers had to complain directly to Apple after a cafe and gardens called “Airfield” was designated by the service as an actual airport.
But mostly the map was just glitchy and unhelpful, its directions always a little off kilter. Users revolted and Apple made a rare retreat, allowing Google Maps to be used as the default on many iPhone apps and apologizing for the product.
The new Futurama season dropped an Apple Maps punchline in the last episode that felt painfully out of date even for our timeline.
I thought the writing had been decent up to that point, which made me realize how bad public perception still must be (on a product that works great now, imo)
Every few months I give Apple Maps another shot, most recently being two months ago, it still tried to drive me into a lake. Don’t get me wrong, aesthetically it has improved greatly! But direction wise, I wouldn’t trust my life with it.