Comments on: Nokia HERE Maps Sucks (Significantly) More Than Apple Maps

By: Mike Blumenthal

Mike Blumenthal — Mon, 26 Nov 2012 17:06:07 +0000

@SS I just checked and you are correct that they fixed the NY search. However they still have not fixed the SF CA search. I would suggest that it reflects a bigger problem in the way that they manage synonyms in their search. Also there is no getting around the blurry maps and the confusing interface. While I do admit to not being unbiased (the title sort of gives me away) I am not the only person to find significant fault with the product.

By: SS

SS — Mon, 26 Nov 2012 16:27:52 +0000

Ok, now that I’ve played with my wife’s iPhone 4s for a little while, I can, with 100% confidence, tell you what sucks the most.

Typing on the iPhone 4s keyboard! That thing is Awful!!!! It’s so hard to hit what you are aiming for! Seriously!!! I mean REALLY bad!!! Wow, iPhone users have no idea what they are missing…

By: SS

SS — Mon, 26 Nov 2012 16:20:08 +0000

It’s strange, but I just installed this app on my Wife’s iPhone 4s to see what all the problems are. I don’t see them! “NY” brought up New York, as expected. When I clicked on Route, it happened in a couple seconds! Labels are Clear, not blurry, Directions are accurate. Again, I don’t see the issues mentioned in this article. I wonder if a bias is in play on this report? Just a thought… Maybe it’s YOUR iPhone?

The ONLY issue you brought up that I was able to verify is no turn by turn Voice Navigation. But for a FREE app on a competitor’s device, I don’t see that as a flaw.

By: Brian

Brian — Thu, 22 Nov 2012 13:23:13 +0000

You may want to reevaluate your first search for “1 Riverside Drive NY, NY” this address is attributed to a rental property that lies at the intersection of W. 72nd Street and Riverside Drive according to an entry found on the real estate website Zillow.com. However, according to Google Maps, the address “1 Riverside Dr. New York, NY,” is located within the city’s largest bicycle and pedestrian pathway known as the Hudson River Greenway; approximately 4 blocks from the location provided by Zillow. In contrast, the address is accurately located at the aforementioned intersection within the “Nokia Here Maps,” application. (if this randomly selected address on a prominent street within one of the world’s largest and most important cities was inaccurate one can only imagine the number of inaccuracies present within many of the less-populated regions throughout not only the United States but the world)

These types of geographic inaccuracies plague the Google maps platform due to the company’s stubborn reliance on geographic data that is not locally verified by a field team, in particular a majority of this data originates from two main sources, the user-submitted edits through Google Mapmaker and data mining techniques in which Google uses advanced algorithms to garner geographic data from any digital source it can gain access too. This is in direct contrast to the data acquisition process favored by the Nokia mapping subsidy, Navteq, which has strategically built a geographic database over the last 20 years by employing a vast global team of cartographers that verify each edit and addition to the geographic database. It will be decades before Google can rival the amount of field verified geographic data held by Navteq and puts Nokia far ahead of Google in the digital mapping arena.

By: Selim Gonne

Selim Gonne — Thu, 22 Nov 2012 09:09:32 +0000

it’s obvious then why apple has approved nokia’s maps but not google’s

By: Mike Blumenthal

Mike Blumenthal — Wed, 21 Nov 2012 22:13:24 +0000

Earl

If it can’t find NY it is going to have a darn hard time finding a bialy shop.

By: earlpearl

earlpearl — Wed, 21 Nov 2012 21:16:55 +0000

I guess I can’t use Nokia to find nearby bialy shops, can I?

By: Mike Blumenthal

Mike Blumenthal — Wed, 21 Nov 2012 19:02:58 +0000

@Jorge
Can’t be soon enough

@Jaxac
Right you are.

@Rich
I should have known better but I held out hope that the product would set a standard for quality. I was wrong. Hard to understand how a “mapping company” can get it so wrong. Apple Maps looks great in comparison.

By: Rich

Rich — Wed, 21 Nov 2012 18:55:25 +0000

What do you expect. These guys paid $8bn+ for Navteq in 2007 and it is now worth maybe 1bn if they can find a buyer. 5 years later it is the same incompetence that drove the deal that is leading this group.

The search is useless, the places database is woeful, the UX makes Symbian seem reasonable and yet for year after year they have said it is about to improve and all they push is the offline capability and other largely irrelevant features. Elop will regret having kept the incompetence he inherited.

By: Jorge Cordova

Jorge Cordova — Wed, 21 Nov 2012 18:20:46 +0000

Mike,

I have a couple of Canadian clients and using Nokia Prime Places is the only way to get correct information listed for them on Bing. Takes 6 weeks for a postcard too. I agree it’s absolutlely terrible. Can’t wait until it goes away, hopefully.