Apple has shown a renewed focus on Maps with iOS 8. Although headline features like transit did not show at WWDC, recent iOS 8 betas are bringing improvements to the ‘Report A Problem’ features. The frequency at which these updates are passed through has also improved dramatically in the past couple of months.
Apple has added a new explicit ‘follow-up by email’ option at the end of the Report A Problem form. This means Apple is now actively looking to get additional information about map queries from customers via email.
The screen also highlights that users will get notifications when the problem is resolved, which gives more incentive for users to continue submitting issues. Before, it was unclear whether customers would get any acknowledgement of their problems.
The old Thank You screen (pictured below) still appears for some types of reports. It is unclear whether the follow-up option is being shown selectively for frequent users of the feature, or whether the feature is simply still rolling out across the platform.
Although exact timing of when this change was implemented is unclear, the iOS 8 Maps now allows users to add a photo to submissions, to help explain and verify the changes. As photos taken by the iPhone are geotagged, Apple will use this attached photo and its metadata as more evidence that the pin is in the incorrect location. By adding a verification photo, requests are more likely to be approved and this should help Apple speed up the process of getting through its submission queue.
Apple is expected to announce the final release date for iOS 8 at its September 9th special event, where it will also announce its new iPhones that will run the new software.
The old ‘Thank You’ screen.
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These are some genuinely good steps to remedying common issues that users have with Maps. The speed at which they’ve been fixing errors is encouraging. Apple will continue these type of improvements until Maps is unbeatable.
They do not even come remotely close to the quality and efficiency of Google Maps for correcting errors. I’m a pretty massive apple fan and I continue to use Apple Maps over Google Maps, but to say that if they continue the way they’re going that they’ll be unbeatable in the Maps department is a joke. They aren’t changing at a fast enough pace.
It’s a big step forward in speed and making changes every day is a big step up from the lack of any changes. Their working on a lot of big stuff for Maps in the future and given their attitude toward perfecting it, I personally do feel they’ll attain their goal of getting a pretty stellar mapping app. Some of their recent hires display this attitude. Google Maps is a very fine service, but it’s by no means perfect and it took a long time to get to where it is now. It just wasn’t under the microscope at that time and had time to be imperfect.
I haven’t had the experience with reporting on Google Maps that you have apparently. I reported things to Google and it took literally about a month, whereas Apple made corrections in about a week or so. By the way, for my location anyway, Google Maps has just as messed up locations as Apple’s, I thought Google was better, but for locations, they definitely aren’t.
I’d be happy to see them get my updates into Apple maps in less than the year and a half my first correction request took. Until they get responses down to at least a month I don’t have much faith in the app. I still think they need to get this down to the speed and responsiveness of how Waze handles their map updates which is usually updated in a day or two.
This has existed since beta 1 of iOS 8. I have yet to figure out the pattern for when it does show the new ‘Thank You’ screen and when it doesn’t. Alll I know is that it has shown the new ‘Thank You’ screen at least once for each type of problem except “Problem is not listed.”
I forgot to say that the first time I noticed the new ‘Thank You’ screen was June 19. I was able to figure it out because I took a screenshot of it.
The ‘Follow-up by Email’ option is the newest feature, added to the existing ‘thank you’ page, had you seen follow up option before the current beta?
Yes, I saw the ‘Follow-up by Email’ option on June 19. Because beta 2 had just been released a day before, I forget wether I was running beta 1 or 2 at the time but I know 100% it was definitely one of those betas.
Here’s the link to the screenshot I took on June 19 (the only modification I’ve made to the screenshot is blocking out my email address): http://cl.ly/X4qe
This is all fine and good, but it would be much nicer if the correction I’ve been repeatedly telling them about since Day One would actually happen. So far, it has not.
Have you resubmitted it? And are you using iOS 8 beta 5 with follow up email? If not, try again.
I know what you mean. I love in a small provincial town in Ireland and I submitted some corrections last year – and heard nothing. A few weeks ago I read an article saying that Tim Cook reads all his emails. I sent him one regarding my submissions to Apple Maps. The next day I was contacted by the Maps team. Since then they’ve fixed dozens of corrections I’ve reported (probably more than 50 in the past month). Even a few were corrected the day after I sent them in! Where possible I try to hunt down the correct address, phone no. and website URL. I also try to suggest the appropriate category, though this is often tricky as terms used on this side of the Atlantic often differ from those used in North Anerica (elementary school, gas station, etc).
I gave great hopes of getting my town ‘on the map’ for the first time ever. It’s beginning to catch up with google maps for correct POI information. It already has a few places not included or incorrectly located on google maps – a common problem with all mapping services in Ireland, as far as I can tell. Soon, I hope it’ll surpass them all. It’s worthwhile persevering with this opsono as they really have upped their game.
By the way, I get a notification (most times) when one of my reported problems has been sorted. They really are making great strides to improve their mapping service. I believe the user input we send them will change things at a very fast pace.
Here’s to Apple Maps becoming the App we’ve always hoped it would be.
By the way, I’m still using iOS 7.1.2!
The #1 problem Apple needs to work on for Reporting is the fact that adding a location that wasn’t there before, does not get added. I’ve added numerous locations that weren’t on the map, including the major Walmart’s near me, and they haven’t added a single one of them. On the other hand, they’ve corrected a boatload of inaccurate pin locations I’ve fixed.
They need to identify trusted reporters and focus on those people and look at their suggestions first. I’ve corrected numerous things on the maps near my location, but I’d be much more inclined to make it better if they have me much more streamlined ability to correct and my corrections all appeared, and quickly. I have probably been one of the few people to fix anything in my area, and I know for a fact that I’ve been the most, for sure. I could single handedly fix at least 90%+ of the incorrect information for my areas’s locations, and add missing locations.
I totally agree with you. They need to have “priorty” problem reporters that do not need as much verification. Foursquare has this and they’re called ‘Superusers’. When Apple first started actually fixing the reported problems and notifying people, they added the middle school that I went which I reported. Since then, Apple has yet to add any of the new places that I’ve reported. Also, I added a local Shell gas station on Yelp back in 2012 and I updated from iOS 6 to iOS 6.1 it now appeared in the Maps app.
I agree. This is kind of sad, especially given the amount of attention the maps debacle received way back when. I hope the Apple maps team can pull their finger out and begin implement the good ideas I’ve seen talked about for at least a year.
There is a street next to me called Maywood. Maps shows it as “Waywood.” I have corrected this probably 8 times over the past year. It’s still wrong.
It’s very frustrating. My advice is to stop correcting it and wait a few more months. I did this with a supermarket in the next county here in Ireland and eventually they fixed the issue. I knew it was my correction they used when I noticed the precise location of the map pin. But yeah, very frustrating.
Hopefully there’s someone actually reading these suggestions. I’ve reported so many issues with Apple maps since it was launched, and none of them were ever corrected. It is pretty much unusable here in Singapore.
I would hate to see the day when there are no options to google maps, now that they have swallowed up waze.
I’ve just tried to send apple map errors through the apple maps app, after typing out the problems & attaching a photo the app won’t let me continue the next button is greyed out. (one of the problems was only a police station in the wrong location). Searched for a while for a contact email to follow up & came up with this old blog, but now I am giving up. Apple don’t make some things very easy. Very frustrating. IOS 9.0.2
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