When it comes to choosing which GPS navigator is best to use when driving or on foot, there are always two options: Google Maps or Apple Maps. There are many people who can see them as similar applications that indicate how to go to a specific site and little else. But the truth is that they have important differences that we tell you in this article.
General layout
Both applications have a very similar design in general when viewing the maps. The type of map can be adjusted by choosing between satellite, traditional view or traffic. But when you start browsing is when the important differences begin to be seen. From Apple they are committed to a much more simplified design of the indications to receive, limiting themselves to turning or exiting the highway. In the case of Google Maps they go much further and in a more graphic way they give information that you have to stay in the lane to take a specific fork or simply so that you do not deviate where it is not.
Incident report and speedometer
One aspect in which there are important differences is undoubtedly in the reporting of incidents on the road. When you are circulating in no case can you imagine if in a few kilometers there is an accident or a vehicle parked on the road due to a technical fault. That is why in Google Maps, and previously in Waze, road event reports were included.
With a simple touch on the screen, to avoid distractions behind the wheel, you can report any type of incident so that other drivers are fully warned. It also intelligently shows you the speed limit on the screen depending on the road you are on to avoid exceeding it or avoid fines if you are going to go through a radar and you do not know if you have to slow down to less than 120 km / h.
This is something that Apple Maps completely lacks. In the service of the Cupertino company they limit themselves to informing the traffic state to give an estimate of how long it will take to reach the destination but without anything else. In no case will you have the options of going by another route avoiding a traffic jam for the first hour, something that if the Google service offers you. It is in these details where a person can feel much more secure using the Google browser.
Wealth of locations
Browsers are not used to go home or work uniquely. But it also has to serve to discover new places such as restaurants, cafes and even gas stations that are nearby. Obviously this database has to be enriched with new sites and the present ones must be updated. If we compare both applications, it can be clearly seen how Apple Maps hardly has nearby restaurants or cafes beyond the most important ones.
In the section on gas stations, something vital for a driver, there are also shortcomings to find service stations that are not important, at least in Spain, such as Repsol or Cepsa. There are many other independent stations that unfortunately do not appear in the application and this is where the role of Apple comes in and also of merchants who do not see it accessible to enter their businesses in this database.
On the other hand, when you open Google Maps you can find a map much more saturated with points of interest with shops, restaurants or gas stations of all kinds. In addition, the evaluation and information system that is included is much richer since users use more Google Maps, due to the lack of Apple Maps, they end up enriching it a lot.
Integrated virtual assistant
Voice assistants are the order of the day and also integrate with browsers to ask for instructions. In the case of Siri in Apple Maps, the integration is total, being able to invoke it through the command ‘Hey Siri’ to be able to ask to make a specific stop at a place such as a supermarket or request information about the state of the road. Accessibility is guaranteed without having to touch the screen thanks to this integration.
In the case of Google Maps, Assistant is also integrated but it cannot be invoked through a voice command having to click on the microphone icon that appears in the navigation view. Obviously depending on where you have the mobile subject you can do it without having to take your eyes off the road but it always implies an extra risk. What is clear when comparing both assistants in these circumstances is that Google Assistant works in a much more optimal way. It better understands the instructions you give it and thanks to its enriched database when saying the name of an establishment, it detects it quickly.
Navigation reliability
The reliability of Apple Maps has been questioned for many years because of its difficult beginnings. The fact that several years ago you could end up on a totally lost road while going for bread is something that still lingers in the minds of many.
These facts are now a thing of the past and currently it enjoys a good reliability to be able to trust it, unless you travel through the city. During the comparison that has been made, it has become clear that Apple Maps is not very up-to-date when it comes to one-way streets where you cannot pass as there is the corresponding signage. There have been several occasions that the instructions indicated that a right or left turn could be made on a street that was either blocked or was a prohibited direction.
This has not happened with Google Maps while driving in a city, not a town, where the indications have been much more reliable without having that constant fear that it will put you on a forbidden street. Obviously, the common sense of the driver must always prevail since it must be understood that browsers are a simple aid whose indications must be analyzed to know if they comply or not with the circulatory code.