Is Apple's Map Software in Ios Update 6 a Success?

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The Maps application featured in iOS was powered to Google Maps until the update of iOS6 on September 19, 2012. To compete with Google Maps, Apple installed its own map service in iOS6 and above, of which data provided by TomTom[1] , and a Chinese navigation system AutoNavi especially for a Chinese version[2]. Apple once claimed on its website that Apple Maps is "the most beautiful, powerful mapping service ever"[3] . Nevertheless, this map software could never be a success due to its severe problem and lacking in function. To begin with, the accuracy of data in Apple Maps is assailable. This includes showing the wrong location of the Apple Store in Sydney, Australian,[4] marking an entire city as a hospital, misclassifying a nursery as an airport, and identifying the nearest gas station to be as far as 76 miles away from the user's location.[5] The accurate and complete data in a map service is a premise for it to be a powerful and useful map software. If error comes out in a large proportion when typing a place at random, and every search is liable to an incorrect result, this kind of map cannot be useful. Hence, as a built-in app, Apple Maps fails to do a job as well as the majority of third party map services to guide users to the right places, which requires Apple to revise the data from navigation systems as soon as possible. Apart from the error data of it, the design concept of Apple Maps is a little bit out of date. Specifically speaking, Apple's perspective of map service is still limited to the function of paper maps. That is, without knowing the specific site of the target place, users are not able to locate it. Yet, the new generation of map software, including Google Maps and Nokia Maps, have developed into a practical service that deal with problems in everyday life. For instance, in Google Maps, when typing words like "restaurants" and

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