For iPhone users, Google Maps is back. The revamped app, launched last week , is being downloaded in the tens of millions . As a result, iOS6 activations are on the rise. And Apple finally has the breathing room it needs to overhaul its much maligned Maps app, the default on the platform.
But just how much of a hill does Apple still have to climb in order to compete? Quite a steep one. It is three times more likely to lead you on a wild goose chase than its rival, according to a study provided exclusively to Mashable .
[More from Mashable: How World Landmarks Look in Apple vs. Google Maps ]
To test how Maps stacks up against Google 's (and Bing 's) offerings, the online workforce company CrowdFlower picked a random 1,000 business listings in the U.S., and another 100 in the U.K. For each listing, the company was looking for two things: whether you could find it on each of the three mapping services, and if so, whether the results were accurate.
This chart shows results for the first part of the equation:
[More from Mashable: Behold, the Subtle Greatness of Google Maps for iPhone ]
Apple's performance was the worst of the three mapping services, with only 75% of listings found in the U.S. experiment, and a surprising 50% missing in the U.K. But things get worse for the Cupertino company when you look at just listings found. What percentage were shown in the wrong place?
Fully one third of U.K. listings are inaccurately placed, making Apple Maps pretty much unusable in that country. But even in the U.S., where the error rates are much lower, Apple Maps gets the location wrong 3.4% of the time -- three times Google's error rate of 1.1% and Bing's error rate of 1.3%.
SEE ALSO: It's Not Me, It's You: A Breakup Letter to Apple Maps Still, CrowdFlower lead product manager Lukas Bergstrom gives Apple Maps a pass for now. "Local data is hard," he says. "Small businesses are closing and starting up all the time. And Apple is just getting into this game. We'll be very interested to see how their data improves over time."
Do CrowdFlower's results match your experience with the various mapping apps? Let us know in the comments.
1. Eiffel Tower - Paris, France When Apple Maps launched in September, there was a funny picture of the Eiffel Tower looking like it had been run over by a gigantic steamroller. The image was one of the many iconic examples of how Apple's app came up way short. Now Apple's Eiffel outshines Google's washed-out looking image. Images via Apple's Maps and Google Maps
Click here to view this gallery.
Image courtesy of Flickr , Brewbook
This story originally published on Mashable here .
Blog List
-
Kaley Cuoco Shows Off Fit Physique In Skin-Revealing Yoga Outfit - By Suzy Byrne Kaley Cuoco leaving yoga class in L.A. on Monday. (X17online.com)Kaley Cuoco gave new meaning to hot yoga on Monday when she emerged from cla...11 years ago
Pageviews
Popular Posts
-
LOS ANGELES (AP) Edith Bunker had to deal with her trying husband, Archie, and more. Here are challenges that faced the "All in the Fam...
-
After years of maintaining that BlackBerry was the only smartphone smart enough for the Department of Defense security blanket, the Pentagon...
-
(Reuters) - Research In Motion reported a smaller-than-expected quarterly loss on Thursday and boosted its cash cushion , sending its s...
-
(Reuters) - Research In Motion shares tumbled more than 10 percent on Thursday after the company reported the first ever decline in its su...
-
Facebook (FB) -30.3% From IPO Facebook was by far the biggest tech IPO this year, raising $16 billion with its initial public offering, or ...
-
As any fan of Doctor Who knows, the title character's ship does some pretty incredible things even when it's not traveling through ...
-
By Alistair Barr SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Amazon.com Inc said on Monday it had acquired Liquavista NV from Samsung Electronics Co to help...
-
PARK CITY, Utah (AP) Stephenie Meyer knows all about obsessive fans. So it makes sense that the "Twilight" author should produce a...
-
Sim City Social While city building games are all over Facebook , it was nice to see the king return in 2012. ...
-
Gaming can reduce stress, refine motor skills, improve your vision, and more Your parents may have tried to kick you off your Super Nintendo...