苹果地图现在还好吗

    九个月前，苹果公司（Apple ）为iPhone和iPad推出了苹果地图。不过，这款产品随后招致猛烈批评，时至今日，不少人仍对其“念念不忘”。

    在日前的谷歌（Google）I/O大会上，谷歌地图总监丹尼尔•格拉夫称：“你们很多人想必都知道，我们于去年12月推出了iPhone版谷歌地图。这款产品大获成功。用户反馈非常好。他们都表示谷歌地图井然有序、简洁明快、漂亮大方，当然，数据也非常精确。”

    显然，格拉夫这番话是在影射苹果地图，尤其是苹果公司停止使用谷歌地图数据的决定。苹果地图的视觉效果确实比较好，但有些用户抱怨遇到了问题，比如路线不准确、漏掉了地标等，其中有些问题已经得到《财富》杂志（Fortune）的验证。

    由于问题太多，蒂姆•库克也不得不出面公开道歉，他甚至还放下面子建议用户暂时可以改用竞争对手的产品。库克在致歉信中写到：“我们对目前造成不便深表歉意，我们正竭尽全力地完善苹果地图。”所以，当谷歌推出独立的iPhone版谷歌地图后受到疯狂追捧也就不足为奇了。谷歌地图在发布48小时内的下载量高达1,000万次，一度成为iOS平台最受欢迎的应用程序。

    苹果拒绝对此发表评论。不过，最近一次会议上，苹果公司首席执行官蒂姆•库克在谈到地图应用时，称苹果“搞砸了”。

    市场调研公司高德纳（Gartner）研究总监布莱恩•布劳承认：“苹果地图的确不好用。”他认为一些人对苹果地图的批评合情合理，苹果公司的确需要完善产品。“不过，这款产品究竟该不该年复一年、日复一日地被大家念叨呢？我想大可不必。”

    据报道，苹果正在紧锣密鼓地悄悄改进地图，招兵买马就是证据。苹果在全球至少七个地区招募了“地图地面实况经理”。根据职位描述，这些人将带领团队负责测试新产品的地图数据、获取新的地区数据以及评测竞争对手的产品。

    苹果已对自身地图产品进行了多次升级，优化了数百个城市标签的放置位置；它还针对英国、法国、德国等国家，提供了更好的卫星图片；Flyover的覆盖范围也有所扩大，用户能查看到更多地区的如照片般清晰的3D地图。此外，行车导航增加了对至少12个国际化大都市的支持，其中包括巴塞罗那、哥本哈根、都柏林和罗马等。

    Nine months after Apple rolled out a much-criticized update to its Maps app for iPhones and iPads, some people are still not pulling punches.

    "As most of you probably heard, last December, we launched Google Maps on the iPhone," said Daniel Graf, Director of Google Maps, at this year's Google (GOOG) I/O conference. "It has been a tremendous success. The feedback has been very positive. People called it sleek, simple, beautiful, and -- let's not forget -- accurate."

    Graf, of course, was referring to Apple (AAPL) Maps, and in particular, the company's decision to stop using Google's mapping data. The end result may have been easy on the eyes but frustrating to some users who reported problems like inaccurate directions or missing landmarks, some of which were borne out by Fortune's own review.

    The brouhaha became so bad, Tim Cook penned an apology, even going so far as to recommend users temporarily try competitors' services. "We are extremely sorry for the frustration this has caused our customers, and we are doing everything we can to make Maps better," he wrote. So it was no surprise that when Google eventually released a separate Google Maps app for the iPhone, users downloaded it over 10 million times in the first 48 hours, making it one of the most popular iOS apps for a time.

    Apple declined to comment for this story. However, at a recent conference, CEO Tim Cook addressed Maps, saying that Apple "screwed up."

    "It didn't look good," admits Brian Blau, Research Director for Gartner, who says that some of the criticism lobbed at Apple Maps was justified and that the company needed to make improvements. "But did Maps deserve some of the negative press and negative sentiment that went on, day after day, week after week, and what not? I don't think so."

    Apple is reportedly working hard behind the scenes to improve Maps, beefing up its staff with employees like "Maps Ground Truth Managers" for at least seven regions around the world. According to job listings, such managers would be responsible for supervising the team in charge of testing new releases of map data, capturing new location data, and testing competitors' products.

    The company has also pushed out a number of Maps updates, offering improved placement for hundreds of city labels, better satellite imagery for countries like England, France, and Germany, and expanded "Flyover" coverage, meaning more 3-D, photorealistic areas are viewable. And turn-by-turn navigation has been added for at least 12 international cities including Barcelona, Copenhagen, Dublin, and Rome.