Everything You Need To Know About Why Apple's Maps Problem Isn't Going Away Soon

Rebecca Greenfield | The Atlantic Wire | September 21, 2012

Apple knows it has a Maps issue, but the company is saying, "the more people use it, the better it will get." Unfortunately, as mapping technology explains, that fix won't solve its location data problem very soon. A lot of the anger surrounding the new Maps app has to do with it just not knowing things. And, the theory from Apple is that with more search queries from users it can improve the Maps app, making it as good (if not better!) than the old Google-powered app that used to come with the iPhone. But, the issue, as Mike Dobson, the president of mapping consulting firm TeleMapics, explains it, the app's shortcomings are about "data quality," not quantity.

Maps apps get made from a host of different sources, some technological (like Tom Tom, which Apple has licensed for its app) and others human-made (like Google's Street View project).  The Atlantic's Alexis Madrigal had a great piece a couple weeks ago explaining just how much goes into Google's mapping project. Dobson says that Apple's effort is currently inferior in both categories...