FINALLY. After a few delays, protracted negotiations, then more delays, Apple has today finally rolled out iOS 6 turn-by-turn navigation to Aussies.
Siri will now tell you where to go if you hit the Directions button with your mode of transport selected as “Car”.
Apple had originally promised to bring turn-by-turn navigation to Aussies before the end of October after failing to ship it at launch. The service was delayed again two weeks ago, presumably due to negotiations still underway with Australian mapping providers.
It’s still based on Apple’s frankly awful Maps though, so be prepared to be told to go up more than a few one-way streets.
Thanks to everyone who sent this in.
Steve would've never delayed negotiating with Australian mapping providers!
Now you can have SIRI guide you through crap maps.
The question I guess, does it actually work :/
It uses different maps to regular apple maps. I took it down hale road botany. In regular maps and the directions before today, hale rd didn't connect to foreshore. This connection road/ramp was built recently. The directions would take me the long way around. The directions today have the correctly updated maps. Siri also does a stellar job understanding unusual street names. 100% hit rate so far. I got a stupid result when I asked for the nearest big shopping centre. Think it found a shop with big in the title. So it isn't actually too bad. My car has like most new cars these days has navigation so it's nice to have but getting less relevant. It'll be interesting to compare these back to back with Nokia maps on windows phone 8. I think too many people are having trollgasms about these apple maps.
Does it take you the right way around roundabouts, or is it still sending people around "American style"?
Roundabouts are good now :)
Maps were a big mess in my area before, but now I'm actually able to navigate out of the suburb!!
LOL! Seriously? Maps are only as good as the first time they screw you up. Voice search is great, directions and visuals are as good as anything out there. If this is the starting point, then it's a monumental c###-act to be panning it like the media has done.
A roundabout was Apple's first screw-up with me. "Take the second exit" it says. Only after I realised I wasn't where I should be, and looked at the map, did I notice it swung to the right on the roundabout, not the left, making the second exit actually the third.
Used Google Maps apps (or apps using GMaps) on iOS since.
Not sure when that happened for you but we used the turn-by-turn navigation on the weekend and it went around all the roundabouts correctly, and found all the correct exits. It also guided us to correct lanes when navigating North Brisbane, which as people may know isn't the easiest to navigate.
I can't speak for everytone else but it seems to have been working fine for me.
It's not working for me. Is this only on 4s and later?
Yeah, as it needs Siri to dictate the directions.
That sucks, well I guess i will continue to use whereis until the Nexus 4 is back in stock.
Last edited November 15, 2012 3:58 pm
Why not just upgrade your phone to a 4s or 5.
Because I don't want to spend $800 on a phone when I can get a Nexus 4 for $399.
I dont recommend switching ecosystems.... I can tell you its a pain in the ass and you probably wont enjoy it. Plus you loose all the money you have spent on iOS apps, having to rebuy them is so annoying... Especially if its via the crap Android Play marketplace...
Oh troll you so funny!
play.google.com is light years ahead of the App store. browse on the PC hit install and bang its on your phone, or just browse on the phone and you can see more than one app at a time.
As for changing from ios to android i did it and while i agree buying new app feels shit, the $400 you save on the phone is 20 times more than i spent on apps.
Apart from the the switch was easy. Contacts all came over music and video is much easier to manage (i always hated Itunes)
i watched a few youtube vids of android so i knew what it could do and found it easy to use.
... and you'll get $400 phone :( if you want that than you can save further $300 :)
Not entirely true. The iPad 2 (with Cellular) is the only non-Siri device that can take advantage of Apple's turn by turn.
I have found directions with Apple Maps to be reasonably good. Where it really falls down is the business listings.
Google maps have told me to do plenty of illegal u-turns.
Yeah, I think apple maps works well as an on dash map, but the biz listings are appalling.
Last weekend I took it for a spin up to Hervery Bay in QLD. Took me down 3 dirt roads in preference to Main Highways, Also suggested I travel the wrong way on one way streets, and There were about 10 separate occasions where the st names were completely incorrect.
Many times throughout the weekend you could hear the cursing coming from the car: "Damn you Apple Maps" (*Shakes Fist Heartily at phone*)
I am sure that it gets a lot worse the further you get from a capital city.
Can we get a screenshot of the directions it gave you? ie. The three dirt roads instead of the main highways. I just want to see why it would have told you to do that.
Telstra's Whereis maps are awesome for iOS. Has turn by turn and I believe no data charge if you're on Telstra.
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Last edited November 15, 2012 3:13 pm
I've been using MetroView on the iPhone for a few years and it's great. Only cost me $15 or something and they release regular free updates... oh, and they're Aussie.
+1 on this.
However it does annoy me how it mispronounces the names of some streets. And it used to be bloody slow on my iPhone 4. Works very well on my iPhone 5 though.
MetroView is excellent, particularly given Google didn't have turn by turn at the time. Apple...well maybe someday...
+1 on MetroView
Fantastic app and regular free updates make it best value IMHO :)
so how do i get this?
Works fine in Ballarat on an iPad 2. You don't need Siri. It's the same woman (Karen) who talks to me on my Garmin GPS. Maps are fine for me.
They're really improved maps for australia, I have yet to see anything wrong with them.
Turn by turn looks gorgeous, I wish they could keep the look in the rest of the maps
Apple store employees are fixing them... http://www.gizmodo.com.au/2012/10/rumourmodo-apple-using-retail-store-employees-to-fix-maps/
They are now using the Sensis/whereis data, that may explain the delay and the imrovement.
Apple maps in Perth are okay now. Looking forward to trying the turn by turn.
So are these maps preloaded or downloaded on the go?
They are downloaded on the go, but I have noticed that it will cache a very large area for when there is no reception. Being vector based, there is minimal information that needs to be downloaded as well, unless you are using satellite, it's blazingly fast and uses relatively no download.
For those bagging out the Android market, it really does a better job than iOS, I'm on a 4s at the moment but jumping to a Lumia 920 on the 27th; but before this I owned a Backflip and a Galaxy S2, what I liked most about Androids is all you need to do is install a package installer then you can literally install cracked full versions of programs without paying - if one were so inclined. Not I of course.
works great!
Kilometres and metres ?
I just used the turn by turn from Southside Brisbane to Mooloolabah, back to Kedron then Brisbane Bayside, and the maps didnt miss a beat - even going through the tunnels. Rather impressed, seems maps in getting much better
Tried the maps going to a mate's place and back; worked really well. Now to test it going somewhere further.
While waiting for Nokia's Here and Google maps to arrive on iOS6, have a look at 'Sparkling Maps', which was updated with iPad support yesterday. It is available in the app store now and offers the familiar google maps experience including streetview plus with turn by turn navigation as added benefit. Check it out at sparklingapps.com/sparklingmaps.
Tested yesterday twice from Bankstown to Windsor Road and back and couldn't spot any errors. Only a few weeks ago almost every try using maps was a disaster. Voice navigation works very good, sounds natural not robotic, accurate and on time. I like the app concept of selecting your route, main screen not despairing after on touch and it's rid of all unnecessary screen clutter. Destination search, bookmarking or adding to your existing contacts was easy.
I was playing at the same time music from my phone via bluetooth and both apps worked very well together. I'd like to know if there is a way to mix a bit volume level between those apps since SIRI volume is about 65-75% of music source what made me few times put volume up to hear GPS. Screen brightness was on auto, 3/4G was on, bluetooth, music and GPS were all on and my battery drained about 20% (very rough figure) in 35 min.
So far, very good.
If its that bad and telling drivers to go up one-way roads
should you be recommending it use?
Or should you be required to have a large sign on car saying
(WARNING-USING APPLE MAPS)