Apple is now updating Maps data every single day

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TomTom will continue to power Apple Maps.
TomTom will continue to power Apple Maps.
Photo: Apple

Since it was first released as part of iOS 6, Apple Maps has gotten a partially deserved bad rap. Although nowhere near as bad as it was at release, Apple Maps has a reputation for being unreliable compared to options like Google Maps.

One thing that was particularly frustrating about Apple Maps at release was the fact that while the app invited users to report incorrect locations and results, nothing ever seemed to happen with those reports. So if Apple gave you incorrect directions, it might take months for the error to be fixed.

But a thread on Reddit offers what appears to be conclusive proof that Apple has gotten its act together about Maps. According to the thread, Apple is now pushing through error corrections in Apple Maps on a daily basis.

In a thread posted by Heyyoudvd yesterday, the author writes about his own testing, showing that Apple pushes out updates on Maps every day at 3:00am Eastern, or midnight Pacific Time.

Apple actually updates POI data now. If you see errors in your neighborhood, you can correct them with the ‘Report a Problem’ button on the Maps info screen. New data is pushed out by Apple’s servers every single day, so the Maps app is now improving at a quick pace.

Numerous other users in the Reddit thread confirm Heyyoudvd’s findings. Not all updates go through, indicating that Apple does have some sort of vetting system going on, but the majority of accurate Maps reports do seem to go through quickly.

This is great news. Apple fans have always had a lot of goodwill towards Apple Maps: after all, building a mapping database that compete with Google’s is a hard undertaking, and Apple has been openly apologetic about the issues that the service has had. But many of us gave up on Apple Maps when bug reports seemed to go unaddressed. This might be enough to bring many defectors back.

Source: Reddit

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