Google Maps, once an iPhone mainstay, is sorely missed by reviewers

By Matthew Shaer / September 27, 2012

Reuters

Google Maps has been banished from the iPhone 5 and iOS 6. Some people are angry. Other people are counseling patience. Google, for its part, is reportedly working on a new iOS 6 mapping app, which could hit handsets and tablets by the end of the year – providing Apple gives the app a green light. As Google chair Eric Schmidt said earlier this week, at an event in Tokyo, "it’s their choice."

So what exactly did iOS users lose when we lost Google Maps? Well, New York Times tech critic David Pogue recently posed that question, and offered his own answer: We lost quite a bit. "Entire lakes, train stations, bridges and tourist attractions have been moved, mislabeled or simply erased," he writes in a review of Apple Maps. "Satellite photo views consist of stitched-together scenes from completely different seasons, weather conditions and even years."

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Google Maps, once an iPhone mainstay, is sorely missed by reviewers

Apple says it is working to make the experience on its much-maligned iOS 6 Apple Maps app 'even better.' Meanwhile, iPhone 5 users continue to pine for the days of Google Maps.