When I asked Google Maps on my iPhone for the location of Memphis Minnie’s, a San Francisco barbecue restaurant, I got this:
Haight Street, between Lyon and Central. And that’s all well and good, except I did not remember Memphis Minnie’s being directly across from Buena Vista park. In fact, it is not across from the park, and Google Maps was wrong.
Later, I looked up Memphis Minnie’s on Google Maps on a desktop computer, and here’s what it gave me:
Haight Street, between Fillmore and Steiner. That is correct.
If I’d relied on Google Maps for directions this time, it would not have gotten me to where I wanted to go. Just like when I was looking for my friend’s hotel, and the time when I wanted to find an Amazon delivery location. Also, Google Maps consistently sends me through bad neighborhoods and doesn’t label them so I can know to avoid them.
I still haven’t used the iPhone Maps app in iOS 6 (staying at iOS 5.1.1 to preserve my jailbreak), but I doubt it will be much worse than the Google-powered Maps when I eventually do switch.