ON THE surface level Apple Maps and Google Maps might appear to be pretty similar, but a closer examination shows there are vast differences between the two services.

The first big difference is the amount of unique monthly users.

Google Maps dominated this field with more than one billion monthly users, while Apple Maps is lagging behind with more than 55 million.

Although, it must be added that Google Maps has existed since 2005 and its competitor only entered the market in 2012.

APPEARANCE

When it comes to the cartography comparison between the two maps, how the information is presented is slightly different.

A recent study into the subject from cartography blogger Justin O’Beirne examined just how different the maps are. To achieve this, he opened both maps on an identical area, pixel for pixel at the exact same zoom.

What he discovered was changes in the icons, colours and labels.

CITIES

Using San Francisco, London and New York as basis for his findings, Mr O’Beirne examined which map service included more cities.

“On nearly every zoom with city labels, Apple labels more cities than Google,” he wrote.

ROADS

Showing every road from a wide zoom would make for a cluttered mess, so both maps are quite reserved with what is shown.

To see how this would change, Mr O’Beirne zoomed in 12 times on both Google and Apple maps.

“For almost two-thirds of the zooms, Google and Apple show roughly the same number of roads. But for the remaining zooms, where one map shows more roads than the other, it’s almost always Apple that’s showing more roads,” he wrote.

While Apple Maps might show more streets when zooming in, closer inspection found Google Maps shows more text labels for its roads.



This was common across all three cities examined, but using San Francisco as the basis for this finding, Mr O’Beirne said Apple was clearly dominated.

“San Francisco’s main streets: Market, Divisadero, Mission, Valencia, Guerrero, Dolores, Folsom, Franklin, Gough, Columbus, and Castro are all labelled on Google’s map — but missing on Apple’s,” he wrote.

PLACES

When dealing with the old UBD street directories, maps were only available to show a select number of places of interest.

However, the ability to zoom offered by digital maps means these services can provide a much more detailed picture.

In this study it was discovered Apple labels more places in New York and San Francisco, while Google labels more places in London.

According to Mr O’Beirne, Google is labelling more tube stations, which results in the number. Overall, he admits there is no real difference.

“There really isn’t much of a difference here: on average, it’s less than five across all zooms,” he wrote.

“So for now, we’ll conclude that Google Maps and Apple Maps label a similar number of places.”

In terms of what the maps chose to label, Mr O’Beirne said both maps showed different kinds of points of interest.

“Google Maps heavily prioritises transit, while Apple prioritises landmarks,” he wrote.

“Apple also generally shows a greater number of POI categories on a given zoom — and shows twice as many restaurants and shops as Google.”

So which map is better? Well, ultimately it’s subjective given your needs.

Let us know your thoughts in the comments below or on Twitter @mattydunn11