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FOUR SEASONS BREEZE | JANUARY 2021 33 THERE'S AN APP FOR THAT! By Steve Benoff Subject to change Part 2. Last month I expressed my preference for the Google Maps app when driving and navigating using my phone when not connected to Apple CarPlay. This month I'll be comparing the two when used with CarPlay. Before I move on to CarPlay, I'd like to confess my preference for Google's presentation of traffic conditions. Google displays all the traffic it has information on as either green, yellow, or red (with an occasional black for stopped traffic). Apple, on the other hand, doesn't show green – only yellow, red, and black. I'm sure it makes the assumption there is no need to show free-flowing conditions. I prefer Google's approach. It gives me reassurance to see that traffic isn't slow, but, more importantly, it shows where it has traffic information. With Apple, I don't know if traffic is OK or is it a street for which it has no information. CarPlay demonstrates how apps change. Google used to be the clear winner; now, I'm not so sure. Finding a destination in Google Maps is easy. Just enter the name or address of the place you want to go. If I enter Kaiser Redlands and select the result, Google supplies the address and directions. The instructions show up in whatever view I choose. I can select north is up or direction of travel. I can select satellite view (a photo from above in typical Google presentation) or not. Best of all I can change these settings while traveling with a couple of screen presses. And, of course, I can change the scale. What I can't do is easily switch to an overview of the whole route. If I press that "Y" symbol while connected to CarPlay, half the screen is occupied with the destination I've already chosen with a Go button. If I press Go, rather than stay in overview, Google Maps switches back to a local view. Apple Maps on CarPlay has changed dramatically. I won't go into how it used to perform, but suffice it to say Apple Maps now behaves much like Google – and that's a good thing. You can acquire a destination through your contacts or by entering it in the search feature. As much as I like the satellite view in Google, I've come to prefer Apple's more subtle way of rendering its map view. I find it much easier to discern upcoming streets. I like how Apple shows upcoming traffic signals and even stop signs. I like how it switches automatically between 2-D and 3-D – using the former when approaching a turn. I like how in direction of travel view it doesn't constantly adjust the road ahead with every slight change of direction as Google annoyingly does. It only takes a button press or two to switch from direction of travel view to an overhead view. But when I just want a map to show traffic, I prefer Google because it defaults to a local map rather than the large-scale map of Apple. So, when I'm using CarPlay, and I'm sure this applies pretty much to Android Auto, I set my destination in Apple Maps and use Google for more information on local conditions without setting a destination. With CarPlay, it's easy to switch between the two. Quirks. Both apps have their issues. When I refer to an app for traffic conditions (not while in navigation mode), these conditions can change with the selected scale. If the map is set to cover many miles, it may not indicate slowdowns. But if it's set to a tighter scale, yellow or red may well be shown. Another quirk which both apps are guilty of is not always showing the next turn. For example, if I've set Google to guide me home and I'm going south on Highland Springs, rather than showing me a right turn on Crooked Creek, it shows a straight arrow and distance to First Street. After I pass it, then Crooked Creek shows up. Apple Maps has almost the same annoyance; it just chooses to show Potrero instead of First. I've had a recent example of this quirk that could have been dangerous. The map displayed my next direction as a straight arrow to an offramp only to be followed by a right turn at the next (and close) offramp. I find traffic info is often not accurate. Not on the big highways but on local streets. This seems especially true of Google. I can be driving on a street showing yellow or even red when the traffic is clear. It will often show an offramp or a street near a traffic light as yellow or red as if predicting such a condition when there is no traffic at all. And in these days when every company is singing the praises of artificial intelligence, map timing estimates seem only to be based on current conditions. If I leave for LA at six in the morning, my ETA will be shown as about an hour and 45 minutes. But I know that the LA traffic by the time I get downtown will be much slower and the trip will be considerably longer. A proper application of AI would have added another 30 to 45 minutes to my trip. If you use an app you'd like to share with others, let me know at steve.benoff@verizon.net. Using Maps with CarPlay

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