Google Maps is one of the most popular mapping and navigation applications, especially on Android where it is pre-installed. Petal Maps was born from the embargo on Huawei, which in almost four years has grown to reach stand up to Google Maps. Moreover, in some respects it even seems better to me.
Google Maps has been around for almost 20 years and the app has obviously received several facelifts and a ton of new features. However, Google Maps can still be improved and this is something that is more evident if we try an alternative like Huawei’s Petal Maps.
The difference is in the details
Google Maps is probably the best mapping app, although if we talk about the best GPS navigation app, it is not so clear. If Google Maps has a huge database of points of interest and almost 20 years of experience in improving its maps, other applications specialize in navigation, such as Waze, also from Google.
Over time, we have become accustomed to the way things are done in Google Maps navigation, and the truth is that it is not necessarily the best or clearest. This is something that already appears when using an application like Waze, although for me the greatest proof has appeared when following a route in Petal Maps.
Google Maps (left) and Petal Maps (right)
Over the years we have become accustomed to the Google Maps line that shows our trajectory and that has changed little beyond the relatively recent change of colors and the incorporation of traffic information in each segment of the route: the route occupies the entire road.
This is enough in many cases or on simple roads, but if we drive on a highway with many lanes coming and going, junctions, bridges and tunnels at the same time, it can be a nightmare. understand where you want us to go. Do I stay in this lane? Am I about to exit? It also doesn’t help that Google Maps’ default zoom is a bit off and movement is sometimes not very smooth. Below is an example.
From the interpretation of the omnipresent line of Google Maps (aided by the indications and arrows of the next maneuver on the upper green panel, which is not always very explanatory), we move on to Petal Maps, which is much more visual. And I don’t just mean that with the proper angle we will see the sky on the horizon reflecting the current weather conditions (rain, sun, etc.), but that it will show you much better where you need to go.
The advantages of Petal Maps here are twofold. On the one hand, the route line does not occupy the entire road, but rather in a practical way step over the tracks so you can go there and it mutates to show you which one to take to exit the highway. This is, in my opinion, much simpler to understand than interpreting the arrows at the top which sometimes change too quickly if there are a lot of directions in a row.
And it’s not just about the road line. While in Google Maps, seeing our progress on a route is like watching paint dry on a wall, in Petal Maps the movement is much more fluid and more livelywith a default zoom that allows us to better see where we are going (and which lane we are in).
As you can see in the video above, It’s a much more pleasant experience. and that doesn’t necessarily mean that it will distract us more. On the contrary, in my opinion, if you can easily see the tracks and the route in more detail (closer), it saves you from having to look closely at the map, read it and interpret it.
These more precise directions require the GPS to be extremely accurate, which is not always the case. On complicated roads with many intersecting lanes, service roads, bridges and tunnels, the GPS can put us where it is not and go completely crazy with the directions. Here is another detail of Petal Maps that really catches my attention: go to the bridge or under the bridge.
The Petal Maps option to indicate whether we are above or below the bridge
This button, which appears when Petal Maps has doubts about where you are, allows you to adjust the GPS location to correctly position yourself above or below the bridge, something that can radically change the route and throw you off course a lot. Again, this is something that on Google Maps would be difficult to distinguish because from a distance all the roads are lines and if you don’t know the area you can end up with very serious (and dangerous) confusion if the navigator gives you directions based on the route taken by a road you are not actually on.
It is in these small details that TomTom’s hand is visible in Petal Mapswith a navigation experience closer to traditional GPS and not so much to an antiseptic Google Maps which, in my opinion, still has a thing or two to learn from Petal Maps.
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