Map apps on Lumia 950/950 XL

[sloppy standard]

Hello 950 users, I'm wondering how the Maps apps are on this phone? Is HERE Maps not included? My understanding is W10M has merged the MS and HERE maps into one? If so, does the new Maps have the same great features that the HERE suite had, like transit, voice guided navigation, downloadable maps, tap to show POI, tap to show subway lines, etc?

Thanks in advance for any info; as most of you know, HERE Maps worked up to certain builds (in my case, build 10586 on my Lumia 930) and the MS Maps, IMO, simply sucks. So if HERE is gone in W10M, so am I, unless MS Maps is really a suitable replacement.

 

[rjl2001]

Phone only comes with 'Maps', couldn't find any Here Maps or anything.

I couldn't find any separate layer for transit maps or separate app, only thing I see is when you go to the directions screen you can choose car, bus, or walking. So if you type in directions I'm guessing that choosing 'bus' will give some transit options or directions.

The voice guided directions are actually really great, I like the layout better than before I think, and they kept the speed limit indicator. My favorite part is it now puts exit numbers on the display when driving, whereas before it would say it once during the voice prompt but wouldn't textually depict it on the screen.

I did see options for downloading maps but haven't used that feature yet.

I couldn't get it to tap a POI and bring it up, super annoying actually. POI's show up automatically on the map, but you can't select one to bring up its information. It will just let you long press on the map, but will only bring up the address (and gps coordinates) or to pin that spot, nothing about the POI. I did notice it has the little blue symbols for bus stops and train stations at least on the map, but like other POI's no way to select it.

Everyday I'm finding more things that my 950/W10 won't do that my Lumia 1020 does, very frustrating. I travel all year long in different cities every week, and the transit maps with HERE Maps are great. I was hoping it would be improved with W10, not gone altogether.

 

[TexasLabRat]

In theory HERE apps will be available "Real Soon Now (tm)". So at that point at least you'll have a choice.

 

[Elfonzerio]

You can download maps. Just dig into the map setting and you'll find it

 

[rider2040]

I find the Maps app on WM10 to be far superior to any option that we've had on Windows Phone before. I especially like that it syncs with the Maps app on W10 so I can search for something on my laptop or tablet and then pull up the directions on my phone.

The new voice navigation is great. We now get to choose from multiple routes. Transit info is available in the app. I don't need three different apps anymore (Here Maps, Here Drive, Here Transit) everything is now in the Maps app.

 

[sloppy standard]

Thanks everyone, very informative remarks! :amaze:I'm wondering if MS is aware of many urban users they have, and how often we commute by public transit. HERE had it down. Sure, the features could've been implemented into one single map, but at least the features were there. With HERE, when tapping on a bus stop, the live time table would pop up. Now you can't even tap at all? With HERE you could long press and nearby POIs would appear, with all their relevant data and online reviews.....

It's clear HERE isn't coming back to W10M, that "coming soon" things has been like that since September.....
Can you tell I'm bummed? lol

 

[dfaris]

Waze seems to work on the 950

 

[Comatose11]

Waze seems to work on the 950

How well does Waze work? Also, does Waze on W10M compare to Google Maps?

Posted via the Windows Central App for Android

 

[EMitchell]

The one feature from Here that is missing from MS Maps that I wish was there is non-English navigation. I had my navigation set to another language with Here, don't see any way to do it with MS Maps.

 

[ashram]

Here does seem integrated into the maps app, or at least the maps are still provided by Here.... (load up maps, settings and scroll to the bottom, terms of use and privacy statement from Here)

 

[YKinase]

Waze crashed the first three times I started it on my Lumia 950. I had this problem with WM10 on Lumia 1020 so I persevered. After the third start, it downloaded languages and then works. The problem is Waze hasn't been updated and while functional, lacks the polish of the current iPhone/Android versions. The biggest problem I had on my 1020 was screen burn-in. I commute about 2h/day and after two years, I have the Waze screen burned into my phone and I want to avoid contaminating the beautiful Lumia 950 display but I've not found anything comparable to Waze for optimal real-time route guidance. If anyone else has found something comparable, shout it out!

 

[dfaris]

Waze works well for me so far. I had to make sure the languages were downloaded but other then that it seems to work. I'm sure it is not updated like the phone OS's but I dont use apple or android so I can't tell the difference.

 

[uselessrobot]

The redesign isn't too bad, but the annoying thing for me is that it forgets my view and settings.

In WP8 every time I'd open the app it would display the map exactly where I left it with traffic on. I'd pretty much have to restart the phone for it to forget those settings. In Windows 10, it almost always resets and zooms to my current location and deactivates traffic. Not the end of the world, but definitely a nuisance.

 

[phelme]

Sygic for me is running poorly on my 950 XL. lots of pauses between position updates, basically unusable. (it runs great on my 1520 with 8.1)

I'll be trying the Windows Universal app beta version later today. I'm hoping there are GPS API changes or something specific to WM 10 addressed there that cause the current version to behave so erratically.

Maps runs with no issues.

 

[Jan777]

No Here maps, drive or transit. In the built in maps app, at least in Finland, all the roads are gone from the map, and have been since a week ago at least, only road names on white and the tiny pedestrian roads show. The built in transit functionality is a joke. If your route involves switching to another bus line it will suggest routes where you arrive at your switch stop at the same time as the next bus leaves, leaving absolutely no margin. I have never seen such an incompetent transit app before, competely disconnected with reality. Also no way of seeing nearby stops, or look for a specific bus or bus stop timetable. People thougt that apple maps was a disaster when they disconnected from google, but this is just as bad or worse. If you need a good transit app, then lumia is definately no longer a viable choice.

 

[sloppy standard]

....The built in transit functionality is a joke...

Yep, this is what I was afraid of. The fact that HERE is not available in the Store, that we see "(tm) HERE maps, Windows Maps" in the About of the new Maps app, that HERE has been saying sinse September "coming soon! We're working on it!"...all those signs lead me to think the new Maps is D.O.A. for public transit users.

I'm not intending to American bash here (hey, I'm an American living in Paris, I get that enough already!) but I think MS doesn't "get" the need for baked-in public transit functionality like Nokia did. It's like "yeah, sure, I guess we should put the subway stops on there" then the engineers hop in their cars and drive home.

 

[myoujin]

How to sync my favorites in here map to windows map?

 

[astondg]

People thougt that apple maps was a disaster when they disconnected from google, but this is just as bad or worse. If you need a good transit app, then lumia is definately no longer a viable choice.

That seems a bit of an exaggeration given that Apple Maps only just got transit recently and then it's only in select countries. I can't get it at all here in Australia.

I was a regular Here Transit user and when I switched to the Windows 10 Mobile preview I started using the built in maps instead and so far I haven't missed anything. In fact there's things in maps I like better, in particular it gives more detailed information about your stop (both embarking and disembarking) and integrates with Cortana.

I haven't had to switch transit services yet (i.e. two buses or a bus and then a train) but Here Transit wasn't always perfect with that for me either, I often ignored the first connection option knowing that I wouldn't get there in time.

The lack of nearby transit stops/routes is a big downside, but Bing Maps Preview on the web has this so hopefully it comes to the maps app.

 

[Paolo Ferrazza]

Maps uses Here data for most part and I find it great.

I can also suggest MapFactor which was great on android and is pretty good on windows too while bad-looking

 

[William Sanderson]

Hello 950 users, I'm wondering how the Maps apps are on this phone? Is HERE Maps not included? My understanding is W10M has merged the MS and HERE maps into one? If so, does the new Maps have the same great features that the HERE suite had, like transit, voice guided navigation, downloadable maps, tap to show POI, tap to show subway lines, etc?

Thanks in advance for any info; as most of you know, HERE Maps worked up to certain builds (in my case, build 10586 on my Lumia 930) and the MS Maps, IMO, simply sucks. So if HERE is gone in W10M, so am I, unless MS Maps is really a suitable replacement.

There has been an update to the Maps app and it has replaced the Here Maps app. It works very well as I have used it for two trips lately and has been flawless. The voice navigation works with the Maps app as it did with the Here Drive app. It's nice to have one Map app that takes care of both driving and general map query in one. Cortana has been integrated with the new Map as well.