How Ridiculous Is It That Apple Maps Redirect To Google Maps On The Web?

Yes, Apple Maps redirect to Google Maps on desktop, Android and any non-iOS 6 phones when you share your location. Womp. Obviously this is happening because there’s no hub for Apple Maps on the web, but still, the absurdity of this loop is exemplary of how ill-thought out this whole Maps switch was.

Like you most likely, I’m still sort of confused by the logic here: I have iOS 6, and when I try to share my location from Apple Maps to Facebook and Twitter, Apple Maps shares a maps.apple.com URL wrapper. If you click that Facebook or Twitter link from the web, it will load Google Maps with the specified address.

If you click on the Twitter link in iOS 6, it takes you to Apple Maps on mobile. If you click on the Facebook link in iOS 6, it takes you to Google Maps. Huh? I’m assuming iOS 5 users and other OS users get Google Maps all around, which is possibly one explanation for why there’s no coherent location share structure yet.

But wait, there’s even more incongruity down the Apple Maps rabbit hole! If you attempt to share your Apple Maps location by email or iMessage, Apple Maps sends a VCard alongside the maps.apple.com URL and inside the VCard, you will find the same URL. If you click on that URL via iOS 6, it launches Apple Maps. On web or iOS 5, not so much.

In addition, sharing a location via text or email to an Android phone sends the same VCard and maps.apple.com URL, which then redirects to Google Maps. My lord, what a mess.

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