Time to Upgrade to iOS 6: The Google Maps App Is Now Available for the iPhone

Hallelujah!

Google just sent word that Google's hotly anticipated maps app for iOS is now available in the iTunes store. Oh, and it's got voice-guided turn-by-turn directions, among other features.

Let me say loud: Hallelujah!

If you've upgraded to iOS 6, you (sadly) lost native app access to Google's tremendous geographic information infrastructure. Now you can get it back *and* have the new stuff that comes with iOS 6.

If you're like me, you've been waiting to upgrade until the mapping situation was worked out. Apple's maps, while beautiful, make small mistakes nearly constantly. On a recent trip to LA, the company's turn-by-turn directions provided faulty information, an inefficient/obviously bad route, or strange text directions on every single driving trip we took. So, now I can upgrade with a clear mind.

If you want to know why Google's Maps are better than Apple's, check out my feature on how Google builds its maps. This is not an easy problem to solve. You need thousands of people hand-correcting maps in addition to all the computational and brain power that money can buy. And those maps will never be perfect; the task never ends.

Alexis C. Madrigal

Alexis Madrigal is a senior editor at The Atlantic, where he oversees the Technology channel. He's the author of Powering the Dream: The History and Promise of Green Technology. More

The New York Observer calls Madrigal "for all intents and purposes, the perfect modern reporter." He co-founded Longshot magazine, a high-speed media experiment that garnered attention from The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and the BBC. While at Wired.com, he built Wired Science into one of the most popular blogs in the world. The site was nominated for best magazine blog by the MPA and best science Web site in the 2009 Webby Awards. He also co-founded Haiti ReWired, a groundbreaking community dedicated to the discussion of technology, infrastructure, and the future of Haiti.

He's spoken at Stanford, CalTech, Berkeley, SXSW, E3, and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, and his writing was anthologized in Best Technology Writing 2010 (Yale University Press).

Madrigal is a visiting scholar at the University of California at Berkeley's Office for the History of Science and Technology. Born in Mexico City, he grew up in the exurbs north of Portland, Oregon, and now lives in Oakland.