I’m not a hater by nature… I really rebel against the trite negativity, particularly put out by vast stretches of the tech and political press (which I happen to read a lot, despite my professed rebellion). That said…

iOS 6’s Maps app just doesn’t work right now. It kinda sucks here in October 2012.

I didn’t have too many problems in DC or WV (the places I split my time) but on a quick weekend trip to Atlanta, the Maps app showed how being a little off can be really bad. Essentially every single trip I had… Airport to hotel, hotel to wedding reception location, back to hotel, then hotel to breakfast spot the next morning… all of them were off by a little bit. A turn here or there, an address off by a block. It all added up to a big mess when you’re in a place you’re not familiar and you’re banking on the data behind the app to work.

So, let me be a little more refined than shake my fist at the sky and declare suckage… the app is slick. Siri… well, she can direct you. But the underlying data is smelly, stinky, sucky. Google Maps was far from perfect, and was clearly missing turn by turn directions in iOS, but I don’t remember the consistency of misses like I just experienced in the new Maps app.

But… it’ll get better. I can use Waze or any number of other options until the underlying data mess gets fixed.

And by the way… Atlanta? You keep staying weird. We like that:

Update… edited to correct the fact I apparently can’t differentiate between “iPhone5” and “iOS6.”