[Vito B]

I want to point out that I'm criticizing not to be mean but to make BlackBerry Apps better. In today's highly competitive smartphone market BlackBerry needs not just to be on par with iPhone and Android OS but better, offer features people didn't know they needed but then can't live without.
It's all the small details that make a big difference to choose BlackBerry or not. And that's what you'll find below. To be fair BlackBerry Maps do have features that are superior to those on Google Maps or Waze app: pleasant appearance, ease of use, color theme, arrows showing oneway streets when zoomed in and my favorite - voice guidance the quality of which is AMAZING!
If BlackBerry needs a real-life person with brains for testing their products before rolling out, I'm ready for it.
Keep moving!


Maps Missing features + things to improve

1. Readability issue: App needs thicker, juicier colors for traffic visibility (green, yellow, red) on every scale level not just when zoomed in - we need to quickly see the big picture and also be able to distinguish which direction of the highway is in traffic without zooming in on every area of the way - that's dangerous behind the wheel. Look at the screenshots I'm attaching to compare it to Google maps and see how it's supposed to be.
2. Add more streets to Show traffic feature when zoomed in on local level, right now it's only a handful and losing to Google maps again. The same goes to HIGHWAY RAMPS ON EXITS and ENTRANCES, right now no traffic provided for these critical areas.
3. Add 1 more color for standstill traffic (for example Google maps has black-red-black for it).
4. Make traffic data more accurate! Get more traffic providers that do it in REAL TIME.
5. Add these crucial modes to the maps (walk, public transit, bicycle, satellite, terrain, panoramic street view). People live outside their cars you know.
6. App needs + and - buttons for zooming for 1 hand operation in addition to pinch-zoom.
7. Make night mode available not only to navigation but to regular map view also. It will save battery.
8. Maps should have EXIT NUMBERS marked on highways.
9. Add "Download for offline usage" option to download and store chosen portions of the certain map on SD card or internal memory. You will get a lot of new customers who love outdoor activities or traveling abroad to save on super expensive roaming charges. This will also allow us to put the phone into Airplane mode to save the battery.
10. Ability to share location and directions via text, email, etc., even legacy BlackBerries had that!


Navigation Bugs, Errors and Missing features

1. Update route menu option is grayed out - currently not working.
2. Make exit numbers stand out: Letters on top where exit numbers are written are too small and grey.
3. Add lane guidance on screen and with voice (similar to Mireo Don't Panic Navigation App from BlackBerry World).
4. If Maps app is accidentally closed before reaching the destination remember that route and offer to continue when launched next time (like Waze navigation app does).
5. Suggest to keep right with voice when the carpool lane is on the left side of the road and you chose to avoid carpool lanes in the settings.
6. Add preview individual turns feature when you press on them from the directions list.
7. Add detour option to menu with ability to detour next turn, next 2 turns, etc. OR to detour next 1/4, 1/2, 1, 2, 5, 10, etc. miles.
8. Offer 2-3 alternative routes before starting navigation.
9. Add voice prompts to keep left or right when approaching point where highway is splitting into two or three.
10. Add actual time of arrival to information bar instead of just traveling time, they can rotate to save space on screen: show 2 seconds one, 2 seconds the other.
11. We need to be able to add MULTIPLE VIA POINTS to the route before starting navigation as well as to an active route while navigating. This is a VERY IMPORTANT feature.
12. When reaching the destination, BlackBerry Maps always says and shows "Your destination is STRAIGHT ahead". Even the old Garmin XT app on my ancient Windows phone says the destination is on either LEFT or RIGHT. Very helpful when driving in unfamiliar areas. Please add this simple feature.

Error that I found when traveling south from route 28 and merging with highway i-93 South in Boston metro area. The navigation told and showed wrong i-95 instead of i-93 which is totally different highway here [as of 9/6/2013 this error is still present] Please fix this and look for similar errors, there might be more.

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P.S. Fellow BlackBerry users, tweet the link to this post to BlackBerry, copy and paste it on their Facebook page, repost on forums, email it to get this message through to BlackBerry Top management. Originally posted by V. Baranouski

[billbsb]

You should definitely join the BlackBerry Beta Zone programs. They send me a survey regarding the BB10 Maps app a few weeks ago. They frequently ask for feedback.

[Vito B]

Yes, I did, but currently no surveys are available. This should be another thing to improve - keep the surveys open ALL THE TIME.

You should definitely join the BlackBerry Beta Zone programs. They send me a survey regarding the BB10 Maps app a few weeks ago. They frequently ask for feedback.

[blackout626]

Yep, you should join BlackBerry Beta. I've done two map surveys for them already. Both were pretty extensive and covered multiple areas of the app.

Just go to www.blackberry.com/beta to sign up.

Posted via CB10

[SubCamp]

Thanks for bringing awareness around this issue, it's definitely one feature of BB10 that needs improvement

Posted via CB10

[blackout626]

I think that survey was over two weeks ago. There'll probably be another one in a few months after they've made some changes based on the last survey. =)

Posted via CB10

[Vito B]

Hopefully BlackBerry has people who read our forums and suggestions without waiting for a survey to be ahead of things.

[niss63]

RE: Traffic

One feature of the old traffic app that was helpful was the route choice screen. It showed two or three route choices and had the traffic noted in red, yellow and green in bars across the screen. This allowed you to see at a glance if there was an issue with a particular route.

Posted via CB10