Google Maps vs Yelp
When comparing Google Maps vs Yelp, the Slant community recommends Google Maps for most people. In the question“What are the best Android apps for finding a place to eat?” Google Maps is ranked 1st while Yelp is ranked 3rd. The most important reason people chose Google Maps is:
You can download offline data per city or parts of cities if you live in an especially large city, but not for states or countries. Points of Interests are generally more relevant & current than the typical stand alone GPS unit.
Specs
Ranked in these QuestionsQuestion Ranking
Pros
Pro Offline functionality
You can download offline data per city or parts of cities if you live in an especially large city, but not for states or countries. Points of Interests are generally more relevant & current than the typical stand alone GPS unit.
Pro Best execution of save location feature
Recent updates have made it so you can label a place instead of being stuck with some address or GPS coordinate and forgetting what it represents. Saved places show as stars and are all on one layer as long as you're logged in. There is also the ability to create maps (parallel to groups) for things you might not want to see or have show up all the time whenever you're using google maps from day to day.
This feature is highly helpful for planning, even if you're a person who likes to wing it.
Pro Find your parked car
You save the location of your car and easily find it again
Pro Accurate mapping
Pro Updated constantly
Nearby my house, there is major road construction in progress. Apple maps didn’t show this at all, but google maps did. There was also a new, small road that was finished around 3 days ago. Google maps shows this road. Apple maps still hasn’t shown the major construction.
Pro Most ubiquitous third party app integration
Asides from the stock Apple Maps app, Google Maps is the most commonly supported 3rd party map. 3rd party apps often have links for directions, Google Maps is usually an option whereas other 3rd party GPS apps are not.
Pro Navigation background change based on ambient light
This is great for night driving or even when going through tunnels as the map will be more visible for low light situations.
Pro Secondary routing
Google Maps can now search for and add a route for a second location on the way to the primary location that you are going to and have already routed. Note that it cannot do a third or true multi routing like the desktop webapp can.
Pro Large collections of candid customer photos
Lets you know what the dishes actually look like, not what it looks with an Instagram filter on.
Pro Search filters allow a lot of customization
"Most Reviewed" for popular restaurants, "Highest Ratings" for well-received restaurants, use the # of reviews the popular restaurants as an anchor for had to evaluate the restaurants with the highest ratings. For example, if popular restaurants have ~1000 reviews, then well-received restaurants with >4.5 stars and >200 reviews is pretty good. A restaurant with 5 stars an 20 reviews might not be as solid.
Pro Huge repository
It's hard to find any food-related business who doesn't have a page on Yelp. (If it doesn't, that's a bad sign)
Pro Review keywords are helpful for menu must-orders
If enough people have posted reviews repeating the same key words (e.g. tiramisu), Yelp will highlight them. A good sign of something you should definitely order if it's your first time at the restaurant, or something that the restaurant does particularly well.
Cons
Con No plan-ahead for commuters
Cannot plan trip ahead based on commuter lane.
Con Not very precise traffic information
Depending on a country information might not be very accurate for traffic.
Con Sometimes takes too long to load
Con Saved locations needs online connection and has no visible label
Two negatives about this feature is you have to be online to be able to save a place, but it is stored off line once google map gets on the net and syncs. The other negative is there is no visible label for saved places, you have to click on stars to see the label for them.
Con Maps saved offline can easily wipe your bandwidth cap via auto update
Google Maps offline maps update automatically in the background. Not a problem if you're using a sim card in your phone, but if you connect to a pre-paid hotspot that the phone recognizes and connects to as a wifi device you risk burning through your data allotment. The offline maps can be set to update manually, but this is not default behavior.
Con It’s Google
Con Best Match is rarely the best match
The best match is usually the result of some continuous feedback loop of recommending the same set of restaurants to people over and over again, instead of the best restaurants in the area.
Con Android app lacks certain features
The iOS app allows you to use all the filters of the desktop site, but users can't sort by most reviewed or highest rating on Android devices.
Con Awkward photo presentation
They show from oldest to newest, even though the newest photos are more relevant. The desktop version of Yelp also has an old photo display system where you have to click to reveal each page of photos.