Apple has been gradually rolling out their re-built Maps data across the United States for the past year or so. Today, Apple announced that work is complete.
Apple today announced that all users in the United States can now experience a redesigned Maps with faster and more accurate navigation and comprehensive views of roads, buildings, parks, airports, malls and more, making it easier and more enjoyable to map out any journey. Apple completed the rollout of this new Maps experience in the United States and will begin rolling it out across Europe in the coming months.
I will say the new Maps data is terrific. It is a huge upgrade over the old data. While most buildings in my area are represented by fairly generic boxes, there is a good deal of detail in important landmarks such as Memorial Stadium (of Cornhusker fame) and the Nebraska State Capitol building. They even got a good representation of the statue of the Sower on the top of the building.
Memorial Stadium in Lincoln, Nebraska
Nebraska State Capitol in Lincoln, Nebraska
But today is not the first I have seen of this new map data. Apple began a soft rollout for the new maps in my region (Nebraska) last month, and they were active on my iPad Pro, but not my Mac or iPhone. And then last week the new maps reverted back to the old maps on my iPad Pro, which was odd.
One change that came today — for everyone in the US, from what I can tell on Twitter — is the addition of stoplights and stop signs when getting directions. This is represented nicely, and Siri will even tell you to “turn right at the stop sign”. It’s a subtle way of telling the driver about traffic signs and signals, which also sounding more natural.
Directions showing traffic signals and stop signs along the route.
Apple also highlighted a few more features of the new Maps in their press release today, many of which have been around since earlier releases of iOS 13:
Explore major cities with Look Around
This is basically Apple’s answer to Google Maps’ Street View. It only works in a few cities, currently: New York City, the San Francisco Bay Area, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Houston and Oahu.If you zoom into one of those areas and tap the binoculars icon that appears, you can try it out for yourself. It seems a lot nicer than Google’s Street View, and I can’t wait for that to roll out to more places.
- Users can share places they love with collections
These are simple collections of places you can create and share. My only complaint is that when you share a collection, the recipient’s copy is standalone — meaning if they add something it doesn’t sync back to you. This feature would be more useful if it allowed collaboration, much like Notes and Reminders does. - One-tap navigation to frequent places with Favorites
Pretty much what it says on the tin. Pretty handy for places you frequent. - Real-time transit information
This is active in my city and appears to work pretty well. - Share ETA
This is a really nice feature. When you start directions, you can tap a Share ETA button, and choose a recipient. They will then be able to see you in Maps and see your estimated time of arrival. This worked a treat earlier this month when I needed to rendezvous with my dad for a road trip. - Flight status
Siri intelligences does a bunch of on-device processing, looking at Mail, Calendar, and Wallet passes for flight info, then keeps you up to date on terminal, gate, or departure changes. I’ll give this a go in a couple weeks. - Indoor maps
Zooming in on some airports and malls with now have a Look Inside label, and shows you the interior of the locations. This can come in handy when you need to find a certain shop, or plan out your rush through an airport between flights.
All in all, I’m really excited about the future of Apple Maps. If you are in the United States and the previous incarnation of Apple Maps left a bad impression, it’s worth your time to give it a fresh try.